CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 1

Why Do We Feel Nostalgia

(Part 01)
Hello everyone and welcome to "Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Part 1."

My name is Babette Craft, I'll be reading the passage completely at a natural

speed and then we'll come back and take a deeper look at the individual
lines and phrases that are underlined and in blue. Alright, let's begin.

Why Do We Feel Nostalgia?

Why do we feel nostalgia?

In the late 17th century, a medical student named Johannes Hofer noticed
a strange illness affecting Swiss mercenaries serving abroad. Its symptoms,
including fatigue, insomnia, irregular heartbeat, indigestion, and fever were
so strong, the soldiers often had to be discharged. As Hofer discovered, the
cause was not some physical disturbance, but an intense yearning for their
mountain homeland. He dubbed the condition nostalgia, from the Greek
"nostos" for homecoming and "algos" for pain or longing.

At first, nostalgia was considered a particularly Swiss affliction. Some

doctors proposed that the constant sound of cowbells in the Alps caused
trauma to the ear drums and brain. Commanders even forbade their soldiers
from singing traditional Swiss songs for fear that they’d lead to desertion or
suicide. But as migration increased worldwide, nostalgia was observed in
various groups.

It turned out that anyone separated from their native place for a long time
was vulnerable to nostalgia. And by the early 20th century, professionals no
longer viewed it as a neurological disease, but as a mental condition similar
to depression. Psychologists of the time speculated that it represented
difficulties letting go of childhood, or even a longing to return to one’s fetal
state. But over the next few decades, the understanding of nostalgia
changed in two important ways. Its meaning expanded from indicating
homesickness to a general longing for the past. And rather than an awful
disease, it began to be seen as a poignant and pleasant experience.

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 2

Perhaps the most famous example of this was captured by French author
Marcel Proust. He described how tasting a Madeleine cake he had not eaten
since childhood triggered a cascade of warm and powerful sensory
associations.

OK, now let's take a closer look at the passage.

"Why do we feel nostalgia?”

Alright, this is a very nice word, comes from the Greek. So what does this
word mean? This means mixed feelings of happiness and sadness when
thinking of the past.

So this deals with past memories and the feelings that come with thinking
of these past memories. They can be happy memories or they can be sad
memories. They can be a mix of those feelings.

Example sentence. "That sound fills me with nostalgia for my youth."

So here it's a noun. It fills me with the feeling of nostalgia, it fills me with
nostalgia. Or you can also use it as "nostalgic" -- as an adjective. "We took
a nostalgic look through our old photo albums."

Same meaning, just used as an adjective, used to describe something. We're

taking a look, a nostalgic look, which means we're looking though our photo
albums and feeling those feelings of happiness and sadness over our
memories.

Or noun -- the sound fills me with nostalgia, fills me with those feelings
about my youth.

Alright, next --"A medical student named Johannes Hofer noticed a strange
illness."

Illness -- what does that mean? Well this had to do with sickness or disease.

I am unable to work due to my illness.

I'm sick, I have some kind of illness or disease. I cannot work. And here we're
talking about something "strange" something unknown at the time. Strange,
we don't know what this disease or sickness is.

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 3

"Affecting Swiss mercenaries serving abroad."

This word "abroad." This means in another country or another way of saying
it, in a foreign country.

Example sentence. "We studied abroad in Japan for two semesters."

So to go abroad is to go to another country, to live in another country or to

be in a foreign country. "We studied abroad" means we went to another
country to study, here it's Japan.

So these Swiss mercenaries, mercenaries are soldiers, these soldiers from

Switzerland, they were serving in some military abroad in foreign countries.

"The soldiers often had to be discharged.”

"Discharged." -- what does this mean? It means to allow to leave.

An example sentence -- "I was discharged from the hospital once I

recovered from my illness."

OK, so when we're talking about illness, we talk about going to the hospital
and getting discharged. We're allowed to leave the hospital, the hospital lets
us leave when we feel better.

Another way to use discharged -- "My father received an honorable

discharge from the military."

So this person's father, they were allowed to leave the military very
honorably. They were honorably discharged, they received an honorable
discharge. So we are allowed to leave.

"An intense yearning for their mountain homeland.”

So these two words -- yearning and homeland. Yearning -- so this is to have

a strong want for something, a strong desire to have something.

Sample sentence -- "After spending so many years abroad I yearned to

return home someday."

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 4

Yearning -- yes, this is a very good word. We're talking about a strong
feeling, a strong want or desire for something, to do something to have
something. This person spent a long time abroad in a foreign country and
they yearn, they desire strongly to go home someday.

"For their mountain homeland." Homeland -- and this means country of

origin, a place where you were born.

"We must protect the homeland from foreign invaders." Strong words. The
homeland, just like your home, but really land here is talking about your
country of origin, the place where you were born. Here we're talking about
soldiers. We must protect the homeland from foreign invaders.

So these people had an intense longing, an intense desire to go home again,

to return to the place where they were born.

"He dubbed the condition nostalgia."

This word here "dubbed." OK dubbed means to name. How do we use this
in a sentence?

"He was dubbed the hand of God," -- great name -- "for his amazing
performance as a goalie."

He was named, he was dubbed, this name, this phrase "the hand of God" for
his amazing performance as goalie by his team.

More than likely "he dubbed the condition," so here we're naming the
condition “nostalgia."

"Homecoming." So homecoming means to return home, usually after a long

period of time.

An example sentence. "Our son gets discharged from the military next
week, we are planning a homecoming party for him." Sounds like we're very
happy to have him back.

Homecoming -- you've been gone a long time and you finally get to return
home. Our son was let go from the military and then we're planning a way
of celebrating his return home by throwing a homecoming party for him.

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 5

"And 'algos' for pain or longing."

What does this word "longing" mean? Actually algos means pain or longing.
And what does longing mean? A strong want for something synonymous, or
a synonym, with the word "yearning."

An example -- "After so many years abroad he longed to see his wife and
children again."

OK "algos" here from the Greek means longing and longing means the same
thing. This is what a synonym is, it is synonymous with the word "yearning."
It means the same thing, it's a strong want or desire.

So after been gone in a foreign country for a long time, this person yearns,
longs to see his wife and children again.

So what does this passage mean, what is it talking about?

We're learning a little bit about the history of nostalgia. So originally it was
discovered in the 17th century by this student Johannes Hofer and he
noticed strange sickness that was affecting soldiers who were in other
countries and it was so bad that they often had to leave the military, they
had to be discharged. Then he learned that this was not caused by a physical
problem, meaning they weren't hurt physically. But it really was this intense
yearning or longing for their return to home -- they wanted to go back to
the country that they were born from.

He name it "nostalgia," and the word he used comes from the two Greek
words "nostos," "algos." "Nostos" meaning homecoming, which means to
return to home and "algos" meaning pain or longing and longing is the same
word as yearning.

So it's a strong want to return home, that is what nostalgia means.

So nostalgia here was "considered a particularly Swiss affliction."

What does "affliction" mean here? Affliction is something that causes pain
and suffering.

In a sentence -- "Her affliction was the result of mental distress and poor
physical health."

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 6

OK, affliction is something or some reason that is causing you pain and
suffering. Her affliction, the reason why she was suffering, the thing causing
pain was mental distress and poor physical health.

So here they thought this was a Swiss thing.

"Caused trauma to the ear drums and brain."

What are these, what are ear drums? Ear drums, this has to do with your
ear, it is a thin piece of skin inside the ear, that allows you to hear sounds.

An example -- "Loud music can damage your ear drums."

Alright so this is inside of our ear. The reason they call it a drum is because
it is a thin piece of skin that is stretched inside the ear like a drum has a thin
piece of skin stretched across the top to make sound, this thin piece of skin
allows you to hear sound. Loud music can damage your ear drums, they're
very important, take care of them.

"Commanders even forbade their soldiers from singing...”

What is this word meaning -- "forbade." To not allow.

"My parents forbade me from dating until I graduated high school." Alright,
they would not allow me. To not allow. They would not allow me to date
until I graduated high school.

So here the commanders "forbade." Forbade here is past tense. So this

comes from the present tense word "forbid," to forbid. This is a verb and
this is past tense. Forbade -- happened in the past. Forbid someone -- this
is present.

"Commanders even forbade" -- in the past -- their soldiers, they would not
allow them to sing that is interesting. "...for fear that they'd lead to desertion
or suicide."

This word -- "desertion." "Desertion means to leave without permission or

notice. It's often used in the military or with military topics. This would be
the opposite of discharge.

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 7

Alright, so here's a sentence -- "In the military desertion is considered a

serious crime."

It's to leave without permission or notice. To discharge is to be allowed to

leave. To desert, you are not allowed to leave, this is the noun "desertion."
In the military desertion is considered a serious crime, comes from the verb,
to desert.

Ok -- they were afraid that they would leave without permission or kill
themselves, commit suicide.

"It turned out that." "Turn out" -- this means to happen or to become in a
certain way. To turn out.

Example sentence -- "It turns out he's not coming home until next week."
Also -- "My cake turned out quite well." Nice surprise. It turns out.

So it means something happened or something became a certain way. And

sometimes it's used in a sense of a surprise. So here it turns out -- oh we
thought he was coming home sooner, but really it turns out that he is not
coming home until next week. Maybe I'm making a new cake, I wasn't sure
how well it would turn out, but really surprised, it just so happens it turned
out quite well, quite delicious.

So here, "it turned out..." -- kind of a surprise, because they thought it was
a Swiss problem but here it's actually anyone who leaves their home can get
nostalgia.

Right, so what is this passage telling us? Well, it's talking about the history
of nostalgia. They did not know what this illness was, so they were taking
guesses, first they thought maybe it only affected or afflicted and caused
suffering in the Swiss. And then they had some really funny reasons for this
happening, cow bells maybe. Maybe they caused trauma or damaged the
thin skin in our ears that allow us to hear, maybe they damaged the brain.

Commanders would even not allow soldiers to sing songs because they
were afraid that this feeling of longing would lead to desertion or suicide.
But as it turned out here with the increase in migration, meaning people
traveling all over the world, they realized and were surprised to find that
anyone who left their native homeland were vulnerable to these feelings of

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 8

sadness and happiness that comes from nostalgia. It represented difficulties

letting go of childhood.

"Letting go" what does this mean? Well this comes from "let go" which
means to release something, to relax about something.

So two options here, to release.

My son got upset when he let go of the balloon and it floated away. He
released, he let go, his hand opened up and the balloon was allowed to leave
his hand. My son got upset that he let go of the balloon.

And another use here, to relax. Don't worry about the children tonight, just
let go and have fun. Alright, don't worry, "let go" meaning let go of your
worries, just relax and have fun.

So here -- it represented difficulties letting go of childhood. So these people

could not let go, they could not release things from their childhood, maybe
this was what caused nostalgia.

"Over the next few decades." Over -- so this is talking about time here, this
is talking about across a certain amount of time.

Example -- "I'll be busy over the next few days."

So here we're talking about time. I'll be busy over the next few days. Across
time, across the span of a few days.

You can also use this as a preposition. And here -- "Place the blanket over
the bed."

It can also mean to finish. "We'll go home when the movie is over." When
it's done, when it's finished.

So three uses -- we can talk about a span of time, over a span of time. We
can talk about a preposition, this usually is something similar to above. Place
the blanket over the bed. On top of the bed, above the bed. And also it can
be a verb to finish. We'll go home when the movie is over. Here this is the
span of time, decades.

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 9

Homesickness, what does homesickness mean? So this is a longing,

remember a yearning, longing for home. I felt homesick for the first few
months of my study abroad. This can be an adjective, but it can also be a
noun. He's suffering from homesickness.

OK, homesickness is a longing for home, you can use it to describe a feeling,
I felt homesick, feels like an illness where you yearn to go home. Or it can
be a noun. He's suffering from this feeling or longing for home.

"Rather than." Rather than, this means instead of.

So an example -- "I would prefer for you to tell me directly instead of talking
behind my back." OK, so here, I would prefer for you to tell me directly
instead of, or rather than talking behind my back.

So instead of an awful disease, rather than an awful disease.

"A Poignant, pleasant experience." What is this word "poignant?" So

poignant means something that causes or is causing a feeling of sadness.
Feelings are very complicated.

An example -- "War is a poignant reminder of the value of life." So it's a sad

reminder, an important reminder that has a sense of sadness about the
meaning and value of life.

Poignant, this is a very complex experience finally "triggered." What is this

word here, "triggered?"

To trigger means to cause something to happen, this is based on the noun

"trigger" that comes from guns. So a trigger is what sets off a gun, it is the
part of the gun that you pull to shoot or the part that set's off a gun. To pull
the trigger is to shoot a gun.

OK and so then we're talking about something that sets something off,
something that causes something to happen. Triggered is the past tense of
to trigger.

So an example use -- "My grandmother, her stories triggered a wave of

nostalgia." My grandmother's stories they triggered, they set off this feeling,
this wave of nostalgia.

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 10

So what is this telling us here? OK so over time the meaning of nostalgia has
changed. Originally psychologists thought it had to do with releasing with
issues or things from childhood, but across time -- a few decades actually -
- this feeling of nostalgia began to change. So one its meaning expanded
from this feeling from homesickness and illness, a longing for home and it
became something like a general longing for the past. And instead of or
rather than being a disease it became this sense of poignant and pleasant
experience, so both a mixed feeling of sadness and pleasant things.

A very famous example is from Marcel Proust where he talked about the
experience eating cake from a long time ago which triggered or caused a
cascade of warm and powerful sensory feelings, associations. This is how
nostalgia changed.

So what does this all mean? Well nostalgia really has a long history. First we
thought it was a strange illness, it was discovered among soldiers who were
in foreign countries. It was so strong that they often had to leave the
military. It was this experience of a very strong yearning, a desire to return
to their homes and it was named from the Greek meaning homecoming and
longing. Meaning intense pain and longing to return home,

Originally it was thought to only affect the Swiss and they had to come up
with a different reason because they really didn't know what caused it,
maybe it was the ear drums in the brain. Commanders -- they said, "no you
can't sing songs that will remind you of home," because they were afraid
that that somehow this would cause soldiers to leave.

But really surprisingly over time we learned that, no, this feeling of nostalgia,
this strong pain and sense of longing, this can happen to anyone who has
left their country.

Alright so then we are into the 20th century and we have things like
psychologists, so they thought, ah well maybe nostalgia has to do with
childhood and your ability to relax or let go of things from your past. And
then again over time, across a few decades our understanding of nostalgia
changed. So one, it stopped being homesickness, it stopped being an illness
in general and instead of that, rather than, it became to mean this feeling, a
poignant and pleasant experience -- this feeling of happiness and sadness,
mixed together about anything in the past.

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara

CIMV | Why Do We Feel Nostalgia Page 11

So for example, famous example from Proust is tasting a childhood cake and
it sets off this warmth, this feeling, these powerful senses from the past.

Alright, well hopefully you will come back and join us for Why Do We Feel
Nostalgia Part 2.

© 2017 | Curso de Inglês Mairo Vergara