Rages

When the Diagnostic and Statiscal Manual entered its third edition, psychologists performed a long overdue overhaul on the term used to describe screaming fits. Hysteria was a problem because it meant a disease caused by the uterus. Nineteenth century physicians went to extremes that would make the most ardent proponent of female circumcism squirm in pain. Removing what was presumed to be a defunct uterus was a frequent cure for "female nervousness". Modern psychologists exculpate the uterus and note that men, as well as women, are quite capable of making a scene. For this reason, what they used to call hysteria is now known as a histrionic disorder, meaning quite literally that the patient is putting on a show for others. Histrionic means "theatrical".

There was a term for male "hysteria" that was but infrequently used: tarassis. Ganesha would appreciate any additional information on this term and the supposed etiology of "male hysteria".

Around the Naughty Bits

Chaucer, at a loss for words when he had to name the hairy mat between his lady love's thighs, had his Miller refer to it a "woman's beard". More vulgar names exist for the mass of hair that covers the female genitals. For those who hunger after a more elegant term, Ganesha is happy to announce that the word merkin will suit just fine.

Merkin refers not only to the natural hair covering: apparently there has existed in the past a market for wigs that are either made of the hair from or specifically to cover the area in question. At least one author suggests that the word might also be applied to the growth around the male sex organ.

Poetic and lonely souls among cannoneers gave the name to the fuzzy pad that they used to swab out the gun between blasts. Ganesha doubts that the real thing was ever used for the purpose any more than violin strings were ever really made of cat gut.

Dirty Money

It has never failed to amuse Ganesha that the word lucre, which means simply "money" and is often paired with the adjective "filthy" as in "filthy lucre", should sound so much like the word Lucifer, one of the names of the well known demi-god of evil. The two words do not possess common roots. Lucre comes from the Latin lucrum meaning gains or profits. Lucifer derives from the Latin word lux meaning light.

Most literate readers of this lexicon will undoubtably recognize the word lucrative as having a common root with the term lucre. Here are three additional words, not commonly seen, which come from the same family:

• lucriferous - profitable, lucrative. Perhaps not the most useful of the words here because its lexicographical niche is well filled by lucrative.
  
• lucripetous - money hungry
  
• luctation - struggle for success.

A word that almost sounds like it might belong with these is lucubrate. This means to "work by artificial light" (as Ganesha is, in fact, doing now). It thus owes its parentage not to lucrum as one might first expect, but to lux. As any observant and enlightened citizen knows, most wealth held today is not the product of hard work: it is inheirited. Those who lucubrate during grave yard shifts do not succeed in their lucations.

Tasting the Territory

If you have cats you have probably seen them walking up to something, parting their lips, and take a few deep sips of air. Your cat has a rudimentary nose of sorts on the roof of her mouth that biologists call the vomeronasal or Jacobson's organ, a relic of reptilian days that your pet uses to sense who has been around and has left their calling card. It looks like a pair of grooves, connected to the nasal cavity. Cats spend a lot of time rubbing their chins against things: a set of sebaceous glands here leaves a scent that we humans cannot (thankfully) smell well (if at all). The odor is particular to each cat. When a cat strokes you with her chin, she is sending a message to all the other cats around that she owns you. You are her territory.

Horses, cattle and sheep also use the vomeronasal organ. Biologists call the sampling of scent through this organ the Flehmen. When you see your cat walking around like a gourmet sampling the treats at a wine and cheese party, you can rest assured that the cat is using this hybrid sense of taste and smell to see who has been around and, perhaps, what kind of mood they were in when they came by.