Hi, James!  Awhile ago you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

[re using the dictionary]
AH>  I smiled sweetly & reminded him I'd been practising
AH>  longer than he had....  :-))

JB>  How quickly they forget, the first time spelling
JB>  schizophrenic, or Czechoslovakia, or psychology, or
JB>  asphault, or... (Yes, I'll be leaning *heavily* on
JB>  the spell checker.)


          Three of these words come from Greek... and the Greek alphabet
isn't quite like ours.  I'm used to "ph" sounding like
"f" (etc.) because we have so many literary terms & medical
terms based on Greek.  The word "Czechoslovakia" evidently comes
by way of Polish, however.  I once had a student with a Polish surname
about as long as your arm.  Although I did my best to pronounce all my
students' names the way they pronounced them, this one was beyond me.  I
asked him to slow it down... he repeated it exactly the same way.  Polish
is still a complete mystery AFAIC.  Because my primary mode is visual, I
can remember how to spell the name of the country.  I realize the natives
spell it differently.
I also noticed it had been spelled with a hyphen on the china I inherited from
my grandmother.  But if you expect me to type the word again, no way....  :-))



JB>  Something I was wondering the other day, is why is
JB>  every "q" followed by a "u"? If it always is, why
JB>  bother? ...To just 'up' the letter count?


          Not quite *every* one... I know of a few exceptions which might
come in handy if you're playing Scrabble.  They're not in common use,
however.  The "qu" letter combination is derived from Latin.  If
we didn't use those letters to represent the sound we'd still need two
letters... "cw" or "kw".  According to my sources, the
latter were used in Old English (i.e. up to about 1100 AD). And we still
see them today in proprietary names such as Kwikie Kleen....  :-)



JB>  When my endorphins wane, I sneeze like I am withdrawaling.


          Hmm... I'd never heard of this effect before, but (as usual) you
got me inspired to do more digging!  I found out the word
"endorphin" is short for "endogenous morphine".  Now I
have something to remember it by, so I won't get it confused with serotonin
etc.  That's a good start.  I also learned the same receptors in the brain
are used for endorphins & opiates.  Withdrawal from the latter may
indeed trigger sneezing.  The production of endorphins, however, is
triggered by exercise... by laughter... possibly by ingesting certain
foods... and possibly by sneezing.  I guess sneezing could be considered an
involuntary form of exercise.  Maybe your body invokes this mechanism
whenever you need to step up your production of endorphins to deal
effectively with pain.  :-)



JB>  It's kinda encouraged, but it can be funny to position
JB>  myself, for it *not* to ring the nerve again.


          Yes, I now understand why the sneezing might actually be
beneficial. And as for positioning... imagine me helping Nora in a public
washroom or some such confined area where I must support her left leg from
underneath & keep it from flopping outward.  Scoliosis does have
advantages at times... [wry grin].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+