Memorizing medical/scientifc word part adamant-

The goal of Struggling Student's Memory Guide is to develop ways to use association and mnemonic memory techniques, instead of rote memorization, to remember educational information we can use for a lifetime.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be used for word association purposes.

reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

Word part from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

adamant-, adamanto- from Gr. adamantinos, not subdued, means "exceedingly hard". [diamond, adamant, lit. that which is exceedingly hard, fig. inexorable; intransigent, adamantine, lit. very hard characteristic]

No memory story was necessary for this word part's memorization.

Remembering medical/scientific word part -aceae, -acea

The goal of Struggling Student's Memory Guide is to develop ways to use associations and mnemonics instead of rote memorization in school. to quickly remember useful educational information for a lifetime.





These medical word parts and their memory story have been taken from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.





-acea from L. -acea, means "classes or orders of animals". [Crustacea, lit. crusty animals class, Testacea, lit. shelled animal class]





-aceae from L. -aceae, means "orders of families of plants". [Bacteriodaceae, lit. looks like a staff or club plant family, Gymnoascaceae, lit. naked bladder planat family]





reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms that should be looked up in a dictionary for their figurative meanings.





Memory story: While out in the garden your patient named Ace ate a plant and now he's hallucinating. He believes he is turning into various jungle beasts and is repeatedly describing the hallucination to you as if he were Tarzan. "Ace ate (-aceae) plant. Ace a (-acea) animal now. Ace ate plant. Ace a...." (This memory story uses short logically arranged sentences which require some repetition. It is alway best to keep sentences under four or five words whenever possible because oral information has to be drilled by our short-term memory. Try as we may we can't eliminate rote completely.)

When we do -asis in a few weeks I will post a way I've developed for remembering the intangible meanings of many suffixes using acronyms. Until then let me include this little tidbit that should be posted here even though it isn't really a medical or scientific word ending. Word ending -aceous found in the common terms herbaceous or crustaceous means "belongs to, like, nature of."

So if you're so inclined, add this little phrase on to the end of the memory story above. "Ace's house (-aceous) belong to LioN (like, nature of) now."

Remembering The Five Orders of Architecture

The goal of the Struggling Student's Memory Guide is to show some of my ideas and develop other ways for students to use associative memory techniques instead of using rote memorization. By using association and mnemonics I believe we can speed the memory process up and hopefully create educational memories that will last a lifetime.

Posting the word part -acanth- today reminded me of a memory story I created to recall the five orders of architecture about twenty years ago. The five orders are: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite.

The mnemonic I came up with is not really an acronym but a composite of the beginnings of all the words. Tudor In Corn Compost and of course I tried to make it more visual and memorable by wrapping a memory story around it.

Memory story: You're watching a Tudor (Queen Elizabeth I or Henry VIII [both Tudors]) struggling to climb up an architectural column to get out of the huge stinking pile of corn compost they're in. Or, if you're not into Tudors. Your two door (Tudor) car is piled up on an architectural column of a Southern mansion after you lost control and went into a pile of corn compost. The damn revenuers were chasing down the fellows who created the corn compost pile for some reason.

Memorizing word root -ac- and the Bill of Right's third amendment

Word root -ac- occurs in many Greek and Latin word parts: -acid-, -acerb-, -acri-, acet-, acetabul-, -acu-, -acanth-, etc. meaning "sharp, spine, spiney, thorny, acid, bitter, needle, sour". -ac- also occurs in medical and scientific word parts -acme-, acro-, and acromio-. (Yes, we're going to cover all these word parts in the near future.) [acid, from L. acere, to be sour, acerbic, lit. sharp, fig. sour or bitter in taste, acetic, lit. to be sour, fig. relating to vinegar, acrid, fig. harsh or bitterly pungent, acuity, fig. sharpness, acumen, acuteness of mind, acescence, lit. the state of becoming sour, acetabulum, lit. a shallow vinegar bowl, acanthesthesia, lit. feeling a thorn condition, acicular, lit. a small pin, acidosis, lit. acid condition, state, or process, aculeate, lit. having small spines, Acuaria spiralis, lit. needle animal group - spiraled]

blue emboldened words are common or college terms we can use for word association. reddish brown emboldened words are medical terms and should be looked up in a medical dicitionary for their figurative meanings.

Memory story: [Using the -ac- common to all the word parts listed:] "Ach" (-ac-) would be the sound you would make during numerous SS STABbiNgS (sharp, spine, spiney, thorny, acid, bitter, needle, sour) and also being made to drink acid and bitter solutions. [This memory story is a bit different then the one in my book. I think it's better.]

Now let's do the Bill of Rights' third amendment which is in regards to the quartering of soldiers. We're going to substitute the word "tree" for "three" in this memory story and for those who know Mnemonics' Link/Phonetic system the word "ma" is used.

Memory story: There's a bunch of British soldiers in your "tree" house and your "ma" is telling them to get out it. Of course, being the ever enterprising lady that she is, your ma tells them they can stay if they each come up with a quarter. Which is about ten cents more than you have invested in the place with all the found lumber and nails you used to build your tree house.

[This amendment doesn't seem that relevant today but prior to the Revolutionary War the British Army could come into your house, search it to insure all your documents and papers were stamped with the hated Stamp Act stamps, quarter their soldiers, make you feed them and their horses, and even throw you out of your house and use it for their own purposes. That's why it was felt important enough to be number three.]

Remembering word parts ab-, abs-, apo-, and the Second Amendment

ab-, abs- and apo- like many common word parts, have been bandied about for centuries and consequently they have more than one meaning. To keep from using rote memorization, any more than we have to, I like to use acronyms. Especially if I can back up their meanings like we do in the memory stories below. Yes, acronyms require a bit of rote but it isn't mindless but mindful repetition with a back up, which will help us recall information for a lifetime.

[blue emboldened words are common or college terms, reddish brown words are medical terms that should be looked up in a medical dictionary]

ab-, abs- from L. ab-, off means "separation, off, from, away". [abductor, lit. one who or that which leads away, fig. a kidnapper; a muscle, absolve, lit. to loose from, fig. to set free or release from debt, responsibility, or guilt, ablate, lit. carry or take away, abscess, lit. a going away, abstract, lit. to draw away]

Memory story: You're Abe (ab-, abs-) Lincoln lying on a SOFA (separation, off, from, away) in the White House and have a dream about looking off into an abyss (abs-). Upon waking you have a strange feeling of separation or going away when your wife asks you to get up and get ready to go to the theater.

apo- from Gr. apo, away from, off, means "separation, off, from, away". [apostate, lit. stand away, fig. one who has left their religion, apobiosis, lit. away from life condition, apocrine, lit. separate from, Apocynum, lit. from dog, apophysis, lit. growing off process]

Memory story: You've gone off to write a poem (apo-). Lying on your SOFA (separation, off, from, away) you've managed to get away from everybody so you can think.

Now let's do the Bill of Rights' second amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. We're going to substitute the word "zoo" for "two" in this memory story.

Memory story: You're looking over the "zoo" that Noah has on his ark and notice that the two bears are walking around the deck bearing arms.

[Note to advanced memory students.: If you know Mnemonic's link/phonetic system (which I'll cover in upcoming blogs) I'm sure you've noticed that I've placed "Noah" in today's Bill of Rights memory story and "tea" in yesterdays. The reason why is I don't want people to have to go back and start over if they decide to use the Link system later on. Which I hope they will.]

On Monday, Jan. 18th, we're going to do -ac-. -ac- is a very popular word root that has been used to create numerous word parts. Consequently, it too has at least eight meanings but we're going to breeze through it and the Bill of Right's third amendment.

High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology

Introduction to Associative Memory Techniques

Struggling Student's Memory Guide is to help students find ways to use associative memory techniques and quit using rote memorization as much as possible. One of the many ways I think this can be done is by using special memory stories created by instructors and/or their students, and/or people like me who enjoy dabbling with this creative memory technique. I will not bore you with the details of how I believe associative memory techniques work or should be created here, but will allow these details to arise from postings, comments, and questions in the future as I post examples of memory stories and other associative techniques on a daily basis. My examples will be from numerous subjects but mostly they'll be about medical and scientific word parts because: (1) Pragmatically that's what I have the greatest number of associative memory techniques for (my book) and (2) I believe it is possible for every high school student to have a medical or scientific vocabulary by using association to remember medical and scientific word part meanings for a lifetime. So let's get started from the beginning with parts a- and an-.

blue words are common or college terms. reddish brown words are medical terms which should be looked up in a medical dictionary for their figurative meanings.

a-, an- from Gr. means "not, without". [amoral, lit. without morals, atom, lit. uncut, fig. ultimate particle of an element once believed indivisible, anarchy, lit. without rule state, fig. a state of lawlessness or political disorder, anonymous, lit. without a name, fig. bearing no name, identity, or source, acormus, lit. without a trunk, Agamofilaria, lit. an unmarried thread, agenesis, lit. without production, anaerobe, lit. life without air, anaphia, lit. without touch condition, anemia, lit. without blood condition, hemiacardius, lit. without half a heart, prosopoagnasia, lit. without knowledge of faces condition]

Memory story: "Not without an (an-) A (a-) average", taunts your parents by jingling the keys in front of you to that little red sports car parked out in the driveway. [This memory story includes the four words "not without an A" placed in a logical order making it much easier to remember than the original definition. Yes, they require a few repetitions unless you've heard those four words most of your life already.]

Now let's do the USA's Bill of Rights' first amendment. We're going to use the word "run" to remind us of the word "one" and we're going to use the acronym RASP Pie to help us remember freedom of religion, right to assemble, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to petition.

Memory story: The jailers in a foreign country in Southeast Asia have allowed you to have tea with your five friends who have been incarcerated for violating each one of the rights and freedoms in the first amendment. You have surreptitiously brought your friends a RASP Pie or a pie with five rasps in it to cut through the bamboo bars that holds them. Once they've cut through you all run for your lives. [Acronyms are one of my favorite ways to remember a list of things. A perfect acronym is rare so we have to get a bit creative sometimes. Acronyms are a short-term memory technique that requires some repetition but unlike this one we can sometimes do a memory backup with details from the story. See ab- tomorrow for an example.]