The month of July, unlike June, is named for a mortal, albeit one who devised and ruled an empire. Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, and historian who conquered Gaul (what is now part of Italy, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands), changed the structure of the Roman government into a dictatorship, was assassinated in legendary fashion, and most importantly for our purposes, helped make the calendar what it is today. …
Every year on June 14 in the United States, a holiday comes and goes (perhaps without you even noticing): Flag Day. The gist of the holiday is right there in the name. It’s a commemoration of the adoption of Betsy Ross’s American flag in 1777. It’s also a chance to flex your vexillology trivia facts and knowledge about US history. The first official Flag Day …
by Kimberly C. Ellis, Ph.D. The year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the Oklahoma race massacre known as the Tulsa Massacre, which resulted in the death of more than 300 Black Americans and the total destruction of 40 blocks of a Black residential neighborhood and business district called Greenwood and nicknamed Black Wall Street. And while news spread across the US about this tragedy at …
Do you know all the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner”? Many people have difficulty memorizing the lyrics of the first verse of the US anthem, which is commonly performed at sports events and other public gatherings. But did you know that there are three additional verses that we almost never hear? As if one verse weren’t hard enough to learn … Why is “The Star-Spangled …
Since its introduction in the early 20th century, the film industry’s contributions to the English language have been manifold. Some terms, along with the concepts they described, were fleeting. Take Smell-O-Vision, the movie-going experience in which plot-related scents were pumped into the theater during screenings; it made its first and last appearance in the same 1960s film, Scent of Mystery. (That’s probably a good thing.) With …
In the 1950s, a new spiritual and nature-focused religion started to gain steam. It was deemed wicca, and its followers called wiccans. For people on the outside looking in, there was the possibility for some confusion on what, exactly, wiccans practiced—including how it related to paganism. Which draws the question: are you pagan if you’re wicca? Someone who is wiccan follows “a nature-oriented religion having …
Chanukah, Hannukah, Hannukkah, and Channukah. Why is this Jewish holiday, also known as the Festival of Lights, spelled in so many ways? The right way to spell Hanukkah The answer comes down to transliteration. Unlike translation, transliteration is when you “change (letters, words, etc.) into corresponding characters of another alphabet or language.” In Hebrew, the language from which the Jewish festival’s name originates, the word for Hanukkah …
First, is it season’s greetings or seasons greetings? There’s nothing like sitting down to fill out the holiday cards and realizing you’re not quite sure what to do with your apostrophe. Do you wish your friends and family “season’s greetings”? Or, should it be “seasons’ greetings”? Maybe you can just bypass that pesky punctuation altogether? Hey, if you’re sloppy enough, the smudged ink might just …
“America the Beautiful” isn’t the United States’s national anthem (that honor goes to “The Star-Spangled Banner”), but it’s arguably just as well loved. The song promotes the idea of a bountiful country with spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountains majesty, and a fruited plain. But do you know which scenic lands inspired author Katharine Lee Bates to write the immediately popular lyrics? Or, …
Like clockwork, we hear the presidential oath of office every four years. Thirty-five words that basically give the incoming Chief Executive the keys to the proverbial car. And the nuclear launch codes. The National Museum of American History says that Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution “requires that before presidents can assume their duties they must take the oath of office.” Once the incoming …
