Recent conversations have me interested in the suffix ology. This suffix has been around for centuries and we all are familiar with the common ologies: Zoology, biology, radiology etc. I discovered the web site
http://chemistry.about.com/od/mathsciencefundamentals/a/ologylist.htm
that obligingly lists a myriad of ologies, most of which I I was unaware of. (The suffix ology literally means " a discipline of study, as indicated by having the suffix ology".) A brief perusal of the list was fascinating and I found a few, in the beginning of the alphabet, that I'll share here.
Acarology: The study of ticks and mites (Imagine being an acarologist! You'd scratch
constantly.)
Aerobiology: A branch of biology that studies organic particles that are transported by the
air. (Riveting.)
Apiology: The study of bees (This job would create a buzz among my friends.)
Cynology: The study of dogs (And here I thought I already had a head-start on this field
with my intense interest in cynicism.
Dipterology: The study of flies (My family will tell you that I could never make it in this field
because I'd have swatted all of the empirical evidence.)
Last Sunday evening found myself, Capt. SO and our Aqua RV guests dining at an outdoor restaurant. Our server was completing his first day on the job. He was very talkative and quite funny, regaling us with tales of his stand-up comedy experience and sharing with us that he was a mixologist - i.e. bartender. This little bit of trivia activated my imagination and I've been thinking of other nonsensical ologies that should be added to the list.
Dustology
Clutterology
Spousology
Ornerology
Blabology
Facebookology
Textology
Gossipology
Sharpology
Cluelessology
Ignorology
Moronlogy
Rudology
Ah, the list could be so long, which could then be called borology, which would not be a goal of this blog site.
I'll end with this tongue-in-cheek ology: Terminatology
Ancora imparo
