‘The Hunger Games’: Know Your Vocabulary

Based on the first installment of Suzanne Collins’s best-selling trilogy, “The Hunger Games” takes place in Panem, the country that formed after a series of natural disasters and wars devastated North America. Panem is divided into 13 districts ruled by the Capitol, the seat of power that governs with an iron hand.

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Collins’s books are rather timely, taking aim at inequity and injustice in the government as well as the popularity of televised reality shows. In order to better appreciate the movie, here is a list of words, phrases and terminology that come up often in the story:

* Avox: A person surgically made mute. Those who defy the will of the Capitol are captured, transformed into Avoxes, and forced into a life of servitude. An Avox cannot speak and is not allowed to act without direct orders.

* The Hunger Games: An annual event designed to punish the districts for the uprising that happened nearly a century before the start of the first book. The Hunger Games are the ultimate reality show. It pits 24 teenagers against each other in a battle to the death.

* The Thirteenth District: A district supposedly destroyed during the uprising and now is unsuitable for humans.

* Arena: The place where the Hunger Games take place. Designed by the Gamemakers, each arena is only used once and is then preserved as a historic site. Capitol residents often visit old arenas on vacation to reenact classic moments from the games.

* Katniss: A bluish root that tastes similar to a potato after it is boiled or baked. Katniss Everdeen, the narrator and lead character, is named after this plant.

* Hob: The black market in District 12, the place where Katniss lives. The Hob is where residents go to find necessities, especially fresh meat killed by hunters like Katniss and her friend Gale.

* Peacekeeper: One of thousands of Panem’s enforcers. Each Peacekeeper wears a distinctive white uniform and is sworn to uphold the law, but those in District 12 often turn a blind eye to illegal hunting, stealing and trading in the Hob.

* Tribute: A teenager selected for the Hunger Games. Each district must offer up one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 each year as tribute to the Capitol.

* Tesserae: Additional grain and oil rations. Any teenager eligible for the games can sign up for tesserae for their family, but that means additional entries and a better chance of ending up as a tribute.

* Careers: Nickname for tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 4 who have been trained especially for the games. Career tributes are often brutal, merciless, and skilled in combat, but their food-gathering skills tend to be lacking.

* Cornucopia: A giant structure in every arena that resembles a horn of plenty. At the start of the games, the Cornucopia holds food, weapons, and other supplies needed for survival, but nearly half the tributes die in the first hours of the game fighting for these essentials.

* Quarter Quell: Every 25 years, the Capitol introduces a cruel twist into the Hunger Games. In the 50th year, for instance, Haymitch, Katniss’s mentor, was chosen to participate, but the government demanded twice the number of tributes for that Quarter Quell.

* Muttations: Animals resulting from experiments by Panem’s top scientists. Muttations are bred for specific purposes.

* Jabberjay: Muttations bred during the uprising of the districts against the Capitol. Jabberjays were birds that could memorize entire conversations and then repeat them, making them the perfect spy. Rebels sometimes fed these birds false information, however.

* Mocking-jay: The offspring of jabberjays and mockingbirds. Though the jabberjays were left to die after the uprising, they bred with mockingbirds to form an enduring new species. Mocking-jays can’t speak, but they will imitate songs and musical notes, passing the songs along to others of their species.

* Tracker Jacker: Mutated wasps bred in the Capitol labs whose venom is lethal to humans. Tracker jackers also target specific victims, making them nearly impossible to escape.

* Victor’s Village: An area in each district where the winners of the Hunger Games live. Currently, in District 12, only Haymitch lives in Victor’s Village.

* The Seam: The area in District 12 where the coal miners and their families live.

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