Category: Uncategorized
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Of gods and dung: the origins of “ammonia”
Scientists know ammonia as: Ancient Egyptians also knew ammonia with their own, equally complex symbols: Well, in a manner of speaking. Or writing. The story of the word ammonia is one of modern science and ancient history – and of camel dung and supreme deities. Ammonia Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman coined ammonia in 1782 when he identified the substance as…
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The home of the “brave”
This presidential cycle, America seems more polarized than ever. But on the July Fourth holiday, we can all put aside our divisions and stand together in this home of the brave. As it turns out, the origin of the very word brave tells its own story of conflict – and in the end, perhaps a kind unity…
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“Tory”: How the conquest of Ireland named the UK Conservative Party
With Michael Gove throwing in his hat and Boris Johnson throwing in his towel, the post-Brexit scramble for Tory – or Conservative – leadership was thrown into confusion this week in the UK. This chaos is fitting, if we look to history of Tory, a word embroiled in many conflicts of its own. A Tory story …
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Gushing like a “geyser”: modern loan, old faithful
“An intermittent hot spring, throwing up water, etc. in a fountain-like column.” No, this isn’t a description of how a lot of Brits are feeling, still queasy from Brexit, after their team’s knockout loss to Iceland in the Euro football tournament last night. It’s the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of the word geyser, one of the few…
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“Leave”: a big, fat, sticky mess. Literally.
The result of the “Brexit” referendum is historic: Britain has voted to leave the European Union. The very word leave has made its own history, too: It originally meant “to remain.” Leave, or what “remains” Historically, we can consider leave a contronym: a word that means its opposite, like cleave, dust, and sanction. In the…
Mashed Radish 