{"id":1418,"date":"2021-01-31T13:15:34","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T18:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/writing\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2021-01-31T14:11:07","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T19:11:07","slug":"word-of-the-week-vexillology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/2021\/01\/31\/word-of-the-week-vexillology\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Week! Vexillology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Collage<\/a>Dan Strohl, my editor at Hemmings Daily<\/em><\/a>, used the word “vexillological” in a sentence about two cars, one a Jaguar E-Type painted in the Union Jack and a first-generation Mustang in Old Glory. As painted, either vehicle proves too flashy for my tastes, but the word?<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve never heard of it. In fact, I don’t need The OED this week. The meaning? The study of flags.<\/p>\n

As with similar words, it combines the common Greek suffix –logy<\/em> with a Latin prefix from the word\u00a0vexillum<\/em>, a type of flag used by Roman military units. Look around to find dozens, if not hundreds, of -logies. Just over a year ago, I discussed a word for loving words, philology<\/a>. Many of these terms describe long-standing academic fields. They nod to perhaps what was a more clubbish, even precious time in Academia.<\/p>\n

I’ve not met an historian who studies flags, though I’m certain they exist and their work has been well received. I have met flag collectors and hobbyists, just as I’m met philatelists (stamp collectors), and that’s a word I cannot say without chuckling. I imagine both passing gas and a crime that brings 10-20 in The Big House. On the other hand, I can<\/em> get through a sentence about numismatists (coin collectors) with a straight face, though often with a tangled tongue. I don’t pursue either hobby, though a Byzantine coin in my desk reminds me of how quickly time passes. It’s the oldest thing in our house, worth only about $20 on the market, in case the reader is contemplating burglary. Thus too, the transient value of old things except, perhaps, to busy our minds in useful ways.<\/p>\n

On this snowy day I’ll return to one of my hobbies, modeling. No, not posing for photos: building scale models. We need a Greco-Latinate term! “Builder” sounds like an English contractor, “Maker” too coy and hipsterific. One thing of note: model-building may be good for the brain<\/a>, much like the study of words.<\/p>\n

I’d contend that any hobby requiring careful research and some movement or dexterity might do the same. Going out to see rare flags and properly storing a collection mean using parts of our minds and bodies in active ways. Get busy, those of you in your 50s and 60s: join the ranks of vexillologists,\u00a0numismatists, even those philatelists.<\/p>\n

Have a word or metaphor you would like covered here? Send them to jessid -at- richmond -dot- edu.See all of our Metaphors of the Month\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and Words of the Week\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Image source:\u00a0Collage of the flags of countries\/regions participating in CEE Spring 2017, from Wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dan Strohl, my editor at Hemmings Daily, used the word “vexillological” in a sentence about two cars, one a Jaguar E-Type painted in the Union Jack and a first-generation Mustang in Old Glory. As painted, either vehicle proves too flashy for my tastes, but the word? I’ve never heard of it. In fact, I don’t … Continue reading Word of the Week! Vexillology<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6904,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40197],"tags":[2522],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-word-of-the-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6904"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1418"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1422,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions\/1422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}