Month: January 2015

mnemonic (nēˈmänik)

I recently competed in my school spelling bee and it was a lot of fun! Sometimes, when I study for spelling bees, it is really hard to remember how to spell certain words so I have to use mnemonic devices. Mnemonics are memory aids people use to remember things.

For example, I know how to spell principal by remembering that the head of school is my “pal.” How can you tell the difference between tempura (food you eat) and tempera (the paint)? I remember that “u eat tempura.” 🙂

The word mnemonic comes from the Greek root mnem meaning remembrance, memory.

Do you find mnemonic devices helpful? If so, I would love to hear some of your tricks to remembering things.

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One of my followers, Mr. M, asked me to write about the word oikos. Oikos is the Greek word for house. My mother mentioned that this is also the name of  a company that makes Greek yogurt. The people who named the  company probably wanted to persuade buyers that their product tasted homemade. What do you all think?

I am always on the lookout for new and interesting words, so if any of you come across any cool words, comment and let me know!

 

 

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polyglot (pälē glät)

Happy New Year! My New Year’s resolution is to continue to improve my Hindi using Rosetta Stone. I have a strong interest in learning Hindi because I have lots of family in India. Hindi is one of the official languages of India and is spoken by nearly 500 million people. Some other languages I would like to learn are Mandarin, Japanese, German, and Telugu.

I hope to become a polyglot one day. A polyglot is a person who knows many different languages. Polyglot comes from the Greek roots poly- meaning many and glot meaning tongue, language.

Are there any languages you would like to learn?  Are any of you polyglots? If so, what languages do you speak?

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