Oh, I See Words

I see from my high school alumni newsletter that the English teacher we had as juniors who was met with absolute silence when he asked a classroom full of 30-some-odd boys to name some words that ended in "ic" has recently passed away. No one came up with a word. Even after a fairly long silence to compose ourselves. He told us he could think of many words that ended in "ic." It primed no one's pump. The request floated to the floor, and never came up again.

No age was given for Mr. Michael Marks, but I'd have to guess he was at least 80, given when he started teaching at the school and when he retired. He wasn't a substitute either. He was our regular semester English teacher. He really hit a dry well with that "ic" stuff.

I have no idea why, but several years ago I started to think about that lazy afternoon in school. Of course by then I could come with many words that ended in "ic." I was amazed that no one that day, including myself, could come up with at least one. At some point I decided to start a list. The words just kept coming and coming.

By now I was married with two daughters. I enlisted the aid of offspring Susan. I explained the whole thing. She easily came up with numerous words. I now organized the list.

With the goal of making the list suitable for framing, as I once did for a list of homographs that became my hobby to create, I came up with a draft version of what I'd like to frame.

I've never been to a high school class reunion, basically because there's never been one for my class. Classes before, galore. Classes after, many, many. We fell into a black hole for some reason. No one wants to remember our time in the 60s, I guess. We're coming up on the mid-century mark, so there are surely fewer of us, and probably few teachers.

If there is a reunion, I might bring the list, but I'm not sure who'd I'd show it to.

For now, rigorous proofreading is still required, but Sue's not home yet.

SIC TIC EPIC ANTIC ATTIC ASPIC BASIC COMIC DORIC LYRIC MAGIC MEDIC MUSIC OPTIC PANIC TONIC TOXIC TUNIC ANEMIC ARCTIC ATOMIC CITRIC COSMIC CRITIC FROLIC IRONIC METRIC MYOPIC NITRIC NORDIC PELVIC PEPTIC PHYSIC PICNIC PUBLIC TROPIC ANGELIC ARSENIC BUBONIC GASTRIC IDYLLIC ISLAMIC IDIOTIC KINETIC MASONIC MORONIC OCEANIC PACIFIC POLITIC TRAFFIC ROBOTIC ACOUSTIC ANALYTIC ARTISTIC ATLANTIC DIDACTIC DOGMATIC DRAMATIC ECLECTIC ECONOMIC ELECTRIC FORENSIC GEODESIC HELLENIC HISTORIC HORRIFIC MAGNETIC MAJESTIC NARCOTIC OPERATIC PERIODIC PLUTONIC PROLIFIC ROMANTIC SPECIFIC SPORADIC TALMUDIC TECTONIC TEUTONIC THEATRIC THORACIC TYMPANIC ACROBATIC ALCOHOLIC ANTARCTIC ASTHMATIC AUTHENTIC ENERGETIC FANTASTIC PRAGMATIC PSYCHOTIC REALISTIC TRAUMATIC AERONAUTIC ALPHABETIC ALTRUISTIC ANTIBIOTIC ARITHMETIC DYSARTHRIC ELECTRONIC LINGUISTIC PHOSPHORIC PRESBYOPIC PUGILISTIC SOPHOMORIC COMMUNISTIC DEMOGRAPHIC PESSIMISTIC JOURNALISTIC NEUROLOGICAL PHILHARMONIC PHOTOGRAPHIC SCHIZOPHRENIC CHRONOLOGICAL DIAPHRAGMATIC NATIONALISTIC NEUROLOGICAL SCHIZOPHRENIC OPPORTUNISTIC CHARACTERISTIC ANTHROPOLOGIC