A newsletter that will enhance your English-vocabulary skills!

Experience the wonder of words by focusing on the
Latin and Greek elements used in English.

Senior Scribe a.k.a. John Robertson

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Which is the greater problem, ignorance or apathy?

I don’t know and I don’t care.

-Anonymous

Words in the news

In the December 28, 1998, issue of the International Herald Tribune in the William Safire column called, “Language”, he wrote: “Now to the alleged mistake that drew the most mail. In a line about the pronunciation of status, I wrote, ‘That is usually pronounced STAT-us, as in statistics, by the highfalutin, and STATE-us by the hoi polloi.’

“From Jim Tart of Dallas: ‘My daughter Katie tells me that her eighth-grade teacher would have smacked her in the head with her grammar book had she said “the hoi polloi.” Katie says hoi polloi means “the masses,” and therefore should never be proceeded by the. Live by the sword and die by the sword.’

“Thank you, Mr. Tart. (And when Katie comes by with her spelling book opened to precede, watch your head.)”

Before you read this section about mnemonics, please STOP here NOW, and take a “pre-test” over the words that will be discussed. Even if you do well on this test, you may still come back for the presentation. So, please go to (click on) the Pre-test over -cede, -ceed, -sede words to see how well you can spell words that have the endings that are pronounced “seed”.

You can save telephone money by going “off line” after the test has “down loaded” on your monitor, then, when you have finished the test; go back “on line” and click on the “calculate button” to see the results of your efforts. You are required to be “on line” ONLY when you down load the test and when you want to calculate your score.

PLEASE click on the Pre-test before you continue so you can benefit more from the following presentation.

How to decide between -cede, -ceed, and -sede.

The spelling of many English words is confusing even to those whose first language is English.



• Problems: Is it supercede, superceed, or supersede? Is it accede or acceed? Is it proceed or preceed, and is it excede or exceed?
  

• Let’s examine the simple facts and basic principles behind the spelling patterns of all of the English words that end with the pronunciation of seed. There are just twelve words that have the seed pronounced endings.
  
• To avoid doubt and confusion, to be able to make an instantaneous, self-assured, and accurate decision on the spelling of any word whose final syllable is pronounced seed, you have to know two things:
  
  1. Of the twelve words, one, and only one, ends in the four letters -S-E-D-E. That one word is supersede
  Supersede, is the only word in the entire English language that is spelled with the -sede ending.
  
  Supersede was born in Rome thousands of years ago. It comes from Latin super, “above”, and sedeo, “to sit”.
  
  If one thing supersedes another, it figuratively, and by derivation, “sits above or over it”; that is, “it replaces” something. An example: “The year 2000 will supersede 1999.”
  
  Supersede is the only verb in English that derives directly from Latin sedeo, to sit, hence the only word with the -sede termination.
  
  There are many nouns and adjectives that come indirectly from sedeo or one of its forms:
  
  president, one who sits before a group;
  sedentary, moving little, hence sitting, as in a sedentary occupation;
  session, a sitting or meeting of a group of people;
  sedate, calm, hence sitting still, etc.
  
  2. There are three other unique words that you should learn, the three words that end in the letters -C-E-E-D: succeed, proceed, and exceed.
  
  
• These two facts, that only supersede ends in -sede, and that only succeed, proceed, and exceed end in -ceed, permit you to make an immediate and correct choice between -sede, -ceed, and -cede.
• Obviously, with two of the three possible spellings accounted for, the eight remaining words of the original twelve can end in only one way: -C-E-D-E.
• 3. It’s unnecessary that you learn what these eight words are or that you learn how to spell all or any of them because you know that they all end with -cede.
• For your information, here are the eight words:
  
  accede, to give consent; to become a party to an agreement or treaty.
  
  antecede, to precede; that is, to come before in time or order.
  
  cede, to surrender possession of formally or officially; to yield or grant, as by a treaty.
  
  concede, 1. To acknowledge as true, just, or proper, often unwillingly; to admit by conceding the point. 2. To give or grant as a privilege or right.
  
  intercede, to argue on another’s behalf; to act as a mediator in a dispute; to come between.
  
  precede, to come before in time, in rank, or order.
  
  recede, to move back or away from a limit, point, or mark.
  
  secede, to withdraw formally from membership in an association, organization, or alliance, especially a political one.
  
  
• How can you remember that succeed, proceed, and exceed belong in a class by themselves, and are not to be confused with the eight -cede words? How can you fix these three crucial verbs permanently in your mind, nail them down for all time?
• Keep these facts in mind:
  Succeed starts with “s”.
  Proceed starts with “p”, and means go ahead.
  Exceed starts with “e”.
  
• Now think of, and remember, the key phrase: “Full Speed Ahead”. This one phrase, Full Speed Ahead, and in particular the word speed, will be your guarantee against two unpleasant possibilities:
  
  1. Any annoying doubt as to whether a word correctly ends in -ceed or -cede.
  2. Any error in writing -cede for -ceed, or vice versa.
  
  
• Notice how simply this mnemonic works:

  Speed ends in -eed.
  
  The “s” of speed identifies succeed.
  
  The “p” of speed identifies proceed.
  
  The “e” of speed identifies exceed.
  
  The ending of speed identifies the endings of all three words: succeed, proceed, exceed.
  
  Finally, the word “ahead” in “Full Speed Ahead” identifies proceed, which means “go ahead”, and eliminates “precede”, which means “come before”.

  
  
• There is one irregularity that you should be aware of:
  
  Proceed, as you know, belongs to one of the three -ceed verbs, but the noun and adjective forms do not follow the same format. Contrary to what you might normally expect, these forms are spelled: procedure and procedural.
  
  
• That’s all there is to the problem of making a choice between -cede, -ceed, and -sede.
• Here are the basic principles again.
  Only one word in English ends in -sede, namely supersede.
  Only three words in English end in -ceed, namely succeed, proceed, and exceed (mnemonic: Full speed Ahead).
  
  All of the other words with a similar “seed” sound end in -cede.
  
  Procedure and procedural; however, do not follow the pattern of proceed.

  Now is a good time to test yourself.
  
  

The “advanced words” in the following contain valuable information if for no other reason than that the concepts of tribology are so important in all of our lives. You may find some aspects difficult to comprehend, but just knowing what the Greek element tribo means, as well as some of the English words that are derived from it, will give you knowledge that is lacking even among the very educated.

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This issue of Focusing on Words will present a relatively new, and not widely known, element from Greek that is used in modern engineering and physics: tribology. This Greek tribo- element means, “friction”, “rub”, “grind”, or “wear away”.

Most of the information for this subject came from an article, “Better Ways to Grease Industry’s Wheels,” from the September 28, 1998, issue of Fortune magazine written by Ivan Amato.



• Lubrication is central to machine performance, but it’s only part of the story. More and more, the bigger picture of machine health has been going by the label “tribology” [trigh BAH loh gee] which is based on the Greek word for “rubbing.”, “grinding”, or “wearing away”, etc.
• Tribology combines issues of lubrication, friction, and wear into a complex framework for designing, maintaining, and trouble-shooting the whole machine world.
• Tribology is already providing data that could be used to produce transmission fluids that give automobile drivers better fuel economy and a smoother ride.
• The most visionary tribology advocates and practitioners tend to view their field as the cure for much of what ails industry and even entire economies.
• Tribology has evolved into a bona fide field of research and technology since 1966, when a group of industrialists in England coined the term with assistance from an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.
• The O. E. D. defines tribology as, “The branch of science and technology concerned with interacting surfaces in relative motion and with associated matters (as friction, wear, lubrication, and the design of bearings).” In 1968, H.P. Jost, in the February 8, 1968, issue of the New Scientist states, “After consultation with the English Dictionary Department of the Oxford University Press, we chose the term ‘tribology’.”
• Many tribologists devote themselves to uncovering the fundamental chemical and physical dramas that underlie good and bad lubrication, friction, and wear. They are relying on new tools like friction-force microscopes, that can examine surfaces down to the molecular level (nanotribology?).
• Transmissions are just one place where tribology makes a difference in the automotive industry. Other items on the agenda include controlling brake noise and wear, reducing internal friction in engines, and increasing the productivity, part quality, and energy efficiency of production machinery.
• The “tribology tribe” points proudly to its crucial role in the thirty-billion dollar-a-year data-storage industry. When it comes to surfaces in motion, this is an especially harrowing arena. Yet it’s through tribological know-how that makers of hard-disk drives have been able to squeeze more and more data into less and less space.
• The head that reads and writes information to and from a hard disk flies about 50 to 100 nanometers above the disk surface. That’s about one-thousandth the width of a human hair. Meanwhile, the disk typically spins beneath the head at about ten to twenty meters per second.
• Woody Monroy, head of corporate communications for Seagate Technology, which makes disk drives, says that in terms of speed and clearance, it’s the equivalent of an F-16 jet fighter plane flying one-sixty second of an inch [less than one millimeter] above the ground, counting blades of grass as it goes, at Mach 813 (or 813 times the speed of sound).
• There are many reasons computers go down, but one of the most dreaded is when the head assembly literally crashes into the spinning disk’s surface, tearing up and destroying precious data.
• It’s a tribological triumph that, despite all the hazards, vulnerabilities, and abuse by users, most storage systems operate fine most of the time because of proper coatings. The first protective layer is at most twenty nanometers thick. One leading-edge tribo-tactic is to fiddle with the molecular structure of the thin lubrication layer on top of the disk (nanotribology?).
• Tribologists have plenty of challenges to keep them busy, but it’s all part of making disk drives and economies run smoothly.

nanotribology, [no dictionary, that I can find, has a definition for this term. J.R.] The following definitions came from various sources on the Internet.

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First, on Thursday, January 21, 1999, I received the following information from Dr. Jacqueline Krim, Professor of Physics at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina:

“Thank you for your inquiry. Yes, I coined the term nanotribology in a paper I wrote in 1991, entitled, ‘Nanotribology of a Kr [krypton] monolayer: A Quartz Crystal Microbalance Study of Atomic-Scale Friction’, J. Krim, D. Solina and R. Chiarello, PRL, 66, (1991) p. 181-184.”

“I would define nanotribology as the sub-field of tribology involving contact geometries which are well-characterized at atomic length or time scales. These tend to be on the order of nanometers and nanoseconds.”

“JK”

Secondly, on Friday, January 22, 1999, I received another clarifying definition that I had requested from a contact I found on the Internet.

I asked for a simple, easy to understand definition of “nanotribology” and this is what he sent to me:

“Tribology is the science and technology of two surfaces in relative motion which encompasses friction, wear and lubrication. Nanotribology allows the study of friction and wear processes on nanoscale.”

Prof. Bharat Bhushan
Ohio Eminent Scholar and The Howard D. Winbigler Professor Director,
Computer Microtribology and Contamination Laboratory
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio

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Now you know what nanotribology means, don’t you? If you want to know more about nanotribology, here are excerpts of other definitions; but be WARNED that if they are too confusing or of no interest to you, you may scroll down to the area where other tribo- words are presented. Don’t give up before you see the rest of the list, please.

Micro/nanotribology as a field is concerned with experimental and theoretical investigations of processes ranging from atomic and molecular scales to the microscale, occurring during adhesion, friction, wear, and thin-film lubrication at sliding surfaces.

This involves determination of the chemical, physical and mechanical properties of the surfaces undergoing relative motion at length scales of the order of nanometers. Interaction between rubbing surfaces occurs at asperities [roughness of surfaces] at which the local pressure and temperatures can be very high.

These conditions can lead to formation of tribochemical films with the unusual properties necessary for efficient wear protection. The nanomechanical properties of these films are being investigated by interfacial force microscopy (IFM) which is capable of determining the elastic constants and anelastic behavior of the films in boundary layer lubrication.

Proposed nanotribology experiments for the Triboscope include studying the effect of different contact areas, scan directions and crystallographic orientations on both lubricated and unlubricated surfaces.

Tribology is the study of friction, lubrication and wear. Nanotribology is roughly defined as the study of these same phenomena down to the nN and nanometer force and length scales.

I hope I haven’t lost you in the sea of obfuscation (confusion, obscurity, or bewilderment) because there are other interesting words to learn. Here are additional examples that are derived from tribo-:

triboelectric, an electrical charge produced by friction between two objects; such as, rubbing silk on a glass surface.

triboelectricity, in physics, electrical charges produced by friction between two surfaces; static electricity.

Frictional electricity … was supposedly known to the ancient Greeks, particularly Thales of Miletus, who observed about 600 B.C. that when amber was rubbed, it would attract small bits of matter. The term “frictional electricity” gave way to “triboelectricity,” although since “tribo” means “to rub,” the newer term does little to change the concept.
-A.D. Moore (as seen in The American Heritage Dictionary of Science by Robert K. Barnhart; Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston; 1986).

tribofluorescence, triboflurescent; to give off light as a result of friction.

tribologist, a specialist in the science of tribology.

tribology, tribological, the science of the mechanisms of friction, lubrication, and wear of interacting surfaces that are in relative motion.

triboluminescence, the quality of emitting light under friction or violent mechanical pressure.

triboluminescent, exhibiting triboluminescence.

tribophosphorescence, tribophosphorescent; to produce light by friction.

tribothermoluminescence, thermoluminescence [luminescence resulting from exposure to high temperature] produced in a material as a result of friction.

tribometer, an instrument for estimating sliding friction.

tribophysics, the physical properties or phenomena associated with friction.

tribophosphoroscope, an instrument for examining triboluminescence.

tribulation, originally from Greek; then through Latin, “to press; affliction”; distress, great trial, or affliction.

“The Roman tribulum was a sledge consisting of a wooden block studded with sharp pieces of flint or iron teeth. It was used to bring force and pressure against wheat in grinding out grain. The machine suggested the way trouble grinds people down and oppresses them, tribulations becoming another word for troubles and afflictions. The word is first recorded in English in 1330.”.

From the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson; Facts On File, Inc., New York; 1997.

The Romans ground out their corn [make that grain-J.R.] with a heavy roller, mentioned in Vergil’s Georgics among agricultural instruments: the tribulum, diminutive noun, from tritere, trit —, to rub, from Greek tribein, to rub. Being ground under and pressed out made an excellent metaphor to express the trials and tribulations of the early Christians.

From a Dictionary of Word Origins by Joseph T. Shipley.

“To know the origin of words is to know how men think, how they have fashioned their civilization. Word history traces the path of human fellowship, the bridges from mind to mind, from nation to nation.

“Some of the words in our language can be traced to a remote past; some have histories that begin but yesterday. Many are members of large families, with intertwining legend and history. Slow change, swift new coinage of science or slang, ancient or recent borrowing from many tongues: together they give flexibility, power, and beauty to English, the richest and most widespread language of all time.”

On November 8, 1998, there was an article in “Dear Ann Landers” titled, “Lawyer-bashing: Sometimes wounds are self-inflicted.”

“The Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers Journal printed the following questions actually asked by witnesses during a trial. The responses to some of the questions were given by insightful witnesses. This is not a put-on. It’s for real. —Ronita in Center Line, Michigan”

Question: Now, doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the next morning?

Question: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?

Question: Were you present when your picture was taken?

Question: Was it you or your younger brother who was killed in the war?

Question: Did he kill you?

Question: How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?

Question: You were there until the time you left, is that true?

Question: She had three children, right?

Answer: Yes.

Question: How many were boys?

Answer: None.

Question: How many were girls?

Question: You say the stairs went down to the basement?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And these stairs, did they go up, also?

Question: How was your first marriage terminated?

Answer: By death.

Question: And by whose death was it terminated?

Question: Can you describe the individual?

Answer: He was about medium height and had a beard.

Question: Was this a male or a female?

Question: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice that I sent to your attorney?

Answer: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

Question: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?

Answer: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.

Question: All your responses must be oral. OK? What school did you go to?

Answer: Oral.

Question: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?

Answer: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m..

Question: And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?

Answer: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy.

Question: Mr. Slatery, you went on a rather elaborate honeymoon, didn’t you?

Answer: I went to Europe, sir.

Question: And you took your new wife?

Question: So the date of conception was August 8th?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And what were you doing at the time?

Question: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?

Answer: I have been since early childhood.

Question: You were not shot in the fracas?

Answer: No, I was shot midway between the fracas and the navel.

Oh, well!

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