The earliest documented reference to New York being referred to as “The Big Apple” comes from a 1909 book by Edward Martin, called The Wayfarer. In it, he uses the moniker in a metaphorical sense, rather than a proper name for the city:

“Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city… It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap…”

The next known documented instance of New York being called “The Big Apple” comes from sportswriter John J. Fitz Gerald who began popularizing the name starting on May 3, 1921, where he stated in a column:

“J. P. Smith, with Tippity Witchet and others of the L. T. Bauer string, is scheduled to start for ‘the big apple’ to-morrow after a most prosperous Spring campaign at Bowie and Havre de Grace.”

In this case, he was referencing the early 1920s practice of calling certain race courses in the New York City region this particular fruity name; the New York City races tended to payout significant prizes to the winner compared to races in many other regions, hence “big apple.”

According to linguist Dr. Gerald Cohen, this wasn’t out of the ordinary, even outside of horse racing. As he states,

“Apples were important throughout history, but the big red delicious apples developed in Iowa in the 1870s came to be regarded as extra special. That led to ‘the big apple’ being applied to things and people who were extra special, or perhaps only thought they were…”

As to applying this to New York City, it’s thought that Fitz Gerald didn’t come up with this on his own but rather heard it from people from New Orleans in 1920 when he traveled down to that city to supposedly sell one of his horses, with the common tale being that it came from a couple of stable hands.

Fitz Gerald explicitly mentions this three years later in his 1924 column “Around the Big Apple,” though it’s possible he just made the story up:

“The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There’s only one Big Apple. That’s New York. Two dusky stable hands were leading a pair of thoroughbred around the ‘cooling rings’ of adjoining stables at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and engaging in desultory conversation. ‘Where y’all goin’ from here?’ queried one. ‘From here we’re headin’ for The Big Apple,’ proudly replied the other. ‘Well, you’d better fatten up them skinners or all you’ll get from the apple will be the core,’ was the quick rejoinder.”

This nickname for New York City gradually caught on and began being used in a non-sporting sense, including a popular song/dance coming out in the 1930s called “The Big Apple,” as well as numerous references in other songs, particularly in jazz music.

However, this nickname for the city died off by the 1960s and few outside of the city would have understood the reference had you used it then. That all changed in the 1970s when Charles Gillett and the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau decided to revive the nickname in a tourism campaign. In this campaign, they began aggressively advertising New York City as a tourist hotspot and referred to it as “The Big Apple,” using bright, clean looking red apples in their advertisements to attempt to contrast the popular notion of the day that New York City was a dirty place where you were as likely to be mugged as not if you visited there.

source: Today I found out

Almost everybody’s first name means something. Adam means “man,” as do Charles, Karl, and even Charlotte. Deborah and Melissa both mean “honeybee.” Hilary means “hilarious.” William means “desire-helmet.”  Sometimes, however, through some quirk of etymology—and sometimes entirely by coincidence—first names like these find their way into the dictionary as words in their own right, and end up ultimately taking on whole new meanings in the language.

1. ABIGAIL

In the Old Testament, Abigail is described as “a woman of good understanding and beautiful countenance.” Her husband Nabal, on the other hand, is “churlish and evil,” and when he offends a group of King David’s men, Abigail tries to defuse the situation by offering her services as David’s personal handmaiden. After Nabal discovers what his wife has done, he promptly dies of a heart attack, leaving David free to marry Abigail and make her Queen of Israel. Leaving the Biblical soap opera aside, it’s Abigail’s selflessness and her willingness to offer herself into the king’s service that led to her name ending up in the dictionary as a byword for a female servant or handmaiden.

2. ANDREW

Derived from Greek, Andrew is another first name that simply means “man,” making it an etymological cousin of words like anthropology, androgeny, and philanthropy. In this literal sense, Andrew has been used since the early 18th century in English as another name for a manservant or assistant (the male equivalent of an Abigail), while a merry-andrew is an old 17th century name for a court jester or clown.

3. ANNA

Anna is an old Hindi word for a coin worth 1/16th of an Indian rupee that, during the British rule of India in the 19th century, dropped into colloquial English as a nickname for a small portion of something. Anna is also the name of a species of hummingbird native to the Pacific coast of North America, named for the wife of amateur naturalist François Massena, Duke of Rivoli (1799-1863), who discovered it in the early 19th century.

4. AVA

As well as being the name of a Polynesian liquor (in which case it’s pronounced “aah-va,” not “ay-va”), ava is also an old Scots word meaning “above all” or “in particular,” formed simply from the words “of all” running together over time. In this sense, it appears fairly regularly in 18th and 19th century Scottish literature, most notably in the works of the Scots poet Robert Burns.

5. EMMA

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, emma can be used “in telephone communications and in the oral transliteration of code” to represent the letter M. Originally used only in military contexts, after the First World War emma—along with a handful of others, like pip (P), ack (A), and toc (T)—slipped into occasional use in everyday English. So when P.G. Wodehouse wrote of “twelve pip emma” in A Pelican At Blandings (1969), he was referring to 12pm.

6. ERIC

An eric is a “blood-fine,” namely compensation paid by an attacker or murderer to his victim or victim’s family. Derived from an old Irish word, eiric, this tradition of quite literally paying for your crimes dates back into ancient history in its native Ireland but wasn’t encountered in English until the 16th century, when the English playwright Edmund Spenser explained in his Two Histories of Ireland (1599) that, “in the case of murder, the judge would compound between the murderer and the friends of the party murdered … that the malefactor shall give unto them, or to the child or wife of him that is slain, a recompense, which they call an erick.”

7. GEORGE

A George can be a loaf of bread, a one-year prison sentence, a kind of wig, an earthenware jug or bowl, an aircraft’s autopilot system, and an expression of surprise. It can also be any one of a number of coins and currencies, including a dollar bill or a quarter, both of which depict George Washington; an old English guinea, issued during the reigns of George I, George II, and George III; and a Tudor coin or “noble,” worth around 80 pence, which bore an image of St. George.

8. HARRY

As a verb, harry means to pester or attack, but it can also be used to mean to lay waste to something, to drag or pull something around roughly, and even to steal eggs from a bird’s nest. In the 18th century, it was also a nickname for a country bumpkin or “a rude boor” according to one Victorian dictionary, while in the Middle Ages it was used as a rider’s call to spur a horse forward.

9. HELENA

In Greek mythology, Helen (or Helena in Latin) was the sister of Castor and Pollux, the twin brothers who inspired the constellation Gemini and gave their names to its two brightest stars. Among sailors in Tudor England, the twins’ names came to be used of dual shooting stars or mysterious flashes of light seen at sea, while a single light or “corposant”—a glowing electrical haze seen around the mast of a ship during a thunderstorm—was nicknamed a Helena.

10. HENRY

The henry is the SI unit of electrical inductance. If you’re a physicist you’ll need to know that one henry is equal to the inductance of a circuit in which an electromotive force of one volt is produced by a current changing at the rate of one ampere per second. If you’re not a physicist, all you need to know that it was named in honor of the American scientist Joseph Henry (1797-1878).

11. ISABELLA

Also called isabelline, Isabella is the name of a greyish shade of pale yellow often used to describe the color of sandy-haired horses, or else encountered in the names of creatures like the Isabelline shrike and the Isabella tiger moth. How it came to earn its name is debatable, but one popular anecdote claims that it comes from Isabella of Austria, a 17th century archduchess whose father, Philip II of Spain, besieged the Belgian city of Ostend in 1601. According to the tale, Isabella was so confident of her father’s military prowess that she jokingly announced that she intended not to change her clothes until the siege was ended. Unfortunately for her, it went on to last another three years, and ultimately her name came to be associated with the yellowish, slightly off-white color of dirty underwear. Sadly, this tale has since been proven entirely untrue as the Oxford English Dictionary have now traced the earliest record of Isabella to one year before the siege even took place, when a “rounde gowne of Isabella-colour satten set with silver spangles” was listed in an inventory of the contents of Queen Elizabeth I’s wardrobe in 1600.

12. JACOB

The Biblical tale of Jacob’s ladder—a vast staircase to Heaven, dreamt of by Jacob in the Book of Genesis (28:10-19)—led to criminals who used ladders to break into houses being nicknamed jacobs in 19th century slang.

13. JAMES

Gim or jimp is an old Tudor word variously used to mean “smart,” “elegant,” or “befitting.” In the 18th century, gim became gimmy or jemmy, which was used to describe anything particularly dextrous or well-designed for its purpose. Based on this, in the early 19th century, criminals began nicknaming their housebreaking tools jemmies, and because “Jemmy” is an old pet form of James, james came to be used as another name for a crowbar in Victorian English. (It’s also an old name for a boiled sheep’s head served as a meal, but where that association came from is anyone’s guess.)

14. JESSE

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah predicts that “there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him” (11:1-2). His words are usually interpreted as prophesizing that one of Jesse’s descendants will one day become a divinely ordained ruler, and true enough the New Testament Gospel of Matthew lists Jesse as the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of Jesus. Based on Isaiah’s prophecy, in the Middle Ages, the name Jesse became another word for a family tree or a genealogical diagram, while his line that “there shall come forth a rod out of Jesse” apparently inspired the Victorian schoolyard phrase to catch Jesse or to give someone Jesse, which meant to be caned.

15. JOHN

Of all first names to have found their way into the dictionary, John is probably the most fruitful. It can refer to a policeman, a butler or a manservant, a priest, an Englishman, a toilet, a signature, a plant, an unknown or otherwise unnamed person, a cuckold or hen-pecked husband, and even the client of a prostitute. The vast majority of all these meanings are probably derived from nothing more than the fact that John is such a common name, but its use as another name for a policeman is based on an English corruption of the French gendarme, while as a signature it’s famously derived from John Hancock, the Governor of Massachusetts whose elaborately written name dwarfs all of the others on the Declaration of Independence.

16. LUKE

Luke is a 13th century word essentially meaning “moderately” or “half-heartedly.” So as well as being lukewarm, you can be luke-hot and luke-hearted. Lukeness is an old 15th century word for indifference or apathy.

17. MATILDA

The Australian folksong Waltzing Matilda tells the story of an itinerant “swagman” (traveller) who sets up camp “by a billabong,” “under the shade of a coolabah tree.” There he steals and kills a “jumbuck” (sheep), before drowning himself when the “squatter” (sheep-farmer) and three “troopers” (policemen) confront him. It ends with the famous line, “and his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong: ‘Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?’” The song is renowned for its use of traditional Australian vocabulary, including the two words in its title: Here waltzing doesn’t mean dancing, but rather wandering or journeying, and Matilda isn’t the name of the swagman’s sweetheart, but his backpack.

18. MOLLY

A molly can be a fruit-picker’s basket, an Irishwoman, a prostitute or working class woman, a weak or effeminate man (the molly in mollycoddle, incidentally), and, in 18th century slang at least, a man who “concerns himself with women’s affairs.” It’s also a nickname for the northern fulmar, a seabird of the Arctic, Atlantic, and North Pacific Oceans, in which case it probably derives from an old Dutch word, mallemok, meaning “foolish gull.”

19. REBECCA

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the girl’s name Rebecca can be used as a verb to mean “to demolish a gate.” In this sense it derives from the Rebecca Riots, a series of demonstrations in southwest Wales in the early 1840s in which groups of so-called “Rebecca gangs” attacked and demolished a series of tollgates in protest at the high charges being imposed. The gangs took their name from the Old Testament’s Rebecca, who is blessed with the words “let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” in the Book of Genesis (24:60).

20. ROBERT

Robert is an old English nickname for the European robin or “robin redbreast,” probably derived from a corruption of the Dutch nickname rode-baard, meaning “red-beard.” It’s also an early 20th century nickname for a restaurant waiter, in which case it comes from a series of comic tales published in Punch magazine in the late 1800s written by the Victorian writer J.T. Bedford (1812-1900) under the pseudonym “Robert, A City Waiter.”

21. SAM

No one quite knows why, but in 19th century American slang, to stand Sam meant to settle a bill, or to pay for someone else’s food or drink. As a verb, sam is also an old English dialect word meaning to clot or thicken, or to come together as a group.

22. SARAH

Sarah is 1950s military slang for a portable radio used by pilots who have been forced to crash-land to transmit their position to rescue ships and other aircraft. It’s an acronym of “search and rescue and homing.”

23. STEVEN

Steven is an old English dialect word for your voice, ultimately derived from the Old English word for a command or order, stefn. It can also be used to mean a great outcry or raucous argument, while to do something in one steven means to do it in absolute agreement with everyone else.

24. TOBY

For some unknown reason, toby is an old 17th century slang name for the buttocks. It’s also the name of a type of pottery jug bearing a grotesque caricature, a cheap cigar, a machine used to print designs on textiles, and a type of pleated collar popular in the 19th century. Among Victorian criminals toby was also a slang name for a road—highway robbery was nicknamed the toby concern, while to ply the toby meant to rob coaches or travellers on horseback.

25. TONY

Tony was a reddish-brown color popular amongst fashion designers and dressmakers in the 1920s and ’30s. Before that, in the late 19th century it was used an adjective to mean “stylish” or “smart,” presumably in the sense of something striking a good “tone.”

26. VICTORIA

Victoria is the Latin word for victory, which in the Middle Ages was “employed as a shout of triumph,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The name has since also been applied to a golden sovereign minted in the 19th century, a species of domestic pigeon, a type of water lily, a woollen fabric, a type of plum, and a two-seater horse-drawn carriage with a collapsible roof, all of which are named in honor of Queen Victoria.

Can you match the names with their definition? Think of the most common meaning of the words.

Key:

1. f.

2. j.

3. h.

4. b.

5. l.

6. a.

7. c.

8. m.

9. d.

10. g.

11. i.

12. e.

13. k.

14. s.

15. z.

16. n.

17. t.

18. u.

19. q.

20. r.

21. y.

22. x.

23. o.

24. v.

25. p.

26. w.

Why do hurricanes need names?

Names have been given to storms (or tropical cyclones) for at least the last 100 years. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), it is easier for people to remember names than numbers and technical terms.

When reported by the media, this in turn makes it easier to generate interest in major storms and therefore increase how prepared people are for a major storm to hit.

How are hurricane names chosen?

In the beginning, storms were given arbitrary names. An Atlantic storm that ripped the mast off a boat named Antje became known as Antje’s hurricane. Then, in the mid-1900s, people started using female names for storms.

Then, meteorologists decided to introduce a more organised and efficient system, taking names instead from a list arranged alphabetically.

The first storm to occur in a year would be assigned a name beginning with A, and so on. Before the end of the 1900s, forecasters used male names for storms forming in the southern hemisphere.

Since 1953, storms in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic have been named from lists drawn up by the National Hurricane Center. They are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the WMO.

The original list featured only women’s names and in 1979, men’s names were introduced – and now they alternate each year. Six lists are used in rotation, so the list for 2016 will be used again in 2022.

Does this ever change?

Yes – when a storm is deemed to be particularly deadly or costly, its name is removed from the list for reasons of sensitivity. Another name is chosen to replace it at an annual meeting of the WMO Tropical Cyclone Committees. Several names have been retired since the lists were created.

Infamous storm names such as Haiyan (Philippines, 2013), Sandy (USA, 2012), Katrina (USA, 2005), Mitch (Honduras, 1998) and Tracy (Darwin, 1974) are examples of this.

If a storm forms in the off-season, it will take the next name in the list based on the current calendar date. For example, if a tropical cyclone formed on December 28th, it would take the name from the previous season’s list of names. If a storm formed in February, it would be named from the subsequent season’s list of names.

In the event that more than twenty-one named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet.

Are there storm names in the UK?

In September last year, the Met Office invited members of the public to submit names for storms for autumn/winter 2015/16 by social media.

The idea behind the pilot project was to help raise awareness of severe weather before it strikes and to ensure greater safety of the public.

Storms are given names when they are deemed to have the potential to cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ wind impacts on the UK and/or Ireland, according to the Met Office.

As with the US system, the new naming system in Britain runs through the alphabet with alternate male and female names.

There are no storms that begin with the less common letters Q, U, X, Y or Z. The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is particularly deadly or costly.

If a storm is the remnants of a tropical storm or hurricane that has moved across the Atlantic, the already established method of referring to it as, for example “Ex-hurricane X”, will continue.

The names for 2015/16 in full were: Abigail, Barney, Clodagh, Desmond, Eva, Frank, Gertrude, Henry, Imogen, Jake, Katie, Lawrence, Mary, Nigel, Orla, Phil, Rhonda, Steve, Tegan, Vernon, Wendy.

Storm Abigail, which arrived in November 2015, brought winds of up to 90mph and heavy winds to the UK, with parts of northern Scotland hit the hardest.

Over the course of the 2015/16 season 11 storms were named, the last being Storm Katie which hit at the end of March.

For 2016/17, a new list has been compiled using suggestions submitted through social media last year.

This year’s list will begin again at ‘A’ and alternate male/female, starting with a male name.

UK storm names for 2016/2017

Angus, Barbara, Conor, Doris, Ewan, Fleur, Gabriel, Holly, Ivor, Jacqui, Kamil, Louise

source: The Telegraph

Other weather words. Can you match the word with its Hungarian translation?

Key:

1. c.

2. e.

3. a.

4. b.

5. d.

And before you could say Jack Robinson, she was gone and never came back! – Egy szempillantás alatt kámforrá változott, és soha nem is jött vissza.

2. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. –  A person who has a competent grasp of many skills but who is not outstanding in any one. – sok mindenhez ért, de semminek sem a mestere.

You are a jack-of-all trades, but master of none. Maybe you’d better stop doing so many things. – Sok mindenhez értesz, de mindenhez csak felületesen. Lehet, hogy jobb lenne, ha kevesebb dologgal foglalkoznál.

3. jack-of-all trades – a person who has many skills and can do many different jobs – ezermester

It’s so good to have a jack-of-all-trades in the family. We don’t need to pay for repair work. – Jó, hogy van egy ezermester a családban. Így nem kell fizetnünk, ha valamit meg kell javítani.

4. The Union Jack – the flag of the United Kingdom – az Egyesült Királyság zászlójának a neve

The Union Jack combines three heraldic crosses. – Az Egyesült Királyság zászlaja három címer keresztjének a kombinációja.

5. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. – It means that without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring. – Ha valaki folyton csak dolgozik, és nem fordít időt szórakozásra, akkor unalmas ember lesz belőle.

All work and no play is not the best way to live one’s life. – Nem a legjobb módja az életnek, ha csak dolgozunk, és egyáltalán nem szórakozunk.

6. jack-in-the-box – a toy consisting of a box containing a figure on a spring which pops up when the lid is opened – gyerekjáték, egy rugós figura egy dobozban, ami előugrik, ha kinyílik a doboz teteje

In my childhood my favourite toy was a jack-in-a-box. – Gyerekkoromban a kedvenc játékom egy rugós paprikajancsi volt.  

7. Jack Tar or jack-tar – a sailor – tengerész

The life of a jack-tar is a free and interesting life.

8. Every Jack has his Jill. – mindenki számára létezik egy partner, „zsák a foltját megtalálja”

– Nowadays it’s so difficult to find a girlfriend. I would like to get married. – Manapság annyira nehéz barátnőt találni. Szeretnék megnősülni.

– Just be patient, as my grandma used to say: every Jack has his Jill. – Csak türelem, ahogy a nagymamám szokta mondani, mindenkire vár ott kinn valaki.

9. Jack the Ripper – a legendary killer – Hasfelmetsző Jack

When I have bad dreams I always dream of Jack the Ripper. – Ha rosszat álmodom, mindig Hasfelmetsző Jack az álmaim tárgya

10. jack-o-lantern — hollowed out pumpkin  for Halloween – Halloweenre kivájt tökből készített lámpás

This year the whole town was full of jack-o-lanterns and they were all very frightening. – Ebben az évben az egész város tele volt töklámpásokkal, és mind nagyon ijesztő volt. 

Man called ‘Something Long And Complicated’ mistakenly blocked from Facebook

A man was blocked from Facebook because the social networking website believed his unusual name was fake, he has claimed. The man, who legally changed his name to ‘Something Long And Complicated’ in 2007, said his account was suspended four days ago despite him sending documentation to prove his moniker was real. Facebook has since reinstated his profile after confirming it was removed by mistake. The organisation apologised for any inconvenience caused.

While the account was blocked, the 30-year-old, formerly called William Wood, said he was “frustrated” with the situation, adding that Facebook was “ruining” his life. He told Mirror Online he did not have access to his wedding photos, or pictures of birthdays and holidays.

He said: “I’m really frustrated and annoyed at this situation. I just want my photos back. I have all my life on there. I use Messenger so [I] cannot keep in contact with my friends because all their contact details are stored on there,” he said. “I have had the account for eight years and they have shut it down before but this time they are not reactivating it. I don’t even think I know how much Facebook is ruining my life.”

Facebook has an authentic name policy in place to make its users accountable for what they say.

source: Independent

This changes everything.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.” -Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

How much does an individual’s name actually shape who they are as a person? There is evidence that names are linked to behaviour and personality, but that might not be as far as it goes.

There is a growing body of research that suggests that we become bias towards the letters in our name, which comes about in a number of different ways. This bias likely influences who we choose for friendships and romantic partners, as well as what we purchase and even how much money we spend on certain items.

Do letters really have that much power?

Evidently, yes. There’s nothing more personal than a name, and it makes sense that we’re a bit egotistical when it comes to the letters and sounds that make them up.

There is research to show that people choose where to live based on the similarities to their own name. For instance, St. Louis contains a lot more people actually named Louis than you might expect. The same study also found that it could sway individuals toward certain careers, as they found a higher-than-anticipated number of people named Dennis opting to become dentists.

There are also striking, everyday choices made because of this bias as well.

We might be attracted to those whose names contain similar sounds to our own.

There is even some research to suggest that our friends and even the people we date are more attractive to us because they share our initials or have similar sounds in their names. This doesn’t just go for first names; last initials can cause the same effect.

If you’ve ever heard a woman joke that her initials won’t change after she gets married, then you’ve seen this phenomenon in effect. Of course it’s not the only reason they’re getting married, but it may have helped!

This is also why you somehow care when people share your birthday. It’s all about that solidarity.

Additionally, this bias also applies to the amount we feel comfortable spending.

In much the same way that bias toward our name sounds influence what we purchase, it also extends to the amount we are willing to spend. Numbers that echo the same sound are more pleasing, and we therefore feel more comfortable with spending that amount, even if it is not the cheapest option.

It might sound crazy, but a 2014 published in the Journal of Marketing found that by and large, it’s true. Someone whose name begins with an F, for instance, generally feels more comfortable spending $44 on an item than $33, because it’s more comfortable. This has obvious implications for retailers, who can price things based on popular names in certain demographics. Again, birthdays into play with this phenomenon as well.

1. Hi, I’m John Green. Welcome to my salon, this is mental_floss on YouTube. And this is my glabella – the area between my eyebrows. And that is just the first of many things that you may not have known had names, until today.

2. Do you love the smell of rain? That clean greenish aroma when rain drops hit dry ground? That’s petrichor from the Greek “Petra” meaning stone and “ichor” meaning the blood of the gods and goddesses. The term was coined by two Australian researchers in 1964 and really became a word in 2011 when it popped up in a Doctor Who episode.

3. When I get that itching and tingling sensation, that means my foot’s asleep – paresthesia.

4. Dysania means having difficulty getting out of bed in the morning but in my house, we call that Monday and also other days.

5. Doctors are notorious for “griffonage” or illegible handwriting.

6. The area between your shoulder blades that you can never scratch is called the acnestis.

7. Palindromes are words or phrases that read the same way forward or backward. Like “Mom” or “Taco Cat” or the sentence “Marge lets Norah see Sharons telegram.”

8. But a Semordnilap reads one way forward, “stressed” and another way backward, “desserts.” Other examples include diaper, parts and of course, semordnilap itself.

9. Aphthongs are silent letters in words like “knight” or “fight” or “Django.” This might be something that you already “knew.” By the way, never forget 6 miles of canoeing, one micromort.

10. If your house has a neatly manicured front lawn and an overgrown mess in the back, you’ve got yourself a “lawn mullet.” That’s not really a word, but we’re into it.

11. Your “Googleganger” is the person with your name who shows up in Google search results when you Google yourself. Like, for me, there is a John Green who’s known as one of the “Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery.” Then there’s John Green the realtor who has JohnGreen.com – my mortal enemy – and of course John Green with the mustache.

12. Fans of the television program Phineas and Ferb—which is to say humans—all know that those plastic or metal things at the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

13. But you might not know that the metal thing that holds your eraser to the end of your pencil is called a “ferrule” – not the wild cat kind, obviously.

14. When you’re playing chess and every possible move is to your disadvantage, the situation is called a zugzwang. Which by the way, sometimes also happens when you’re playing Connect Four. Zombie Fairy is in a bit of a zugzwang right now because if she goes over here, she’s going to get attacked by Troll Face, over here by a pirate and up here, a bunch of dogs.

15. Scroop is the rustling swooshy sound that ballgowns make. More generally, its the sound produced by the movement of silk.

16. That thing you use to dot a lower case i is called a tittle.

17. The plastic table-like item found in the middle of a pizza box is called a box tent and was patented in 1983. Pro Tip: Many people in the biz now call it a pizza saver. How do I know so much about pizza? You gotta have a forte in this world.

18. Kummerspeck is a German word that refers to excess weight gained from emotional over-eating. Its literal translation? Grief bacon. That’s another 25 cents towards the staff pork chop party.

19. If you’re packing on the Kummerspeck, you might be feeling crapulous. Though it sounds like a word invented by a middle-schooler in the 1990’s, crapulous dates back to the 1530’s when it was used to describe that gross nauseated feeling that you get from eating or drinking too much.

20. The small triangular bump on the inside corner of each eye is called the caruncula.

21. The depressed area of skin under your nose and above your upper lip is called the philtrum

22. And niddick is the technical term for the nape of your neck.

23. Obsessive nose picking is called rhinotillexomania.

24. Peladophobia is the fear of bald people. It is most frequently suffered by balding people. Don’t worry James Madison, you die before you go bald.

25. Pentheraphobia is the fear of your mother-in-law which I don’t have. I would tell you if I did. I don’t. I promise, I don’t. No, what are you talking about, I do not. No. No. She’s awesome. She really is awesome actually.

26. Arachibutyrophobia is a real mouthful of a word that means the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.

27. Scandiknavery means deceit or trickery by Scandinavians. Like so many 20th century words, we have James Joyce to thank for that one. And of course, the deceitful Scandinavians.

28. The indent on the bottom of wine bottle is called a punt.

29. An agraffe is the wire cage that keeps the cork in a bottle of champagne.

30. Barm is the foam on a beer.

31. Encounter too many punts, agraffes, and barns in one night and you’ll have the Zings or a peppy name for a hangover.

32. Some people have started calling the cardboard sleeve that comes wrapped around your coffee a zarf. I’m now going to be one of those people.

33. The string of typographical symbols that comic strips use to indicate profanity is called a grawlix. *#%* yeah it is! What are you going to do about that Mark? Oh, just bleep it?

34. Aword that can be its own antonym is called a contronym. For example, cleave can mean to sever or to cling. What’s that? You need four more examples? I will provide some. Off means deactivated, as in to turn off, but it also means activated as is in the alarm went off. Weather can mean to withstand or come safely through or it can mean to be worn away. If you seed your lawn, you add seeds but if you seed a tomato, you remove them. And left can mean either remaining or departed.

35. When you’re outside on a cold day and you can feel the warmth of the sun, you’re experiencing a moment of apricity.

36. Acompulsive book thief or hoarder is a biblioklept.

37. Thomas Edison had five dots, like the ones you see on dice, tattooed on his left forearm. This pattern is properly, although almost never, referred to as a quincunx. It is now gang affiliated making Tommy Edison an OG (original gangster).

38. You probably already know the meaning of schadenfreude but another super-specific German word ‘vorfreude’ describes a kinder, less terrible feeling. The joy you feel when thinking about good things that will happen.

39. Aperson known by one name like Adele or Moby or Voltaire or Madonna, is mononymous. By the way, just for the record, Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, Richard Melville Hall, Francois-Marie Arouet and Madonna, it’s just Madonna.

40. And let’s run out the clock today with some old-timey collective nouns from James Lipton’s wonderful book An Exaltation of Larks. A group of ponies is called a string.

41. An assembly of ferrets is a business, and it is very serious business indeed.

42. Agroup of jellyfish is a smack.

43. Its a gam of whales.

44. Murder of crows.

45. Unkindness of ravens.

46. Three or more goats and you’ve got yourself a trip. Three or more goats yelling like humans and you’ve got yourself a short-lived internet meme.

47. Many owls form a parliament.

48. And you might think that a group of donkeys is an ass-load but you’d be wrong. It’s a pass of

asses.

Can you give the definition of the words?

Key:

Can you fill in the gaps in the sentences?

1. Agroup of ponies is called a …….

2. An assembly of ferrets is a ………

3. Agroup of jellyfish is a …….

4. a…. of whales.

5. …….. of crows

6.  ………….. of ravens

7. a…….. of goats

8. Many owls form a ………..

9. a…… of asses

Key:

1. string

2. business

3. smack

4. gam

5. murder

6. unkindness

7. trip

8. parliament

9. pass

The Social Security Administration has just released its annual list of top 10 popular names for 2014.

When it comes to baby names, the Social Security Administration is probably not on the list of sources for expectant parents. However, considering the organization has data on registered newborns in the US, it can be a pretty good resource. The agency has just released its annual list of top 10 popular names for 2014.

Noah ranks first for boys followed by Liam, Mason, Jacob, William, Ethan, Michael, Alexander, James, and Daniel.

Among girls, Emma tops the list and then Olivia, Sophia, Isabella, Ava, Mia, Emily, Abigail, Madison, and Charlotte.

Charlotte is a new entrant in the top 10 list for 2014 and is likely to get another boost this year with all the media coverage of Princess Charlotte.

The Social Security Administration’s website displays data from past years as well. For instance, in 1915, the five most popular names for girls were Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret, and Ruth in that order. John ranked 1st for boys in that year followed by William, James, Robert, and Joseph.

When choosing a name for some people it is important what the name means. Can you match the name and the meaning?

Key: 

1. c.

2. e.

3. a.

4. b.

5. d.

6. i.

7. f.

8. g.

9. h.

10. k.

11. j.

12. o.

13. l.

14. m.

15. n.

16. q.

17. r.

18. p.