Neo-Malthusian (Name of the Conference)

We'll take "Incomprehensible Compound Words" for 800, Alex.

But don't break out in a cold sweat quite yet. Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) was a British economist who theorized that population increases faster than the resources needed to support it, resulting in bad stuff like war and poverty. He thought people should have fewer kids to help fix this…but he didn't want married couples to use birth control. (Hmm.)

Neo-Malthusians agreed with him re: the basics of his theory, but they thought birth control was a-okay.

Grand Central Station (22)

This is a crazy-busy train station in New York City that gets featured in way too many Big Apple-based rom coms. "Grand Central Station" is slang for any really busy place.

Settlement Houses (26)

Settlement houses, mostly established in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, were a way of efficiently delivering social services to working-class and poor urban neighborhoods by gathering people into close proximity and focusing on the good of the community.

Usually founded by middle-class women like Margaret Sanger, they often tried to assimilate people into the middle class. Settlement houses still exist today in some large cities…because we still definitely need to get those social services delivered.

Idiocy/Feeble-minded/Unfit (28, 42)

File these under "Words We Don't Say Anymore Because They're Crazy Offensive." Sanger uses these terms to refer to people with any sort of physical or mental difference from what is considered "typical."

Biological Corruption (28)

Oh, Margaret Sanger. Are you talking about Eastern European immigrants here? We suspect you are.

This is some classic Interwar Period (1919-1938) prejudice. Sanger says too many people who aren't "American" (read: White, Western European, and Protestant) enough are destroying our great country.

Child Labor (31)

This is exactly what it sounds like: forcing children to work before they're old enough to tie their shoes…provided they have shoes, which they probably don't. It became a big issue during the Industrial Revolution.

Prenatal Care (37)

Prenatal = Before Birth. This refers to the care the mother receives while she is pregnant: you know, getting vitamins and ultrasounds and access to pickles and ice cream.

Embryo (39)

Technically, an embryo exists in weeks five through ten of a typical 40-week pregnancy, after which it becomes a fetus. Here, though, Sanger seems to be referring to the child in any phase of prenatal development.

Civil Service Examinations (54)

If you want to work for the government, you often have to take some sort of test that indicates your aptitude for various positions: think the SAT, but for work. That's what this is.

Prohibition/Bootlegging (61)

From 1920 to 1933, the sale and consumption of alcohol was banned by the U.S. Constitution during an era known as "Prohibition."

And—who'da thunk it?—this led to a lot of "bootlegging," or illegal trade in alcohol.