ESL Blogs

Did you know there are many syndromes or terms that are based on people and sometimes unfortunate circumstances that befell those people? We may be familiar with terms such as Stockholm Syndrome, and its opposite the Lima Syndrome. Whereas, one of the most famous syndromes that I read is the Pavlov's Dog Syndrome. 

Anyway, in this blog, I want to share some terms and syndromes that derived from certain circumstances or people, and the story behind the name.

AMBER Alert

Have you noticed in American movies or news, whenever there's a case of missing child being reported, an AMBER Alert will be issued? Once I thought it was called Amber Alert because of the colour of police siren, amber. But I was wrong. Amber Alert was named after an abducted and murdered child, Amber Hagerman, though it's also an acronym of America's Missing : Broadcast Emergency Response. In 1996, Amber was abducted in Arlington, Texas while visiting her grandparents. AMBER Alert is using the broadcast system using the Emergency Alert System which at that time widely being used to broadcast weather bulletins, civil emergencies or other emergencies. Four days after she was abducted, her body was found but until now her murder was not resolved.

Genovese Syndrome

Genovese syndrome is also known as the bystander effect. This syndrome was named after Catherine Susan "Kitty" Genovese who was stabbed to death in early morning of March 13, 1964. She was stabbed several times by her murderer in front of her apartment. The stabbing was witnessed by many of her neighbours when she cried for help and bleeding to death. The reaction, or in this case lack of reaction, by her neighbours, was reported in a newspaper. This led to what people term as bystander effect or diffusion of responsibility. Diffusion of responsibility is a phenomenon whereby a person or a group of people is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when others are present. This sociopsychological effect is more likely to occur in a group of people above a certain critical size and when responsibility is not explicitly assigned.

Asperger's Syndrome

Asperger's syndrome is named after Hans Asperger, an Austrian psychiatrist and pediatrician. Asperger's syndrome is a form of autism. According to WebMD, it's a form of pervasive development disorder (PDD). It stated that , "PDDs are a group of conditions that involve delays in the development of many basic skills, most notably the ability to socialize with others, to communicate, and to use imagination." Asperger appeared to have the social remoteness and talent in language, which are common features for people who exhibit Asperger's syndrom. My curious cat's antenna was awaken about Asperger's syndrome when I read the case of Gary McKinnon, a computer hacker who was found guilty of hacking into Pentagon and was supposed be to be extradited to the USA for his crime. He fought off the extradition order and claimed to have Asperger's syndrome. He won his case in 2012.

So, back to my original thought, I wonder, besides the saying, curiousity killed the cat, is there such as a 'cat syndrome'? Hmm ...

My other Did You Know? series:-

1. Did You Know?;  2. Continuation;  3. Another Continuation;  4. Not Another Continuation!; 5. Gosh! Will It Never Ends?;  6. Oh No! Not Another One!;  7. Here Comes Another One;  8. Another One?;  9. One, Two, Eighty Six?; 10. Punishment? OMG!; 11. Is This A Swan Song?;  12 John Has It All?; 13. It's All In The Myth;  14. This Is Random;  15. It's A Dog's World;  16.  It's Also A Cat's World;  17. Is It A Mouse World Too?;  18. Dutch Flavour;  19. It's The Greek Flavour;  20. It's All Greek;  21. All That Gold; 22. It's A Horsey Year; 23. It's All Red; 24. People Are Yummy; 25. What Day Is Today; 26. The Court Is Ours