I don’t know if it is a good idea to start the first post of a blog with the phrase “I have a thing for”. But I want to do it.
I have a thing for words. The definition. The subtle differences between the words with apparent same meaning. The origin and etymology.
Even for the very common words that I use everyday.
Last month, I was reading an interview with Ahmad Shamlou. I needed to use my pencil sharpener a couple of times for those 10 pages, as there were many lines that I colored deep red with my colored pencil.
Among all of those colored lines, one particularly repeats itself in my head:
It’s obvious. A man who knows fewer words, have a more limited mind. We don’t think using images. We think using words. Words are our tool [to think].
Ahmad Shamlou – Sinbad on the Journey of Death
I love learning new words. I love learning about them – there is even a word for that: logophile.
In addition to learning new words, I also want to make sure that I use the words I know correctly.
One of these everyday using words for me is diagnosis.
But what is the definition of diagnosis?
I know the image of making a diagnosis. In emergency departments – where I spent the last 3 months in them – I did it all the time. Had I wanted to use words, not images, what should I have done? How can I exactly describe it?
I’ve recently started reading a book named Diagnosis – Interpreting the Shadows for my MD thesis.
There was a definition of the word diagnosis at the beginning of the first chapter. It was one of those lines that I instantly colored – Although this time with a oil pastel.
A diagnosis is an explanation of a pathological condition with determination of the underlying cause(es) and pathophysiology.
A complete and accurate diagnosis explains physical manifestations, predicts the natural course and likely outcomes, anticipates potential complications, and leads to suggested treatment options.
Diagnosis – Interpreting the Shadows
I have a thing for words.
This is the reason that I wanted the very first post of this blog – even before introducing myself – to be a definition of a word that I use many times everyday.
8 comments On On Diagnosis
you expanded my mind by informing me of existence of such a word ‘Logophile’. i shall be grateful for that..
I’m glad you’ve started your blog again Amir Masoud. I know you are precise about choosing your words.
congratulation on your new move to write in another language
talking about words, i must admit that the story of your teacher making you bring a dictionary to the classes, made me jealous of you and your dear teacher.
i guess, it would be great if you tell everybody about that story and how teachers and professors can change the way that we see every ordinary thing in this world.
wish you biiiiiig smiles. 🙂
Yeah, you’re right. I should write about it. I still have that dictionary too and I love it. It’s full of memories.
I can understand what you are saying because I am also immersed in the world of words, as I said in the Persian blog that I like the senses part very much.
Ever since I was a child, I have loved reading books and I remember whenever I didn’t know the meaning of a word, I asked my mother, and she would use the root of that word and its synonym to describe it to me.
Maybe today I owe my interest in words to my mother.
Partly, I owe this to my 5th-grade teacher. At the beginning of the first semester, he told us to get a Persian to Persian dictionary. One of the weekly homework was to select 10 words from the dictionary – whatever we wanted. Every couple of weeks, he randomly picked one of the students to read his selected words.
That’s fantastic. I think he is one of the few people who deserves the word “teacher”.
I’ve got to learn more words ?