There's an anecdote about how the philosopher- mathematician Pythagoras overcame a student's natural dislike of geometry. The student was poor, so Pythagoras offered to pay him an obol for each theorem he learned. Eager for the money, the student agreed and applied himself. Soon, however, he became so intrigued, he begged Pythagoras to go faster, and even offered to pay his teacher. In the end, Pythagoras recouped his losses.
Etymology provides a safety net of de-mystification.
When all the words you hear are new and confusing, or when those around you put old words to strange purposes, a grounding in etymology may help. Take the word line. You put ruler to paper and draw a line against the straight edge. But then you hit Geometry. After a few days, it comes as something of a relief to run into an intuitively obvious circle, whose definition as a set of points equidistant from a central point still fits your previous experience.