Neil J. Gostling Associate Professor in Evolution and Palaeobiology University of Southampton Hugh Gray was taking his usual post-church walk around Loch Ness in Scotland on a November Sunday in 1933. His amble was disrupted when he saw something bobbing above the water two or three feet from him. He
The word for today is… beholden (adjective): : being under obligation for a favor or gift : indebted Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : To behold something is to perceive or gaze upon it—therefore, to be beholden is to be seen or observed. Well, no. It’s true that behold and beholden share
The word for today is… inculcate (verb) : to teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Sometimes before a lesson sinks in, you’ve got to go over it in your mind for a long time. The same is true for when you want to make
The word for today is… quintessence (noun): 1: the fifth and highest element in ancient and medieval philosophy that permeates all nature and is the substance composing the celestial bodies 2: the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form 3: the most typical example or representative
Matthew Robert Anderson Concordia University Everyone knows the story of Scrooge, a man so miserly his name has become synonymous with penny-pinching meanness. Scrooge’s conversion from miser to benefactor has been told and retold since Charles Dickens first wrote A Christmas Carol in the fall and winter of 1843.
Sally O’Reilly The Open University Our fascination with ghostly tales around Christmas time goes back thousands of years and is rooted in ancient celebrations of the winter solstice. In the depths of winter, pagan traditions included a belief in a ghostly procession across the sky, known as the Wild
The word for today is… omnipotent (adjective, noun): adjective 1 often capitalized : almighty 2: having virtually unlimited authority or influence 3 obsolete : arrant noun 1: one who has unlimited power or authority : one who is omnipotent 2: capitalized : god Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The word omnipotent made its way into
Dimitris Xygalatas University of Connecticut The mere thought of holiday traditions brings smiles to most people’s faces and elicits feelings of sweet anticipation and nostalgia. We can almost smell those candles, taste those special meals, and hear those familiar songs in our minds. Ritual marks some of the most
Joe Perry Georgia State University In 1921, in a Munich beer hall, newly appointed Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler gave a Christmas speech to an excited crowd. According to undercover police observers, 4,000 supporters cheered when Hitler condemned “the cowardly Jews for breaking the world-liberator on the cross” and
Joan Fitzpatrick Loughborough University Charles Dickens popularised the traditional, English Christmas in 1843 in his novel A Christmas Carol, when Bob Cratchit and his family sit down on Christmas Day to eat a dinner of goose with mashed potatoes and apple sauce accompanied by sage and onion stuffing and followed
William Keylor Boston University The Christmas Truce is no stranger to popular entertainment – 2014 more than any other as its 100th anniversary is marked. The famous moment when British and German soldiers climbed out of the trenches in peace on Christmas Day 1914 has been replicated and ruminated upon in
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The word for today is… turkey (noun): 1: a large North American gallinaceous bird (Meleagris gallopavo) that is domesticated in most parts of the world 2: failure, flop 3: a stupid, foolish, or inept person Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Turkey, country in western Asia and southeastern Europe; from confusion with
Kate Burridge Howard Manns Monash University Kate Burridge is Professor of Linguistics at Monash University and Fellow of both the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. She completed her undergraduate training in Linguistics and German at the University of Western Australia. Howard Manns
The word for today is… mollycoddle (verb): : to treat with an excessive or absurd degree of indulgence and attention Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Coddling eggs is delicate business. You need to cook them slowly and gently, keeping the water just below boiling. Given how carefully you need to treat the
Mathew Otieno Mathew Otieno is a Kenyan writer, blogger and dilettante farmer. Until 2022, he was a research communications coordinator at a university in Nairobi, Kenya. He now lives in rural western Kenya, near the shores of Lake Victoria, from where he’s pursuing a career as a full-time writer
