A college education in just 10 words
You鈥檝e got to hand it to Merriam-Webster. Its , with its lists and quizzes and videos, makes it so much fun to look things up, one may forget what one was after in the first place.
For instance: the Top 10 鈥淏ig Words on Campus,鈥� for which M-W sees a spike in lookups as the academic year begins. Notably, all 10 are from Greek or Latin.
No. 1, culture, is from Latin: 鈥渢he beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time.鈥� The idea is of tending, or even 鈥渉onoring,鈥� a garden. M-W reminds us that the Roman Cicero spoke of cultura animi, 鈥渃ultivation of the soul.鈥�
No. 2, irony, from a Greek word meaning 鈥渢o speak,鈥� is 鈥渢he use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning.鈥� It鈥檚 often (mis)used to mean something like 鈥渢oo perfect,鈥� or 鈥渃oincidentally鈥�: 鈥淲e met the new landlord, Mr. Biggs, and, ironically, he looks as if he weighs 300 pounds.鈥� Hmm, not quite.聽
Metaphor, No. 3, is a Greek-derived term widely used for figurative language in general. Its literal sense is 鈥渢ransfer.鈥� Fun fact: I once saw a picture of a Greek moving van advertising (to those who could puzzle out the letters) local or long-distance 鈥渕etaphors.鈥�
Rhetoric, No. 4, is also from Greek: 鈥渢he study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion.鈥�
Allegory, No. 5, is 鈥渁 story in which the characters and events are symbols that stand for ideas about human life or for a political or historical situation.鈥� It鈥檚 from a Greek word for 鈥渁 speaking about something else.鈥澛�
Heuristic, No. 6, from Greek, means 鈥渋nvolving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods.鈥� The explains 鈥� famous 鈥淓ureka!鈥� as related.聽
Aesthetic, No. 7, from a Greek word for 鈥減erception,鈥� refers, as a noun, to 鈥渁 particular theory or conception of beauty or art.鈥� M-W quotes a professor describing a particular show as 鈥渘ot just a television program, it鈥檚 really an aesthetic.鈥� The show has allegedly led to increased sales of cravats and waistcoats. We鈥檙e so grateful to the ancients for giving us the words for the nuances of 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� and 鈥淢ad Men.鈥�
No. 8, , from Latin, is widely used to mean 鈥渢he inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.鈥� The etymology dictionary observes, 鈥淒iversity as a virtue in a nation is an idea from the rise of modern democracies in the 1790s,鈥� but did not then refer to 鈥渆thnicity, gender, sexual identity, etc.鈥�
, No. 9, from Latin, means 鈥渢o commit literary theft.鈥� It鈥檚 rooted in the idea of kidnapping, of spreading a net.
, No. 10,聽 鈥渢he art, science, or profession of teaching,鈥� comes from Greek words meaning 鈥渓eading a child.鈥澛�
There you are: an education in 10 words.
