GERIATRICS

Geriatrics is the name for one of the branches of medicine, the study of the tribulations of aging people. It includes consideration of mental and emotional problems as well as the corporal side of aging.

Coined from the Greek word geras (old age) and the joining form –iatrics (dealing with sickness), it is the old-age equivalent of pediatrics, from the Greek pais, paidos (a child) and the similar suffix.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

The phrase the fourth estate is generally used to refer to newspapermen. In fact, it is the subtitle of the trade magazine of the newspaper business, Editor & Publisher. The fourth estate gets its name from a famed comment of Sir Edmund Burke in the British Parliament. He distinguished the assorted estates of the dominion: the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal and the Commons-the powers that embrace in their hands the control of British governments. Then Burke added, pointing to the press balcony, “And yonder sits the Fourth Estate, more important than them all.”

ESQUIRE

In the Middle Ages, the original esquires were aspirants for knighthood, entourage and shield-bearers for the knights. The expression came into English at the time of the Norman Conquest, via the Old French esquier from the Latin scutarius (shield-bearer).

The word esq. was later quite frequently used to be a sign that the individual addressed was of social rank somewhat more prominent than that of trades people, who were called plainly Mr.

Now, in America at least, Esq. is used predominantly as a courtesy title when addressing correspondence to attorneys. One, on no account, by the way, uses Mr. and Esq. in the same acknowledgment.

DETENTE

Détente (pronounced day-TAHNT) is a rather new borrowing from what used to be the worldwide lingo of international relations—French. It means a steady slackening of tension in a political situation where two big powers find themselves stalemated in what can be thought of as “eyeball-to-eyeball” conflict.

CAUCASIAN

One of the first anthropologists, Johann Blumenbach, divided all mankind into five races: Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American and Malayan. The best-proportioned skull in his collected works was from the Caucasus, so he chose the name Caucasian as symbolizing the supreme sort of the white race.

What's more, Blumenbach thought that the Caucasus was the original habitat of the race known as “Indo-Europeans,” to whom nearly all Western and a few Eastern cultures trace their language origin. These theories are currently not scientific and frequently tinged with racism; still, the word Caucasian is used in default of a better.

BLUE-CHIP STOCK

The expression blue-chip stock comes from the chips used in betting games like poker. These chips, or counters, vary in worth from red (cheapest) through white to blue (most valuable—typically worth ten times the red). So, a blue-chip stock is one prone to giving the best return on a venture.

ARS GRATIA ARTIS

In view of the fact that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has released its vault of motion pictures to television, Leo the Lion has been converted into a moderately standard guest in the living room. If you’re set apart by having 20-20 vision, you can scarcely make out the Latin maxim that appears on the television at the start of every MGM picture. It reads “Ars Gratia Artis,” “Art for Art’s Sake”—a slogan which seems outrageously inappropriate when you think of the millions of dollars paid for this “art” by the television sponsors.