To celebrate #WorldBartenderDay, why not watch one of our earliest videos, about the origins of cocktails and the first celebrity bartender, Jerry Thomas. http://youtu.be/q9N0MYtcpr4
Did you know today is #NationalCookASweetPotatoDay? Neither did we, but hey, any excuse for sweet potatoes is good enough for us! And while you’re cooking, why not learn some fascinating history about this particular root vegetable: https://youtu.be/KHf0tnV9LQ0
Happy #ValentinesDay! It’s time for us to ruin the mood, as we do every year, by posting our video about the word “Cuckold”, and how it connects to Valentine’s Day (via Chaucer) https://youtu.be/uk6gsB0Iijc
It’s #InternationalDarwinDay! Ever wondered about the history of the word for Darwin’s most influential idea? Our video on the etymology of Evolution goes into the linguistic, scientific, and cultural connections to Darwin’s theory. https://youtu.be/kOK6kB9ytIo
I just heard someone say "chocker block" instead of "chock-a-block." That's a new one to me.
A chock is a piece or block of wood, and "chock-a-block" is a nautical term "said of two blocks of tackle run so closely that they touch," according to Etymonline.
I came across another phrase with a fun origin this weekend: "over the transom."
A transom is cross-beam, such as the beam at the top of a door.
Here's the quotation from an editor at "Atlantic Monthly" that Etymonline has for the origin:
"Mr. Weeks once said that some very interesting material comes from writers who, too shy to walk in and talk to the editor, just toss their manuscripts over the transom and run."
It’s #BookLoversDay! If you love books, you might want to know more about where the book format came from – and we tell that story in our video about Evolution.
@scudery@LivBu rien à voir avec le fond, mais je connaissais vicarious et vicariously en anglais. Savais pas que le mot existait en français !#WordNerd
I think of "The Grammar Daily" as a great gift because it's like a tip-of-the day calendar you can keep, but seeing a teacher talk about the book made me realize it could be fun in the classroom too!
You could use the quizzes as bell ringers or photocopy the word search puzzles about words from Latin, words that are prepositions, and so on as mini-assignments.