40 Words Beginning with “Para-“

The prefix para- is versatile, meaning “beside,” “closely related,” or “closely resembling”; “accessory” or “subsidiary”; “beyond”; or “abnormal” or “faulty.” The commonality is that a word beginning with para- pertains to the relationship or resemblance of something to something else. This post lists and briefly defines words with the prefix.

1. parable (“throw beside”): a story illustrating a moral or religious principle
2. parabola (“throw beside”): a roughly U-shaped curve, or a similarly shaped object
3. paracentesis (“stab beside”): a puncturing surgical procedure
4. parachute (“against fall”): a canopy of fabric used to slow the fall of someone or something from an aircraft (or something figuratively similar), or a similar anatomical structure on an animal
5. paradigm (“show beside”): an example or pattern
6. parados (“against back”): a rear wall of a military trench
7. paradox (“outside of opinion”): something contrary to expectation
8. paragliding (“against descending smoothly,” on the model of parachute): an airborne activity involving a person harnessed to a maneuverable parachute-like wing
9. paragon (“beside whetstone”): a model or pattern of excellence
10. paragraph (“written beside”): a short piece of writing on one topic
11. paralanguage (“beside what is said”): vocal effects such as tone that convey additional meaning
12. paralegal (“beside law”): an assistant to a lawyer
13. paraleipsis (“pass over”): something mentioned only briefly, but emphasized by doing so
14. parallax (“change beside”): an inclination of two converging lines
15. parallel (“beside each other”): equidistant, or equal or similar, or arranged for simultaneity
16. parallelogram (“draw equal”): a four-sided shape with parallel sides of equal length
17. paralysis (“loosen beside”): loss of ability to move or act
18. paramagnetic (“abnormally attracting”): weakly magnetic
19. paramecium (“long on one side”): a type of single-celled animal
20. paramedic (“beside doctor”): medical personnel who treat injured or sick people before and while they are taken to a hospital, or who assist doctors
21. parameter (“beside measure”): a factor or limit
22. paramilitary (“resembling soldiers”): an unofficial military unit
23. paranoia (“beside mind”): delusional mental illness, or irrational suspicion
24. paranormal (“beside usual”): not scientifically explainable
25. parapet (“against breast”): a wall of stone or earth
26. paraphernalia (“beside dowry”): belongings or equipment
27. paraphilia (“beside love”): arousal about improper sexual practices
28. paraphrase (“point out beside”): restatement
29. paraplegia (“strike at one side”): paralysis of the lower body
30. parapraxis (“against practice”): blunder or lapse, or an error that reveals subconscious motives
31. paraprofessional (“beside skilled person”): one who assists a professional worker such as a teacher
32. parapsychology (“beside study of the mind”): investigation of psychic phenomena
33. paraquat (“resembling four,” from its chemical composition): an herbicide
34. parasailing (“against sail,” on the model of parachute): an airborne activity involving a person harnessed to a parachute-like device being pulled by a vehicle
35. parasite (“beside food”): an organism or entity that exploits a host or other entity
36. parasol (“against sun”): an umbrella for shielding the bearer from sunlight
37. parastate (“resembling political entity”): a political territory not recognized by others
38. parasympathetic (“beside feeling with”): pertaining to a part of the nervous system
39. paratransit (“beside travel”): individualized public transit
40. paratrooper (“against soldier,” on the model of parachute): a soldier specializing in parachuting from an aircraft

Some words beginning with para-, such as parakeet, paramount, and paramour, are distantly related, not directly associated with the etymology of the prefix, while other words beginning with or including par- but followed by another vowel or a consonant are closely cognate.

Email Matters

The ease of dashing off an email is both a convenience and a deadly snare.

Emails are not as public as a Twitter tweet, but can lead to grief for the unwary. We’ve all heard the horror stories of the jokester who says something outrageous intended for the eyes of a friend, and then hits the “Reply All” button by mistake.

Because there’s always the chance that an email might go astray, the best practice is what I call the “Klingon rule”: Don’t say anything in an email that you don’t want a third party to read. (I think it was General Chang in StarTrek VI who said he never uttered anything he wouldn’t want to be overheard. Klingons are always under surveillance.)

One way to avoid embarrassing situations with clients or employers is to make a habit of treating every email with care, even the ones you dash off to your friends. Human frailty being what it is, there’s probably no way to avoid saying or typing something stupid at some time or another, but a few tips can save some embarrassment.

Common courtesy is the key to writing an email that won’t come back to bite you.

Courtesy when writing an email means considering such things as the fact that not everyone can read tiny type or understand texting abbreviations. Depending upon the recipient, sloppy English or attempts at humor can prove deal breakers. In these tippy-toe times of political correctness, it doesn’t take much to offend some people. No one, however, is likely to take offence at standard usage and conventional formatting.

Email Address
A snappy email handle may amuse your friends, but if you use your account for business as well as social correspondence, you may want to avoid choosing a handle like redhotpapa or partygirl. As the first thing the recipient sees, it can affect the spirit in which the message is received.

Subject Line
Put something meaningful in the subject line. Be as specific as possible, even for your friends. Instead of “Hi” or “Hello,” type something that refers to the message. No one enjoys having to sort through hundreds of emails in order to double check one of them.

Font
Leave the fancy script and colored text for homemade greeting cards. Choose an easy-to-read font and a dark font color. Dark blue is all right, but black is better. Red is the hardest color to read. Big is better than small. Use a minimum of 12-point.

Upper- and Lower-case
Use lowercase type with capitals where capitals are called for. Lowercase is easier to read than all caps, but don’t go to extremes and omit capitals altogether. Friends may not mind, but a business colleague may interpret lack of capitalization as evidence of lack of education or energy.

Spelling
Spell correctly. Use conventional abbreviations. Save texting code for texting.

Punctuation
It’s easy enough to misinterpret a written message. Reread what you have written before hitting Send. See if the addition of a comma or other punctuation might make your meaning clearer.

Salutation
Begin your email with the recipient’s name. For a friend or associate, the first name is the obvious salutation. Otherwise, use the full name. I don’t often see “Dear So-and-So” electronic correspondence; beginning with the name alone is sufficient.

Close
The way you end your email will depend upon your relationship with the recipient and the nature of the email. If you are reporting bad news or responding to it, you’re not going to close by writing “Cheers” or “Have a nice day.”

Here are some options: Best, Best regards, Best wishes, Cheers, Cordially, Kindest regards, I remain yours truly, Regards, Sincerely, Take care, Thanks again, Warmest regards, Yours.

If you have asked someone to do something time-consuming for you, your close can be even longer: Thanks for your time and consideration.

Comma After i.e. and e.g. -:

A reader wants to know if the abbreviations i.e. and e.g. should be followed by a comma.i.e.: from the Latin phrase id est, “that is.” Used in English to restate a previous word or expression: “He really enjoys a good bildungsroman, (i.e., coming-of-age novel).”e.g.: from the Latin phrase exempli gratia, “for the sake of the example.” In English, it means “for example” and is used to introduce one or more examples: “I like animals, (e.g. dogs, cats, and horses).”The two terms are frequently mixed up. If you have trouble remembering which means “in other words” and which means “for example,” you can use a mnemonic to keep them apart, or you can avoid using them altogether.A simple mnemonic that helps many writers is the fact that the word example begins with the letter e.E.g., therefore, is the one that means “for example.”On the other hand, instead of e.g., you can write “for example,” and for i.e., you can write “namely” or “in other words.”Style guides do not agree on whether or not a comma should follow both these abbreviations. They do all agree that a comma belongs in front of i.e.The consensus seems to be in favor of the comma in American usage; against it in British usage.The Penguin Writer’s Manual (British) shows both i.e. and e.g. without a following comma.Fowler, in his venerable Modern English Usage, opines that“whether a comma follows [e.g.] or not is indifferent, or rather is decided by the punctuation-pitch of the writer of the passage.He says nothing of i.e.The Chicago Manual of Style states that i.e. and e.g. should be “confined to parentheses and notes and followed by a comma.”The AP Style book, whose “punctuation-pitch” leans generally to the side of “the fewer commas the better,” is pro-comma when it comes to i.e. and e.g. According to AP, both abbreviations are “always followed by a comma.”As with so many matters of punctuation, the writer’s best practice is to choose a style reference and follow its recommendations.

Thanks!

Foreign Spelling Conventions in English -:

In a recent post I discussed the letter c and the sounds it represents in English words. I said that the English letter c “does not have a sound of its own.”

A reader pointed out that in other languages that use the Roman alphabet, c has a distinctive, palatal sound. So it has, and English has appropriated some Italian words in which the letter c does represent that sound, for example,

cello
cinquecento
ciao
ciabatta
sotto voce
Medici

One reason for spelling irregularities in English is the fact that many foreign borrowings have brought foreign spelling conventions with them.

In addition to words in which c stands for the Italian c, we have German words in which the letters s and z follow German spelling conventions.

According to German spelling rules, an initial s followed by p or t is pronounced /sh/. Depending upon the context and the speech habits of the speaker, many Americans observe the German rule in pronouncing spiel and strudel. Charles Elster comes down on the side of SPEEL rather than SHPEEL, but he allows for the fact that many American speakers do say SHPEEL without jocular intent, so for them, SHPEEL is acceptable usage.

German z is not pronounced like English z. For example, the name Mozart sounds as if it has a t in it: MOHT-sahrt. Unfortunately, some unschooled radio announcers pronounce it “MOH-zahrt.”

Another example of a German z-word in English is Alzheimer as in “Alzheimer’s disease”: AHLTS-hy-murz.

Generally speaking, English spelling is badly taught in the schools. True, our spelling is challenging, but constant whining about “how hard” English spelling is does children a disservice–especially when it comes from the teachers.

For example, instead of presenting concerto in a spelling list as if it were just one more English word with a crazy third sound for c, the teacher could point out that it’s an Italian borrowing and that Italian speakers sometimes pronounce c the way we do, and sometimes they pronounce it as /tch/. Doing this with foreign borrowings that have not been completely anglicized would not only improve children’s spelling, but would also open a window on the world for them.

Thanks!

The Internet vs. The Web -:

Although the masses use the words Web and Interne interchangeably, there is a difference worth learning. The Internet existed before the Web. The first meaning o finternet as it relates to computing was “a computer network consisting of or connecting a number of smaller networks, such as two or more local area networks connected by a shared communications protocol.”The U.S. Defense Department had such a network called ARPANET–an acronym derived from Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. From this DoD “internet” evolved “the Internet,” a global computer network that provides a variety of communication facilities–only one of which is the Web. ARPANET was developed in the 1960s to enable researchers to use computers from remote locations. In 1982, the Internet Protocol Suit (IPS) was standardized and the Internet was officially defined as a global interconnected network. Although global, the new Internet was still mainly the reserve of people with the specialized skills needed to access it.All that changed in the early 1990s when Tim Berners-Lee, a graduate of Oxford University, created a system of interlinked documents (e.g., web pages) that could be easily accessed by anyone using a browser. He called it the World Wide Web. The Web, therefore, is not the Internet. The Web is one of many services that run on top of the Internet infrastructure. Other such services include email, FTP, and Skype. Here’s a typical misuse of the term Internet: Are you unfamiliar with the Internet? If you want to know how to search the Internet, then you have to find the right search.