"Ocular" means related to the eye, as in oculist who makes lenses, and binoculars (two lenses, one for each eye - and they also make monocles for one eye.)

Actually, "inoculate" really does mean "stick it in your eye." That's the way the first smallpox immunizations were administered. Serum was made from victims of vaccinia (a related viral disease, cowpox. As one might suspect, since ''vaca" is cow. Smallpox is "variola.") and it was instilled into the eye of the protectee after the doctor pulled the lower lid down to make a sac to drip a drop or two into. So it was literally an "in-ocul-ation," and then the word got generalized to mean any immunization against you-name-it disease, no matter where it was given.

And "pertussis" is whooping cough. ("Tussive" is coughing. RobiTussin is A H Robins' brand of cough syrup. Tussionex is somebody else's.) Pertussis is the P of the DPT shot your kids got when they were infants: Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus. Never heard of 'em? It's because the shots became almost universal, and the diseases almost unheard of. Except that whooping cough is coming back, because...but that's another story.


(Apologies for droning on. Occasionally this does somehow turn into a word Board, all our intentions to the contrary notwithstanding...)