Knowledge Points About WHO

WHO is a frequent word in recent news item, which stands for World Health Organization. But you know how it pronounce? (sounds like a pretty stupid question, huh?) Pronouncing WHO as W-H-O is definitely correct, but I got another pronunciation when I listened to CNN boardcast today.

It is pronounced [hu:], the same way you pronounce the word "who".

But wait... why the emblem of WHO looks like this? A poisonous snake intertwisting a staff? What the heck is that?

Relax, let's do some reading...

WHO's emblem was chosen by the first World Health Assembly in 1948. The emblem consists of the United Nations symbol surmounted by a staff with a snake coiling round it. The staff with the snake has long been a symbol of medicine and the medical profession. It originates from the story of Aesculapius who was revered by the ancient Greeks as a god of healing and whose cult involved the use of snakes. (Aesculapius, incidentally, was so successful at saving lives that, the legend goes, Hades the god of the underworld complained about him to the supreme god Zeus who, fearing that the healer might make humans immortal, killed Aesculapius with a thunderbolt.)

Ha... the myth part in brackets is really intriguing. Hope theses little tips help. =)