I ran across a list of ologies the other day and pulled a good six minutes of amusement out of it. There is a study of damn near everything, and each has its own name. For example, bryology is the study of bryophytes. I don't recall ever learning what a bryophyte is, but apparently it's a type of plant. Anyhow, what amused me the most was looking at names that sounded like they should be the study of something other than what they are the study of. My favorites:
Acarology is not the study of a car.
Actinology is not the study of thespianism.
Genealogy is not the study of genies.
Hippology is neither the study of hips, nor hippos.
Horology is not the study of whores.
Lexicology is not the study of this blog.
Nosology is not the study of noses.
Radiology is not the study of radio.
Rhinology is not the study of rhinos.
Semiology is not the study of the big trucks.
Sinology is not the study of sin.
Taxology is not the study of the Internal Revenue Code.
I was almost as amused to learn that heterology and homology weren't actually the study of anything.
That, too. The list was what it was.
Posted by: lex icon | February 25, 2007 at 12:22
Geneology is not genealogy
Posted by: Bob Jones | February 25, 2007 at 06:08