Many difficult English words have a Latin origin, such as words that have the letter combination sc. Sc is pronounced s, and is found in words like science or discipline or susceptible. One of the worst spelling offenders in this group is the word resuscitate.
Resuscitate comes from the Latin resuscitatus, from the verb resuscitare (to reawaken), from re- + suscitare (to rouse). It means to revive from apparent death.
My way of remembering how to spell this persistently annoying word is to break it down into parts: re + sus + cit + ate.
To help you remember this tip and sustain your strength of will in the face of this exciting word (and avoid becoming irate), I have written a very short story.
The Riddle of the Re+sus+cit+ated Reputation
She ventured in to the citadel at the heart of the city to examine the supposedly dead criminal, who had been cited for various offenses.
As she examined the suspect, she could see that it had sustained some damage, but not enough to kill it. She had a suspicion that it could be rejuvenated, restored, or even revivified.
But did she want it to be?
Her heart palpitated as she pulled out her sharpened wooden weapon and prepared to penetrate the hated offender’s heart.
She scratched out the horrifyingly bad passage in her manuscript with her pencil.
After all, she had her author’s reputation to resuscitate, and this inane drivel wasn’t going to get her there.
THE END
***
Image of Akko Citadel from Ian and Wendy Sewell
This post is dedicated to norwegiantransplant. Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I will snare the sneaky letter S…
© Sue Archer at Doorway Between Worlds, 2015
Doorway Between Worlds 
LOL – love it 🙂 That is indeed a pesky word.
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
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Thanks, Tasha!
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Ah, yes, my training forced me to learn all sorts of these Latin-derived words. Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally need some help in spelling them. Or oftentimes… 😉
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I’m sure you know a lot of long words to impress people at cocktail parties, Carrie! 🙂
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If only I ever went to them. 😉
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Ha, yes, much nicer to stay at home! 🙂
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Arghhhh…. those restless words! in French or English, they are horrible to remember…”resuscitate” in French is “ressusciter” I also need to split it in 3 sections to remember: res/sus/citer and in Spanish it is “resuscitar” (much easier)…and I wonder why sometimes my brain cannot spell!
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Interesting that in French it’s ressus rather than resus – does that ever make things complicated! I like the sound of “resuscitar” as a word. Thanks for sharing, Nicole!
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Nice! I do have problems with that word–if I’m…ahem…away from my spellchecker. 🙂 I’ve book marked your page. I’m coming back to read more of these troublesome words. 🙂 Nicely done!
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Hi, Teresa! Welcome to my blog. I’m so glad you liked it – thanks for commenting!
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Well, because my native language is Italian, I always think the Latin-derived words that sounds to nasty to you are actually quite easy to remember for me 😉
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Fantastic! I’m glad someone finds these words easy to remember. 🙂
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After your first words with sc, I actually stumbled on saying resuscitate correctly.
~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee’s Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
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I guess that’s what happens when I have too many tricky words in a row! Makes for a good tongue twister.
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Ah. This is just one of many, many words that I wouldn’t be able to spell without Google.
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Some days I really don’t know what we would do without the internet!
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I’ve missed your blog, so glad to be back and resuscitate my relationship with it 🙂 I’ll never forget how to spell that one now, thank you.
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I’m glad you could resuscitate it, too. 🙂 Thanks so much for your kind words!
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I so rarely have to spell resuscitate that I don’t worry about it and let spell check take over!
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Ah, but that’s as crazy as relying on a self-driving car! And that would never happen. Oh, wait… 😉 Glad you don’t have to spell it that often, it’s a pain!
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Ha, ha, another good story, Sue!
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Thanks, Lori! 🙂
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I’ve rarely had to use this word, but I bet now that I need to think about it, I’m always going to spell it wrong now, like I do with parallel, or harassment. At least with resuscitate, I know that the “sc” goes where there are two subsequent ‘s’ sounds. 😛
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Yes, one of my worries on writing these is I that I will cause people to overthink things! Knowledge can be such a dangerous thing. 😉 I like your “sc” trick!
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