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 Genealogy isn't just the search of records though.  It is stories of lives of the past. 

I attended a workshop at Chapin Memorial Library in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The workshop was given by Lee Oakes.  In her packet of handouts there was a cute warning. 

Warning: Genealogy Pox

Symptoms: Continual complaint as to need for names, dates and places.  Patient has blank expression, is sometimes deaf to spouse and children.  Has no taste for work of any kinds, except feverishly looking through records at libraries and court houses.  Has compulsions to write letters.  Swears at mailman when he does not leave mail.  Frequents strange places such as cemeteries, ruins, and remote, desolate areas.  Makes secret phone calls at night.  Hides phone bills from spouse and mumbles to self.  Has strange faraway look in eyes.

No Known Cure...

Treatment: Medication is useless.  Disease is not fatal but gets progressively worse.  Patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogical magazines and be given a quiet corner in the house where he/she can be left alone. 

Some definitions and abbreviations

Ancestor: someone you are a direct descendant of

relative: aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings etc.

Collateral relative: some one who is not an ancestor but shares an ancestor

Progenitor: oldest ancestor in your line

Sources: places we gather information from such as: other people, family Bibles, vital records, land records, church records, court records etc.

Evidence: considered the information that is abstracted from the source

Proof: considered to be the thought process we use to make a convincing conclusion based on evidence from the source

Primary sources: created close to an event's occurrence by someone who would have knowledge of the event i.e.: birth certificate, death certificate, marriage license, census records

Secondary sources: created later than the event i.e. online databases eith the exception of digital images of census records

et ux or et uxor: and wife

c: circa: about or around

et al or et alli: and others

nee: before