# Etymology vs. entymology **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 6, 2002, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590 "2002-08-06T12:15:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/21 "2015-05-04T21:58:27Z")
> [@Syzygy](#): > > Yes, **fgarriel** , but it only works if you pronounce the word “aunt” incorrectly. 😉 Only if you consider [Oxford](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/aunt)to be incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/22 "2015-05-05T01:38:08Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Isn’t “entymology” the study of the derivation of insects? > [@Colibri](#): > > No, the study of insects is ent **o** mology. So what is buggery called? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/23 "2015-05-05T12:16:17Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > So what is buggery called? Or rather, what is _the study of_ buggery called? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/24 "2015-05-05T12:39:08Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yeah. \*You[/i try making a mnemonic out of _myrmecoloy_. That’s an easy one! You just have to remember the stories of the Myrmidons. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/25 "2015-05-05T14:48:22Z")
I don’t know the difference between etymology and entomology but an etymologist does. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/26 "2015-05-05T15:18:21Z")
Make one little mistake and they never forget … ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/27 "2015-05-05T16:28:54Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Make one little mistake and they never forget … Why-Do you know someone who’s made only one? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/28 "2015-05-06T00:04:28Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > So what is buggery called? Hey, they didn’t get my joke; why should they get yours? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/29 "2015-05-06T03:13:58Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Or rather, what is _the study of_ buggery called? Grindr? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/30 "2015-05-06T18:53:09Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Okay, maybe not. We’ll fix it. Am I the only one to notice that it is still there? There is no time like the present **Eutychus**! ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/31 "2015-05-06T20:35:47Z")
I have an entomology/etymology story: I took an entomology class in college. There was a deaf student in the class, and she had a sign language interpreter who came to class with her and signed as the professor lectured. She was in my lab section for the class, and she and her interpreter told me about how they would come up with their own signs for some of the more cumbersome terms (such as lepidoptera, hypopharynx, etc) instead of having to spell them out each time. It sounded like they had fun coming up with the signs, making them memorable and descriptive when possible. Although their signs may not have lived beyond the end of the semester, it was kind of interesting seeing language evolving on a microscale. ---
**Author:** ![bowlweevils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@bowlweevils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bowlweevils)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/32 "2015-05-09T05:19:27Z")
As a dues-paying psycholinguist…ok, I pay the dues to be an attorney, psycholinguistics is obscurely denoted on the phd, interested in funny hand gestures and bugs, it would have been nice to have lost signs on video. However, the pedant in me says that languages do not evolve, they change. You want to say they evolve, you show me the slightly error-prone replicator that is transmitted. And, coincidentally, despite being a graduate student in the experimental psychology department, I also decided I would take the graduate Introduction to Evolution class that was required of the Evolution and Physical Anthropology students. This resulted in me publishing an article critical of certain views of language as something that evolves. It was internally reviewed before submission by an entomologist as well as the word-specialists, one of the major players in the study of beetles. And just to drag more things into it, the beetles crowd and the ants crowd have a bit of a rivalry. More species of beetles exist than any other sort of critter, but ants have the largest biomass of any sort of critter. At least multicellular terrestrial critters. Finally, once upon a time, ants could fly. They came back to the earth, and invented agriculture. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/33 "2015-05-09T13:07:58Z")
> [@bowlweevils](#): > > However, the pedant in me says that languages do not evolve, they change. You want to say they evolve, you show me the slightly error-prone replicator that is transmitted. > > And, coincidentally, despite being a graduate student in the experimental psychology department, I also decided I would take the graduate Introduction to Evolution class that was required of the Evolution and Physical Anthropology students. This resulted in me publishing an article critical of certain views of language as something that evolves. It was internally reviewed before submission by an entomologist as well as the word-specialists, one of the major players in the study of beetles. Can you explain that a little more or point us to the article online. With multiple dictionary definitions for both evolve and change, are you using specific definitions standard for your field of study? ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/34 "2015-05-14T01:30:45Z")
> [@bowlweevils](#): > > You want to say they evolve, you show me the slightly error-prone replicator that is transmitted. Human communication and memory. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/35 "2015-05-20T01:43:18Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Considering that I had to spell “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and all it’s variants correctly … Unfortunately, you didn’t. The older song was actually called Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus. You missed out an l between faja and istick. Cited in some legal textboks: [cite1](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q6zbBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA326&dq=Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MeFbVb7lDqrd7QapvoDYDQ&ved=0CE4QuwUwCA#v=onepage&q=Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus&f=false) [cite 2](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zf_gAAAAMAAJ&q=Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus&dq=Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MeFbVb7lDqrd7QapvoDYDQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBg) [cite 3](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KaXXAr1ywaMC&pg=PA3&dq=Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=t-VbVaabEcfB7AaSoYPgBg&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus&f=false) and a list of record releases: [cite 4](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RAEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA40&dq=Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MeFbVb7lDqrd7QapvoDYDQ&ved=0CCIQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590/36 "2015-05-20T01:53:16Z")
incidentally, for those who are interested, the older record can be found on youtube. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F082rSABDtM) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-vs-entymology/122590.md?page=1)