Vazquez, Sergio

Period 3

Weekly Vocabulary Response

Lesson 18: Words Relating to Sound

1. Acoustics 2. Euphony 3. Cacophony 4. Mellifluous 5. Clamor 6. Raucous 7. Din

8. Strident 9. Discordant 10. Vociferous

Dilemma in Egypt

Muslims in the middle East, particularly in Egypt, have been complaining about the

raucous6 noise that comes from the loudspeakers off of mosques. They believe God ordered

Muslims to pray five times a day and worship Allah; however, vociferous10 sirens and

commotion that mosques give off to signal the start of prayer are starting to annoy many. The

problem is that it is not just one mosque, it is multiple giving off an exaggerated din7 with many

claiming they do it to compete against each other and see who possesses the loudest voice. This

clamor5 creates a great deal of confusion in areas where several mosques are located in a

compressed area and only serve to interrupt one another. The discordant9 speakers only help mix

sermons together and make it impossible to focus on a single one. In addition to all this, these

strident8 alerts seem to have become a source of torment for the young, sick, and elderly. This

cacophony3 is a serious problem as one boy recalls he once thought explosions were going off

outside his house since acoustics1 shows the echo of multiple speakers sounds similar to the

sound waves of that of an explosion.

Many people have tried to think of different ways on how to make the loudspeakers

produce a more mellifluous4 alert but making them produce an euphony2 will do little to solve

the problem as noise will still continue to flood the streets. Many leaders are turning to
technology to solve this problem and believe notifications and alerts in smart phones can be a

better alternative in letting people know of prayer times in a quiet, and peaceful manner.

Source:

http://www.wnd.com/2017/01/even-muslims-say-amplified-prayers-are-noise-pollution/