Random Things of Interest

Welcome to Random things of interest.

2006-12-01T12:00:00.000+11:00

UPDATES ARE BELOW

What is this you ask? Well, it's a bunch of Random things, grabbed mainly off Wikipedia, that interest me. My goal is to become more educated about the world I live in.

I've designed this site to be simple and PDA-friendly, so anyone can Avantgo it and read up on their planet on the go.

Have fun! Oh, and check out my fave forum, Pocketloft

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2004-07-25T20:52:00.000+10:30

Just found this website. It's fantastic!

They've got millions of interesting factoids. A great place to spend a few hours learning about our planet.

NationMaster

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Australia : Wikipedia

2004-07-25T20:49:00.000+10:30

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Commonwealth of Australia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring countries include New Zealand to the southeast; and Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor to its north. The name 'Australia' comes from the Latin phrase terra australis incognita ("unknown southern land", see Terra Australis).

History

Australia is thought to have been inhabited for at least 50,000 years, since the remote ancestors of the current Australian Aborigines arrived from present-day Southeast Asia.
The land was not discovered by Europeans until the 17th century, when it was sighted and visited by several expeditions: the Spanish Luis Vaez de Torres (1606) and the Dutch explorers Willem Jansz (1606), Jan Carstensz (1623), Dirck Hartog and Abel Tasman. The Dutch called the continent New Holland.
The first English explorers were Willem Dampier in 1688 and James Cook, who in 1770 claimed the eastern two-thirds of the continent for Britain, despite orders from King George III to first conclude a treaty with the indigenous population. His report to London that Australia was uninhabited provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there following the loss of the American colonies. The colony of New South Wales was established in Sydney by captain and governor Arthur Phillip on January 26, 1788 as a British Crown Colony. The date of arrival of the First Fleet later became the date of Australia Day. The Colony of Van Diemen's Land (i.e. the present day Tasmania) was founded in 1803. The rest of the continent, that is Western Australia, was formally claimed by the United Kingdom in 1829. Following the spread of British settlement, separate Colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851 and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory was founded, as part of the Colony of South Australia, in 1863.
During the period of 1855-1890, the six Crown Colonies each successively became self-governing colonies, which managed most of their own affairs. The British government retained control of some matters, especially foreign affairs, defence, international shipping. Despite its heavily rural based economy Australia remained highly urbanised, centred particularly around the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. In the 1880s 'Marvellous Melbourne' was the second largest city in the British Empire. Australia also gained a reputation as a 'working man's paradise' and as a laboratory for social reform, with the world's first secret ballot and first national Labor Party government.
On 1 January 1901, federation of the Colonies occurred and the Commonwealth of Australia was born, as a dominion of the British Empire. The Australian Capital Territory, centred on the new federal capital of Canberra, was separated from New South Wales in 1911. Although Australia had become independent, the British government retained some powers over Australia until the Statute of Westminster in 1931, and the authority of the United Kingdom Parliament was not completely severed until 1986). Indigenous Australians were also generally denied both citizenship and the vote until the Constitution was altered by referendum in 1967.
Australia is a constitutional monarchy, with Elizabeth II reigning as 'Queen of Australia'. In 1999, a referendum was held on constitutional change to a republic, with an appointed President replacing the Queen as head of state, but this was rejected.
See also: Australian Constitutional History

Government

The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy: the Queen of Australia is considered to be the head of state, although that term is found nowhere in the Constitution or the law. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General. Under the Australian Constitution the role of the monarch is almost entirely ceremonial. Although the constitution gives significant executive power to the Governor-General, these powers are rarely used and are usually delegated to the Cabinet, whose members are chosen by the governing party or by the Prime Minister alone, from amongst the current members of the parliament.

Government is undertaken by three inter-connected arms of government:

Legislature - Commonwealth Parliament
Executive - Ministers and their Departments
Judiciary - High Court of Australia and subsidiary Federal courts.
Separation of Powers is the principle whereby the three arms of government undertake their activities separate from the others:

the Legislature makes the laws, and supervises the activites of the other two arms with a view to changing the laws when appropriate;
the Executive enacts the laws;
the Judiciary interprets the laws, using as a basis the laws as enacted and explanatory statements made in the Legislature during the enactment;
the other arms cannot influence the Judiciary.
[edit]
Legal basis
The legal basis for the nation changed with the passage of the Australia Act 1986, and associated legislation in the parliament of Great Britain. Until the passage of this act, Australian cases could be referred to the highest courts of Great Britain and even to the Privy Council for final appeal. With this act of parliament, Australian law was made unequivocally the law in the nation, and the High Court of Australia was confirmed as the single highest court of appeal. The theoretical possibility of the British Parliament enacting laws to override the Australian Constitution was also removed.

Politics

Australia has a bicameral federal Parliament, comprising a Senate (or upper house) with 76 Senators, and a House of Representatives (or lower house) with 150 Members. Members of the lower house are elected on a population basis from single-member constituencies, known technically as 'divisions' but more commonly, as 'electorates' or 'seats'. The more populous the state, the more members it will have in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, each state regardless of population is represented by twelve Senators, and each mainland territory by two. Elections for both chambers are held every three years, usually with only one half of the Senate being eligible for re-election, as the Senators have overlapping terms of six years each. The government is formed in the lower house, and the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives is the Prime Minister. On only one short-lived occasion has a Senator become Prime Minister.

An exception to the constitutional conventions occurred on 11 November 1975, when Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam. This remains the single most controversial event in Australian political history.

States And Territories

Australia is divided into six states and several territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major territories are the Northern Territory (NT) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The ACT also incorporates a separate area within New South Wales known as Jervis Bay Territory which serves as a naval base and sea port for the national capital.

Australia also has several inhabitated external territories (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands) and several largely uninhabited external territories: Coral Sea Islands Territory, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

The Australian Capital Territory was created at the chosen site of the capital city Canberra. Canberra was founded as a compromise between the two largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney. The name 'Canberra' is derived from the indigenous Ngunnawal language, which is loosely translated into English as "meeting place".

Geography

By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid — 40% of the land mass is covered by sand dunes. Only the south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil. The northern part of the country has a tropical climate: part is tropical rainforests, part grasslands, and part desert. The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 1,200 kilometres. Uluru (until 1986 known as Ayers Rock), is the largest monolith in the world and is located in central Australia.

Flora and Fauna

Although most of the continent is desert or semi-arid, Australia nevertheless includes a diverse range of habitats, from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests. Because of the great age of the continent, its very variable weather patterns, and its long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique.

Economy

Australia's economic development was slow at first and based on the export of wool. This all changed with the discovery of gold in 1851 and mining has, overall, been the most important sector of the Australian economy. By the late 20th century, Australia had a prosperous Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita GDP on par with the four dominant Western European economies. In recent years, the Australian economy has been resilient in the face of global economic downturn, with steady growth. Rising output in the domestic economy has been offsetting the global slump, and business and consumer confidence remains robust. Australia's emphasis on reforms is another key factor behind the economy's strength.

The Australian economy has not suffered a recession or "trough" in the business cycle in 13 years. Even the downturn of the early 2000s did not affect its consistent GDP growth.

Many raw materials (including resources postulated to exist but yet to be discovered) remain mostly unexploited. Australia is often referred to by economists as the "world's farm", but despite this emphasis on the agriculture sector, in recent years the Australian government has been focusing on the tourism, education and technology markets.

Demographics

Most of the Australian population descends from 19th and 20th century immigrants, most from Britain and Ireland to begin with, but from other sources in later years. Although Australia was founded as a penal colony, the transportation of British convicts to Australian colonies was gradually phased out between 1840 and 1868. During the "gold rush" of the late 19th century, the convicts and their descendants were rapidly overshadowed by hundreds of thousands of free settlers from many different countries: for example, in the 1850s about two per cent of the combined populations of Britain and Ireland emigrated to New South Wales and Victoria.

By the late 20th century many inhabitants were of Greek, Italian or Asian descent. The indigenous population, the Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, make up 2.2% of the population, according to the 2001 Census. In common with many other developed countries, Australia is currently experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more people retiring and fewer people of working age.

Similarly, a large number of Australian citizens (850,000 as of 2004) live outside of their home country. This number (almost 5%) represents a higher per capita percentage of overseas residents than many other countries including the United States. This phenomena was, until recently, given little attention by the Australian government and media, but the term Australian Diaspora has now joined the Australian vocabulary.

Because of the ageing population, Australia maintains one of the most active immigration programs in the world, absorbing tens of thousands of immigrants from all over the world every year. Most permanent resident visas are granted on the basis of professional skills or family associations.

New Zealanders are granted Special Category Visas on arrival in Australia, which allow them to remain in Australia to live or work indefinitely. However, New Zealand citizens are excluded from government subsidised tertiary education or other advantages granted to Australian citizens and permanent residents. Until 2001, New Zealanders were entitled to unemployment benefits in Australia on arrival in the country, but now they may only claim these after two years, as is the norm for permanent residents of other nationalities.

English is the main official and spoken language in Australia, although some of the surviving Aboriginal communities maintain their native languages, and a considerable number of first and sometimes second-generation migrants are bilingual.

Although the nation is broadly secular and few are church-goers, three-quarters of Australians are nominally Christian, mostly Catholic or Anglican. A diverse range of other religions are practised.

The History of Nails

2004-06-24T17:47:00.000+10:30
Taken from the ad-less www.primesourcebp.com
Please check out their website!

A Brief History of Nails

The use of nails goes back thousands of years. Bronze nails, found in Egypt, have been dated to 3400 B.C., but the Romans are generally credited with the first use of iron. The earliest nails were hand-forged, usually square in shape with all four sides tapering to a point, and resembled spikes, suited for the building materials commonly in use. Over time, as building materials evolved and new products were introduced, customized nails were developed to keep pace with the changing industry.

Prior to the American Revolution, England was the largest manufacturer of nails in the world. However, nails were virtually impossible to obtain in the American Colonies, where it was not unusual for families to have a small nail manufacturing process in their homes by the hearth. Entire families made nails not only for their own use but also for barter. Even Thomas Jefferson had his own nail producing facilities at Monticello, and he took great pride in them.

The first major innovation in nail production occurred in the late 1700s, with the introduction of cut nails. Cut or “square” nails are not actually “cut”, but are sheared from steel plate that is the thickness of the nail shank. The invention of water-powered “slitting mills” made this new technology possible, and rapidly put the United States at the forefront of nail manufacturing. Hot iron was hammered or later, rolled, into sheets, which were then slit into long, square-sectioned bars by shear-like rollers. Two sides of the cut nail shank are parallel as they represent the thickness of the plate from which they were sheared. The cutting machine tapers the other two sides of the shank, while a second machine forms the nail head.

Cut nails could be produced much more quickly and somewhat less expensively than hand-forged nails, and starting in the mid-1800s, began to dominate the industry. A machine that produced stamped nails with a simple head was also introduced at this time with limited success. Still, nails continued to be expensive to produce and used sparingly. It was not uncommon for a building to be burned down and the ashes combed for the nails for reuse.

“Modern” nail manufacturing may have started in the U.S. as early as the 1850s with the importation of French wire nail machinery. These nails were not intended for construction but for other light-duty applications such as bookbindery. The early 1900s is generally accepted as the turning point for wire nail production, from which point on they have dominated the industry. Wire nails have a round shank, and produced by steel wire fed into a machine that grips the wire, cuts it, makes the head, and chisels the point, all in one operation. The process is totally mechanized, can produce thousands of nails per minute, and provides a significantly less expensive nail than previous methods.

The relatively low-cost wire nails have all but replaced cut nails. However, the cut nail has a holding power of approximately four times a wire nail. It is because of this impressive holding power and the hardness of the nail that cut nails are still used today for projects such as masonry and flooring.

Common nail heads

Flat head – Most common nail head. Provides large surface area for greater holding power.

Large flat head – Larger than standard head, usually more than 3 to 3-½ times shank diameter. Provides greatest surface area for ultimate holding power. For applications such as sheathing and insulation.

Checkered flat head – Helps to stop slippage of the hammer on the head with applications such as framing, where excessive hammering may take place.

Countersunk head – Conically shaped bearing surface, which compresses the surface of the material under it as it is driven. Aids in concealment of the fastener head.

Deep countersunk head – Reduced holding power, but increased concealment of the fastener head. Using primarily on casing nails.

Brad head – Deep, circular, barrel-shaped head. Reduced holding power, but increased concealment of the fastener head. Used primarily with finish and trim work.

Duplex head – For temporary nailing jobs, such as scaffolding and concrete framing.

Cupped head – Concave or recessed top surface to accommodate material to aid with concealment. Used primarily with drywall fasteners.

Oval head - Used in certain geographic areas primarily with siding to avoid contact between the hammer and the siding.

Grandiloquence Dictionary (Large)

2004-06-24T17:16:00.000+10:30
Grandiloquent Dictionary
Taken from http://www.islandnet.com/~egbird/dict/dict.htm
A
abacinate - To blind by putting a hot copper basin near someone’s eyes
abcedarian - A person who teaches the alphabet
abderian - given to incessant or idiotic laughter
abecedarian - A person who is learning the alphabet
abligurition - Excessive spending on food and drink
ablutophobia - A fear of bathing
acarophobia - 1.A fear of insects
acarophobia - 2.A fear of mites
acarophobia - 3. A fear of small things, especially bugs
acathasia - The habit of sitting down
accipitrine - having a nose like a hawk’s beak
accubation - The practice of eating or drinking while lying down
accubitus - Sharing a bed for sleeping only
acerbophobia - See acerophobia
acerophobia - The fear of sourness
achluophobia - A fear of darkness or of the night
acouasm - A buzzing or a ringing of the ears
acousticophobia - A fear of noise
acrocephalic - Having a pointy head
acronycal - Occurring at sunset
acronyx - An ingrown fingernail or toenail
adelphepothia - An incestuous desire for one’s sister
adelphirexia - An incestuous desire for one’s nephew
adelphithymia - An incestuous desire for one’s niece
adhocracy - Rulership by committees and task forces
adoxography - Skilled writing about an unimportant subject
aelurophobia - See ailurophobia
aeolist - A pompous windy bore who pretends to have inspiration
aeroacrophobia - See aerophobia
aeromancy - Divination using the air
aerophobia - 1. A fear of air
aerophobia - 2. A fear of flying
aflunters - In a messy or disordered state
aforcing - Adding rice or grains to a dish to serve more people
agapetae - early church women who lived with celibate men
agathocacological - Composed of both good and evil
agelast - A person who never laughs
agenhina - A guest at an inn, who is considered to be one of the family
agerasia - The state of looking younger than one really is
agiotage - Speculation in the stock market
aglet - The plastic or metal tip on the end of shoelaces
agoraphobia - A fear of open places
agraffe - The wire that holds the cork in a bottle of champagne
agrizoophobia - A fear of wild animals
agroof - flat on your face
agyiophobia - The fear of streets or crossing the street
ai - A South American three toed sloth
aichmophobia - A fear of pointed or sharp objects
aichmorhabdophobia - A fear of being beaten with a pointed stick
aichurophobia - The fear of being touched by a pointed object
ailuromancy - Divination by studying a cat’s jump
ailurophobia - A fear of cats
albophobia - The fear of white people
albuminuriaphobia - A fear of kidney disease
alectromantia - A process in which a rooster is asked a question, and then
a single grain is placed on each letter of the alphabet and the order of his
eating determined the answer
alectryomancy - Magic using corn
alektorophobia - A fear of chickens
aleuromancy - Divination using flour
algerining - Prowling around with the intent to commit burglary
algology - The study of seaweed or marine algae
algophobia - A fear of pain
alieniloquent - Speaking discursively or straying from one’s point
alliaceous - Smelling like garlic or onions
alliumphobia - A fear of garlic
allodoxaphobia - A fear of other people’s opinions
allotheism - The worship of strange gods
alopeciaphobia - A fear of going bald
alopecist - A person who claims to prevent baldness
alphamegamia - The marriage between a young woman and an older man
alphitomancy - Divination using barley meal
alterocentric - Someone whose life revolves around other people
altiloquent - Speaking pompously or in a high flown manner
altitonant - Thundering from above or on high
altophobia - A fear of heights or high places
alychiphobia - The fear of failure
alytarch - A referee, or person who enforces game rules
amathophobia - A fear of dust
amaut - A fur lined hood on the back of a women’s parka, usually used for
carrying an infant.
amaxophobia - A fear of riding in automobiles
ambeer - The spittle produced when chewing tobacco
ambiguphobia - A fear of being misunderstood
ambulomancy - Divination by walking
ambulophobia - The fear of walking
amentia - temporary insanity or a dazed trance
amomaxiaphobia - A fear of making love in an automobile
ampherotokous - Having both male and female offspring
amphigory - A poem that seems profound but is really complete nonsense
amphigory - A seemingly profound poem which is actually nonsense
amrita - A drink which bestows immortality in Hindu mythology
amychophobia - A fear of being scratched
anablepophobia - A fear of looking at high places
anacardic - Pertaining to a cashew nut
anadipsia - excessive thirst
anasarkas - *A condition in which a person is so swollen that they appear
to have no muscles
androcracy - A government consisting of men
androlepsia - A kidnapping by a foreign government for political gain
androphobia - A fear of men
anemophobia - The fear of wind
angelocracy - Rulership by angels
anginophobia - A fear of choking or suffocating
anililagnia - An attraction to older women
anklyosis - The stiffness of immobility of a joint
ankylophobia - A fear of joint immobility
anoegenetic - Not producing new work or original knowledge
anonymuncle - A petty anonymous writer
anopisthographic - Having writing only upon one side
anserine - Like a goose
anthomancy - Divination using flowers
anthophobia - A fear of flowers
anthracomancy - Divination using burning coals
anthrophobia - The fear of people
anthropoglot - Any animal, such as a parrot, which is capable of copying
human speech
anthropolatry - Worship of a human as thought they were a god
anthropomancy - Magic or divination using people, or foretelling the
future using the entrails of a sacrificed person
anthropopathy - Ascribing human feelings or traits to God or to the gods
anthropophobia - See anthrophobia
anthroposcopy - The art of determining personality or character from
physical features
anthropotheism - The belief that gods began as humans and are human
in nature
antiscian - A person who lives on the other of the world from you
antlophobia - A fear of floods or flooding
anuptaphobia - The fear of staying unmarried
anxiolytic - Serving to reduce tension or stress
apanthropia - A fear of people
apeirophobia - A fear of infinity
aphephobia - The fear of touching or being touched
apikoros - A Jewish person who does not follow Jewish law
apiophobia - A fear of bees
apocalocyntosis - The act of being turned into a pumpkin
apocatastasis - The belief that all people will be saved by God
apodyopsis - The act of mentally undressing someone
apotheosis - The elevation of a mortal to deity
apricate - To spend time basking in the sunshine
aproneer - A merchant or shopkeeper
aprosexia - The inability to concentrate
aptronym - An appropriate name for someone or something
aquaphobia - The fear of water
arachibutyrophagia - The act of eating peanut butter
arachibutyrophillia - The love of peanut butter
arachibutyrophobia - Fear of peanut butter
arachnivorous - Eating spiders
arachnophobia - The fear of spiders
arctophilist - A collector of teddy bears
arietate - To strike with a battering ram or to butt like a ram
aristology - The science of dining
aristophren - A person possesing a superior intellect
arithmophobia - A fear of numbers
armomancy - Divination involving the shoulder blades of animals
arrhenophobia - A fear of male offspring
arrhenotokous - Having only male offspring
arsle - To move backwards or to retreat rapidly
ascian - A person who has no shadow
aspergillum - A device for sprinkling holy water, usually a perforated sphere
aspersorium - A basin for holy water
assanka - The number ten to the sixty-third power
astereognosis - The loss of the ability to recognize shapes by touch
asthenic - Being lean and frail
asthenophobia - The fear of weakness
astragalomancy - Divination using dice
astrapophobia - The fear of thunder and lightning
astrophobia - The fear of stars
ataxiophobia - A fear of disorder
atelophobia - A fear of defects or imperfections
atephobia - A fear of rivers
atychiphobia - A fear of failure
aubade - A love song which is sung at dawn
augury - Divination using bird’s flight
aulophobia - A fear of flutes
aureate - Pertaining to the fancy or flowery words used by poets
aurophobia - A fear of gold
austromancy - Divination using the wind
autodeist - One who believes they are a god
autodidact - A person who has taught themselves
autodysomophobia - A fear of one’s own body odour
autohagiographer - A person who speaks or writes in a smug way about
their life and accomplishments
autolatry - The worship of one’s self
autology - The study of oneself
automysophobia - A fear of being dirty
autotheist - One who worships themselves
autotonsorialist - A person who cuts their own hair
autovoxiphillia - Love of one’s own voice
aval - Pertaining to grand parents
avenage - Oats paid to a landlord when the tenant could not pay the rent
avenage - Oats that were paid to landlords in lieu of rent by the poor
avering - When a poor person removes all of their clothing to increase
sympathy while begging
averruncator - A long stick with shears for cutting high branches
aviatophobia - A fear of flying
B
bacillophobia - A fear of germs
baffound - To stun or perplex
bailiwick - The region in which a sheriff has legal powers
baize - The green cloth used on billiard tables and other gaming tables
balatron - A babbling buffoon
baldric - A belt worn over the shoulder and chest used to hold a sword
ballistophobia - A fear of being shot, or of guns and missles
balnearii - People who steal clothing for public baths
balnearil - The people who stole clothing from a public bath in ancient
Rome
barathrum - A person who eats like they were a bottomless pit
barleychild - A baby born less than six months after marriage
barophobia - A fear of gravity
barophobia - Fear of gravity
basiphobia - The fear of walking
basistasiphobia - The fear of standing and walking
basophobia - See basiphobia
basorexia - An overwhelming desire to neck or kiss
bataphobia - A fear of heights or high places
bathophobia - A fear of depth
bathysiderodromophobia - Fear of subways
batophobia - A fear of tall buildings
batrachoid - Like a frog
batrachophagous - One who eats frogs
batrachophobia - A fear of frogs or toads
battology - Tiresome and repetitive talking
bdellophobia - A fear of leeches
beaze - To dry in the sun
begrumpled - To be very unhappy or displeased
beldam - A foul old woman
belomancy - Fortunetelling through the use of arrows
belonephobia - A fear of pins and needles
bibliomancy - Divination using books or Bible passages
bibliophobia - A fear of books
bibliopolist - One who deals in rare books
bibliothecary - A person who collects and maintains books
bicorne - The hat with two points worn by Napolean
biometeorology - The study of how the weather affects people
bitheism - Believing in two gods
blandiloquent - Speaking in a flattering or ingratiating way
blatherskite - An obnoxious braggart
blatteroon - A person who will not stop talking
blattoid - Like a cockroach
blellum - an idle boring chatterer
blennophobia - A fear of slime
blepharon - A person with huge eyebrows
blepharospasm - A form of constant winking
bletcherous - Pertaining to something poorly designed or disgusting in design
blodder - To flow with a gurgling sound from a small aperture
blowsabella - A red faced wench
boanthropy - The delusion that one is an ox
bogyphobia - A fear of goblins
bombilate - To loudly hum or buzz continuously
bonnyclabber - Milk which has become thick due to being sour
borborygmus - The rumbling sound of gas passing through the intestine
botanomancy - Divination using plants
botanophobia - A fear of plants
boucan - A naturally occuring bed of burning coals
bourdon - The bass drone of a bagpipe or of the low pitched notes on a
pipe organ
boustrophedon - A form of writing which alternates left to right / right
to left, also used to describe some forms of typesetting.
bowdlerize - To purge literature of all possibly offensive or morally impure
material
brachiation - The act of swinging through the trees, such as performed by
monkeys
brachistichrone - The path between two points along which a particle travels for the shortest time
brachycephalic - Having a head that is broad
breem - Pertaining to a female pig who wants to mate
breve - The small curve above a vowel which symbolizes a short sound
breviloquent - Speaking briefly about a subject
brevirostrate - Having a short nose
brimborion - Something which is useless or nonsensical
bromatology - A discourse on food
bromidrosiphobia - A fear of body odour or sweat
bronteum - A device used in theater or movies to create thunder
brontide - The low rumbling of distant thunder
brontomancy - Divination by or magic involving thunder
brontophobia - The fear of thunder
brump - To collect branches which have fallen off of trees
bruxomania - The compulsive grinding of one’s teeth
bubulcitate - To heard cattle or to wail like a cow
buccula - A double chin
buffarilla - An extremely ugly young woman
bufoniform - Like a toad
burghbote - Donations made to repair a castle, or to build a castle
burladero - The wooden barrier in a bullring used for protection
butyraceous - Resembling butter
byrthynsak - 1. The theft of a calf or a sheep
byrthynsak - 2. Stealing as much as one can carry
C
cacestogenous - Caused by a poor home life
cacestogenous - Caused by an unfavourable home life
cachinnation - Loud or hysterical laughter
cacodaemonomania - Posessed by the devil
cacoethes - A bad habit or insatiable urge
cacogen - An antisocial person
cacohydrophobia - The fear of sewer water
cacophonophilist - One who loves harsh sounds
cacospectamania - The obsession of staring at something which is repulsive
cagamosis - An unhappy marriage
cagophilist - A collector of keys
cainophobia - A fear of anything new
cainotophobia - See cainophobia
caitiff - A despicable or cowardly person
calamistration - The act of curling hair
callet - A drab untidy woman
calligyniaphobia - The fear of beautiful women
callipygian - Having a beautiful rear end
callipygous - Having a beautiful rear end
callithumpian - The sounds of a big parade, usually accompanied by horns
and noise makers
calypso - A fashion in which women tie a knot in their shirt and exposes
her waist
camelopard - A mythical beast with a camel father and a leopard as a
mother.
cameralistics - The science of managing public finances
campanology - The study of bells or of bell ringing
cancatervate - To heap up into a pile
cantabank - A second rate singer
capernoited - Slightly intoxicated or tipsy
capnomancy - Divination by smoke
carapace - The shell of an animal such as a turtle or armadillo
carcinomatophobia - See carcinophobia
carcinomorphic - Resembling a crab
carcinophobia - A fear of cancer
carfumish - To dissipate a foul smell
carker - A mischievieous child or brat
carnophobia - A fear of meat
carphologia - See floccillation
cartomancy - Magic using cards or prophecy using cards
cartomaniac - A collector of maps
caryatid - A female sculpture which is used as a pillar
casuist - A sophist who insists on debating the smallest details
catagelophobia - A fear of ridicule
cataglottism - The act of sticking out one’s tongue while kissing
catapedamania - The obsession with jumping from high places
catapedaphobia - A fear of jumping from a high (or low) place
cathartic - Something which is used to clean one’s bowels
cathisophobia - A fear of sitting
catholicon - A remedy for all ailments, or a miracle cure-all
catholicum - A medicine which can cure everything
catoptomancy - Divination using a mirror or several mirrors
catoptromancy - Divination based on how a face appears when viewed in
a mirror underwater
catoptrophobia - A fear of mirrors
causeuse - A sofa built for two people
ceilidh - 1. A private conversation or visit
ceilidh - 2. An evening of musical entertainment
celation - The act of hiding a pregnancy
celibataire - A bachelor
cenacle - The large room in which the last supper took place
cenatory - Pertaining to dinner or supper
ceneromancy - Divination using ashes
cenogamy - Communal marriage
cephalalgic - Any form of headache remedy
cephaleonomancy - Telling the future by examining the boiled head of an
ass
cephalomancy - Divination by boiling a head, usually that of a donkey
ceraunomancy - Divination by or magic using thunderbolts
cercopithecan - Pertaining to monkeys
cerebropathophobia - A fear of going insane because of a disease
chaetophobia - A fear of hair
chafferer - A vendor who enjoys talking while making a sale
chalcenterous - Having bowels of brass
chankings - Pieces of food which are rejected from what is chewed. (spat
out)
charette - an intensive effort to complete something before the deadline
Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg - A Native
American lake name meaning ”you fish on your side, I fish on my side an no
one fishes in the middle”
charientism - An artfully veiled insult
chavish - The sound of many birds chirping together, or many people chatting
at once
cheiloproclitic - Being attracted to a person’s lips
cheimaphobia - A fear of coldness or being cold
cheimatophobia - See cheimaphobia
chelonian - Like a turtle
cherophobia - A fear of merriment
chiliad - A period of one thousand years
chiliasm - The doctrine that Christ will return and reign for a thousand
years
chilihedron - A solid with 1000 equal sides
chionophobia - A fear of snow
chirocracy - The state of being ruled by force (literally by a strong hand)
chirognomy - See chiromancy
chirogymnast - A device used to exercise only the fingers, especially for
pianists
chiromancy - Foretelling the future by studying a person’s hand
chirotonsor - An alternate title for a barber
chirotony - A vote which is taken by a show of hands
cholangiocholecystocholedochectomy - The surgical removal of the hepatic
duct, common duct, and gall bladder
choregus - The financial backer in ancient Greece, usually of a play
chorophobia - A fear of dancing
chorophobia - Fear of dancing
chrematistic - Pertaining to business or the pursuit of wealth
chrematophobia - A fear of money
chrematophobia - The fear of wealth
chrestomathic - Devoted to academic pursuits or to learning in general
chrisom - A child who dies before being baptised
chromatophobia - See chromophobia
chromophobia - A fear of colours
chromotocracy - A government dominated by one race
chronomancy - Divining the best time for certain events
chronophobia - The fear of time
chryselephantine - Made of or decorated with gold and ivory
chrysocracy - Rulership by the wealthy (literally a government by gold)
chrysology - The study of production and value of precious metals
chrysophobia - A fear of gold
cibophobia - A fear of food
cingulomania - A desire to hold someone in your arms
circumlocution - An overly complicated means of expression
clapperclaw - To berate or scold, or the person doing the scolding
clapperdudgeon - A beggar whose parents were beggars
clawscrunt - An old tree used as a scratching post, usually by cattle
cleidomancy - Divination using a key
cleisiophobia - A fear of enclosed spaces
clepsammia - An ”hourglass” which measures a period of time other than
an hour
cleptobiosis - The act of plundering food
cleptophobia - The fear of thieves or of becoming a thief
cleromancy - Divination involving dice
climacophobia - The fear of falling downstairs
clinomania - An excessive desire to remain in bed
clinophobia - A fear of going to bed
clithrophobia - A fear of enclosed spaces
cloffn - To sit idly by a fire
cnidophobia - A fear of insect stings
cnidosiphobia - A fear of itching
cockalorum - A person who thinks they are bigger than they are
coenesthesis - An awareness of one’s body and overall health
coimetrophobia - See koimetrophobia
collieshangie - An uproar or a quarrel
colporteur - A book peddler, particularly religious books
colposinquanonia - Estimating a woman’s beauty based on her chest
comestion - A devouring by fire
comiconomenclaturist - One who collects funny names
comprachico - A person who buys and sells children after deforming them
comprivigni - The relation of a child to its step-siblings
conchologist - A collector of shells
conchomancy - Divination using shells
concilliabule - A secret meeting of people who are hatching a plot
concionative - Pertaining to public speaking
conskite - To cause a foul smell, particularly when afraid
conventicle - A secret or unlawful religious assembly
coprophagan - A beetle that lives in dung
coprophagous - One who eats excrement
coprophobia - A fear of excrement
coprostasiphobia - A fear of constipation
coriaceous - Leatherlike, particularly pertaining to skin
coriaceous - To be tough and leathery, (such as over tanned skin)
corsned - A medieval trial in which the accused had to swallow consecrated
bread
cosherer - Someone who eats at the expense of others, especially relatives
cosmolatry - The worship of nature
cosmopoietic - An adjective referring to world creating
costermonger - A seller of fruits, vegetables, and other food, especially
from a street cart
cotquean - A man who does what is traditionally women’s work
couther - To comfort by giving refreshments and warmth
crambazzle - A worn out old man
crantara - A burnt piece of wood dipped in blood and taken from clan to
clan as a signal
crapulent - Illness caused by overeating
cremnophobia - A fear of cliffs or precipices
cremnophobia - A fear of precipices
creophagous - Pertaining to something or someone which eats meat
crepitation - The crackling and popping sound accompanying a wood fire
crepuscle - The fading light at the end of the day, also known as twilight
cretaceous - Chalky or grayish white
cribble - To push something through a sieve
crithomancy - Divination by spreading flour or dough over a sacrificed
animal
criticasters - Third rate mean spirited critics
cromnyomancy - Magic or divination using an onion
croodle - Too coo like a dove
croosle - A low whimper, such as produced by infants
crose - To whine empathetically with someone who is in pain
crosier - The ceremonial staff of bishops or abbots
crotaline - Resembling a rattlesnake
cruciverbalist - Someone who loves doing crossword puzzles
crurophilous - Pertaining to one who likes legs
cryophobia - A fear of ice or frost
cryptarchy - A government which is run secretly
cucurbitaceous - resembling a cucumber or a squash
culacino - The mark left on the table by a moist glass
culch - Rubbage and refuse of every form
culliage - The right of a lord to spend the first night with his subjects new
bride
cullion - A rude, mean-spirited person
cultrivorous - Pertaining to actual or illusory knife swallowing
cummock - A staff with a crooked end on it
cunctipotent - Being all powerfull, or omnipotent
curglaff - The shock felt when entering cold water
curpin - A bird’s back end
cyesolagnia - Being attracted to pregnant women
cymophobia - The fear of waves
cynanthropy - The delusion that one is a dog
cynocephalous - Having the face or head of a dog
cynophobia - A fear of dogs
cyprianophobia - The fear of prostitutes
cypridophobia - The fear of prostitutes
cypripareuniaphile - A person who loves prostitutes
cytology - The study of cells or the interaction of cells
czarevna - The proper title for the daughter of a czar
D
dactyliology - The study of finger rings
dactylion - The tip of the middle finger
dactylonomy - Counting using one’s fingers
daedalian - Ingenious and cunningly designed
davering - Walking or moving in a dazed manner
deasil - To move in a clockwise direction
decidophobia - A fear of making decisions
decollate - To remove someone’s head, or to decapitate someone
decubitis - One’s position or posture while sleeping
defalcation - Misappropriation of funds by the person or group entrusted
with them
defecalgesiophobia - A fear of defecation
defenestrate - To throw out of a window
deiparous - Giving birth to a god or a goddess
deipnophobia - A fear of dinner conversation
deipnosophy - Learned conversation conducted while dining
deisidaimonia - The fear of supernatural powers
deltiologist - A collector of picture postcards
dementophobia - A fear of insanity or going insane
demitoilet - A style of elaborate but not formal dress
demiurge - The creator of a world, whether real or mythical
demonocracy - Rulership by demons
demonomancy - Divination by demons
demonophobia - A fear of demons
demophobia - A fear of crowds or people
dendranthropology - A discipline which studies the theory that man came
from trees
dendrochronology - The study of growth rings in logs to determine cli-mates
dendrology - The study of trees
dendrophillia - The love of trees
dendrophobia - The fear of trees
dentiloquent - Pertaining to someone who talks through their teeth
deoppilate - To remove an obstruction
deorsumversion - A turning down
deosculation - The act of kissing
dephlegmate - To distill something, such as alcohol
dephlogisticate - To make something fireproof
dermatoglyphics - The study of skin patterns, such as finger prints
dermatopathophobia - A fear of skin diseases
dermatophobia - A fear of skin
deuterogamist - A widow who chooses to remarry
dextrophobia - A fear of the right or things to the right
dextrosinistral - A left handed person who is trained to use their right
hand
dghaisa - A small boat used in Malta, similar to a gondola
dharna - A method of collecting a debt in which the person who is owed
money sits on the debtors doorstep until payment is made, or the debtor
starves to death
diabolarchy - Rulership by the devil
diacritics - The marks used in dictionaries to symbolize pronounciation
diamerismapygian - one with flattened buttocks
diamerismapygianitis - inflamation from flattening of the buttocks usually
caused by long periods of sitting
didaskaleinophobia - A fear of school
didine - Resembling a dodo bird
dikephobia - A fear of justice
dinmont - A castrated ram between one and two years old
dinophobia - A fear of dizziness
diophysitic - Having two separate personalities
diplasiasmus - The incorrect doubling of a letter when spelling a word
dippoldism - The act of beating or whipping school children
dipsomanophobia - A fear of drinking alcohol
dipsophobia - A fear of drinking alcohol
discophoran - Like a jellyfish
dishabillophobia - The fear of undressing or undressing in front of some-one
dithyramb - A hymn or poem to honor Bacchus
ditokous - Producing twins
diurnation - To sleep during the day
divigate - To stray, as in the opposite of navigate
divitiphobia - The fear of wealth
doctiloquent - Talking about a subject which you have studied and know a lot about
dolabriform - Shaped like the head of an ax
doles - The two short grips on the handle of a scythe
dolichocephalic - Having a head that is longer than it is wide
dolichprosopic - Having an unusually long face
dolorifuge - Something that cures grief
domatologist - A professional housekeeper
domatophobia - A fear of houses or being stuck in a house
dommerer - A beggar who fakes being deaf and mute
dompteuse - A woman who trains animals
doraphobia - A fear of fur or animal skins
dorsodynia - A pain in the back
dowfart - A stupid dull person
doytin - To walk about stupidly
drapetomania - An overwhelming urge to run away from home
dratchell - A slovenly, lazy woman
dringle - Somebody who likes to waste time
drintling - The clucking noise made by turkeys
dririmancy - Divination by dripping blood
drizzen - A mounful wail, usualy by a lazy person forced to work
dromophobia - The fear of streets or crossing the street
droud - An oafish woman
dudman - A scarecrow made of old cloths
dufffie - The practice of laying a bottle on its side for a long time to get
out the last drops
dulocracy - A government formed of privileged slaves
dunnage - 1. The loose stuffng used to keep cargo from getting wet or
from moving
dunnage - 2. The material placed in boxes to protect the contents from
damage
dunnage - 3. Any form of luggage or baggage
dwaible - being unstable
dwale - To wander about deliriously
dwizzen - To shrivel up like old fruit, especially applied to old people
dysania - The state of having a rough time waking up in the morning
dysepulotic - Not healing quickly or easily
dysesthesia - An impairment of the senses, especially the sense of touch
dysmorphophobia - A fear of being deformed
dysnomy - The creation of flawed laws which cause more problems
dysphoria - An unwell feeling
dysteleogist - One who believes in the purposeless of nature
dystopia - A society in which the conditions or horrid and people miserable.
Also the opposite of utopia
dystychiphobia - A fear of accidents
dyvors - People or businesses who have gone bankrupt or are disreputable
E
earrent - The damage or removal of an ear in lieu of payment on a debt or
rent
eccedentesiast - A person who fakes a smile, such as on television
ecclesiarchy - Rulership by the church
ecclesioclastic - Disruptive or destructive to the church
ecclesiolatry - Excessive devotion to one’s church
ecclesiophobia - A fear of churches
ecdysiophile - A person who likes to visit strip joints or watch people strip
echinoproctous - Having a spiny or prickly rump (like a pocupine)
ecophobia - A fear of one’s home
ectomorphic - Being slender and thin
edacious - voracious and devouring
efter - A thief who robs theater patrons during a show
eidolism - The belief in ghosts and spirits
eisegesis - A faulty interpretation of a text caused by reading in one’s own
ideas
eisoptrophobia - A fear of mirrors
electrophobia - A fear of electricity
eleutherophillist - Someone who advocates free love
eleutherophobia - A fear of freedom
elurophobia - A fear of cats
emacity - An urge to buy or to spend money
emetophobia - The fear of vomiting
empleomania - An insatiable urge to hold public offce
emunction - The act of removing obstructions from or cleaning bodily
passages (such as picking ones nose)
encephalasthenia - A form of mental distress caused by emotional stress
endomorphic - Being short but powerful
enetophobia - A fear of pins and needles
engastration - The act of stuffng one bird into another
enigmatology - The study and construction of puzzles
enissophobia - See enosiophobia
enneagon - A figure which has nine angles
enochlophobia - A fear of crowds
enoptromancy - Divination using a mirror
enoptrophobia - A fear of mirrors
enosiophobia - The fear that one has commited an unpardonable sin
entheate - Divinely inspired or possessed by a god
entomophobia - A fear of insects
entredentolignumologist - One who collects toothpick boxes
eosophobia - A fear of the dawn
ephemeromorph - Any form of life too low to be classified as animal or vegetable
epincion - A victory song or anthem
episcopicide - The act of killing a bishop
epistaxiophobia - A fear of nose bleeds
eponym - A name that has become a word
equinophobia - A fear of horses
eremikophobia - A fear of sand or deserts
eremology - The study of deserts
eremophobia - A fear of being alone
eremophobia - The fear of stillness
ereuthrophobia - See Erythrophobia
ergasophobia - The fear of work
ergophobia - The fear of work
eroteme - The symbol used in writing known as a question mark
erotographophobia - The fear of writing love letters
erythrophobia - A fear of blushing
escutcheon - A decorative metal plates around doorknobs or locks
estafette - A courier who rides on a horse
estiferous - Pertaining to something which produces heat
estivation - To go away somewhere for the summer
estrapade - A horse’s attempt to remove their rider
ethnocracy - Rulership by a specific race
ethnomethodology - The study of social customs and rules
ethnomusicology - The study of folk music
eudemonics - The study or the science of happiness
eunomy - The enactment of good laws that help people
euonym - A good name
euphobia - A fear of good news
eupsychics - Good education or teaching
eutectic - Easily melted or fused, especially at low temperatures
exclaustration - The act of leaving or being expelled from a religious
retreat
exennium - A gift given at New Years
eximious - Choice, select or excellent
exophagy - The tradition among cannibals that they may not eat one from
their own tribe
explaterate - To talk continuosly without stop
exsibilation - The collective hisses of a disapproving audience
exsufficate - Something which is silly or triffing
extispex - A person who predicts the future using entrails
extispicy - Divination using entrails
F
famulus - An assistant to a scholar or magician
farctate - The state of being stuffed with food (overeating)
fashimite - Someone who is a slave to fashion
favillous - Resembling ashes
feaque - A dirty, lazy man
feazings - The frayed and unraveled ends of a rope
febriphobia - A fear of fever
felinophobia - A fear of cats
felly - The outer wooden rim of a wheel
feriae - Days in the ancient roman culture in which all people, including
slaves, got a holiday
feriation - Taking time off of one’s work to relax or to travel
ferrule - 1.The metal tip on an umbrella
ferrule - 2. The threaded knob that holds a lampshade in place
ferrule - 3. A protective metal cap on the end of a cane or a tool handle
festinate - To walk fast or to move rapidly
fettler - A person skilled at repairing tools or machinery
fewterer - A keeper of dogs or manager of a kennel
fibriophobia - See febriphobia
fideism - Reliance upon one’s religion instead or reason for beliefs and truths
fidimplicitary - A person who has implicit faith
filiopietistic - The practice of worshipping one’s ancestors
filipendulous - Being suspended by a single thread
filipendulous - Suspended by a single thread
fimicoloud - Living in a dung heap
fissilingual - Having a forked tongue
fittie-lan - The near horse of the hindmost pair pulling a plough
flavescent - Yellowish or turning yellow
fletcherize - To chew each piece of food at least thirty times
flexiloquent - Pertaining to someone who speaks ambiguously
floccillation - The delirious picking at bedclothes by a sick person
floccinaucinihilipilification - The categorizing of something that is useless
or trivial
fluctisonant - Having the sound of rolling waves
flyndrig - An impudent or deceiving woman
fomentation - The application of warm substances to diseased parts
foof - To howl and whine like a wounded dog
formication - The sensation of bugs crawling over one’s body
fossick - To search for gold in abandoned claims or to rummage around for
anything valuable
franion - A pleasure seeker or hedonist
fremescence - The grumbling sound of an unhappy mob of people
friendorphobia - A fear of forgetting a password
frisson - A shudder of excitement that courses through the body
fritinancy - The chirping or croaking sound of insects
frustling - The shaking and showing of feathers by birds, or the strutting
around of someone with fancy clothing
frustraneous - unprofitable and completely useless
fruzz - To rub hair the wrong way, as when petting a dog from tail to head
fucoid - Resembling sea weed
fudgeon - A fussy person
fulmination - A loud and violent explosion, either literally or figuratively
fumifugist - Something or someone which expels smoke
funambulist - A tight rope walker
fungy - A type of deep dish blueberry pie
funkify - To run away in fear
furfuraceous - Covered with scales or dandruff flakes
furr-ahin - The hindmost horse on the right pulling a plough
fuscoferuginous - Having a dark rusty colour
fustilug - A fat, clumsy, lazy, filthy slob
fyerk - To flick away using one’s finger and thumb
fysigunkus - A person who lacks curiosity
G
gaberlunzie - A wandering beggar or a harmless hobo
galea - A headache which covers the entire head
galeanthropy - The delusion that one is a cat
galeophobia - A fear of cats
galeophobia - A fear of sharks
galligantus - A tall and awkward person
gambrinous - Being full of beer
gametophobia - See gamophobia
gamomania - An urge to make extravagant wedding proposals
gamophobia - A fear of marriage
gargalesthesia - The sensation caused by tickling
gastromancy - Divination using a crystal ball
gatophobia - See galeophobia
gaum - To stare vacantly or handle in a clumsy manner
geck - An expression of scorn or contempt
gelophobia - A fear of laughter
geloscopy - Divination involving laughter
genethliacon - A poem which is written for someone’s birthday
genethliacon - A poem written for someone’s birthday
geniophobia - A fear of chins
genuphobia - A fear of knees
geophagy - The act of eating dirt or clay
gephyrophobia - the fear of crossing bridges.
gerasophobia - A fear of old age or of growing old
gerontocomium - An institution designed to take care of the elderly
gerontocracry - A government of old people (often the old boys network)
gerontophillia - The love of the elderly
gerontophobia - A fear of old age or of growing old
geumaphobia - The fear of taste
geumatophobia - See geumaphobia
gigantomachize - To be at war with one’s superiors
gigantomachy - A war between giants
gigmania - The smug obsession with attaining middle class respectability
girouettism - Altering one’s opinions to match public trends
gliriform - Resembling a rodent
glossophobia - The fear of speaking, especially in public
gork - A patient with unknown ailment. (Short for God only really knows)
gormandizer - One who eats to excess
graminivorous - Eating grass
grammaticaster - A person who is pedantic regarding proper grammar
grandgousier - One who will eat as much as possible of anything
grapholagnia - The urge to stare at obscene pictures
graphophobia - The fear of writing or of the written word
graptomancy - Divination using hand writing
gressible - Able to walk
griffonage - Illegible or sloppy hand writing
grimthorpe - To badly remodel a building ignoring its character or history
grinagog - a person with a big stupid grin
groak - To stare at someone who is eating in hopes of getting food
gubernator - A powerful man in government
gubernatrix - A powerful woman in government
gudgeons - The slots on a hinge which hold the pin in place
guidfather - Another name for one’s father in law
guttersnipe - A member of the lowest class in society or a street person
gymnogynomania - The urge to spy on people when they are undressing
gymnophobia - A fear of nudity
gymnophoria - The sensation that someone is mentally undressing you
gynarchy - Rulership by women
gynecocracy - A government consisting of women
gynephobia - The fear of women
gynocracy - See gynecocracry
gynonudomania - The urge to rip off a woman’s clothing
gynophobia - See gynephobia
gynotikolobomassophilia - A proclivity for nibbling on women’s earlobes
gyromancy - Divination involving walking in a circle until you fall down
gyrovague - A monk who begs and sponges off of other monks
H
hadeharia - The practice of constantly using the word ”Hell” in speaking
hagiarchy - A government of saints
hagiocracy - Rulership by saints
hagiolatry - The worship of saints
haingle - To amble along in a feeble and listless manner
hajj - A pilgrimage to Mecca
halidom - Anything considered holy or sacred
haliography - A description of the sea
halomancy - Divination or magic using salt
hamartiologist - An expert on the subject of sin
hamartithia - Being likely to make a mistake
hamartophobia - A fear of sin or of sinning
hamiform - Shaped like a hook
hamirostrate - Having a hooked beak
haphephobia - See aphephobia
haptephobia - See aphephobia
haptodysphoria - A unpleasent feeling caused by handling any fuzzy surface
harengiform - Shaped like a herring
harpactophage - A predator which feeds on insects
harpaxophobia - The fear of thieves or of becoming a thief
harridan - A disreputable and violent woman
haruspex - person who predicts the future using entrails
haruspication - Divination using entrails
haruspicy - See haruspication
hasenpfeffer - A well seasoned rabbit stew
havelock - The cloth that hangs from the back of a hat to protect the wearer’s neck
hawsehole - The hole on a ship through which the anchor is lowered
heautontimorumenos - A form of masochism
heautontimorumenos - A masochist
hebephobia - The fear of young people
hebesphalmology - The study of juvenile deliquency
hecatomb - A religious sacrifice of 100 animals, or any mass slaughter
hecatompedon - Any building which is either 100 feet long or wide
hederaceous - Pertaining to ivy
hederate - To decorate with ivy
hednon - A present given to someone at their wedding
hedonophobia - A fear of pleasure
heliolater - A sun worshipper
heliophobia - The fear of the Sun
heliotropism - The tendency of plants to turn towards the sun
Hellenologophobia - A fear of Greek terms or complex terminology
hellenomania - The obsession with using either foreign or obscure wording
helminthophobia - The fear of becoming infested with worms
helminthous - Infested with intestinal worms
hemaphobia - See Hematophobia
hematomancy - Divination using blood
hematophagous - One who drinks blood
hematophobia - A fear of blood or the sight of blood
hemeralopia - Only being able to see at night
hemeraphonia - Able to speak only at night
hemophobia - See Hematophobia
heresyphobia - A fear of heresy
hermeneutics - Interpretations of the Bible
herpetiform - Resembling a reptile
herpetophobia - A fear of reptiles
heteropraxy - Pertaining to people who do not follow the teachings of their
religion
hibernicism - An Irish trait or custom
hierocracy - Rulership by the church or by church offcials
hierofastidia - A dislike of all holy objects
hieromachy - A war between members of the clergy
hieromancy - Divination using entrails
hierophobia - A fear of the clergy or of holy people
hieroscopy - Divination using entrails
higgler - A salesperson who insists on a certain price
hippanthropy - The delusion that one is a horse
hippobosca - A blood sucking fly
hippomancy - Divination by horses, or by the neighing of horses
hippophobia - A fear of horses
hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian - Pertaining to extremely long words
hirci - Armpit hair
hircine - Resembling or smelling like a goat
hirrient - A heavy trilling sound, such as a cat purring
hirsutophilia - An attraction to hairy men
hirsutophilia - Being attracted to hairy men
hirudinoid - Like a leech
hisbid - Having stubbly or being unshaven
hodophobia - The fear of travelling
homichlophobia - A fear of fog
homilophobia - A fear of sermons
hominist - One who advocates equal rights for men
honorificabilitudinitatibus - With honorableness (a nonsense word from
medieval literature)
hordarian - The treasurer of a monastery or someone who controls a lot of
money
hormephobia - A fear of shock
horology - The science of measuring time or making time pieces
horripilate - To get goose bumps
howdah - The riding seat on the back of an elephant
hoxter - The inside pocket on a suit or coat
humicubate - To lie still, as in some forms of prayer
humuhumunukunukuapuaa - A small Hawaiian fish
hyalophobia - A fear of glass
hydragyophobia - A fear of mercurial medicines
hydromancy - Divination by water of magic involving water
hydrophobia - The fear of water
hydrophobophobia - A fear of rabies
hydrophobophobia - The fear of hydrophobia
hyetophobia - A fear of rain
hygrophobia - A fear of dampness
hygrophobia - A fear of liquids
hylephobia - A fear of epilepsy
hylephobia - A fear of materialism
hylophobia - A fear of forests
hylotheism - The belief that god and the universe are the same thing
hylozoism - The belief that matter has life and that life is a property of
matter
hypegiaphobia - See hypengyophobia
hypengyophobia - A fear of responsibility
hyperhedonia - Excessive pleasure caused by boring tasks
hypermnesia - Having an exceptional memmory
hyperprosexia - Excessive attention to something
hyperthemalgesia - An increased sensitivity to heat
hypnomancy - Divination by hypnosis
hypnophobia - A fear of sleeping
hypnopompic - the fuzzy state between being awake and asleep
hypobulia - Trouble making up one’s mind
hypophobia - A fear of not being afraid
hyposmia - A disorder in which one has no sense of smell
hypselotimophobia - A fear of high prices
hypsiphobia - A fear of heights or high places
I
iatrapistia - A lack of faith in the medical system
iatrogenic - Pertaining to medical problems caused by a doctor’s treatment
iatrophobia - A fear of going to the doctor
ichnography - A map or floor plan which is drawn to scale
ichnology - The study of fossilized footprints
ichnomancy - Divination using footprints
ichor - The blood of a god
ichthyomancy - Divination or magic involving fish
icker - A single ear of corn
iconomancy - Divination using icons
icthyophobia - A fear of fish
idolomancy - Divination using idols
ignipotent - Having control of or power over fire
illeism - The practice of referring to oneself as ”he” or ”she”, or by one’s
name
illyngophobia - The fear of vertigo
imbriferous - rain carrying, such as clouds
impecunious - Having little or no money
impecunious - Having no cash or money
inaniloquent - Speaking foolishly or saying silly things
incicurable - Being untamable
incunabula - A book which was printed before 1500 AD, in the dawn of
publishing
infracaninophile - One who supports or defends the underdog
inlapidate - To petrify an object
interamnian - Being between rivers
interfenestration - 1. The space between two windows
interfenestration - 2. The art of placing windows
intrapreneur - A company employee who is not bound by rules or policies
and who is free to refine products
iophobia - A fear of poison or being poisoned
iophobia - A fear of rust
ipsedixitism - The practice of dogmatic assertion
irenology - The study of peace
isocracy - A government in which everyone has equal power
isopterophobia - The fear of termites
itaiitai - A diseases caused by cadmium entering the body
izles - Any sparks or embers which rise from a chimney
J
jactancy - The act of boasting or bragging
jactitate - To toss and turn or to toss back and forth
jaculiferous - Having a spine resembling a row of darts
jarble - To smear with grime and mud
jauk - To dally or to trifle, or to be slow in performing tasks
jecoral - Pertaining to the liver
jeeter - A rude, uncouth slob
jejunator - A person who fasts
jentacular - Pertaining to breakfast
jeofail - A costly mistake made by a lawyer , usually in court
jerque - To search for smuggled items
jookerie - Trickery or the act of swindling
joola - A suspension bridge built out of ropes
jowfair - An event which does not occur after much planning, such as a
wedding with no groom
jowter - A person who sells fish
jubate - Fringed with a mane of long hair
jumentous - Smelling like horse urine
junta - All the people who are involved in some form of political intrique
K
kaffyeh - The cloth head gear worn by many palestinians
kainophobia - See cainophobia
kainotophobia - See cainophobia
kakidrosiphobia - A fear of body odour or sweat
kakistocracy - Rulership by the worst leader
kakorrhaphiophobia - A fear of failure
kalling - Fortunetelling based on what variety of cabbage a blindfolded person
picks
kalogram - A monogram which uses the persons full name
kalology - The study of beauty
kalopsia - The delusion that things are more beautiful than they really are
kamalayka - A shirt made of seal guts
kantele - A five stringed harp from Finland
karao - The marriage of a widow to her brother-in-law
katagelophobia - See catagelophobia
kathenotheism - The belief that there are multiple gods with a single
leader
kathisophobia - See cathisophobia
keb - An ewe which has aborted its lamb
kebbie - A Scottish walking stick or cudgel
keedug - A raincoat made out of an old sack
keelivine - A pencil which uses lead
kenophobia - The fear of open spaces
kepi - The hat worn by members of the french foreign legion
keraunophobia - The fear of thunderbolts (lightning or thunder and lightning)
keraunoscopia - Divination using thunder
kerdomeletia - An excessive desire for material wealth
kerf - The initial cut made in a piece of wood that is used to guide the saw
blade
kevel - To paw the ground and toss one’s head like a bull
kinesipathy - The practice of treating illness with exercise
kinesophobia - A fear of motion or movement
kirkbuzzer - One who robs churches
kiyoodle - A mangy, worthless dog
klebenleiben - A pathological reluctance to stop talking about a given
subject
klebenleiben - The reluctance to stop talking about a certain subject
knissomancy - Divination using burning incense
koimetrophobia - A fear of cemeteries
koinoniphobia - A fear of a room full of people
koniophobia - A fear of dust
kopophobia - A fear of being mentally or physically exhausted
korophilia - Being attracted to young men or boys
kosmokrator - The ruler of the world
krobylos - A tuft of hair on top of one’s head
krukolibidinous - The act of staring at someone’s crotch
kurveyor - A travelling merchant who sells dry goods from a cart
kymatology - The study of waves
kymophobia - See cymophobia
kynophobia - See cynophobia
kyphophobia - The fear of stooping
kyphorrhinos - Having a nose with a bump in it
kyphotic - Hump-backed
L
labeorphilist - A collector of beer bottles
labrose - Having large or thick lips
lachanophobia - The fear of vegetables
lachanophobia - The fear of vegetables
laliophobia - See lalophobia
lalochezia - The use of foul or abusive language to relieve stress or ease
pain
lalophobia - The fear of speaking
lanigerous - Wool bearing or covered with fine hair
Laodicean - Being lax in one’s religious beliefs or indifferent to religion
lapidate - To stone a person to death
lapidicolous - Living under rocks
larging - The wasteful spending of money received through an inheritance,
loan, or gift
latitudinarian - A person who tolerates all religions or beliefs
latrate - To bark like a dog
latrinalia - Using words that are fit for a restroom wall
latrinology - The study of writings on restroom walls
latrocination - Highway robbery or overcharging people
lavacultophilia - A desire to stare at someone in a bathing suit
leister - A three pronged, barbed spear used for catching fish
lepidophobia - A fear of butterflies
leptorrhinian - having a long narrow nose
lestobiosis - The act of pilfering food
lethologica - The inability to recall a precise word for something
leukophobia - The fear of the color white
levirate - The marriage of a woman to her husbands brother
levophobia - A fear of the left side or things to the left
lexiconophilist - A collector of dictionaries and word books
lexiphanicism - Showing off by using words
ligyrophobia - A fear of loud noises
lilapsophobia - A fear or hurricanes, cyclones, or tornadoes
limacine - Like a slug
limicolous - Living in mud or slime
limnology - The study of fresh water, such as lakes or ponds
limnophobia - A fear of lakes
linonophobia - The fear of string
lirp - To snap one’s fingers
lithomancy - Divination by stones
litigaphobia - A fear of being sued or of lawsuits
loganamnosis - The obsession with recalling a certain word
logastellus - A person whose love of words is greater than their knowledge
of words
logocracy - Rulership by words
logodaedaly - Verbal trickery or legerdemain
logogogue - A person who leads others in the use of words or by the use
of words
logographer - A person who writes speeches or chronicles historical events
logomachist - A person who engages in a war of words
logomachize - To engage in a war of words
logomachy - A war of words or a battle about words
logomancy - Divination by words or by speech
logomaniac - A person obsessed with words
logomaniac - A person who is crazy about words
logophile - A person who loves words
logophobia - The fear of words
logorrhea - Excessive talking (or verbal diarrhea)
lohock - Medicine which is administered by licking it
longanimity - The ability to suffer patiently
longiloquent - Extremely long-winded
lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonop- A goulash composed of all the leftovers from the meals of the leftovers from
the meals of the last two weeks
lorgnette - A pair of glasses mounted on a handle
loupe - The small magnifying glass used by jewellers
lubberland - A mythical paradise reserved for those who are lazy
lucubrator - A person who studies during the night
lustration - Ceremonial purefication performed before entering a holy place
lychnobite - A person who works at night and sleeps during the day
lygerastia - The condition of one who is only amorous when the lights are
out
lygophobia - A fear of darkness or of the night
lypothymia - Profound melancholy
lysistrataphobia - The fear that women will subvert men and take over
the world
lyssophobia - 1.A fear of going insane
lyssophobia - 2. A fear of rabies
M
machiaphobia - The fear of war
mackabroin - A hideous old woman
macrobian - Describes any organism which has a long life
macrologist - A boring conversationalist, usually met at parties
macromancy - Divination by studying the largest object in the area
macron - The horizontal line above a vowel to symbolize a long sound
maculate - To stain or make impure
maculomancy - Divination by spots
magniloquent - Speaking pompously or in a high flown manner
maieusiophobia - See maieuticophobia
maieuticophobia - A fear of childbirth
malacissation - The process of making something soft and pliable
malacodermous - Soft skinned
malaxophobia - A fear of love play, especially in women
maledicent - One who is addicted to abusive speech
maledictaphobia - Fear of bad words
malophile - One who loves apples
malversation - corruption and misconduct among public offcials
mammothrept - A child who is raised and spoiled by their grandmother
manducable - Edible or soft enough to chew
margaritomancy - Divination using pearls
mariticide - The murder of a husband by his wife
maritodespotism - Tyrranical rulership of a woman by her husband
maritorious - Excessively devoted to one’s husband
martext - A blundering preacher who stumbles through a sermon
mastigophobia - The fear of whipping or being whipped
mataeotechny - An unprofitable art or science
mathemancy - Divination using mathematics
matronolagnia - An attraction to older women, especially women who
have children
matutolypea - Getting up on the wrong side of the bed
meacock - A meak man who dotes on his wife, or is henpecked
mechanophobia - A fear of machinery
meconomancy - Divination by sleep or magic using sleep
megalophobia - A fear of large things
megamalophile - 1. One who really loves apples
megamalophile - 2. One who love the Big Apple
melissophobia - A fear of bees
melittology - The study of bees
melliloquent - Pertaining to a smooth talker or a con artist (literally honeytongued)
mellisugent - Honey-sucking
melolagnia - Amorous feeling inspired by music
melophobia - A fear of music
mendaciloquent - Able to tell artful or skilled lies
mentimutation - The act of changing one’s mind
merdivorous - One who eats excrement
merdurinous - Composed of urine and dung
merinthophobia - A fear of being tied and bound
meritocracy - Rulership by the most skilled leader
mesocracy - Government formed from the middle class
mesomorphic - Being big-boned and muscular
metallophobia - A fear of metals
metapneustic - Having one’s respiratory organs in one’s butt
meteoromancy - Divination using meteors
meteorophobia - A fear of meteors
metopomancy - Divination using a person’s forehead
metrocracry - A government formed of mothers
metrophobia - A fear of poetry
metrophobia - A hatred or fear of poetry
metutials - A small, irritating chore which must be performed before other
work can commence
microlipet - Someone who gets upset about trivial things
micromancy - Divination by studying the smallest object in the area
microphobia - A fear of small things
mimp - To speak in a prissy manner, usually with pursed lips
minimifidian - Having virtually no faith, almost faithless
misandronist - A person who believes men are the source of all problems
misapodysis - The fear of being undressed or seen undressed
misarchist - One who hates any form of authority
misocapnist - One who hates the smell of tobacco smoke
misodoctakleidist - Someone who hates practicing the piano
misogamist - One who hates marriage
misologist - A hater of knowledge and enlightenment
misomaniac - A person who hates everything
misomath - A hater of math or science
misoneist - A hater of things which are new
misopedist - One who detests children
misopolemiac - A hater of war and strife
misoscopist - A person who hates to look
misosophist - One who hates all wisdom or learning
misotramontanist - One who hates ”whatever is beyond the mountain”
(the unknown)
misotyrannist - One who hates tyranny
misoxene - One who hates strangers
misoxeny - The dislike of strangers
miter - The tall pointed hat worn by bishops and abbots
mnemophobia - A fear of memories
molendinaceous - Like a windmill
molendinaceous - Resembling a windmill
molysomophobia - A fear of contamination
momiology - The study of mummies
monandry - The practice of having a single husband at a time
monogenism - The belief that all humans are descended from two people
monomath - Someone who knows all about a single subject and nothing
else
monopathophobia - A fear of a specific disease
monophobia - The fear of a single thing
morologist - A boring fools who speaks nonsense
moromancy - A foolish divination
mucopurulent - Composed entirely of mucus and pus
muleta - The red cape used by matadors
multiloquent - Always talking or simply talking too much
multisonous - Composed of many different sounds
multivious - Having multiple possible paths
muriphobia - A fear of mice or rats
museology - The science of museum curatorship, including the collection
and care of antiques
musophobia - A fear of mice or rats
mutchkin - An English pint
muzhik - A Russian peasant
myctophobia - A fear of darkness or of the night
myomancy - Foretelling the future using the movement of mice
myriadigamous - Pertaining to someone who is willing to marry all kinds
of people
myrmecology - The study of ants
myrmecophobia - A fear of ants
myrmidon - A devoted servant or disciple who follows commands without
question
mysophobia - 1. A fear of contamination
mysophobia - 2. The fear of uncleanliness
mystacial - Resembling a mustache
mytacism - The incorrect or excessive use of the letter M
mythomane - Someone who is prone to lie or believe in lies
myxophobia - A fear of slime
N
nanophilia - An attraction to short people
naology - The study of holy buildings such as churches
napiform - Turnip shaped
naprapathy - The process of massaging ligaments to cure illness
narcokleptocracy - Rulership by drug dealers with ties to politicians and
the military
narcomancy - Divination by sleep or magic using sleep
nasicornous - Having a horn on one’s nose, such as a rhinoceros
nassology - The science of stuffng animals for display, also called taxidermy
natalitious - Pertaining to someone’s birthday
natatorium - An indoor swimming pool
naufragous - Causing shipwrecks
naupathia - Sea sickness
navicular - Resembling a boat, or boat shaped
neanilagnia - An attraction to teenagers
neanimorphism - Looking younger than one actually is
nearomatria - Being a young mother
nebulaphobia - A fear of clouds or of fog
nebulochaotic - A state of being hazy and confused
necrologist - A person who writes obituaries or eulogies
necromancy - Divination using black magic or the dead
necromimesis - Feigning death or the delusion that one is dead
necrophobia - A fear of corpses
necropoliphobia - A fear of cemeteries
necroponent - The person who temporarily runs a household following a
death in the family
necyomancy - Divination involving summoning the devil
nelipot - Someone who is walking without shoes
nelophobia - A fear of glass
neocracy - Rulership by inexperienced people
neopharmaphobia - A fear of new medicines or drugs
neophillia - The love of novelty
neophobia - A fear of anything that is new
neossology - The study of young birds
neoteinia - A state of prolonged immaturity
neoteinic - Pertaining to a prolonged adolescence
nepenthe - A potion which causes one to forget their troubles
nepheligenous - Producing clouds of smoke from tobacco
nephelophobia - See nephophobia
nephophobia - A fear of clouds
nepiomania - The desire of a woman to have a child
nepotal - Pertaining to a nephew
nesiote - Living upon an island
neuromancer - One who tells the future by reading a person’s neurons
nexum - A form of loan (in ancient Rome) in which the creditor could
enslave and flog the debtor if he failed to make a payment
nicitate - To close and open the eyelids rapidly, as in a blink
nidificate - To build a nest
nidor - The aroma of cooked food, particularly meat
nidorosity - Belching with the taste of undigested meat
nikhedonia - The pleasure caused by anticipating good fortune or success
nippitatum - Exceptionaly strong beer
noctiphobia - See nyctophobia
noctivagant - To roam about at night or to wander around while asleep
noctivagant - To rove or wander at night
noematachograph - A device used for measuring reaction times
nomancy - See onomancy
nomatophobia - A fear of names
nomiatrist - A lawyer whose specialty is medical law
nomographer - A person who writes laws
noology - The study of intuition and comprehension
nosism - The practive of referring to oneself as ”we”
nosocomephrenia - A depression caused by any extended stay in the
hospital
nosocomology - The study of hospital management
nosomaniaphobia - A fear of suffering from an imaginary disease
nosophobia - A fear of becoming ill
nostology - The study of senility
nostomania - Overwhelming homesickness
nostophobia - A fear of returning home
novercal - Pertaining to a stepmother
novercaphobia - The fear of one’s stepmother
noyade - A mass drowning
nucamentaceous - Pertaining to a nut
nuciverous - Nut eating
nucleomitophobia - A fear of atomic energy or nuclear weapons
nudiustertian - Pertaining to the day before yesterday
nullibiety - The state of being nowhere
nullipara - A woman with no children
numerophobia - A fear of numbers
numismatist - A coin collector
nummamorous - Pertaining to someone who spends all of their time trying
to make money
nundinal - Pertaining to a marketplace or a fair
nutation - The involuntary nodding of one’s head
nychthemeron - A period of 24-hours
nyctalopia - night blindness or the inability to see in low light
nycterent - A hunter who hunts at night
nyctophobia - A fear of darkness or night
O
obambulate - To walk around or casually wander
obdormition - The feeling one gets when a limb ”falls asleep”
obesophobia - The fear of gaining weight
obliviscence - Forgetfulness
obmutescent - Preferring to have silence or to avoid noise
obnubilate - 1.To cloud or to obscure
obnubilate - 2.To be clouded and obscure
obsolagnium - The lack of sexual desire that accompanies old age
obstipation - Extreme form of constipation
ochlochracy - A government formed by the mob
ochlophobia - A fear of crowds
ochophobia - A fear of riding in automobiles
octan - Something which happens every eight days
oculoplania - Letting one’s eyes wander while assessing someone’s charm
odontalgia - A tooth ache
odontomancy - Divination using teeth
odontophobia - The fear of teeth
odynophobia - A fear of pain
oenomancy - Divination by wine
oenophlygia - The state of being drunk
oenophobia - The fear of wine
oikology - The science of house keeping
oikomania - mental disorder caused by an abusive home
oikonisus - The desire to start a family
oikophobia - A fear of one’s home
oinomancy - See oenomancy
oinophobia - The fear of wine
olecranon - The bony tip of the elbow
olfactphobia - A fear of odors
oligarchy - A government controlled by a few people
oligophagous - One who eats only a few kinds of food
oligophrenic - being mentally deficient or having a small brain
oligotokous - Referring to a creature that lays four or less eggs
ombibulus - Someone who drinks everything
ombrometer - A device used for measuring rainfall
ombrophilous - Capable of withstanding long periods of rain
ombrophobia - A fear of rain
ombrosalgia - Aches and pains felt when it rains
ommatophobia - A fear of eyes
omniana - Bits and pieces of various information
omnierudite - One who is educated in all subjects, or who possesses universal
knowledge
omniloquent - One who can talk about any and all subjects
omophagist - A person who eats raw flesh
omoplatoscopy - Divination involving a shoulder blade which has been
charred or cracked from a fire
omphacine - Pertaining to fruit which is not ripe
omphalomancy - Foretelling the future by counting the knots in a baby’s
umbilical cord
omphalophobia - Fear of belly buttons
omphalopsychite - One who contemplates their naval
onamatophobia - A fear of names
oneirocritic - One who interprets dreams
oneiromancy - Divination by dreams, or interpreting dreams
oneirophobia - A fear of dreams
onimancy - Divination using fingernails
oniomania - An uncontrollable urge to buy something
onomancy - Divination using a name or the letters in a name
ontology - The study of the nature of being
onychomancy - Divination using fingernails
onychophagy - The habit of biting one’s fingernails
oologist - A collector of bird’s eggs
oomancy - Divination or magic using eggs
ophidiophobia - A fear of snakes
ophiomancy - Divination by snakes or serpents
ophiophagous - One who eats snakes
ophiophagy - The eating of snakes
ophiophobia - See ophidiophobia
ophthalmophobia - The fear that one is being stared at
opsablepsia - The inability to look someone in the eye while speaking
opsimath - One who acquires knowledge late in life
opsimathiphobia - A fear of learning something too late
opsimatria - The bearing of children late in a woman’s life
opsipatria - The fathering of a child by an elderly man
opsiproligery - The ability to still have children late in life
opsomaniac - One who loves a certain kind of food, bordering on madness
opsophagy - The eating of delicacies
optophobia - A fear of opening one’s eyes
orant - A religious figure of a praying woman
orcheotomy - See Ochidectomy
orchidectomy - Another word for castration
ornithomancy - Divination using birds’ flight and cries
ornithophobia - A fear of birds
ornithoscelidaphilia - A love of dinosaurs
ornithoscelidaphobia - A fear of dinosaurs
orology - The study of mountains
orthophobia - A fear of correctness
orthopter - A flying machine which uses flapping wings
orthpolitiphobia - A fear of political correctness
orthpraxy - Pertaining to people who strictly follow the teachings of their
religion
oryctomancy - Divination by studying excavated objects
oryzivorous - Pertaining to eating rice
osculant - Pertaining to a close embrace or long kiss
osculaphobia - A fear of kissing
osmidrosiphobia - A fear of body odour or sweat
osmology - The study of odors
osmophilia - The love of various smells
osmophobia - A fear of odors
osphresiophobia - A fear of odors
ossomancy - Divination using bones
osteomancy - Divination using bones
ostraconophobia - A fear of shellfish
ostreophobia - A fear of shellfish, especially oysters
otolaryngologist - A doctor who specializes in treating ear, nose and throat
problems.
otology - The study of the ear and its disorders
oubliette - A dungeon whose only entrance is in the ceiling
ouranomancy - See uranomancy
ouranophobia - See uranophobia
outfangtheft - The right under law of a lord to persecute a vassal caught
outside of his jurisdiction
ovine - Sheep like
ovivorous - Egg eating
oxter - To walk arm in arm
oxyacanthous - Having sharp thorns or spikes
oxyesthesia - Being extremely sensitive to touch
oxygeusia - Being sensitive to taste
oxyosphresia - An extreme sensitivity to smells
oxythymous - Pertaining to someone who is quick to anger
ozostomia - The state of having bad breath
P
paedarchy - Rulership by a child or several children
paedocracy - A government formed of children
pagophagia - 1. The eating of ice
pagophagia - 2. A folk remedy of eating a bowl of ice daily to offset iron
deficiency
pagophobia - A fear of ice or frost
paleography - The study of ancient writings
paleozoology - The study of prehistoric animals
pancratic - Accomplished in many forms or sport or game or having a
mastery over numerous subjects
pandiculation - Stretching and yawning before going to bed or after waking
up
panpygoptosis - A pathological condition in which the thighs are suppressed
and the buttocks starts at the back of ones knees
pantagamy - Married to everyone
pantaphobia - A fear of lack of fear
pantomancer - One who sees omens in every event
pantophobia - A fear of everything
papaphobia - A fear of the pope or the papacy
paparchy - Rulership by the pope
papyrocracy - Rulership by paperwork or by the press
papyrophobia - A fear of paper
parabolanus - A monk who treat contagious diseases
paralian - A person who lives near the sea
paralipophobia - A fear of responsibility
paramnesia - A disorder in which one remembers events that never happened
paranymph - The best man or bridesmaid at a wedding
parapraxis - A lapse of memory or a slip of the tongue, usually revealing
a hidden thought
parasitophobia - A fear of parasites
paraskevidekatriaphobia - The fear of Friday the 13th
parateresiomania - The obsession with being a voyeur
parergon - A second job or an additional source of money from extra work
parisologist - A person who uses ambiguous language or evasive writing
parorexia - The craving for strange or indigestible foods
parosmia - A disorder which causes one to smell things that are not real
parousiamania - An obsession with the return of Christ
parrhesiastic - Able to speak freely
parsonarchy - A government formed by priests
partheniad - A poem which honors a virgin
parthenolagnia - The desire to make love to virgins
parthenolatry - worship of a virgin or virgins
parthenophobia - The fear of virgins
pasilaly - Any universal language
passalorynchite - A member of an old Christian sect in which members
had to take a vow of silence
passulation - The act of drying up and turning into a raisin
pataphysics - The science of imaginary solutions or of nonsensical philosophy
patavinity - The use of local slang or expressions when writing
pathenophillia - The love of virgins
pathenophobia - The fear of virgins
pathophobia - A fear of disease
patroiophobia - A fear of hereditary diseases
pauciloquent - Using as few words as possible when speaking
paxophobia - A fear of peace
peccatiphobia - A fear of sin or of sinning
peckerwood - A southern term for poor anglo-saxon protestants
pecunious - Having a lot of money
pedantrocracy - Rulership by pedants or pedagogs
pediatricophobia - A fear of having to take care of children
pediculophobia - A fear of lice
pediophobia - 1. A fear of children
pediophobia - 2. A fear of dolls
pedipulate - To operate with one’s feet
pedotrophy - The art of raising children properly
pegomancy - Fortunetelling using the bubbles in a fountain
peladophobia - A fear of people who are bald
pelargic - Resembling a stork
pelology - The study of therapeutic uses of mud
peniaphobia - A fear of poverty
penotherapy - Controlling prostitutes in order to eliminate the spread of
disease
penphobia - The fear of writing or of the written word
pentapopemptic - One who is divorced five times
pentheraphobia - Fear of Mother in Law
perendinate - To delay until the day of tomorrow or to delay indefinitely
perfuncturate - To perform some task in a careless or listless manner
periblebsis - The wild look which accompanies delirium
periclitate - To put at risk or in danger
peripatetic - walking about, usually while studying
periphrastic - Pertaining to circumlocution or to one who is wordy
perissopedics - The special branch of pediatric dealing with gifted children
peristerophilist - One who collects pigeons
peristerophily - The art of training pidgeons
peristerophobia - A fear of pigeons
pernoctation - The act of staying up all night doing work or attending a party
pernoctator - A person who studies through the night
pervulgate - To publish something
pessomancy - Divination using stones or rocks
phagomania - Insatiable hunger
phagophobia - A fear of eating or swallowing
phalacrophobia - A fear of going bald
phalacrophobia - Fear of going bald
phanerolagniast - A psychologist who studies human lust
phaneromania - The compulsive habit of picking at scabs or growths
pharmacophobia - A fear of medicine or drugs
pharology - The study of lighthouses or similar signalling devices
phasmophobia - A fear of ghosts
phengophobia - The fear of the Sun or of sunlight
phigerophobia - See pnigophobia
philalethist - A lover of the truth
philandrist - One who loves men
philatelist - A stamp collector
philemaphobia - A fear of kissing
philematology - The study of kissing
philematophobia - See philemaphobia
philiater - A medical student
phillumenist - A collector of matchbooks or matchboxes
philocalist - A lover of beauty
philocomal - Pertaining to hair care
philocubist - A lover of games involving dice
philodespot - One who loves tyranny
philodox - Someone who loves their own opinions
philogeant - One who loves everything on the Earth
philographer - A collector of autographs
philogynist - One who loves women
philologist - One who loves literature and languages
philomath - One who loves math and the sciences
philomythist - A person who loves mythology
philoneist - One who is obsessed with trends or fads
philonoist - Someone who is seeking knowledge
philophobia - A fear of love or of falling in love
philopolemicist - A person who loves to argue or debate
philoprogeneity - The love of your children
philosophaster - A person who pretends to know more than they do to
impress others
philosophobia - A fear of philosophy or philosophers
philosophunculist - A person who pretends to know more than they do
to impress others
philotherian - An animal lover
philoxenist - A person who loves to entertain strangers
philtrum - The groove in the middle of one’s upper lip
phobologophobia - The fear of words about fears
phobophobia - A fear of being afraid
phonophobia - 1. The fear of sound
phonophobia - 2. The fear of speaking to an audience
photoaugiaphobia - A fear of glaring lights or being in the spot light
photophobia - A fear of light
phrenology - The study of how the shape of one’s skull determines characteristic traits
phronemophobia - The fear of thinking
phrontifugic - helping to escape from one’s thoughts
phrontistery - A place for study or for contemplation
phthiriophobia - A fear of lice
phthirophagous - One who eats lice
phthisiophobia - The fear of tuberculosis
phylactery - One of two small black leather boxes which contain biblical verses of Jewish law
phyllomancy - Magic using leaves or foretelling one’s future from leaves
physiognomancy - Divination using a person’s face
physitheism - Giving physical form to a deity
physitism - The worship of nature
phytivorous - Pertaining to vegetable - eating
pica - A craving for an inedible substance (such as chalk or paint chips)
Pickelhaube - The spiked helmet worn by german or prussian soldiers before World War I
pilcrow - The symbol used by editors to indicate a new paragraph
pillion - A seat for a second person on a motorcycle or on a horse
pillion - The second seat on a motorcycle or on a saddle
pilosism - Excessive hairiness
pilpul - A subtle debate between rabbincal scholars over the details of the Talmud
pintle - The pin that holds a hinge together
piobalreachd - A dirge played on the Highland bagpipes
piscatology - The science of fishing
pismirism - The saving of every bit of money, such as hoarding pennies
placophobia - The fear of tombstones
plangent - A deep, reverberating sound such as heavy bells ringing or thunder
plangonologist - A collector of dolls
planiloquent - Talking plainly about some subject
planomania - The urge to roam
plastron - The padded jacket worn while fencing
platyopic - having a broad flat nose
pleionosis - The habit of exagerating one’s own importance
pleniloquent - Always talking or full of speech
plenilune - The time of the full moon
plousiocracy - A government consisting of the wealthy and the elite
plumassier - Someone who makes or sells feathers used in ornaments
plutarchy - A government formed by the wealthy and elite
plutocracy - Rulership by the wealthy or elite
plutocrat - A member of the wealthy ruling class
plutolatry - The worship of wealth
plutomania - An obsession with money
pluviophobia - A fear of rain
pneumatophobia - A fear of air
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - A miner’s lung disease
caused by inhaling silicate dust
pnigophobia - A fear of choking
podoscaph - A boat propelled by bicycle treadles
pogonophobia - A fear of beards
poikilothermal - Cold blooded
poikilothermal - Cold blooded
poinephobia - A fear of punishment
polemology - The study of war
politicaster - Second rate politician or incompetent leader
politicophobia - A fear of politicians
pollarchy - Rulership by the mob
poltophagy - To chew food until it is the consistency of porridge
polyandry - Marriage to several men
polyapopemptic - Having been divorced numerous times
polygyny - Marriage to several women
polylogize - To talk excessively
polyloquent - One who can talk about numerous subjects
polymath - A person of superior and wide ranging knowledge
polyphage - Someone who eats many kinds of foods
polyphloisboian - Making a lot of noise or a loud racket
polyphobia - A fear of many things
polytheism - The belief that there are many gods
pomology - The study of how fruit grows
ponerologist - One who expounds on the evils of nature
ponophobia - The fear of overworking
porphyrophobia - A fear of the color purple
posology - The area of medicine dealing with dosages
posthetomist - A person who performs circumcisions
potamophobia - A fear of rivers
potophobia - A fear of drinking alcohol
poulaine - Pointy toed shoes such as worn by jesters
preantepenultimate - Fourth from last
precibal - Before dinner
prelapsarian - Pertaining to the time before the biblical fall
presbycusis - The loss of hearing due to old age
presbyopia - The loss of sight due to old age
prescient - Having foresight or knowledge of what will happen.
preterist - One who believes that the prophecies preceeding the Apocalypse
have been fulfilled
preterition - The doctrine that God has decided who to save and passes
over everyone else
preterpluperfect - More than perfect
proboscidiform - having a nose like an elephant’s trunk
procrescophobia - The fear of gaining weight
proficuous - advantageous and useful
prognathous - Having a jaw which extends past the rest of one’s face
propinquiphobia - A fear of being too close
prosophobia - A fear of progress
prosopography - The description of a person’s appearance
prosopolepsy - The acceptance of people based on the appearance
prosopolethy - The inability to remember a face
psaphonic - Preoccupied with plotting your ascent to wealth and renown
psellism - An indistinct pronounciation, such as produced by a lisp or by
stammering
psellismophobia - The fear of stuttering
psephology - The study of political elections
psephomancy - Divination by drawing marked stones from a container
pseudandry - The use of a masculine pseudonym by a woman
pseudautochiria - A murder which is made to look like a suicide
pseudepigraphous - Signed with a false signature
pseudoantidisestablishmentarianism - The false support of the idea
that a government should not support the church
pseudogyny - The use of a feminine pseudonym by a man
pseudomancy - A false or fake divination
pseudophonia - See pseudautochiria
pseudorhombicuboctahedron - A solid which has twenty-six faces
psilanthropism - The belief that Jesus was not a God, but a man
psilanthropy - The belief that Jesus was a mere mortal
psithurism - The sound of the wind rustling the leaves
psithurism - The sound of wind in trees or rustling leaves
psychomancy - Divination by talking to the dead
psychophobia - A fear of the mind
psychrophobia - A fear of cold
pteridology - The study of ferns
pteronophobia - A fear of feathers
pterylology - The study of feather arrangements on birds
ptochocracy - A government formed of the poor
puellaphillist - One who loves girls
pulicose - Infested with fleas
pygalgia - A pain in the butt
pyknic - Being stocky and round
pyosis - The formation of pus or the process through which pus is formed
pyrexiophobia - A fear of fever
pyrgology - The study of towers
pyriform - Shaped like a pear
pyrography - The art of writing on wood or decorating wood by burning
it
pyromancy - Divination using fire or magic involving fire
pyrophobia - A fear of fire
pyrrhonist - A skeptic who accepts nothing at face value
pysmatic - Always asking questions or inquiring
pythogenic - Coming from garbage
pyx - The container which holds the wafer used in Holy Communion
Q
qasida - A form of arabic poetry
qiviut - The soft undercoat on a musk ox, often used in making coats
quadragenerian - A person who is 40 years old, or between 40 and 50
quadrel - A square stone or tile
quadrifid - To be cut into four pieces
quadrigamist - Someone who either has been married four times or who
is married to four people
quadriliteral - Pertaining to a word which has four letters
quadrumane - A four handed animal, such as a monkey or ape
quaestuary - Seeking money or trying to make money
qualtagh - The first person you see after leaving your house
quartan - Something which occurs every four days
quasihemidemisemiquaver - According to British musical notation, a
128th note
quatrayle - One’s great great great grandfather
quean - 1. A whore or prostitute
quean - 2. A young, unmarried woman
quercine - Pertaining to an oak tree
quiddler - A person who hangs around wasting time at work and making
conversation with people who are working
quidnunc - A person who always wants to know what is going on
quincunx - A set of five objects arranged with one at each corner of a
square, and the fifth in the center
quinquagesimal - Consisting of fifty days
quinquepartite - Having five parts
quisquilian - Consisting of trash and rubbish
quodlibertarian - A pedantic person who engages in elaborate arguments
about minor things
quodlibet - A subtle debate over a theological point by Christians
quoin - An external angle in a wall or building
quomodocunquize - To make money by any means possible
quotidian - Occuring every day
R
radiophobia - The fear of radiation
raith - A quarter of a year
rampasture - A room in which several unmarried men reside, usually in a
boarding house or inn
rasorial - Scratching the ground in search of food
reasty - Something which is covered in rust or has a rusty taste to it
recrudescence - The reappearance of a disease or illness after being cured
rectalgia - A pain in the ass
rectigrade - Moving in a straight line
rectiphobia - A fear of being corrected
rectirostal - Describing a bird (or other animal) with a straight beak
rectopathic - One who is easy to hurt emotionally
recumbentibus - A knockout punch, either verbal or physical
recuse - To excuse a judge from their duties
redactophobia - A fear of editing or of editors
redhibition - The cancellation of a sale due to the product being defective
redubber - A person who steals cloths and resells them
reest - To smoke or cure either meat or fish
refrangible - Capable of being refracted
regiphobia - A fear of a king or kings
rehibition - The act of taking back defective products
remiped - Having legs or arms which act like oars - especially referring to
insects
remontado - A person who lives in the forest or mountains and avoid
civilization
remplissage - The padding of literary works or of musical works
renidification - The act of rebuilding one’s nest
resipiscent - To learn from experience or have one’s sanity restored
resistentialism - The spiteful behaviour of inanimate objects
rhabdomancy - Divination using a stick or rod, such as dowsing for water
rhabdophobia - A fear of magic
rhabdophobia - A fear of sticks or rods, or of being beaten with them
rhabdophobia - The fear of being beaten with a stick
rhadamanthine - Being completely fair and incorruptible
rhapsodomancy - The art of predicting the future using poetry
rhinophonia - An extreme nasal sound in one’s voice
rhombicosidodecahedron - An Archimedean solid composed of sixty two
faces
rhypophobia - See rupophobia
rhytiphobia - Fear of getting wrinkles
rhytiscopia - an obsession with one’s facial wrinkles
rixatrix - A nasty old women, usually with a tendency to natter and scold
roil - To make muddy by stirring or to disturb sediment
roorback - An ugly rumor of fabricated news story created to discredit a
political opponent
rosacea - A condition in which a person has a large red nose
rouleau - A cylinder of coins rolled in paper
rubedinous - Reddish colored
ructation - Belching or burping
ruderal - Growing in a garbage dump
rugulose - Having small wrinkles
rumbelow - 1. A song or refrain sung by sailors while rowing a boat
rumbelow - 2. A common whore
rumbelow - 3. A type of carriage
runcation - The act of weeding
rupestrian - Made out of rocks
rupicoline - Living among or growing on rocks
rupophobia - A fear of dirt
rurigenous - One who has been born in the country
rustication - Taking a trip to the countryside
S
sabbulonarium - A gravel pit, or money paid to someone who digs gravel
salutatorian - The second best student in a graduating class, whose job it
is to give an introductory speech
sanctiloquent - Speaking of something which is holy or sacred
sanguinivorous - A blood sucker
sanguivorous - One who drinks blood
saponaceous - 1. Being soapy or slippery
saponaceous - 2. Being very nice and ingratiating
saprogenic - Causing rot and decay
saprophagous - One who eats dead or decaying animals
saprophilous - Living in rotting waste
saprostomous - Having bad breath
saraad - A fine levied by ancient Welsh courts which were paid in cattle
sarcle - To dig up weeds
sarcophagic - Pertaining to something which eats flesh
sarculation - Weeding using a rake
sardanapalian - Being luxuriously effeminate like the Byron hero Sardanapalus
sarmassophobia - A fear of love play, especially in women
sartorial - Pertaining to tailors
sarwan - A person who rides and guides a camel
satanophany - Possession by the devil
satrapess - An offcial who acts like a petty tyrant
saturnalian - Wild and unrestrained, usually referring to a riotous party
saulie - A person who is hired to mourn
saxatile - Pertaining to rocks
saxify - To turn to stone or rock
scacchic - Pertaining to the game of chess, or to chess pieces
scaldabanco - A preacher who delivers a fiery sermon
scapulimancy - Divination involving a shoulder blade which has been
charred or cracked from a fire
scarpology - The science of determining characteristic traits by examining
a persons shoes
scatology - The study of excrement
scatomancy - Magic or divination using excrement
scatophagous - One who eats excrement
scatophobia - A fear of excrement
scelerophobia - A fear of evil men, such as burglars or muggers
schadenfreude - Taking pleasure in the misfortunes of others
schematomancy - Divination using the appearance of people
schizocarp - The winged seed pod of maple trees
schoenobatist - A tight rope walker
scholaptitude - A natural ability to perform scholarly achievements
schwa - The inverted e used to symbolized a relaxed vowel sound which is
neither short nor long
sciamachy - Fighting with a shadow or an imaginary opponent
sciamachy - To fight with a shadow, or shadow boxing
sciaphobia - A fear of shadows
sciapodous - Having huge feet
scintillation - The twinkling of stars or small bursts of light
sciolist - A person who pretends to be an intellectual but is not
sciomancy - Divination by talking to the dead
sciophobia - See sciaphobia
scobiform - Resembling sawdust
scoleciphobia - The fear of worms
scolecophagous - One who eats worms
scolionophobia - A fear of school
scopolagnia - The pleasure gained by a voyeur
scotch - A block of wood or a brick used under vehicle wheels to prevent
rolling
scotomaphobia - A fear of scotoma, (having spots before your eyes)
scotophobia - A fear of darkness or of the night
scriptophobia - The fear of writing or of the written word
scutiferous - 1. Carrying a shield or armor
scutiferous - 2. Being covered in scales like a reptile
sebaceous - Oozing slime or grease
secundogeniture - 1. Being the second born son
secundogeniture - 2. Any property inherited by the second son
selachostomous - Shark - mouthed
selacophobia - A fear of sharks
selaphobia - A fear of flashing lights or strobe lights
selenocentric - One whose life revolves around the moon (a ”space cadet”)
selenography - The science of geography of the moon
selenomancy - Divination using the moon
selenophobia - A fear of the moon
self-agglandize - To make oneself more attractive by artificial means
senectitude - Old age
sepicolous - Living in a bush or hedges
septemplicate - One of seven exact copies
septimanarian - A monk who is given a week of duties to perform
septophobia - A fear of decay or decaying matter
sermocination - A speaker answering their own questions
sesquialteral - Having a ratrio of one to one and a half
sgiomlaireached - The habit of dropping in at mealtimes
sgriob - The itchiness of the upper lip just before taking a sip of whiskey
shaconian - A person who believes Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare’s
works
shakos - The hat usually worn by members of a marching band
shapka - The fur covered, brimless hat worn by many Russians in the winter
shistaceous - slate colored or livid, especially pertaining to skin
shoat - A worthless young fellow, originally a young hog
shurocracy - A government based on consensus
sialagogue - Anything which promotes salivation
sialoquent - Spraying saliva when speaking
siderodromophobia - Fear of railroads or trains
sideromancy - 1 Foretelling the future by studying the stars
sideromancy - 2. Divination using straw burned on hot metal
siderophobia - The fear of stars
sifflate - To talk in a whisper
siffeur - A professional whistler
sigillate - To cover with offcial stamps and seals
silential - Performed in silence or pertaining to silence
silentium - A place in which silence is enforced
simphobia - The fear of speaking straight forwardly and in simple terms
sinistrophobia - A fear of the left side or things on the left side
sitiophobia - A fear of food
skiaphobia - See sciaphobia
skirl - A piercing sound such as produced by the high notes of a bagpipe
skookum - First rate or the best (from Chinook jargon)
skoptsy - The act of self castration
slavocracy - A government formed of slave owners
sloken - To quench one’s thirst
sloyd - Skilled work (usually manufacturing) which requires dexterous use
of tools
slubberdegullion - A boorish slob
smaragdine - Pertaining to emeralds
smatchet - A small nasty person or a nasty child
smellfungus - A person who finds faults with everything
snarf - 1. To fall asleep with your clothes on
snarf - 2. The act of laughing while drinking and expelling the fluid through
one’s nose
snath - The long bent handle on a scythe
snead - The long bent handle of a scythe
snipsnapsnorum - A type of card game
snoach - To speak through the nose
snollygosters - Sleazy politicians or lawyers
snood - The fleshy appendage on the beak of a male turkey
snup - To buy something of value which some ignorant person has discarded
or sold cheap
snurl - To turn up one’s nose in scorn
snurt - To expel mucus when sneezing
snuzzle - To poke around with one’s nose, as dogs do
soceraphobia - A fear of parents in law
sociophobia - The fear of society or friendship
sodality - An association or organized group
solfeggio - A singing exercise using the syllable do,re,mi,fa,so,la,ti
solivagant - Wandering all alone
solleret - A metallic pointy toed shoe worn by knights
somatology - The science of using a person’s physical features to determine their personality
somnifugous - Something which drives away sleep
somniloquent - Speaking in one’s sleep
sophist - A person who uses deceptive reasoning to win debates
sophophobia - 1. A fear of knowledge or wisdom
sophophobia - 2. A fear of learning
sophrosyne - The quality of wise moderation or discreet good sense
sorbile - Drinkable
sorocide - The killing of one’s own sister
sororate - The marriage of a man to his wife’s sister
soterial - Pertaining to salvation
soteriology - The doctrine the salvation can only be granted by Christ
spaneria - A place with few or no men
spanogyny - A place with few or no women
sparge - To moisten by sprinkling with water
spargefaction - The moistening of something by sprinkling it with water
spartle - To flounder and flail about
spasmatomancy - Divination using convulsions or twitching of one’s limbs
spatilomancy - Divination using animal droppings
spatulamancy - Divination involving the shoulder blades of animals
spectocloacaphobia - The fear of one’s eyeglasses falling in the sewer
spectroheliokinematograph - A special camera used to film the Sun
spectrophobia - A fear of mirrors
sphallolalia - Flirtatious talk that leads nowhere
spheksophobia - The fear of wasps
spheromancy - Divination using a crystal sphere
sphragistics - The science and history of seals and stamps
sphygmomanometer - The device used to measure blood pressure
spiculate - To sharpen to a point
spilikins - The wooden pegs used in the game of cribbage
spindrift - The ocean spray which is blown by the wind
splanchnology - The study of the internal organs of humans
spodogenous - Pertaining to being in the presence of waste
spodomancy - Divination using ashes
sprag - A block of wood or a brick used under vehicle wheels to prevent
rolling
squamous - covered with scales
squamulose - covered with very small scales, as in snakes
squirearchy - Rulership by the landed gentry
stagiary - A student of law
stagnicolous - Living in stagnant water
stalko - A poor man who pretends he is rich
stasibasiphobia - The fear of standing and walking
stasiphobia - The fear of standing (for fear of falling)
staurolatry - Worship of the cross or Christ on a cross
staurophobia - A fear of crucifxes
steatopygic - Having a fat behind
stellionate - The unauthorized sale of a piece of property
stenophobia - A fear of narrow places
stentorian - Pertaining to very loud and resonant sounds
stentorophonic - Having a loud, powerful voice or making a loud sound
stercoricolous - Living in dung
sterculius - A God who rules over feces and dung
stereognosis - Deducing the weight of an object by handling it
sternutation - The sound of a sneeze or the act of sneezing
sternutatory - Something which causes sneezing
sterquilinous - Pertaining to a dung heap
stertorous - Having a deep raspy sound produced by an obstructed air
passage
stichomancy - Divination using random lines from a book or the Bible
stigmeology - The art of proper punctuation
storiology - The study of folklore and legends
stratephrenia - A neurosis caused by serving in the military
stratocracy - A government formed of the military
stridulation - The shrill sound produced by crickets and other insects
strikhedonia - The pleasure of being able to say to hell with it
strumpetocracy - A government formed of prostitutes
struthious - Like an ostrich
stultiloquent - Speaking senselessly or babbling idiotically
stygiophobia - A fear of hell
suaviloquent - Speaking in a sophisticated manner
suggilated - Badly beaten black and blue
suoid - Like a hog
supernaculum - To drink to the last drop
suppedaneum - The block of wood supporting the feet of a crucified person
surfeitigo - The sudden feeling of being stuffed by food, friends, or invitations
suriphobia - A fear of mice or rats
sutler - A person who follows the army in order to sell provisions to the
soldiers
swarf - The metallic dust that accumulates after sharpening or grinding
metal
swinophobia - A fear of pigs or swine
sycomancy - Divination using figs
symmetrophobia - The fear of symmetry
symposiarch - A master of ceremonies
syndyasmia - The proper term for an open marriage in which either partner
may live with other people
syngenesophobia - A fear of relatives
T
tachophobia - The fear of speed
tachydidactic - Being taught rapidly or teaching quickly
tachydidaxy - Rapid teaching or instruction
tachygraphy - Short hand or stenography
tachyphagia - Fast eating
tachyphrasia - The act of talking very fast
taeniophobia - See teniophobia
talaria - Winged shoes, such as worn by Hermes
taligrade - Walking on the outer edge of one’s foot
tallith - The traditional prayer shawl worn by Jewish men
tam-o-shanter - The beret worn by Scottish higland pipers
tanquam - A person with enough education to attend college
taphephillia - The love of funerals
taphephobia - 1.A fear of graves
taphephobia - 2. Fear of being buried alive
tapinophobia - A fear of small things
tarantism - an urge to overcome melancholy by dancing
tartarology - The study of the underworld or doctrine pertaining to Hell
tath - Either cattle manure or the grass that grows in dung
tatterdemalion - An unkempt person who wears rags
taurophobia - A fear of bulls
technocracy - Rulership by technicians or experts
technophobia - The fear of technology
tegestologist - A collector of beer mugs and beer coasters
teleophobia - A fear of religious ceremonies
telmatology - The study of swamps and bogs
temerity - A form of extreme boldness
teniophobia - The fear of tapeworms
teratophobia - A fear of deformed people
teratophobia - A fear of monsters or of having a deformed child
terebration - A pain that feels as though a drill is boring through some body part
termagant - A violent, brawling woman
tessaraglot - A person who is capable of speaking in four languages
textophobia - A fear of certain fabrics
thaasophobia - A fear of sitting
thalassophobia - A fear of the sea or an ocean
thanatophobia - A fear of death
thanatopsis - The contemplation of death
thaumatology - The study of miracles
theandric - Pertaining to a person who is both a human and a god
theanthropism - The belief in the union of the divine and human
theanthropist - One who believes that gods can take human forms
theanthropos - A person who is worshipped as a god
theanthropy - The belief in the union of the divine and human
thearchy - Rulership by a god or gods
thelyotokous - Having only female offspring
theochristic - anointed by God
theocracy - Government formed by the church or by a representative of
God
theocrasy - The worship of different gods
theodemocracy - A democracy which is controlled by divine powers
theogamy - A marriage between gods
theoktony - The death of God or of gods
theologaster - A religious charlatan
theologicophobia - The fear of theology
theologoumenon - Individual opinion on God or divinity
theomachy - A war between gods or a war against gods
theomancy - Using gods or oracles to foretell the future
theomania - A madness in which one claims to be a god or represent God
on some mission
theomastix - A divine scourge of mortals or a disaster sent by God
theomicrist - A person who mocks God or divinity
theomorphic - Resembling a god or having godlike qualities
theonomy - Rulership by God or a government formed by God
theophagy - The eating of a god (such as in the Christian communion)
theophany - The manifestation of a deity on Earth
theophilanthropist - A person who loves both God and mankind
theophobia - A fear of Gods or the wrath of God
theophobia - The fear of God
theopneusty - Divine inspiration, especially one that enables someone to
reveal divine truths
therianthropic - Combining human and animal forms, such as the centaur
theriolater - A person who worships animals
theriolatry - The worship of animals as gods
theriomancy - Divination using animals or their movement
thermophobia - A fear of heat
thixophobia - The fear of touching or being touched
thole - A pin in the gunwhale of a boat to hold an oar
threpterophilia - An attraction to female nurses
thrioboly - Divination using stones or rocks
thrip - To snap one’s fingers
thurible - The incense holder used in religious ceremonies
thurification - The burning of incense
thygatrilagnia - An incestuous desire for one’s daughter
tibialoconcupiscent - Having a lascivious interest in watching a women
put on stockings
timbromaniac - An avid stamp collector
timmynoggy - A device the saves time and labor
timocracy - A government of honorable people
tirocinium - A soldier’s first battle
tocology - The study of obstetrics or midwifery
tocophobia - A fear of childbirth
toggy - A long beaverskin coat popular among northern fur traders
tolutiloquent - Pertaining to a smooth talker
tomalley - A type of lobster liver that turns green when heated
tomecide - The act of murdering or destroying a book
tomentose - Covered with thick tangled hair
tomophobia - The fear of surgery
tonitruone - A device used in theater or movies to create thunder
tonitruous - Reverberating with the sound of thunder
tonitruphobia - The fear of thunder
topomancy - Divination using the shape of the land
toponymics - The study of place names
topophobia - 1.A fear of performing
topophobia - 2. A fear of a particular place
torschlusspanik - The fear of young women that they will not be married
until they are to old to have children
tortfeaser - A wrongdoer
toxicophobia - See toxiphobia
toxiphobia - A fear of poison or being poisoned
traumatophobia - A fear of injury
tregetour - A street magician or juggler
tremophobia - The fear of trembling
trichinophobia - The fear of trichinosis
trichology - The science of hair and hair diseases
trichopathophobia - A fear of hair disease
trichophobia - A fear of hair
trichotillomania - Tearing out one’s hair
tricorne - A hat with three points such as was worn by american revolutionaries
triskaidekaphobia - A fear of the number thirteen
tritavia - The great grandmother of one’s great grandmother
tritavus - The great grandfather of one’s great grandfather
tritheism - Believing in three gods, such as the Trinity
triturate - To crush into a fine powder
trochilidist - A person who studies hummingbirds
trochomancy - Divination by studying wheel tracks
tropoclastics - The science of breaking habits
tropophobia - A fear of changes or making changes
trullization - The act of laying on plaster with a trowel
truttaceous - Resembling a trout
trypanophobia - A fear of injections or inoculations
tsiology - The study of tea, or a dissertation on tea
tubicination - The sound made by someone blowing a horn
turistaphobia - The fear of contaminated water
turistaphobia - The fear of travelling
tychopotamic - Pertaining to something which lives in fresh water
tycolosis - Accident prevention
tyg - A seventeenth century mug having twelve handles
typhlology - The study of blindness
typp - The number of thousands of yards of yarn which weighs one pound
tyrannophobia - The fear of tyrants
tyromancy - Divination or magic using cheese
tyrophagia - The act of eating cheese
tyrophillia - The love of cheese
tyrophobia - The fear of cheese
U
uloid - Resembling a scar
ulotrichous - Having very wooly hair
ultimogeniture - Inheritance by the youngest son
ultracrepidarian - One who speaks or offers opinions in subjects they know
nothing about
ultracrepidarianism - The act or habit of talking constantly about subjects
of which you know little or nothing
ultroneous - Pertaining to a witness who testifies voluntarily
unasinous - being equally stupid or assinine
undecillion - A large number - a one followed by either 36 or 66 zeroes.
undigenous - Created or generated by water
undinism - The trait of having erotic thoughts when viewing or thinking
of water
unigravida - A woman’s first pregnancy
uranomancy - Divination by consulting the heavens
uranomania - The delusion that one is of Heavenly descent
uranophobia - A fear of heaven
urbicolous - Living in the city
uredinology - The study of rust
uredinology - The study of rust
uredophobia - See urticariaphobia
urimancy - Magic or fortunetelling using urine
urophobia - The fear of urinating
urticariaphobia - A fear of itching
urticate - 1. To beat with a whip
urticate - 2. To sting with nettles
ustulate - Scorched or discolored from prolonged exposure to heat
usufruct - The right to use another’s property, with the condition that the
property be unchanged
utlesse - An escape from prison
uvate - Grape jam or jelly
uxoricide - The murder of a wife by her husband
uxorious - Excessively devoted to one’s husband
uxorodespotic - Tyrranical rulership by one’s wife
V
vaccinophobia - The fear of vaccinations
valetudinarian - A person who is obsessed with some ailment
valgus - Being bow-legged
vaniloquent - Speaking only of oneself or speaking egotistically
vapulate - To beat with a whip
vastation - To purify something by using fire, or to purify a soul by cremation
vaticide - The murder of a prophet
vauntie - Being proud or in high spirits
veneniferous - Transferring or bearing poison
ventripotent - Having a fat belly, or being a glutton
venustaphobia - The fear of beautiful women
verbigerate - To continually repeat a word or phrase, usually unconciously
verbivore - A person who devours words
verbophobia - The fear of words
veriloquent - Speaking nothing but the truth
vermiform - Like a worm
vermiphobia - The fear of worms
vernalagnia - A romantic mood brought on by Spring. Also known as
Spring Fever
vernorexia - A romantic mood inspired by Spring
vespertillian - Resembling a bat
vespertine - Happening in the evening
vespine - Resembling a wasp
vesthibitionism - The flirtatious display of undergarments by a woman
vestiphobia - A fear of clothing
vexillologist - A collector of flags
vexillology - The study of flags
viaticum - 1.Money and supplies given to someone going on a journey
viaticum - 2. The Holy Communion given to a dying person
vibratiunculation - A slight shudder or vibration
vibrissae - The sensitive whiskers of a cat
viciniphobia - A fear of neighbors or a neighborhood
vigesimation - The act of killing every twentieth person
vilipend - To verbally belittle someone
viraginity - The masculine qualities of some women
virgivitiphobia - A fear of being raped
virgulate - Shaped like a rod
virvestitism - A preference of some women to wear mens clothing
vitricophobia - The fear of one’s stepfather
vittate - Resembling a ribbon
voidee - A last minute snack
volower - A person who performs baptisms
voraginous - Pertaining to something which devours everything
W
waggoner - A collection or book of nautical maps
wanweird - An unhappy fate
wapperjawed - Having a crooked jaw
warison - A musical note used to signal the start of an attack
wegotism - The excessive use of ’we’ in writing, particulary in newspaper
editorials
wheeple - A poor attempt at whistling
whiddin - To be running like a hare
wimple - The traditional headress of nuns
winx - To bray like a jackass
wittol - A man who meakly accepts his wife’s adultery
witzchoura - A woman’s cloak with large sleeves. Primarily worn in the
early nineteenth century
witzelsucht - A feebly attempt at humor
wlatsome - Describing something which is loathed
wommacky - Shaking and weak while recovering from illness or surgery
wuntee - A lonely old buffalo bull
X
xanthippe - An ill tempered woman. (Also Socrates’ wife)
xanthochroid - Blond haired and blue eyed person with fair white skin
xanthous - Yellow colored
xenarthral - Resembling a sloth, anteater, or armadillo
xeniatrophobia - A fear of going to strange or foreign doctors
xenium - A present given to a guest
xenobombulate - To be malingering
xenodochiophobia - A fear of foreign hotels
xenodochium - A home for the disabled and for the friendless
xenomancy - Divination by using the first stranger to be found
xenonosocomiophobia - A fear of pick pockets, especially foreign ones
xerophagy - A diet of bread and water
xerophilous - Drought loving, particularly pertaining to plants
xerophobia - A fear of dryness or dry places
xertz - To gulp down quickly and greedily
ximelolagnia - The desire to look a women who cross their legs
ximelolagnia - The urge to stare at women who are sitting with their legs
crossed
xiphoid - Sword shaped
xylology - The study of wood or of the structure of wood
xylomancy - Divination using a piece of wood or magic using wood
xylophage - One who eats wood
xylophagous - Describing someone who eats wood
xylophobia - A fear of forests or of woods
xylopolist - One who sells wood products
xyresic - Being as sharp as a razor
Y
yashmak - The veil worn by Muslim women when in public
yataghan - A long knife, common in Turkey, which has a double curved
blade
yaud - A worn out or old horse
Z
zarf - A special sleeve for a coffee cup or a beer can
zeitgeist - The general culture, education, and morals of a given era
zelophobia - A fear of jealousy or intense emotion
zenzizenzizenzic - A number raised to the eighth power
zills - The finger cymbals worn by belly dancers
zizith - The fringes at the corners of a tallith
zoanthropy - The delusion that one is an animal
zob - A worthless person
zoonosis - Any disease that can be passed from animals to humans
zoophobia - A fear of animals
zori - A form of sandals with a leather strap over the instep and a leather
strip between the hallux and second toe
zucchetto - A skull cap worn by Roman Catholic clerics
zygodactyl - Having two toes pointing forward and two backwards
zymology - The study of fermentation
zythepsary - A brewery

A History of Aviation : Wikipedia

2004-06-09T23:01:00.000+10:30

Aviation history

taken from wikipedia.org
Humanity's desire to fly probably dates back to the first time prehistoric man observed birds. Through all of recorded history aspects of this desire have surfaced from time to time. The most well known is the legendary story of Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus was trapped on the island of Minos, and so built wings out of feathers and wax for himself and his son. His son Icarus, flew too close to the sun and the wax melted, destroying the wings and causing Icarus to fall into the sea, killing him. The legend was designed to be a cautionary tale about attempting to reach heaven, similar to the Tower of Babel story in The Bible. Nevertheless, it exemplifies man's desire to fly.

The modern history of aviation has had several broad trends. Aircraft designers have struggled to make their planes go faster, fly higher, and be controlled more easily. To that effect, engine designs have moved towards more compact, more powerful engines, beginning with steam engines and ending with jet and rocket engines. Planes have become more streamlined and made of stronger and lighter materials. Initially airplanes were made of canvas and wood. Today airplanes are made of aluminium, and increasingly, titanium, which is prized for its lightness, strength and heat resistance. The methods used to control planes have advanced significantly as well. Initially planes were controlled by moving your entire body (gliders) or warping the planes' wings (Wright brothers). Modern planes are controlled by computers, which can make planes that were otherwise unflyable able to fly (for example the F-117)

19th century and earlier

Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to seriously design an aircraft, designing a glider in the 15th century. While this glider was never built by Leonardo, its plans were preserved and it was constructed in the late 20th century. The design was deemed flightworthy and the prototype actually flew. Leonardo also sketched designs for a helicopter, but this design would not have flown.

The first published paper on aviation was "Sketch of a Machine for Flying in the Air" by Emanuel Swedenborg published in 1714. This flying machine consisted of a light frame covered with strong canvas and provided with two large oars or wings moving on a horizontal axis, and so arranged that the upstroke met with no resistance while the downstroke provided the lifting power. Swedenborg knew that the machine would not fly, but suggested it as a start and was confident that the problem would be solved. He said "It seems easier to talk of such a machine than to put it into actuality, for it requires greater force and less weight than exists in a human body. The science of mechanics might perhaps suggest a means, namely, a strong spiral spring. If these advantages and requisites are observed, perhaps in time to come some one might know how better to utilize our sketch and cause some addition to be made so as to accomplish that which we can only suggest. Yet there are sufficient proofs and examples from nature that such flights can take place without danger, although when the first trials are made you may have to pay for the experience, and not mind an arm or leg." Swedborg was prescient in his observation that powering the aircraft through the air was the crux of flying. Sufficiently light and powerful engines would not be available for powered flight until the gasoline engine designed by the Wright Brothers.

The first known human flight ever took place in Paris in 1783: Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois d'Arlandes went 5 miles in a hot air balloon invented by the Montgolfier brothers. The balloon was powered by a wood fire, and was uncontrolled, that is, it flew wherever the wind took it. For the first flight, the balloon was tethered, and ultimately reached a height of 26m

The first powered (and controlled and sustained) flight took place in 1852 (15 miles, Henri Giffard, France, with a steam engine mounted on a dirigible). (See Airship)

The first recorded flight by a manned heavier-than-air glider took place in 1853 at Brompton, near Scarborough in Yorkshire. The craft was designed and built by Sir George Cayley, and flown by his coachman

A powered heavier-than-air flight took place in 1890 (Clement Ader, France, steam engine on bat-winged monoplane, 60 yards). All flights ended in crashes.

A controlled heavier-than-air flight was accomplished on August 28, 1883 by John J. Montgomery. Others improved on Montgomery's flight in the 1890s (Otto Lilienthal, 400 yards). Since his flights were controlled, (and he is better-known than Montgomery) Lilienthal is sometimes called the first pilot although his craft were unpowered gliders. Lilienthal also performed the first photographed heavier-than-air flights, he made over 2000 flights in gliders of his design between 1891 and his death five years later. Lilienthal helped to prove that heavier-than-air flight was practical without flapping wings, laying the groundwork for the Wright brothers a few years later to build the first successful powered airplane.

On his 2500th flight, a gust of wind broke the wing of his glider, causing him to fall from a height of roughly 56 ft \ 17 m, fracturing his spine. He died the next day, with his last words being "sacrifices must be made". Based on the huge success of his gliders, it is theorized that if Lilienthal had had a sufficiently light and powerful engine, he would have beaten the Wright brothers. In fact Lilienthal was working on just such an engine at the time of his death. Unfortunately, no one took up his work on the engine and gliders until the Wright brothers.

In the United Kingdom a close-run attempt at heavier-than-air flight was made by the aviation pioneer Percy Pilcher. Pilcher had built several working gliders, The Bat, The Beetle, The Gull and The Hawk, which he flew successfully during the mid to late 1890s. In 1899 he constructed a prototype powered aircraft, which recent research has shown, would have been capable of flight. However he died in a glider accident before he was able to test it, and his plans were for many years forgotten.

1900 to 1918

At the same time that fixed wing aircraft were advancing, rigid body dirigibles were also becoming more advanced. Indeed, rigid body dirigibles would be far more capable than fixed wing aircraft in terms of pure cargo carrying capacity for decades. Dirigible design and advancement came about due to the German count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

Construction of the first Zeppelin airship began in 1899 in a floating assembly hall on Lake Constance in the Bay of Manzell, Friedrichshafen. This was intended to facilitate the difficult starting procedure, as the hall could easily be aligned with the wind. The prototype airship LZ 1 (LZ for "Luftschiff Zeppelin") had a length of 128 m, was driven by two 14.2ps Daimler engines and balanced by moving a weight between its two nacelles.

The first Zeppelin flight occurred on July 2, 1900. It lasted for only 18 minutes, as LZ 1 was forced to land on the lake after the winding mechanism for the balancing weight had broken. Upon repair, the technology proved potential in subsequent flights, beating the 6 m/s velocity record of French airship La France by 3 m/s, but could not yet convince possible investors. It would be several years before he was able to raise enough funds for another try. See the zeppelin page for more history.

In New Zealand, South Canterbury farmer and inventor Richard Pearse constructed a monoplane aircraft that he reputedly flew on March 31, 1903. However, even Pearse himself admitted the flight was uncontrolled and ended in a crash-landing on a hedge. For lack of good contemporary documentary some even thought that Pearse's flight happened in 1904. More recent research, however, strongly indicates that the March 1903 date is correct. Pearse was unable to repeat his flights in a sustained manner.

Karl Jatho conducted motorized flight in August 1903, just a few months after Pearse. Jatho's wing design and airspeed did not allow his control surfaces to act properly.

Also some time in the summer of 1903, eyewitnesses claimed to have seen Preston Watson make his initial flights at Errol, near Dundee in the east of Scotland. However once again lack of photographic or documentary evidence makes the claim difficult to verify.

Cayley's and Lilienthal's work was known to the Wright brothers of the United States, who extended the technology of flight with certain principles of control still used today. The Wright brothers had researched and initially relied upon the aeronautical literature of the day, which mainly consisted of Otto Lilienthal's heritage. They found that Lilienthal's tables included errors so they became the first to use a wind tunnel in the design of an aeroplane.

The Wright Brothers first flight

The Wrights made the first controlled powered heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. The first flight by Orville Wright, of 120 feet (37 m) in 12 seconds, was recorded in a famous photograph. In the fourth flight of the same day, Wilbur Wright flew 852 feet (260 m) in 59 seconds. The flights were witnessed by 4 lifesavers and a boy from the village, making them arguably the first public flight and certainly the first well documented one.

At the time of the Wright brothers' flight, other people had built or work working on heavier-than-air machines capable of flying under their own power; for example, Clement Ader's used a steam engine on a monoplane. After the advent of lighter internal combustion engines (Karl Benz, Nikolaus Otto, Rudolf Diesel), other pioneers followed such as the aforementioned Englishman Percy Pilcher. Gustave Whitehead claimed to have flown a powered aircraft on August 14, 1901. He failed to document the flight, but a later replica of his Number 21 was flown successfully. Lyman Gilmore also claimed to have achieved success on May 15, 1902.

Samuel Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, attempted to fly his manned Aerodrome weeks before the Wrights flew. Although his attempts failed, the Smithsonian Institution continued to boast that the Aerodrome was the first machine "capable of flight", due to Glenn Curtiss making several modifications to the Aerodrome and successfully flying it in 1914. Langley's quarter scale model and other unmanned 'aerodrome's did make several successful flights in the 1890's, however.

Many claims of flight are complicated by the fact that many early flights were done at such low altitude that they did not clear the ground effect and the complexities involved in the differences between unpowered and powered aircraft.

The Wright Brothers conducted numerous additional public flights (over 80) in 1904 and 1905 from Huffman Prairie in Dayton, Ohio and invited friends, neighbors and newspaper reporters to them although few came.

Alberto Santos-Dumont made a public flight in Europe on September 13, 1906 in Paris. His design, like the Wright brothers', used a canard elevator and wing-warping, and covered a distance of 221 m (725 ft). Since the plane did not need headwinds or catapults to take off, this flight is considered by some as the first true powered flight. Also, since the earlier attempts of Pearse, Jatho, Watson, and the Wright brothers received less attention from the popular press then Santos-Dumont's flight its importance to society, especially in Europe, is often considered to be greater despite occurring some years later.

Two English inventors Henry Farman and John William Dunne were also working separately on powered flying machines. In January 1908, Farman won the Grand Prix d'Aviation with a machine which flew for 1 km, though by this time many longer flights had already been done. For example, the Wright Brothers had made flights over 39 km long by 1905.

On May 14, 1908 the Wright Brothers made what is accepted to be the first two-person aircraft flight with Charlie Furnas as a passenger.

Thomas Selfridge became the first person killed in a powered airplane on September 17, 1908 when Wilbur crashed his two-passenger plane during military tests at Fort Myer in Virginia.

In late 1908, Madame Hart O. Berg became the first woman to fly when she flew with Wilbur Wright in Le Mans, France.

Dunne's early work was sponsored by the British military, and tested in great secrecy in Glen Tilt in the Scottish Highlands. His best early design, the D4, flew in December 1908 near Blair Atholl in Perthshire. Dunne's main contribution to early aviation was stability, which was a key problem with the planes designed by the Wright brothers and Samuel Cody.

Controversy in the credit for invention of the airplane has been fuelled by Pearse's and Jatho's essentially non-existent efforts to inform the popular press, by the Wrights' secrecy while their patent was prepared, by the pride of nations, and by the number of firsts made possible by the basic invention. For example, the Romanian engineer Traian Vuia (1872 - 1950) also has been claimed to have been first self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft, able to take off autonomously, without a headwind, and entirely driven by its on-board installations, throughout its evolution. Vuia piloted the airplane he designed and built on March 18, 1906, at Montesson, near Paris. None of his flights were longer then 100 feet (30 m) in length. In comparison, by the end of 1904, the Wright brothers had sustained flights up to 39 minutes and 24.5 miles (39 km) in 1905, circling over Huffman Prairie.

The use of energy other than that which comes from an on-board engine for take-off or flight is sometimes considered a disqualification for some aviation pioneers. Notably the Wright brothers' claims are sometimes considered weaker because, during the development of their aircraft, they used a catapult take-off system to compensate for the absence of a head wind in many of their flights. In fact, the lack of a head wind has been cited to explain the failure of a reconstruction of the Wright flyer at the Wright centennial in 2003. As one observer put it: "but in a storm anything could fly". Winds can allow any number of things to take flight, but those objects cannot sustain travel forward into the wind. In the case of the Wrights, the amount of energy supplied by the catapult would be minute compared to the total expended during longer flights. With the lack of wind in Ohio, the power came from the aircraft engine.

The first helicopter known to have risen off the ground took place in 1907 (Cornu, France) though the first practical helicopter was the Focke FA-61 (Germany, 1936).

Almost as soon as they were invented, planes were drafted for military service. The first war to see Major use of planes in offensive, defensive and reconnaissance capabilities was World War I. The Axis and Allied powers both used planes extensively. The best plane of the war is generally agreed to be the Sopwith Camel; it was more manuverable and could carry more ordinance than other planes. Aviators were styled as modern day knights, doing individual combat with their enemies. Several pilots became famous for their air to air combants. The most well known to day is the Red Baron who is also called the ace of aces, having shot down 80 planes in air to air combat with several different planes, the most celebrated of which was the Fokker Dr.I. His record of air to air kills still stands today. On the axis side (axis and allies were reversed in WWI) Eddie Rickenbacker was the best pilot of the time, flying a Neiwport, a french manufactured airplane.

The early history of flight and credit for various accomplishments is often highly contested. see Early flying machines

1918 - 1939

German Taube monoplane, illustration from 1917

The years between World War I and World War II saw a large advancement in aircraft technology.

Airplanes went from being constructed of mostly wood and canvas to being constructed almost entirely of aluminium. Engine development proceeded apace, with engines moving from in-line water cooled gasoline engines to rotary air cooled engines, with a commensurate increase in propulsive power. Pushing all of this forward were a series of prizes for various distance and speed records. For example Charles Lindbergh took the Orteig Prize of $25,000 for his solo non-stop crossing of the Atlantic, the first person to achieve this, although not the first to carry out a non-stop crossing. That was achieved eight years earlier when Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Brown co-piloted a Vickers Vimy nonstop from St. John's, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland on June 14, 1919, winning the £10,000 ($50,000) Northcliffe prize in the process.

After WWI there were many experienced fighter pilots who were eager to show off their new skills. Many American pilots became barnstormers, flying into small towns across the country and showing off their flying skills, as well as taking paying passengers for rides. Eventually the barnstormers grouped into more organized displays of their prowess. A series of air shows sprang up around the country, with air races, acrobatic stunts, and feats of air superiority being the main attraction. The air races drove engine and airframe development - the Schneider Trophy for example led to a series of ever faster and sleeker monoplane designs culminating in the Supermarine S.6B, a direct forerunner of the Spitfire. With pilots competing for cash prizes, there was more incentive to go faster than just personal prestige. Amelia Earhart was perhaps the most famous of those on the barnstorming/air show circuit. She was also the first female pilot to achieve many records such as crossing of the Atlantic, English channel, etc.

On the lighter-than-air front, the first crossings of the Atlantic were made by airship in July 1919 by His Majesty's Airship R34 and crew when they flew from East Lothian, Scotland to Long Island, New York and then back to Pulham, England. By 1929, airship technology had advanced to the point that the first round-the-world flight was completed by the Graf Zeppelin in September and in October, the same aircraft inaugurated the first commercial transatlantic service. However the age of the dirigible ended in 1937 with the terrible fire aboard the Zeppelin Hindenburg. After the now famous footage of the Hindenburg crashing and burning on the Lakehurst, New Jersey, landing field, people simply stopped using airships, despite the fact that most people on board survived, and the Hindenburg disaster was the only such disaster with a lighter-than-air ship to claim civilian lives.

In the 1930s development of the jet engine began in Germany and in England. In England Frank Whittle patented a design for a jet engine in 1930 and began developing a workable engine towards the end of the decade. In Germany Hans von Ohain patented his version of a jet engine in 1936 and began developing a similar engine. The two men were unaware of each others work, and both Germany and Britain had developed jet aircraft by the end of World War II.

WWII 1939-1945

B-29 Superfortress, a Heavy BomberWorld War Two saw a drastic increase in the pace of aircraft development and production. All countries involved in the war stepped up production and development of aircraft and flight based weapon delivery systems, such as the German V-2 missile, and World War two saw the development of the first long range bomber, and the first jet fighter. The first functional jetplane which was the Heinkel He 178 (Germany), flown by Erich Warsitz in 1939. An earlier prototype was the Coanda-1910 that did a short flight in December 16, 1910. The first cruise missile (V-1), and the first ballistic missile (V-2) were also developed by Germany. Long range bombers made the bigger difference in the war of those technologies. Jet fighters did not have significant impact, nor cruise and ballistic missiles in part because the V-1 was not very effective and the V-2 was never produced in useful numbers. The P-51 Mustang was critical to the success of the heavy bomber, allowing much lower losses then otherwise. The following table shows Aircraft production in the United States, and how it drastically increased over the course of the war.

[table of planes used in WW2 removed for PDA spacing reasons.]

1945 - present

Commercial Aviation really took hold after World War II using mostly ex-military aircraft in the business of transporting people and goods. Within a few years, many companies existed with routes that criss-crossed North America, Europe and other parts of the world. This was accelerated due to the glut of Heavy and super heavy bomber chasis like the B-29 that could easily be converted into commercial aircraft. The DC-3 also made for easier and longer commercial flights. By 1952, the British state airline BOAC introduced into service the first jet airliner the De Havilland Comet. While a technical achievement, the plane ended up being a flop, as the shape of the windows led to cracks due to metal fatige. The metal fatigue was caused by pressurization and depressurization of the cabin, and eventually led to catastrophic depressurization of the planes. By the time the problems were fixed several years later, other jet airliner competition had already begun, including the Boeing 707.

Even with the end of World War II, there was still a need for advancement in airplane and rocket technology. Not long after the war ended, in October of 1947, Chuck Yeager took the rocket powered Bell X-1 past the speed of sound. Although anecdotal evidence exists that some fighter pilots may have done so while divebombing ground targets during the war, this is the first controlled, level flight to cross the sound barrier. Further barriers of distance were eliminated in 1948 and 1952 as the first jet crossoing of the Atlantic occurred and the first nonstop flight to Australia occurred.

In 1961, ths sky was literally no longer the limit for manned flight, as Yuri Gagarin, orbited once around the planet within 108 minutes. This action further heated up the space race that had started in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union. The United States responded by launching Alan Shepard into space on a suborbital flight in a Mercury space capsule. The Space race would ultimately lead to the current pinacle of human flight, the landing of men on the moon in 1969.

This historic achievement in space was not the only progress made in aviation at this time however. In 1967, the X-15 set the air speed record for an airplane at 4,534 mph or Mach 6.1 (7,297 km/h). Aside from vehicles designed to fly in outer space, this record still stands as the air speed record for powered flight.

The same year that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon, 1969, Boeing came out with its vision for the future of air travel, unveiling the Boeing 747 for the first time. This plane is still one of the largest aircraft to ever fly, and it carries millions of passengers each year. Commercial aviation progressed evn further in 1976 as British Airways inagurated supersonic service across the atlantic, courtesy of the Concorde. A few years earlier the SR-71 Blackbird had set the record for crossing the Atlantic in under 2 hours, and Concorde followed in its footsteps with passengers in tow.

The last quarter of the 20th century saw a slowing of the pace of advancement seen in the first three quarters of the century. No longer was revoloutionary progress made in flight speeds, distances and technology. This part of the century saw the steady improvement of flight avionics, and a few minor milestones in flight progress.

For example, in 1979 the Gossamer albatross became the first human powered airplane to cross the english channel. This achievement finally saw the realization of centuries of dreams of human flight, but it ultimately did not have an impact on either commercial or military aviation. In 1986 Burt Rutan flew an airplane around the world unrefuelled, and without landing. In 1999? Bertrand Piccard became the first person to circle the earth in a baloon. By the end of the 20th Century there were no major or minor accomplishments left to be made in subsonic aviation. Focus was turning to the ultimate conquest of space and flight at faster than the speed of sound. The ANSARI X PRIZE inspired entrepreneurs and space enthusiasts to build their own rocket ships to fly faster than sound and climb into the lowest reaches of space.

In the beginning of the 21st century, subsonic aviation focused on eliminating the pilot in favor of remotely operated or completely autonomous vehicles. Several Unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs have been developed In April 2001 the unmanned aircraft Global Hawk flew from Edwards AFB in the US to Australia non-stop and unrefuelled. This is the longest point-to-point flight ever undertaken by an unmanned aircraft, and took 23 hours and 23 minutes. In October 2003 the first totally autonomous flight across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled model aircraft occurred.

In commercial aviation, the early 21st century saw the end of an era with the retirement of the Concorde. Supersonic flight was not very commercial, as the planes were required to fly over the oceans if they wanted to break the sound barier. The Concorde also was fuel hungry and could carry a limited amount of passengers due to its highly streamlined design.

Despite this setback, and the general slowing of progress, it is generally agreed that the 21st century will be a bright one for aviation. Planes and rockets offer unique capabilities in terms of speed and carrying capacity that cannot be underestimated. As long as there is a need for people to get to places quickly, there will be a need for aviation.

Economics: Wikipedia

2004-06-09T18:43:00.000+10:30

Economics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Economics is the social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The field of economics comprises a number of potentially irreconcilable theories of economic systems, but as a general rule economists study human behavior and welfare as a relationship between ends socially required and scarce means which have alternative uses (Lionel Robbins, 1935). That is, economics is the study of the trade-offs involved when choosing between alternate sets of decisions, considering collective and individual benefits.

Understanding choices by individuals and groups is central in economics. With scarcity, choosing one alternative implies forgoing another alternative; economists refer to the best alternative forgone by taking another choice as the opportunity cost. For instance, learning one skill implies time not spent learning another. In a market setting, scarcity is often quantified by price relationships.

Economists believe that incentives and preferences (tastes) together play an important role in shaping decision making. Sometimes a preference relation can be represented by a utility function. Concepts from the Utilitarian school of philosophy are used as analytical concepts within economics, though economists appreciate that society may not adopt utilitarian objectives.

The subject is said to be positive when it attempts to explain the consequences of different choices given a set of assumptions and normative when it prescribes a certain route of action.

Aspects receiving particular attention in economics are resource allocation, production, distribution or trade, and competition.

The word economy comes from the Greek oikos- for "house" and nomos for "laws" or "norms". Originally, the term economics was used for different contexts: the house, a town, a city (the "polis" in Greek).

This last use originated the term political economy, while the term economics was coined around 1870 and popularized by Alfred Marshall. Note that the word economist predated economics.

After this "change", the term "political economy" has been used to denote the "classical economy" of the 19th century, with Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx as its main thinkers.

Areas of study in Economics

Economics is usually divided into two main branches:

Microeconomics, which examines the economic behaviour of individual actors such as firms, households, and individuals, with a view to understand decision making in the face of scarcity and the allocation consequences of these decisions.
Macroeconomics, which examines an economy as a whole with a view to understanding the interaction between economic aggregates such as national income, employment and inflation. Note that this is different from general equilibrium theory, which deals with aggregate problems from a strictly constructed microeconomic viewpoint.
Attempts to join these two branches or to refute the distinction between them have been important motivators in much of recent economic thought, especially in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, the consensus view is arguably that good macroeconomics has solid microeconomic foundations; i.e. its premises have theoretical and evidential support in microeconomics.

Within these major divisions there are specialized areas of study that try to answer questions on a broad spectrum of human economic activity (see below). There are also methodologies used by economists whose underlying theories are important. The most significant example may be econometrics, which applies statistical techniques to the study of economic data. Computational economics relies on mathematical methods, including econometrics.

Other subdivisions are possible. Finance has traditionally been considered a part of economics – as its body of results emerges naturally from microeconomics – but has today effectively established itself as a separate, though closely related, discipline.

There has been an increasing trend for ideas and methods from economics to be applied in wider contexts. Since economics analysis focuses on decision making, it can be applied (with varying degrees of success) to any field where people are faced with alternatives – education, marriage, health, etc. Public Choice Theory studies how economic analysis can apply to those fields traditionally considered outside of economics. The areas of investigation in Economics therefore overlap with other social sciences, including political science and sociology. See political economy for the study of economics in the context of political science. The most prevalent political economy is loosely called capitalism.

Economic assumptions

Mainstream economics does not assume a priori that markets are preferable to other forms of social organization. In fact, much analysis is devoted to cases where so-called market failures lead to resource allocation that is suboptimal by some standard. In such cases, economists may attempt to find policies that will avoid waste; directly by government control, indirectly by regulation that induces market participants to act in a manner consistent with optimal welfare, or by creating 'missing' markets to enable efficient trading where none had previously existed. This is studied in the field of collective action.

Despite the extreme controversy surrounding larger economic issues, there is significant agreement among mainstream economists on the fundamentals of the subject, especially as reflected in microeconomics as opposed to macroeconomics.

Much contemporary theory assumes that economic agents act rationally to optimize well-being given available information. This may sometimes be an acceptable approximation (for instance, if a given individual's irrationality is canceled out in the aggregate) and tends to produce tractable results. However, this framework ("homo economicus") has for decades been understood as a handy approximation (e.g., see Herbert Simon's model for "bounded rationality", which was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1978). More recently, irrational behavior and imperfect information have increasingly been the subject of formal modelling (often referred to as behavioral economics), for which Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel Prize in 2002. An example is the growing field of behavioral finance which combines previous theory with cognitive psychology.

Economic language and reasoning

Economics relies on rigorous styles of argument more than other social sciences. This is at least, the purported ideal of professionals in the field. Economic methodology has three interacting parts;

Collection of economic data. This data consists of for example, the rate of inflation, rate of unemployment, money in circulation etc. Techniques and scope of data collection depend on the second point below, viz., models.
Formulation of models of economic ontology (e.g. what there is which is of economic significance) and economic activity: money, consumers, preferences, buying, selling, prices etc. Some of the models are simple accounting models, while others postulate specific kinds of economic behavior, such as utility or profit maximization. An example of a model which illustrates both of these aspects, is the classical mathematical formulation of the Keynesian system involving the consumption function and the national income identity. In this article we will refer to such models as formal models although they are not formal in the sense of formal logic.
Reasoning within economic models. This process of reasoning (see the articles on informal logic, logical argument, fallacy) may or may not involve advanced mathematics. For instance, an established (though possibly unexamined) tradition among economists is to reason about economic variables in two-dimensional graphs in which curves representing relations between the axis variables are parametrized by various indices. A good example of this type of reasoning is exhibited by Paul Krugman's online essay, There's something about macro. See also the article IS/LM model. One critical analysis of economic reasoning is studied in Paul Samuelson's thesis, Foundations of Economic Analysis: he identifies a class of assertions called operationally meaningful theorems which are those that can be meaningfully formulated within an economic model. As usual in science, the conclusions obtained by reasoning have a predictive as well as confirmative (or dismissive) value. An example of the predictive value of economic theory is a prediction as to the effect of current deficits on interest rates 10 years into the future; An example of the confirmative value of economic theory would be confirmation (or dismissal) of theories concerning the relation between marginal tax rates and the deficit.
Formal modelling is motivated by general principles of scientific soundness.

Formal modelling has been adopted to some extent by all branches of economics. It is not the identical to what is often referred to as mathematical economics; this includes, but is not limited to, an attempt to set microeconomics, in particular general equilibrium on solid mathematical foundation. Some reject mathematical economics: The Austrian School of economics believes that anything beyond simple logic is often unnecessary and inappropriate for economic analysis. In fact, the entire empirical-deductive framework sketched in this section may be rejected outright by this school. However, we believe the framework sketched here represents accurately the current predominant view of economics.

Development of economic thought

Modern economic thought is usually said to have begun with Adam Smith in the late 18th century, although earlier thinkers such as the Spanish Scholastics and the physiocrats made important contributions. For an overview of precursors to Smith as well as an overview of schools that have developed later, see history of economic thought. Modern mainstream economics can be said to begin with Mills focusing of what was then called "political economy" on "wealth" which he defined exclusively in relation to the exchange value of objects, or what would now be called price. "Classical Economics," as the economic work of the period is called, forms the foundation of micro-economics.

In the 19th century, Karl Marx synthesized a variety of schools of thought involving the social distribution of resources, including the work of Adam Smith, as well as socialism and egalitarianism, and used the systematic approach to logic taken from philosopher Hegel to produce "Das Kapital". His work was the most widely adhered-to critique of market economics during much of the 20th century. The Marxist paradigm of economics is not generally held in high regard by market economists, though some concepts from his work are occasionally used in mainstream contexts, particularly in labor economics and in political economy. The term Marxian is less used nowadays, being often used to describe work which accepts concepts from his work but does not necessarily subscribe to the political thrust of Marxist thought.

In the early 20th century, economics became increasingly statistical, and the study of econometrics became increasingly important. Statistical treatment of price, unemployment, money supply and other variables, as well as the compiling of these statistics, became more and more central to economic writing and disputes within the field of economics.

Macroeconomics diverged from microeconomics with Keynes in the 1920s, and was codified in the 1930s by Keynes and others, particularly John Hicks. It grew in popularity as a reaction to the Great Depression. Keynes had been an influential exponent of the importance of central banking and government involvement in economic affairs, as well as a critic of the political economy of the post World War I period. His "General Theory" encapsulated both criticisms of classical theory that had been levelled by Thorstein Veblen and others, as well a method for economic management of aggregate demand. For an overview of a number of competing schools, see macroeconomics.

Many economists use a combination of Neoclassical microeconomics and Keynesian macroeconomics. This combination, sometimes known as the Neoclassical synthesis, was dominant in Western teaching and public policy in the years following World War II and up to the late 1970s. The neoclassical school was challenged by monetarism, formulated in the late 1940's and early 1950's by Milton Friedman and associated with the University of Chicago.

In principle, economics can be applied to any type of economic organization. However, it developed historically in market societies (also called capitalist societies), and its most detailed and precise work has dealt with the institutions belonging to them. To what extent economics must be adjusted to be applied to earlier forms of social organization has been the source of discussion. Generally, mainstream economists mostly feel that the basic framework of economics is relevant and flexible enough to be applied to virtually any form of society. Marxist economics asserts that history is divided into eras which are determined by which two classes, which are struggling to control the means of production (slaves and masters, peasants and royalty, wage workers and capitalists), and that mainstream economics only applies to those societies which are "objectively" industrial, that is to say, societies which are capable of industrial production based on their own knowledge and resources. (See Marxism, particularly "The Hegelian Roots of Marxism".)

In the late 20th Century three of the areas of study which are producing change in economic thinking are: risk based rather than price based models, imperfect economic actors, and treating economics as a biological science, based on evolutionary norms rather than abstract exchange.

The study of risk has been influential, which viewed variations in price over time as more important than actual price. This particularly applies to financial economics where risk-return tradeoffs are the crucial decisions to be made.

The most important area of growth has been in the study of information and decision. Examples of this school include the work of Joseph Stiglitz. Problems of asymmetric information and moral hazard, both based around information economics, profoundly affect modern economic dilemmas like executive stock options, insurance markets, and third-world debt relief.

Finally, there are a series of economic ideas rooted in the conception of economics as a branch of biology, including the idea that energy relationships rather than price relationships determine economic structure, and the use of fractal geometry to create economic models. (See Energy Economics)

In its infancy is the application of non-linear dynamics to economic theory, as well as the application of evolutionary psychology. So far the most visible work has been in the area of applying fractals to market analysis, particularly arbitrage. (See Complexity in Economics)

Another infant branch of economics is neuroeconomics. This combines neuroscience, economics, and psychology to study how we make choices.

Economics in the context of Western thought

Basic Scarcity in Economic Theory
Because scarcity and decision are central to economic theory, the question of what is the basic trade-off in economics is of central importance. In every economic theory, there is a basic exchange of two or more ultimately scarce commodities. For Adam Smith, it was defined as the trading of time, or convenience, for money. For example, a person could live near town, and pay more for rent or his domicile, or live farther away and pay less, "paying the difference out of his convenience".

This view, that the primary trade-off involved in economics is between time and money, has several challengers. Each of these bases its view of scarcity on a different fundamental trade-off. A small number of economists prefer to define economics as the study of how and why people trade; this definition implies relative scarcity.

Information theory has been applied to economics since the work of Ronald Coase in the 1930's. However, with Herbert Simon and John von Neumann in the 1950's, it gathered a more specific formalism as part of game theory. This emphasises that the decision-making process itself is costly.

Marxist economics generally denies the trade-off of time for money. In the Marxist view, concentrated control over the means of production is the basis for the allocation of resources among classes. Scarcity of any particular physical resource is subsidiary to the central question of power relationships embedded in the means of production.

The question of the environment is viewed, in the traditional economic framework, as being related to the externalization of costs. That is, market economics assumes that a good which is underpriced, is overconsumed. Externalization of cost, in this view, will be corrected by pricing the overconsumed resources which are being used, for example the work of Lester Thurow and also see Pigovian taxes. Not all economics study accepts this paradigm, and, instead, there is a seven decade old tradition of viewing economic relationships as being based on the scarcity of energy, rather than price, as the central feature of economics.

Value Theory
It could be argued that beneath an economic theory is a theory of value. Value can be defined as the underlying activity which economics describes and measures. It is what is "really" happening.

Adam Smith defined "labor" as the underlying source of value, and "the labor theory of value" underlies the work of Karl Marx, Ricardo and many other "classical" economists. The "labor theory of value" argues that a good or service is worth the labor that it takes to produce, and the abundance or scarcity of labor determines the price of a commodity. The labor theory of value and the closely related cost-of-production theory of value dominates the work of most classical economists, but they are far from the only accepted basis for "value". For example neoclassical economists and Austrian School economists prefer the marginal theory of value.

"Market theory" argues that there is no "value" separate from price, that the market incorporates all available information into price, and that so long as markets are open, that price and value are one and the same. This theory rests on the idea of the "rational economic actor".

Another set of theories rest on the idea that there is a basic external scarcity, and that "value" represents the relationship to that basic scarcity. Theories based on economics being limited by energy or based on a "gold standard" are of this type.

All of these value theories are used in current economic work

Price
Price is the measurable quantities involved in an exchange. Price theory, therefore, charts the movement of measurable quantities over time, and the relationship between price and other measurable variables. In Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations this was the trade-off between price and convenience. A great deal of economic theory is based around prices and the theory of supply and demand.

Supply and demand assume that the factors affecting the agents who supply a particular commodity can be separated from those who wish to sell it. Sellers have a quantity they would wish to sell at every given price and a price for any quantity the wish to sell; buyers have a quantity they will demand at any given price and a price that is acceptable to them if they have to buy a particular quantity.

The market 'clears' at the point where both buyers and sellers are satisfied with the price and quantity exchanged. (It is assumed that there is a process that will result in the market reaching this point, but exactly what the process is in a real situation is an ongoing subject of research)

Graphically the situation can be represented by two curves; one showing the price-quantity combinations acceptable to buyers, one showing the combinations acceptable to sellers. The market-clearing equilibrium is where the curves intersect. In a general equilibrium model, all markets in all goods clear simultaneously and the 'price' can be described entirely in terms of tradeoffs with other goods.

In many practical economic models, some form of "price stickiness" is incorporated to model the observed fact that in many markets prices do not move fluidly. Economic policy often revolves around arguments as to what is causing "economic friction", or price stickiness, and which is, therefore, preventing the supply and demand from reaching equilibrium.

Another area of economic controversy is on whether price measures value correctly. In mainstream market economics, where there are significant scarcities not factored into price, there is said to be an externalization of cost. Market economics predicts that scarce goods which are under-priced are over-consumed (See social cost). This leads into public goods theory.

Economics and other disciplines
There is some degree of tension between economics and ethics, another of the most basic social sciences, which tends to avoid quantification and emphasize balances of rights. Modern economics deals with this tension explicitly – according to some thinkers a theory of economics is also, or implies also, a theory of moral reasoning. One way economists deal with this is to qualify discussions of economic choice by noting that "all else being equal..." referring to moral or social factors that are supposedly held equivalent for all choices that one might make. For exploration of this issue, see the moral purchasing article.

Another premise is that economics fits within a finite ecosystem where there are at least some abundant resources – for instance, when fueling a fire one is usually concerned with finding the wood, and not so much with finding the air to burn it with. Economics explicitly does not deal with free abundant inputs – one criticism is that it often conflicts with ecology's view of what affects what. Human beings are, according to ecologists, merely one species participating in a vast energy system on this planet – economy is a subset of ecology that deals with just one species' habits and wants. See nature's services for the economic view of ecology and green economics for the view wherein economics is a subset of ecology.

A third premise is that economics suggests market forms and other means of distribution of scarce goods that do not just affect "desires and wants" but also "needs" and "habits". Much of so-called economic "choice" is involuntary, certainly given the conditioning that people have to expect certain quality of life. This leads to one of the most hotly debated areas in economic policy: namely the effect and efficacy of welfare policies. This is viewed as a failure to respect economics reasoning by libertarians, who argue that redistribution of wealth is morally and economically wrong. And viewed as a failure of economics to respect society by socialists, who argue that disparities of wealth should not have been allowed in the first place. This led to both 19th century labour economics and 20th century welfare economics before being subsumed into human development theory.

The debates above are all quite old. The term economics was coined in around 1870, and popularised by influential "neoclassical" economists such as Alfred Marshall. Prior to this the subject had been known as political economy and referred to "the economy of polities" – competing states. The older term is still often used instead of economics, especially by radical economists such as Marxists who strongly question assumptions of "mainstream" technical and quantitative economics. Use of this term often signals an a basic disagreement with the terminology or paradigm of market economics. Political economy explicitly brings political considerations into economic analysis and therefore tends to be more normative. Some mainstream universities (such as the University of Toronto and many in the United Kingdom) have a political economy department rather than an economics department.

Ayatollah of Iran, Definition of Ayatollah: Wikipedia

2004-06-09T18:28:00.000+10:30
From: Wikipedia Under GNU licence
Ayatollah
(Meaning:Supreme leader) of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei
He studied Islamic philosophy and became a teacher in it. He was a key figure in the Islamic revolution and a close confident of leader Ayatollah Khomeini. In 1981 he was elected President of Iran, and became the first cleric to serve in the office. Khomeini had originally wanted to keep clerics out of the presidency, but this view was compromised. Many saw Khamenei's presidency as a sign that Iran was abandoning any hopes for secularism, and becoming even more theocratic. Shortly after he assumed the presidency, Khamenei narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb, concealed in a tape recorder at a press conference, exploded just beside him. Khamenei was not seriously injured and only lost some functions of his right hand, but the event helped affirm his reputation as a "living martyr" among his followers.

He was re-elected to a second term in 1985. As a close ally of Khomeini, his term in office had few clashes with the Supreme Leader that would characterize many of Iran's later presidents. When Khomeini died, Khamenei was elected as the new Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on June 4, 1989. Since Khamenei was originally not considered a high-ranking enough cleric to assume the office, and the new amendment to the constitution that allowed a cleric of his then status to be elected as the Supreme Leader were not put to the referendum yet, the Assembly internally titled him a temporary office holder until the new constitution became effective.

Khamenei's term as ruler has been marked by numerous clashes with reform-minded members of the Iranian parliament, who have contested many of his decrees and decisions. Many reform bills have been vetoed and many reformers has been barred from running for office by the Council of Guardians whose members are chosen directly or indirectly by Khamenei. This has led some radical elements to question his divine right to rule, a previously unthinkable notion. Khamenei has also maintained an aggressive stance towards Israel and the United States (and possibly other countries, which he calls by the general term the enemy), and in recent years there have been allegations that he has been supporting a covert nuclear weapons development project in Iran.

Ayatollah
(آية الله in Arabic, or آیت‌الله in Persian) means "sign of God". This is one of the high level epithets for the major shiite clergymen. They are experts in Islamic sciences such as Jurisprudence, Ethics, Philosophy and Mysticism, and usually teach in schools (hawza) of Islamic sciences.

When people say "the Ayatollah", they usually mean Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, or possibly the Supreme Leader of Iran.

Famous examples:

Ali Khamenei
Ruhollah Khomeini
Ali al-Sistani

History: WW1: Wikipedia

2004-06-08T22:52:00.001+10:30
From: Wikipedia Under GNU licence
Introduction

World War I (also known as the First World War) was a conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918. It set the violent 20th century in motion. Chemical weapons were used for the first time, the first mass bombardment of civilians from the sky was executed, and one of the century's first genocides took place during the war. No previous conflict had mobilised so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of battle. Never before had casualties been so high. The First World War was the first total war. World War I was also a war of change, a last blow to the old order in Europe to pave way for the new. Dynasties such as the Habsburgs, Romanovs, and Hohenzollerns, who had dominated the European political landscape and had roots of power back to the days of the Crusades, all fell after the 4 year war. So many of the events and phenomena that would dominate the world of the 20th century can trace their origins to this war - including Communism, World War II and even the Cold War.

World War I proved to be the decisive break with the old world order, marking the final demise of absolutist monarchy in Europe. It would prove the catalyst for the Russian Revolution, which would inspire later revolutions in countries as diverse as China and Cuba, and would lay the basis for the Cold War confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States. The defeat of Germany in the war and failure to resolve the unsettled issues that had caused the Great War would lay the basis for the rise of Nazism, and thus the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Most significantly, it laid the basis for a more modern form of warfare that relied heavily on technology, and would involve non-combatants in the horrors of war as never before. From this point on, all people of all classes would have to see the true color of war. War was no longer a "polite" battle where men lined up and showed their strength on some distant battlefield. World War I showed the new direction war was going towards where each side would begin to use desperate and sometimes horrific strategies to gain any advantage, most of the time, at the expense of the innocent.

It was commonly called The Great War or sometimes "the war to end all wars" until World War II started, although the name "First World War" was coined as early as 1920 by Lt-Col à Court Repington in The First World War 1914-18. Some scholars write of the First World War as merely the first phase of a 30-year-long war spanning the period 1914 - 1945.

Over 9 million men would die on the battlefield, and nearly that many more would die on the homefront from food shortages, starvation, genocide, and simply being the unfortunate family living right on the battlefront. Of all the questions regarding the war, these come first; How did it happen? And why?

The Outbreak

Austrian regional security concerns grew with the near-doubling of neighbouring Serbia's territory as a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Many in the Austrian leadership, not least Emperor Franz Joseph, and Conrad von Hötzendorf, worried about Serbian nationalist agitation in the southern provinces of the Empire; they were still haunted by the memories of the Piedmontese inspired campaigns against the Austrian Italian provinces in 1859. Just as France had backed Piedmont in the campaign culminating in the Battle of Solferino, they worried that Russia would back Serbia to annex Slavic areas of Austria. The feeling was that it was better to destroy Serbia before they were given the opportunity to launch a campaign.

Some members of the Austrian government also felt that a campaign in Serbia would be the perfect remedy to the internal political problems of the Empire. Many of them were frustrated by the power of the Hungarian government in the Empire. In 1914 the government of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a "dualistic" structure. Austria and Hungary had essentially separate governments under one monarch. The Austrian government retained control over foreign policy, but was still dependent on the Hungarians for such things as budgetary approval. Often the Hungarian leadership, under István Tisza refused Austrian requests for things such as increased military spending. In hopes of ending the political gridlock that this caused, many hoped to form a federation, or at least trialistic monarchy. The solution was seen in increasing the numbers of Slavs in the Empire.

Franz Ferdinand's assassination in June 1914 provided the opportunity sought by some Austrian leaders for a reckoning with the smaller Slav kingdom. The Sarajevo conspirators were alleged by the Austro-Hungarian authorities to have been armed by the shadowy Black Hand, a pan-Serb nationalist grouping with links to Serbian ruling circles.

With German backing, Austria-Hungary, acting primarily under the influence of Foreign Affairs Minister Leopold von Berchtold, sent an effectively unfulfillable 10-point ultimatum to Serbia (July 23, 1914), to be accepted within 48 hours. The Serbian government agreed to all but one of the demands. Austria-Hungary nonetheless broke off diplomatic relations (July 25) and declared war (July 28) through a telegram sent to the Serbian government.

The Russian government, which had pledged in 1909 to uphold Serbian independence in return for Serbia's acceptance of the Bosnia annexation, mobilized its military reserves on July 30 following a breakdown in crucial telegram communications between Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas II, who was under pressure by his military staff to prepare for war. Germany demanded (July 31) that Russia stand down her forces, but the Russian government persisted, as demobilization would have made it impossible to re-activate its military schedule in the short term. Germany declared war against Russia on (August 1) and, two days later, against the latter's ally France.

The outbreak of the conflict is often attributed to the alliances established over the previous decades - Germany-Austria-Italy vs. France-Russia; Britain and Serbia being aligned with the latter. In fact none of the alliances was activated in the initial outbreak, though Russian general mobilization and Germany's declaration of war against France were motivated by fear of the opposing alliance being brought into play.

Britain's declaration of war against Germany (August 4) was officially the result not of her understandings with France and Russia (Britain was technically allied to neither power), but of Germany's invasion of Belgium, whose independence Britain had guaranteed to uphold in the Treaty of London of 1839, and which stood astride the planned German route for invasion of Russia's ally France

The first battles

The plan that Germany had made with Austria -Hungary was to let Austria-Hungary focus the majority of its troops on Russia so as to hold them off while Germany dealt with France on the Western Front. However, Austria did not follow this plan and focused the majority of its forces on Serbia to the south. The Serb army however, which was coming up from the south of the country, was gaining numbers and would meet the Austrian army at Cer on August 12th 1914.

The Serbians had set up defensive positions over the Austrians. The first attack came on August 16th, which would end in catastrophic results for the Austrians, who literally walked into an artillery trap set up by the Serbians. Three days later the Austrians retreated across the Danube. This marked the first allied victory of the war. The Central Powers suffered greatly from this. The Austrians had not achieved their main goal of eliminating Serbia and the Eastern Front was poised for a quick defeat if the Russian forces were to charge.

Germany's plan (named the Schlieffen plan) to deal with the Franco-Russian alliance involved delivering a knock-out blow to the French and then turning to deal with the more slowly mobilized Russian army. Rather than attack France directly, it was deemed prudent to attack France from the north. To do so, the German army had to march through Belgium. Germany demanded this free passage from the Belgian government, promising that Belgium would be Germany's firm ally if this was agreed to. When Belgium refused, Germany invaded and began marching through Belgium anyway, after first invading and securing tiny Luxembourg. It soon encountered resistance before the forts of the Belgian city of Liège. Britain sent an army to France, which advanced into Belgium.

The delays brought about by the resistance of the Belgian, French and British forces and the unexpectedly rapid mobilization of the Russians upset the German plans. Russia attacked in East Prussia, diverting German forces intended for the Western Front. Germany defeated Russia in a series of battles collectively known as the (second) Battle of Tannenberg, but this diversion allowed French and British forces to finally halt the German advance on Paris at the First Battle of the Marne (September 1914) as the Central Powers (the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires) were forced into fighting a war on two fronts.

The first Allied occupation of enemy territory was not in Europe but in Africa: South African forces attacked and captured the German administrative seat in what is now Namibia, at the time a German colony.

The spread of war

1914
July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia;
August 1, Germany declared war on Russia;
August 2, German troops occupied Luxembourg;
August 3, Germany declared war on France;
August 4, Germany invaded neutral Belgium;
August 4, The United Kingdom declared war on Germany after the latter failed to respect Belgian neutrality;
August 12, The United Kingdom declared war on Austria-Hungary
August 14 Austrian and Serbian forces meet at Cer
August 19 Austrian Forces defeated by Serbians at Cer
August 20, German forces occupy Brussels.
August 23, Japan declared war on Germany.
September of 1914 a Unity Pact was signed by France, Britain, and Russia;
October 9, Siege of Antwerp - Antwerp, Belgium fell to German troops.
November 1-5, Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

1915
May 23, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary;
October: Bulgaria entered the war on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

1916
August 27, Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary;
August 28, Italy declared war on Germany;

1917
February 24 - United States ambassador to the United Kingdom Walter H. Page was given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which the German Empire offered to give the American Southwest back to Mexico if Mexico would declare war on the United States
April 6, the United States declared war on Germany;
August 14, the Republic of China declared war on Germany.
October 26, Brazil declared war on Germany.

Southern theaters

Entry of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October - November 1914, threatening Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India and the East via the Suez canal. British action opened another front in the South with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamia campaigns, though initially the Turks were successful in repelling enemy incursion. But in Mesopotamia, after the disastrous Siege of Kut (1915-16), the British reorganized and captured Baghdad in March 1917. Further to the west in Palestine, initial British failures were overcome with Jerusalem being captured in December 1917 and the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under Edmund Allenby going on to break the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Megiddo (September 1918).

Italian participation
Italy, had been nominally allied to the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires since 1882, but had her own designs against Austrian territory in the South Tyrol, Istria and Dalmatia, and a secret 1902 understanding with France effectively nullifying her alliance commitments. Italy refused to join Germany and Austria-Hungary at the beginning of the war and joined the Entente against Austria-Hungary in May 1915, declaring war against Germany only fifteen months later.

In general, the Italians enjoyed numerical superiority, but were poorly equipped; instead, the Austro-Hungarian defense took advantage of the mostly mountainous terrain. So, the 1915 Italian offensives on the Soča (Isonzo) front (the part of the border which was closest to Trieste, a major Italian objective) was repelled. The Austro-Hungarians counter-attacked from the South Tyrol in the spring of 1916 (Strafexpedition), but they made little progress. In the summer, the Italians took back the initiative, capturing the town of Gorizia. After this minor victory, the front remained practically stable for over one year, despite several Italian offensives. In the fall of 1917, thanks to the improving situation on the Eastern front, the Austrians received large reinforcements, including German assault troops. On October, 26, they launched a crushing offensive that resulted in the victory of Kobarid (Caporetto): the Italian army was initially routed, but after retreating more than 100 km, it was able to reorganize and hold ground on the Piave river. In 1918 the Austrians repeatedly failed to break this Italian line, and surrendered to the Entente powers in November.

Throughout the war Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff, Conrad von Hötzendorf had a deep hatred for the Italians because he had always perceived them to be the greatest threat to his state. Their betrayal in 1914 enraged him even further. His hatred for Italy blinded him in many ways, and he made many foolish tactical and strategic errors during the campaigns in Italy.

The fall of Serbia
After repulsing three Austrian invasions in August-December 1914, Serbia fell to combined German, Austrian and Bulgarian invasion in October 1915. Serbian troops continued to hold out in Albania and Greece, where a Franco-British force had landed to offer assistance and to pressure the Greek government into war against the Central Powers.

Early stages: from romanticism to the trenches

The perception of war in 1914 was almost romantic, and its declaration was met with great enthusiasm by many people. The common view was that it would be a short war of manoeuvre with a few sharp actions (to "teach the enemy a lesson") and would end with a victorious entry into the capital (the enemy capital, naturally) then home for a victory parade or two and back to "normal" life. There were some pessimists (like Lord Kitchener) who predicted the war would be a long haul, but "everyone knew" the War would be "Over by Christmas...."

The trenching begins
After their initial success on the Marne, Entente and German forces began a series of outflanking manoeuvres to try to force the other to retreat, in the so-called Race to the Sea. France and Britain soon found themselves facing entrenched German positions from Lorraine to Belgium's Flemish coast. The sides took set positions, the French and British seeking to take the offensive while Germany sought to defend the territories they had occupied. One consequence of this was that the German trenches were much better constructed than those of their enemy: the Anglo-French trenches were only intended to be 'temporary' before their forces broke through the German defences. Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next four years, though protracted German action at Verdun (1916) and Allied failure the following spring brought the French army to the brink of collapse as mass desertions undermined the front line.

Around 800,000 soldiers from Britain and the Empire were on the Western Front at any one time, 1,000 battalions each occupying a sector of the line from Belgium to the Arne and operating a month-long four stage system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained over 6,000 miles of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for around a week before moving back to support lines and then the reserve lines before a week out-of-line, often in the Poperinge or Amiens areas.

The Somme and Passchendaele
Both the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Passchendaele (1917) also on the Western Front resulted in enormous loss of life on both sides but minimal progress in the war. It is interesting to note that, when the British attacked on the first day of the battle of the Somme, and lost massive numbers of men to a continuous hail of machine-gun fire, they did succeed in gaining some ground. This caused the German command to order its soldiers to re-take this ground, which resulted in similar losses for Germany. Hence, instead of a lopsided engagement, with only British soldiers attacking, which would have resulted in large numbers of casualties only for the British, the volume of attacks was rather evenly distributed, which caused even distribution of the casualties.

Poison gas
Not even an initially devastating array of new weapons achieved the required victory: poison gas (first used by Germany on Russian soldiers without much success in the Battle of Bolimow on January 1, 1915; more often quoted as first use is the attack on Canadian soldiers at Ypres on April 22, 1915); liquid fire, introduced by Germany at Hooge on July 30, 1915); and armoured tanks (first used by the British on the Somme on September 15, 1916) each produced initial panic among the enemy, but failed to deliver a lasting breakthrough.

Aircraft
Military aviation achieved rapid progress, from the development of (initially primitive) forward-firing aerial machine-guns by the German air force in the autumn of 1915 to the deployment of bombers against London (July 1917).

U-boats
More dramatic still, at least for Britain, was the use of German submarines (U-boats, from the German Unterseeboote, i.e., "undersea boats" ) against Allied merchant shipping in proscribed waters from February 1915. Germany's decision to lift restrictions on submarine activity (February 1, 1917) was instrumental in bringing the United States into the war on the side of the Allies (April 6). The sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania was a particularly controversial "kill" for the U-boats.

The Eastern Front and Russia

While the Western Front had reached stalemate in the trenches, the war continued to the east.

German victories in the East
The Russian initial plans for war had called for simultaneous invasions of Austrian Galicia and German East Prussia. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, they were driven back from East Prussia by the victories of the German generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in August and September 1914. Russia's less-developed economic and military organisation soon proved unequal to the combined might of the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. In the spring of 1915 the Russians were driven back in Galicia, and in May the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland's southern fringes, capturing Warsaw on August 5 and forcing the Russians to withdraw from all of Poland.

Russia unsettled
Dissatisfaction with the Russian government's conduct of the war grew despite the success of the June 1916 Brusilov offensive in eastern Galicia against the Austrians, when Russian success was undermined by the reluctance of other generals to commit their forces in support of the victorious sector commander. Allied fortunes revived only temporarily with Romania's entry into the war on August 27: German forces came to the aid of embattled Austrian units in Transylvania, and Bucharest fell to the Central Powers on December 6. Meanwhile, internal unrest grew in Russia, as the Tsar remained out of touch at the front, while Empress Alexandra's increasingly incompetent rule drew protests from all segments of Russian political life, resulting in the murder of Alexandra's favourite Rasputin by conservative noblemen at the end of 1916.

The Russian Revolution
In March 1917, demonstrations in St. Petersburg culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of a weak centrist Provisional Government, which shared power with the socialists of the Petrograd Soviet. This division of power led to confusion and chaos, both on the front and at home, and the army became progressively less able to effectively resist Germany. Meanwhile, the war, and the government, became more and more unpopular, and the discontent was strategically used by the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, in order to gain power.

The triumph of the Bolsheviks in November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused to agree to the harsh German terms, but when Germany resumed the war and marched with impunity across the Ukraine, the new government acceded to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, which took Russia out of the war and ceded vast territories including Finland, the Baltic provinces, Poland and the Ukraine to the Central Powers.

Turning of the tide

1917 finally saw the entry of the United States into the war. And with Russia's defeat on the Eastern Front, Germany was free to deliver troops to the west. With both German reinforcements and new American troops pouring into the Western Front, the final outcome of the war was to be decided in that front.

United States Neutrality
A long stretch of American isolationism left the country reluctant to involve itself with what was popularly conceived as a European dispute.

Entry of the United States
Early in 1917 Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. This, combined with public indignation over the Zimmerman telegram, led to a final break of relations with the Central Powers. President Woodrow Wilson requested that the United States Congress declare war, which it did on April 6, 1917. The Senate approved the war resolution 82-6, the House with 373-50. One member of Congress, Jeannette Rankin of Montana, voted against both World War I and World War II.

Although the American contribution to the war was substantive, the United States was never formally a member of the Allies, but an "Associated Power."

The United States Army and the National Guard had mobilized in 1916 to pursue the Mexican "bandit" Pancho Villa, which helped speed up the mobilization. The United States Navy was able to send a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, and a number of destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland, to help guard convoys. However, it would be some time before the United States forces would be able to contribute significant manpower to the Western and Italian fronts.

The British and French insisted that the United States emphasize sending infantry to reinforce the line. Throughout the war, the American forces were short of their own artillery, aviation, and engineering units. However, General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Force commander, resisted breaking up American units and using them as reinforcements for British and French units, as suggested by the Allies.

The reasons the United States got involved in the war are numerous and much-debated. In 1922, the US government created the Nye Committee to investigate the matter. The committee reported that between 1915 and April 1917, the US loaned Germany 27 million dollars ($27,000,000). In the same period, the US loaned Britain and its allies 2.3 billion dollars ($2,300,000,000), or about 85 times as much. They concluded that the US entered the war because it was in its commercial interest for Britain not to lose.

The decisive victory of Germany at the Battle of Caporetto led to the allied decision at the Rapallo Conference to form the Supreme Allied Council at Versailles to co-ordinate plans and action

German offensive of 1918
The entry of the U.S. into the war the previous year had made the eventual arrival of U.S. troops certain, while Russia's withdrawal and the Italian disaster at Caporetto allowed the transfer of German troops to the West. With German troops arriving from the east to confront American troops arriving in France, it was clear to everyone that the ultimate outcome of the war would be decided on the Western Front.

On March 21, 1918 Germany launched a major offensive, "Operation Michael", against British and Commonwealth forces. The German army developed new tactics involving stormtroopers, infantry trained in Hutier tactics (after Oskar von Hutier) to infiltrate and take trenches. Four successive German offensives followed, that of May 27 yielding gains before Paris comparable to the first advance.

With the Supreme Allied Council faltering, the Allies reacted by appointing French Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch to coordinate all Allied activity in France, and then as generalissimo of all Allied forces everywhere.

The German offensive moved forward 60 km and pressed the British lines so much that the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commander, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, issued a General Order on April 11 stating "With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end." However, by then, the German offensive had stalled because of logistical problems. Counterattacks by Canadian and ANZAC forces pushed Germany back.

Allied Victory
The American Expeditionary Force, under General John Pershing, entered the battle lines in significant numbers in April 1918. At the Battle of Belleau Wood, from June 1 to June 30, 1918, the Second Division, including the United States Marine Corps, helped clear out the German offensive threatening Paris.

On July 18, 1918, at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry, French and American forces went on the offensive.

The British Army, using a large number of tanks, attacked at Amiens on August 8 causing such surprise and confusion that German commander-in-chief, General Erich Ludendorff, said it was "the blackest day of the German army."

On September 12 the First United States Army, which had recently been organized from the American Expeditionary Force, eliminated the Saint-Mihiel salient, which Germany had occupied since 1914. This salient threatened the Paris-Nancy railroad line. American forces were short of artillery support, which was provided by the French and British. This also was the first use of the U.S. Tank Corps, led by Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton. Four days later, the salient was cleared out.

On September 26 American forces began the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which continued until the end of the war. A key German observation post on Hill 305 in Montfaucon d'Argonne was captured on September 27. Approximately 18,000 Americans fell during this offensive. This was the first offensive conducted by the United States as an independent army. General Pershing's general thrust was the Rhine River, which he expected to breach early in 1919.

On October 24 the Italian Army, with very limited American assistance, began the Vittorio Veneto offensive against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which lasted until November 3. At this date, the Austrian armies were almost annihilated as an efficient force.

End of the war

Bulgaria was the first of the Central Powers to sign an armistice (September 29, 1918), followed by the Ottoman Empire (October 30). Germany requested a cease-fire on October 3, 1918. On November 3 Austria-Hungary sent a flag of truce to the Italian Commander to ask an Armistice and terms of peace. The terms having been arranged by telegraph with the Allied Authorities in Paris, were communicated to the Austrian Commander, and were accepted. The Armistice with Austria was granted to take effect at three o'clock on the afternoon of November 4. Austria and Hungary had signed separate armistices following the overthrow of the Habsburg monarchy. On November 11 Germany signed in a railroad car at Compiègne, in France, an armistice with the Allies. The war was officially over.

When Wilhelm II ordered the German High Seas Fleet to sortie against the Allied navies, they mutinied in Wilhelmshaven starting October 29, 1918. Following the outbreak of the German Revolution, a Republic was proclaimed on November 9, marking the end of the German Empire. The Kaiser fled the next day to the Netherlands, which granted him political asylum. See Weimar Republic for details.

Allied soldiers killed: 5,497,600
Belgium: 13,700
British Empire: 908,000
Australia: 60,000
Canada: 55,000
India: 25,000
New Zealand: 16,000
South Africa: 7,000
United Kingdom: 715,000
France: 1,240,000
French Colonies: 114,000
Greece: 5,000
Italy: 650,000
Japan: 300
Montenegro: 30,000
Romania: 336,000
Russia: 1,700,000
Serbia: 450,000
United States: 50,600

Central powers soldiers killed:3,382,500
Austria-Hungary: 1,200,000
Bulgaria: 87,500
Germany: 1,770,000
Turkey: 325,000

Civilians killed: 6,493,000
Austria-Hungary: 300,000
Belgium: 30,000
Britain: 31,000
Bulgaria: 275,000
France: 40,000
Germany: 760,000
Greece: 132,000
Romania: 275,000
Russia: 3,000,000
Serbia: 650,000
Turkey: 1,000,000

Distinguishing features of the war

The First World War was different from prior military conflicts: it was a meeting of 20th century technology with 19th century mentality and tactics. This time, millions of soldiers fought on all sides and the casualties were enormous, mostly because of the more efficient weapons (like artillery and machine guns) that were used in large quantities against old tactics.

Although the First World War led to the development of air forces, tanks, and new tactics (like the Rolling barrage and Crossfire), much of the action took place in the trenches (trench warfare), where thousands died for each metre of land gained. The First World War also saw the use of chemical warfare and aerial bombardment, both of which had been outlawed under the 1907 Hague Convention. The effects of gas warfare were to prove long-lasting, both on the bodies of its victims (many of whom, having survived the war, continued to suffer in later life) and on the minds of a later generation of war leaders (Second World War) who, having seen the effects of gas warfare in the Great War, were reluctant to use it for fear that the enemy would retaliate and might have better weaponry.

Weaponry

British Weapons
Lewis gun
Webley
Lee-Enfield
Springfield 1903 rifle
Maxim Gun

German Weapons
Kar98k
Luger

United States Weapons
Springfield 1903 rifle
BAR
M1911

French Weapons
Chauchat
75

A deadly war

Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred in this war. See Ypres, Vimy Ridge, Marne, Cambrai, Somme, Verdun, Gallipoli. See Wars of the 20th Century (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/war-list.htm) for various totals given for the number that died in this war. For instance, is it proper to consider the Influenza pandemic (see below) as part of the overall death count for the war, given the important part the War played in its transmission?

Aftermath

The Great War was a great tragedy. It was not an end, but a beginning, ushering in history's most violent century. Its dark shadow has not disappeared, even in our own time. It will forever be remembered by history as the moment when humanity and war was no longer limited to honorable armies marched to some distant battlefield, but to a world where terror and suffering are the weapons, and hate and vengeance is the soldier.

Article taken from www.wikipedia.org, the world's larges open-source encyclopedia. Under GNU licence