National (Sr.) Spelling Bee VII
Bill Long 7/3/08
More Words from Oral Rounds
Let's see if we can't get through synovitis and zerk, jarrah and huisache [final note--nope, I couldn't...]. The definition for synovitis couldn't be briefer: "Inflammation of a synovial membrane." Well, doesn't that just beg the question? Let's take the word apart and then look for this membrane(s). While most terms for bodily parts emerged from the calm and noncontroversial world of ancient Greek medicine or vocabulary, this one "probably" was arbitrarily formed from Paracelsus (d. 1541), one of the world's great alchemists. He thought of it as a nutritive fluid peculiar to several parts of the body, but it was limited by later physicians to the fluid of the joints. In fact, all the online photos I saw point to the synovial fluid in the knee.
Yet, when I read the Wikipedia article on synovial joints, it lists 6 kinds of synovial joints in the body, none of which is the knee joint. If the Apostle Paul could beg for someone to deliver him from the vicious cycle of sin and death (Rom. 7), I am doing the same with respect to basic medical realities. I think that will be my quest for the next several years, until all the words have a clear and precise meaning for me...
Well, now that I have that out of my system, let's simply say that synovia may be derived from both a Greek and Latin term: syn (Greek for "with") and ovum (Latin for "egg"). Modern scholars have thus said that synovia, defined as the "viscid albuminous fluid secreted in the interior of the joints, and in the sheaths of the tendons, and serving to lubricate them; also called joint-oil or joint-water," is so called because the consistency of this fluid is that of the consistency of an egg or the resemblance of the synovia to the white of an egg. The OED thinks that this is a stretch, and it conflicts with Paracelsus' description of synovia as reddish or gray, according to the part in which it is found. Once you begin to study, you see that there are loads of controversies that you don't want to wade into, much less try to settle, and this is one of them.
What we should know is that synovial fluid acts as a lubricant, reducing the frictuion between articular cartilage in the knee and other tissues, and it also functions as a shock absorber during movement. Here is a good picture showing the way that the synovial fluid floods the joint cavity around the knee cartilage, allowing the lubrication and ability to put up with shocks that I referred to earlier. I wish my synovial fluid had worked better on that warm early September night at Buck Shaw Stadium in 1968, when my athletic career came to a screeching halt when I tore the cartilage in my left knee....
I think we have enough now, on synovial fluid, the synovial membrane and synovitis, the inflammatory condition. No way that this word should bother you for the rest of your days...
Zerk
One speller got this word wrong, thought it was mispronounced, and got a "free word." It is a word that illustrates my basic point about words--that each word is trivially simple to someone; therefore, consider yourself that someone and learn all the words. A zerk is named after Oscar U. Zerk. This makes more sense than if it were named, for example, after Oscar Brandenburg or Oscar Smith or, for that matter, U.R.A. Jerk. There are "no results" for it in the OED, but our tiny little Collegiate dictionary defines it as "a grease fitting." This is helpful, but only minimally so. But once you move to the Net, you find this video demonstration of how to create a "zerk fitting" or a "grease fitting." Basically, it is a little teat on a metallic frame that allows a rider of a vehicle to grease his/her pivots without taking anything apart and with only a grease gun. Thus once you install the "zerk fitting," you can shoot in the grease and your machine runs efficiently.
This article tells you about the fascinating man, Oscar Ulysses Zerk. Born in Vienna, Austria in 1878, he came to the states in 1924 aboard the "Leviathan," and promptly moved to Kenosha, WI. Maybe that was the only place in America where people wouldn't make fun of him for his name. The linked site tells us that long before America discovered the secret of a fresh cup of coffee, O. Zerk invented a personal coffee bean grinder but decided not to pursue a patent for it. If he had, I am sure that Joe Dimaggio would not, in his declining years, have been advertising coffee machines. In any case, the article tells us that he had a remarkable career as an inventor, patenting over 300 inventions in his life, which is 300 more than I have patented to date. His most famous invention, however, was the "zerk fitting," which earned him the most money and provided the lubrication system for nearly every car, truck, plane and other mechanized vehicle.
One unfortunate incident in his life was a robbery at his Kenosha mansion in 1954, where he was tied to a chair while robbers cleaned out his collection of European art work. I suppose that is a pretty bad way to spend your 76th year. He died in 1968 at the ripe old age of 90, and is buried in Kenosha. There is no report about whether the grave has a zerk fitting, allowing us to grease his casket.
Conclusion
My amazement about the zerk fitting arose not only because the speller and I had not heard if it (I don't know really if anyone in the finals knew of it), but that it is so common among those in the "field," so to speak, that there must be thousands of mechanics without formal education beyond high school that not only could spell the word zerk, but could show us how it worked and could actually build one. So, I close this essay with the observation I have often made--that studying words humbles me and shows me how little I really know about this world. From this experience, however, I am inspired to continue my search--to know all the words. It is slower, however, than just "learning the list." Much slower. Thus, I predict I should win the National Spelling Bee in about 10 years...
3609
|
