Reading the Merriam Webster Dictionary Backwards
September 12, 2014 Friday
blog address: Readingthedictionarybackwards.blogspot.com
email: ishmaelish36@blogspot.com
You can find my other blog of pediatric anecdotes, poetry, artwork and literature at ishmaelish36.blogspot.com
This was short and sweet…only the second post on the letter "X" and we are done. (Index below)
xenophobe: afraid of strangers and foreigners
xenophile: one attracted to foreign things (culture, styles)
xenon: an element
I am definitely of the xenophile bent as opposed to being xenophobic, diving into other cultures for their wisdom and beauty. My taste in movies, for example, is Norwegian, French, Danish, Egyptian, Indian, Israeli…pretty xenophilic when I think about it.
The Scottish chemist, William Ramsey, a Nobel Prize winner, discovered xenon in 1898 and named it after this Greek root word for "strange" since it was only 1 out of ten millions parts found in air. I am glad he was classically educated. (He also discovered and named "argon" from the Greek for "lazy"…but I haven't gotten to the "A's" yet.)
xylo- [Greek, xylon wood]
xylophone (which has wooden slates0
xylographer: a woodworker
I now know what to call my carpenter the next time I need one. I would guess playing the 'vibes" or vibraphone entails metal slates as opposed to the mesmerizing, delicate sound of a xylophone. I recently saw a musical performance of a college xylophonist that was incredibly beautiful. I will try to remember the name of the piece so I can post it. It was a musical epiphany.
X:
Xanadu
xantho-
xanthic
xanthochromic
xeno-
xenophobe
xenophile
xenon
xylo-
xylophone
xylographer
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