Ologyologist

Inside of Outside

When I was younger, I enjoyed collecting things. I went through a stamp phase, a coin phase, an elastic band phase, a rock phase. I mostly discarded these collections as I lost interest in them, or replaced them with others. Later in life, for example, I had fact phases, a book phase, a picture phase. Only a couple of years ago I stopped collecting books (although I do still collect Dr. Seuss books) and facts, and I'm still in the middle of a picture phase. One collection that I stopped adding to, but never got rid of, was my collection of words. For mysterious reasons, I've always enjoyed words that end in -ology. Although I don't really collect them anymore, I still have a list that I compiled when I was in elementary school. So, I thought I would share my collection, since it's just been sitting on my hard drive and gathering dust for some ten years.

Some of the words in my collection, you probably know. Most people have heard of biology, geology, psychology, astrology, and technology. However, there are others less common that fewer people know. Icthyology, ornithology, mammology, herpetology, entomology, and zoology are less well known, but still familiar as the study of fish, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, insects, and all animals. But I went further than that, including hundreds of words ending in -ology, that I plucked from dictionaries and encyclopedias, by painstakingly combing their pages. What motivated me? I don't know. I think I was probably crazy.

Here's a few more that you may not have heard of:

Campanology n. the art or skill of bell ringing
Deltiology n. the collecting of postcards as a hobby
Garbology n. the study of the material discarded by a society to learn what it reveals about social or cultural patterns
Iridology n. examination of the iris of the eye as a primary diagnostic aid
Thremmatology n. the science of breeding domestic plants and animals.
Trichology n. the study of hair and its diseases

There's many other interesting words that end in -ology. Too many to share all at once, however, so watch for more -ologies in the future.