Hello and welcome to the English Language Clinic. I am not sure where the subject of this week?s question was originally found and it has been very interesting finding an answer; "What is a ?completist oologist??" Any guesses? Let?s start with the adjective ?completist?. A ?completist? is an obsessive collector; someone who will not be happy unless his collection is absolutely complete, with no exceptions. The contents of any collection are known as ?collectibles? (noun) and are described as being ?collectable? (adjective). Examples of types of ?collectibles? are ?antiques? (objects over 100 years old), ?memorabilia? (things designed to remind you of a particular time), ?souvenirs? (objects designed to remind you of a particular place) and ?ephemera? (things not intended to be kept, such as train tickets).

An ?oologist? is someone who collects birds? eggs. People collect all sorts of things, from airplane sick bags to glass eyes, shoes laces to lawn mowers. Collectors of the majority of things are simply known as ?(insert object of collection) collectors?, such as ?prosthetic limb collectors? or ?light bulb collectors?. Collectors of some collectibles are known by specific names, for example ?conchologists? (shells), ?philatelists? (stamps), ?sucrologists? (sugar sachets), ?lotologists? (lottery tickets), ?phillumenists? (match boxes) and, if they are particularly obsessive, ?completist oologists?.

The verb ?to collect? has a number of meanings other than ?to gather together?. You can ?collect? money for charity, ?collect? someone from one place and take them to another (in a vehicle) or ?collect yourself? (to calm down and retake control). To ?recollect? is to remember, and when a watch maker fits the parts of a watch together, it is known as ?collecting? the watch.

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