Hearing, Part 2

Many thanks to my beautiful wife Angela, who very reluctantly allowed me to take this picture of hear ear for today's post!

Hello, and happy Word Wednesday! Today I wanted to share a bit of vocabulary related to hearing and ears.

The most basic word here is ear, which are the organs on the side of your face that help you hear. The bottom part of the ear is called the earlobe. That's the part that many people pierce so that they can wear earrings. In the picture above, you can see Angela's earring in her earlobe. She got her ears pierced when she was about seven years old. In her case, her sister pierced her ear with a needle, but it's also very common these days for girls to get their ears pierced at a store that uses a piercing gun.

So, what can you do with your ears? Most people can hear and listen with them (see the post from Monday for an explanation about when to use these two words). Synonyms for hear and listen can include "listen up" and "pay attention."  If you hear someone say something but the person wasn't specifically talking to you, then you overhear something. If you are deliberately spying on other people and listening to their conversation without their permission, you are snooping or eavesdropping.

Q-tips (cotton swabs). (Image Credit)

But what if your ears get dirty? Most people clean them with a Q-tip (which is a brand name for a cotton swab). But be careful! Supposedly, according to overprotective mothers all over the world, you shouldn't stick a Q-tip too far into your ear or you'll break your ear drum, one of the parts of your inner ear that helps you hear!

Finally, if you are exceptionally talented, you can wiggle your ears. "To wiggle" means to move a little bit. Watch this short clip from one of my favorite movies, The Goonies. The big man, named "Sloth," can wiggle his ears:

VOCABULARY REVIEW:

Let's review the words we covered today. Can you explain what each of these words means? If not, read the post again. The definitions are at the bottom of the post.

Words for today:

1. hearing

2. ear

3. earlobe

4. to pierce / to get a piercing

5. earring

6. to hear

7. to listen

8. to overhear

9. to spy

10. to snoop

11. to eavesdrop

12. Q-tip

13. inner ear

14. ear drum

15. to wiggle

Could you define those words? If not, check the post again. Here are some suggested definitions for these words.

Suggested Definitions:

1. hearing - interpreting sound; the general name for the sense 

2. ear - the visible part of your body's hearing organs

3. earlobe - the lowest part of your ear

4. to pierce / to get a piercing - to perforate a part of your body for decoration

5. earring - a decoration in a pierced ear

6. to hear - (see Monday's post)

7. to listen - (see Monday's post)

8. to overhear - to hear unintentionally

9. to spy - unauthorized listening to other people's conversations

10. to snoop - synonym of "spy"

11. to eavesdrop - synonym of "spy"

12. Q-tip - a cotton swab; a stick with pieces of cotton at both ends

13. inner ear - the interior parts of your body's hearing organs

14. ear drum - part of the inner ear

15. to wiggle - to move a little bit

I hope that vocabulary was helpful! If you have any comments or questions, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading, and have a great night!

Senses: Hearing, Part 1

A chart showing the way our bodies hear sounds. (Image)

Hello, and welcome to Mistake Monday! Last week we looked at different words related to the sense of sight, and this week we'll examine the next sense: hearing. This is the sense that you do with your ears; it's also referred to as "listening," but what's the difference between the words "hear" and "listen"? That's a good question, and it's actually a common error that I notice in my classes. So, here is a re-posting of one of our first Common Errors to help explain the difference:

Common Error: Confusing "listen" and "hear"
DON’T say this:	I'm sorry, but I wasn't hearing to you. Hear! I think I listen a car coming! Did you listen that noise just now?
WHY?	Much like the difference between "watch," "see," and "look," the difference between "listen" and "hear" has a lot to do with intention: -You naturally hear things; "to hear" is to perceive sounds that reach your ears by using your sense of hearing. You normally don't plan to hear: it's spontaneous. -To hear of/about something means to have knowledge related to that thing. -If you listen, you carefully or continuously hear something. You have to pay attention to listen to something. If you have an object that follows the word "listen," be sure to add the word "to." -Additionally, "listen" can be used as an interjection, but "hear" generally can't.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Listen to this CD. It's great!" -"Sorry, but I didn't hear what you said. I wasn't listening." -"Have you heard about Pete? He got fired for always coming to work late!"

Many people, especially as they become older, have trouble hearing and need to use hearing aids to help them hear. (Image)

So, I hope that helps a bit. On Wednesday we'll look at more words related to the sense of hearing. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!