Remembering medical terms ampulla/amphoric

Struggling Student's Memory Guide helps students use association and memory techniques to recall educational information quickly by eliminating as much rote memorization as we can.

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be used for association purposes because they use the same word part as a medical term.

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

Medical terms and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

amphoric from Gr. amphora, a jar with two handles, from amphi-, both sides + -phor-, to carry, medically means "a sound from the lungs that sounds like someone blowing into an amphora".

ampulla from L. ampulla, a narrow necked globular bottle with a round bottom and two handles for carrying wine, perfume, or ointments, from the diminutive of amphora, a jar with two handles, means "a dilated section of a tube or vessel that resembles an ampule". [ampule, Med. a small sealed bottle containing drugs, ampullula, lit. a diminutive ampulla]

Memory Story: You're helping with a dive in the Mediterranean Sea after finding a sunken ancient Greek trading vessel loaded with ampullae and amphorae that held olive oil and perfumes. The diver's air hose has formed an ampulla and he is yelling for you to pull him up. "I am pulling! " (ampulla) you yell as another ampulla begins to form in the air hose in your hands.

Remembering medical term amelioration/meliorate

Just imagine an instructor giving you something to learn (that you can actually use for the rest of your life) and then saying, "Here's a couple of ways to help you remember it. First of all here's something I found you can associate to that and second, here's a little memory technique I created and use that helps me remember it. And oh yea, if you create something better or discover something else to associate to let's share it with the rest of the students. Wouldn't that be more helpful than, "Remember this, it will be on the test."

blue emboldened words are common or college terms that can be associated to medical terms that share the same word part.

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

Word part and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

amelioration from L. ad-, to + melior, to make better, medically means "improvement". [ameliorate, to make better; to improve, meliorate]

Memory Story: [Using meliorate.] You ask your satisfied looking friend, who was ravenous when he sat down at your dinner table, "That meal you ate (meliorate) improve things or make you feel better?"

Medical word part -agra-

Using association and mnemonic memory techniques high school students could remember over a thousand medical word parts meanings in about a hundred days. Any high school student who takes the time to do this would have the fundamental vocabulary building blocks they'll need in Anatomy, Physiology, Microbiology or almost any other health science course. That's without studying Greek or Latin folks.

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

Word part and memory story from High Speed Memory Techniques for Medical Terminology.

-agra- from Gr. agra, means "acute pain or seizure". [cardiagra, lit. heart seizure, cheiragra, lit. acute hand pain, melagra, lit. limb seizure, podagra, lit. acute foot pain, staphylagra, lit. (grape) uvula (seizer) holder]

Memory Story: You're a paparazzi taking numerous pictures of a famous honeymooning couple in Niagara (-agra-, not related) Falls until you aggravate (-agra-, not related) the new groom so much he has an acute pain in his chest, followed by a seizure and dies. Well he was a ninety year old tycoon and she was a twenty year old stripper. Fortunately the scandal sheet you work for will pay big bucks for your picture taken of the dead groom and smiling bride.

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