Two-Headed God Behind January's Name

Where Does The Name “January” Come From?

If you were asked to pick which month is most often associated with deep reflection, you’d probably choose January.

How “Burnout” Went From A Casual Expression To A Weighted Word

Most of us are familiar with the concept of being burned out. It’s that feeling you get when you’re stressed, overwhelmed, and simply don’t have any more energy to devote to a given task, activity, … or career.

When Did “Fat” Become An Insult?

The word fat holds a complicated place in our society. As an adjective, it joins words like tall, hairy, fluffy, or bright.But, unlike those descriptors, fat isn’t neutral. It’s so often framed as a negative—and used as an insult. However, the body positivity movement, fat activism, and popular books and television shows centered on fat characters are proving that narrative is wearing thin.

When “Mixed” Isn’t Enough

Why We Need Better Terms For People Who Identify As Two Or More Races

(by Nicole Hollida)

When I was a kid, I always just assumed that everyone in the world called people like me “mixed,” because in the 1990s in central Ohio, where I grew up, mixed almost always referred to folks like me, who had one black parent and one white parent.

Blond vs. Blonde: What’s The Difference

Grammatical gender* is an unfamiliar concept to some native English speakers.

Bill Gates: Everyone Needs a Coach

Here’s a question for you: In what world do “baraag,” “toot,” “toerroe,” “baaa,” “paoh-paoh,” and “u-u-u” all mean the same thing?

Can We Call Products “Meat” or “Milk” If They Don’t Come From An Animal?

There’s a funny scene in the 2002 romcom My Big Fat Greek Wedding in which the main character, Toula, introduces her fiancé to her aunt and explains that he’s a vegetarian. The aunt asks what that means, and when he replies that it means he doesn’t eat meat, she says in shock, “What do you mean you don’t eat no meat?”

9 women immortalized in the English language

Meet nine women whose names and creations live on in our words.

The Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, aka the Marquise de Pompadour
Before there was “Becky with the good hair,” there was Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, a French noblewoman better known as the Marquise de Pompadour—and mistress of French King Louis XV. She’s credited with originating the pompadour hairstyle all the way back in the 1700s! In those days before Bumpits, a pad (sometimes, horrifyingly, called a “rat”) was commonly used to create a pompadour with greater height. Pompadour wasn’t only a style icon—she also wielded significant influence over Louis XV.

Learn A Valuable Lesson From These Quotes

1. “You cannot open a book without learning something.”  -  Confucius

2. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” -  Mahatma Gandhi

3. “It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” -  Albert Einstein

4. “We learn from failure, not from success!”   -  Bram Stoker, Dracula

Burning the Clocks Festival, December, 21st

Burning the Clocks is winter solstice festival  that takes place each year in Brighton, UK.  Founded in 1993, the celebration centers round a procession of lanterns and costumes, made from  withies (willow canes) and white tissuepaper, lead by local bands with a carnival atmosphere.  The procession makes its way through Brighton city centre to the seafront where the festivities culminate in a lantern bonfire, accompanied by  fireworks. The costumes all include a clockface to represent the passing of time, although each year has a slight change of theme.

Same Sky, an arts initiative first organised the event to commemorate the CoOp's 150th Birthday. They explain: "Burning the Clocks is an antidote to the excesses of the commercial Christmas. People gather together to make paper and willow lanterns to carry through their city and burn on the beach as a token for the end of the year ... The lantern makers become part of the show as they invest the lanterns with their wishes, hopes, and fears and then pass them into the fire. Same Sky are masters at creating new urban rituals to replace those traditional festivals that were lost in the dash to be new and non superstitious." [http://www.burningtheclocks.co.uk Burning of the Clocks homepage]

The Shocking POWER of Waking Up Early

10 Habits of a Good Student

A good student has certain qualities that make him a success in the studies. From being punctual and eating a healthy diet to doing exercise and making friends, a good student has everything that give him an advantage over other students. If you want to be a successful student, here are some of the habits you need to emulate:

A mouse in the house

Jo talks about some uninvited guests that are making themselves feel at home

https://secure-hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/3/9/5/3959c4c69c67814b/mouse.mp3c_id=13397093&cs_id=13397093&expiration=1541926292&hwt=3e3babcb198de8b1b4802cc7f53ec5d9

The strange coinages of money words

Some money words were minted millennia ago. Others are more re-cent.

The Coining of “Money”

Money comes from a mint, but, etymologically, both words come from the same source: the Latin word monēta, meaning “mint.” That word derives from Monēta, an epithet of Juno, queen of the Roman gods.

Какой кофе пьют в разных странах мира

Миллионы людей по всему миру начинают свой день с чашки бодрящего кофе или кофейного напитка. И в каждой стране есть свои секреты его приготовления.

Остроумные цитаты Марка Твена

Творчество Марка Твена охватывает множество жанров — юмор, сатиру, философскую фантастику, публицистику и другие. На пике карьеры он был, вероятно, самой популярной фигурой в Америке. Уильям Фолкнер писал, что Марк Твен был «первым по-настоящему американским писателем, и все мы с тех пор — его наследники», а Эрнест Хемингуэй отмечал, что вся современная американская литература вышла из одной книги Марка Твена, которая называется «Приключения Гекльберри Финна».

Halloween Lexis

Wordymology is a series in which the editors at The Free Dictionary explore the origins of the names of things

You might know that the weird, wonderful word “Halloween” is an abbreviated form of “Allhallow(s) Even,” the eve of All Saints’ Day (also called “Allhallows”). But we’ve scared up even more Halloween word fun, so gather round while we treat you to the tricky etymologies of these essential Halloween words.

Words Of A High School Principal

A high-school principal may not be a very glamorous profession, but this woman recognized it as a chance to influence the young minds of the next generation and to maybe inspire change early on instead of trying to amend things after they’ve happened. Here’s her story:

Why Do We Say ‘to Boot’?

The kind of boot in the phrase "to boot," which essentially means "as an extra," has nothing to do with the boots you wear on your feet or the trunk of your car.

 Why Do We Say ‘to Boot’?