CHAPTER XIII:

We saw that ‘DON’ as a verb means to put on clothes. But as a noun, “DON” denotes the title for a GENTLEMAN in Spanish, as “DONA” denotes the title for a LADY in Spanish. Sometimes these GENDER RELATIONS play a part in analogy-problems in GRE. Below we can see a few of these GENDER ANALOGIES we encounter in GRE. MALE: FEMALE HUSBAND: WIFE MAN: WOMAN DON: DONA SENOR: SENORITA FOX: VIXEN BULL: COW STEED/ STALLION: MARE RAM: EWE STAG: DOE DRAKE: DUCK GANDER:GOOSE TIGER: TIGRESS

FOX: VIXEN Sometimes, animals are also treated as symbolizing some meaning, as in the case of a “LAMB” representing the meaning of “INNOCENCE”. The SYMBOL and its SIGNIFICANCE is another common type of analogy we get in GRE. The following pairs indicate such type of analogies: SYMBOL: SIGNIFICANCE VIXEN (female fox): SLYNESS (cunning)

LION: HEROISM (bravery) TIGER: FEROCITY/ TRUCULENCE PEACOCK: PRIDE SLOTH: INDOLENCE (laziness) DOG: FIDELITY (loyalty) BEAVER: INDUSTRY DOVE: PEACE SPHINX: MYSTERY (enigma) PHOENIX: IMMORTALITY RAT: TREASON (disloyalty)

UNICORN: CHASTITY CHIMERA: ILLUSION MACE/ SCEPTER/CROWN: POWER/AUTHORITY ARROW: LOVE CADUCEUS: HEALING

SCALES (BALANCE): JUSTICE CORNUCOPIA: PLENITUDE (abundance) In all the above cases, the first term indicates the meaning given in the second term. When we are on to the animals, let’s also examine the sounds made by them. A “COW”, for instance, makes the sound “MOO”, just as a “SHEEP” makes the sound “BAA”. Below we have a few ANIMALS and the CHARACTERISTIC SOUNDS they produce. COW: LOW/MOO SHEEP: BLEAT CHICKEN: CLUCK CROW: CAW DOG: BAY/BARK HORSE: NEIGH PIG: GRUNT/OINK DUCK: QUACK The term “QUACK” is another interesting word. It not only denotes the sound made by a duck, but it also denotes any person who pretends to have some skill, which he/she does not really have. A QUACK or CHARLATAN is one who pretends to have EXPERTISE, just as a LIAR pretends to tell us the TRUTH. A quack is a dishonest practitioner in the same way as a SYCOPHANT (flatterer) is dishonest in his APPRECIATION or a MALINGERER (one who pretends to have illness so as to avoid duty) pretends to have some AILMENT (illness). Hence, QUACK: EXPERTISE MALINGERER: AILMENT SYCOPHANT: APPRECIATION LIAR: TRUTH The word MALINGERER comes from MALINGER, which means to pretend to have some disease. It is one way of AVOIDing DUTY. When we avoid duty, we call it SHIRKing the duty. There are many ways to SHIRK our DUTY. One is to MALINGER. Another is to POSTPONE or PROCRASTINATE. The following analogies indicate ways of avoiding several things: MALINGER: WORK We malinger to avoid work SWERVE (take a sharp turn): COLLISION We swerve to avoid collision. EQUIVOCATE: COMMITMENT We equivocate to avoid commitment. PROCRASTINATE: ACTION We procrastinate to avoid action. SHIRK: DUTY When we shirk we avoid our duty. DODGE: BLOW When we dodge we avoid the blow. PARRY: QUESTION When we parry we avoid the question.

In problems of SYMBOL~SIGNIFICANCE RELATIONS, we have come across the symbol of SPHINX. The SPHINX is an imaginary creature from Egyptian Mythology. The creature has the head of a woman and the body of a lion. Based on this feature of the creature, another relation is built, as shown below: SPHINX: LION The Sphinx is a lion based creature in the same way as

MERMAID: FISH

The Mermaid is a fish based creature MINOTAUR: BULL The Minotaur is a bull based creature in the same way as CENTAUR: HORSE The Centaur is a horse based creature in the same way as MERMAN: FISH The Merman is a fish based crearture