Reunion Weekend is May 30-June 1

Join us back on campus for Reunion Weekend as we celebrate milestone classes ending in '0 and '5. Don’t miss the chance to reconnect with your classmates.

Saint Ignatius High School

Etymology Word of the Week

Director of Admissions Pat O'Rourke '90, a self-proclaimed "word nerd," brings you his Etymology Word of the Week. Every other week he presents an online Etymology lesson just for fun!

Etymology Word of the Week – As some of you know, in addition to working in the Admissions Office, I also teach Latin at Saint Ignatius and am something of a "word nerd."  Thus, each week, I’ll sneak a vocabulary word (sometimes derived from Latin, sometimes not) into the e-blast.  Here, then. is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.  

Dilemma

Definition: : “A situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives; any difficult or perplexing situation or problem.”

Origin/Derivation: From the Greek prefix di- meaning “two” and the Greek noun lemma meaning “premise, anything received or taken."

Related Words/Phrases: dialogue, dioxide, dimorphous, diptych

(All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com)

“Old Saw” of the Week

See if you can “complete the phrase” of this time-worn (but true!) adage:

When the going gets tough…


the tough get going.

Caption: John Belushi, inspiring the troops in Animal House