Word of the Week - 6-30-2008

Word of the Week
STERNUTATION
Pronunciation: \ˌstuhr-nyuh-ˈtay-shuhn\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English sternutacion, from Latin sternutation-, sternutatio, from sternutare to sneeze, frequentative of sternuere to sneeze; akin to Greek ptarnysthai to sneeze
Date: 15th century
: the act, fact, or noise of sneezing


Interesting Fact
Although the word sherbet has been in the English language for several centuries (it was first recorded in 1603), it has not always referred to what one normally thinks of as sherbet. Sherbet came into English from Ottoman Turkish sherbet or Persian sharbat, both going back to Arabic šarba, “drink.” The Turkish and Persian words referred to a beverage of sweetened, diluted fruit juice that was popular in the Middle East and imitated in Europe. In Europe sherbet eventually came to refer to a carbonated drink. Because the original Middle Eastern drink contained fruit and was often cooled with snow, sherbet was applied to a frozen dessert (first recorded in 1891). It is distinguished slightly from sorbet, which can also mean “a fruit-flavored ice served between courses of a meal.” Sorbet (first recorded in English in 1585) goes back through French (sorbet) and then Italian (sorbetto) to the same Turkish sherbet that gave us sherbet.

Trivial Pursuit
Ready to test your TV acumen?
Here are the questions – 1 point for each correct answer
The category this week is comedy:
Fill in the missing words to these classic Ugly Betty sound bites:
Did you just gesture at me when you said ______________ ?
If this is what it takes to help my father, I will ride that _________ all the way to Mexico.
So this is where the __________ happens.
I’m this close to splitting a ____________ with Sarah Jessica Parker and talking about shoes.
It looks like a _____________ version of ‘Star Trek’.

How much was Earl’s winning lottery ticket worth on My Name is Earl?
$100,000
$1 million
$5 million
$10 million

What is the name of the hospital where J.D. works on Scrubs?

Which of the following is not a character who has appeared on The Simpsons?
Sideshow Raheem
Rainier Wolfcastle
Gazoo
Nick Riviera
The Capital City Goofball

What is the cure for every ailment in Chris’ house on Everybody Hates Chris?
Robitussin
Chicken Noodle Soup
Fresh Air
Grandma’s Special Concoction

Kevin from The Office’s Police tribute band is called…?
King of Penn(sylvania)
Scrantonicity
Pennyatta Mondatta
Roxanne Roll

What is the name of Kelsey Grammer’s news anchor on Back to You?
Chuck Champion
Chuck Wagon
Chuck Darling
Chuck Rockwood

Match the Desperate Housewives character with the thing that brought about his/her death
Nora Huntington
Victor Lang
Martha Huber
George Williams
Juanita Solis

1. Stairs
2. Strangulation
3. Fence
4. Sleeping pills
5. Gun

Here are last week’s answers:
The category this week is drama:
On “Lost”, what is the airline and flight number of the plane that crashed, marooning Dr. Jack Shepard and Co. on a mysterious island? Oceanic Flight 815
Are the following CTU employees on ‘24’ dead or alive?
Bill Buchanan - alive
Edgar Stiles - dead
Milo Pressman - dead
Chloe O’Brian - alive
George Mason - dead
Chase Edmunds - alive
Curtis Manning - dead
Nadia Yassir - alive
Morris O’Brian - alive
Lynn McGill - dead
Which DC comics superhero has yet to appear on ‘Smallville’? e.
Green Arrow
Cyborg
Impulse
Black Canary
Green Lantern
Aquaman
Which of the following is a derogatory term often used to refer to Cylons on ‘Battlestar Galactica’? b.
Hard Drive
Toaster
Lead Foot
Bucket
Before being dubbed McSteamy, what nickname was almost given the Dr. Sloan on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’? c.
McLeary
McSweaty
McYummy
McNugget
What was Catherine Willows’ pre-CSI job? Exotic dancer
The Closer’s Brenda Johnson is addicted to…? D.
Coffee
Cosmetics
Shoes
Junk Food
Cigarettes
On Heroes, what is the name of the front organization The Company uses to monitor, hunt, and even exploit people with special abilities? Primatech Paper Company
Place the Brothers and Sisters siblings in proper birth order (from oldest to youngest) c, a, d, e, b
Kitty
Justin
Sarah
Tommy
Kevin
Match the famous House guest star to his/her ailment:
L.L. Cool J - 3
Cynthia Nixon - 4
Dave Matthews - 1
Mira Sorvino - 2

1. A piano whiz who begins suffering inexplicable seizures
2. A psychiatrist at the South Pole who performs surgery on him/herself
3. A death row inmate who hallucinates
4. A patient who the team believes is faking his/her symptoms

Word of the Week - 6-23-2008

Word of the Week
CHAMPAIGN
Pronunciation: \sham-ˈpān\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English champaine, from Anglo-French champaigne, from Late Latin campania
Date: 15th century
1: an expanse of level open country : plain
2archaic : battlefield


Interesting Fact
In 1905, the Popsicle was invented by an eleven-year-old Frank Epperson. Frank Epperson was only 11 years old when he invented the originally named Epsicle. He had left his fruit flavored soda outside on the porch with a stir stick in it. The drink froze to the stick and tasted good. It took 18 more years in 1923 for Epperson to apply for a patent for a "frozen ice on a stick" called the Epsicle ice pop, which his children re-named the Popsicle.

In 1925, Frank Epperson sold his famous Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company of New York. Good Humor now owns the rights to the Popsicle.
Twin Popsicles (two popsicles sticks together) were invented during the Great Depression.
Popsicle sticks were first made from Birch wood.

Trivial Pursuit
Ready to test your TV acumen?
Here are the questions – 1 point for each correct answer
The category this week is drama:
On “Lost”, what is the airline and flight number of the plane that crashed, marooning Dr. Jack Shepard and Co. on a mysterious island?
Are the following CTU employees on ‘24’ dead or alive?
Bill Buchanan
Edgar Stiles
Milo Pressman
Chloe O’Brian
George Mason
Chase Edmunds
Curtis Manning
Nadia Yassir
Morris O’Brian
Lynn McGill
Which DC comics superhero has yet to appear on ‘Smallville’?
Green Arrow
Cyborg
Impulse
Black Canary
Green Lantern
Aquaman
Which of the following is a derogatory term often used to refer to Cylons on ‘Battlestar Galactica’?
Hard Drive
Toaster
Lead Foot
Bucket
Before being dubbed McSteamy, what nickname was almost given the Dr. Sloan on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’?
McLeary
McSweaty
McYummy
McNugget
What was Catherine Willows’ pre-CSI job?
The Closer’s Brenda Johnson is addicted to…?
Coffee
Cosmetics
Shoes
Junk Food
Cigarettes
On Heroes, what is the name of the front organization The Company uses to monitor, hunt, and even exploit people with special abilities?
Place the Brothers and Sisters siblings in proper birth order (from oldest to youngest)
Kitty
Justin
Sarah
Tommy
Kevin
Match the famous House guest star to his/her ailment:
L.L. Cool J
Cynthia Nixon
Dave Matthews
Mira Sorvino

1. A piano whiz who begins suffering inexplicable seizures
2. A psychiatrist at the South Pole who performs surgery on him/herself
3. A death row inmate who hallucinates
4. A patient who the team believes is faking his/her symptoms



Here are last week’s answers:
Global View (Geography):
What city-state’s residents speak a language called Singlish, a mix of English, Malay and Hokkien? Singapore

Entertainment:
What Latino hip-hoppers were well-known for going “insane in the membrane”? Cyprus Hill

News:
What rental company got free publicity in 2000 from endless TV news shots of its van lugging ballots from Miami to Tallahassee? Ryder

Written Word:
What seldom-seen author appears as a character in W.P. Kinsella’s novel, Shoeless Joe? J.D. Salinger

Life & Science: What type of vegetable is the Sharpshooter, the result of crossbreeding prolific El Toro with rot-resistant Montello and mildew-proof Alpha? Lettuce

Games & Sports:
What once-mighty NBA team opened three straight seasons with a 1-12 record, starting in 1999? Chicago Bulls

Word of the Week - 6-16-2008

Word of the Week
BLASÉ
Pronunciation: \blah-ˈzay\
Function: adjective
Etymology: French
Date: 1819
1 : apathetic to pleasure or excitement as a result of excessive indulgence or enjoyment : world-weary
2 : sophisticated, worldly-wise
3 : unconcerned


Interesting Fact
Caterpillars actually turn to soup before becoming moths and butterflies.
When the caterpillar has eaten enough it turns into a pupa, more about this later on because it is different for different groups of Lepidoptera. To do this it stops eating and finds somewhere safe, here it becomes very still (pupa never eat and seldom move at all) it then molts its skin the same as it does when it is growing only instead of another larval skin it secretes a pupal skin, (inside its old larval skin) that is much thicker and stronger. Generally this pupa then breaks out of the old larval skin, though in many moths the pupa remains inside the old larval skin, you can often find the remains of the caterpillar skin around the tail of a Butterfly pupa. All that is fairly straight forward, where it gets tricky is how the caterpillar inside its new pupal case changes itself into a Butterfly or Moth.
The first thing that happens is that a lot of the caterpillar’s old body dies. It is attacked by the same sort of juices the caterpillar used in its earlier life to digest its food. It would not be far wrong to say the caterpillar digests itself from the inside out. This process is called 'histolysis'. Not all the tissue is destroyed however, some of the insects old tissue passes on to its new self, and is not very much. There is one other sort of tissue left, in a number of places in the insect’s body are collections of special formative cells, which have played no part in the insects larval life, and have stayed hidden or protected during this partial death, each of these groups of cells is called an 'imaginal bud' or a 'histoblast'.
The job of these histoblasts is to supervise the building of a new body out of the soup that the insect’s digestive juices have made of the old larval body. This they do using the same biochemical processes that all insects use to turn their food into part of their bodies. This rebuilding process is called 'histogenesis'. During this time the insect is very vulnerable because it cannot run away, and this is why insects try to choose somewhere safe to hide away in when they are going through this incredible change, and also explains why it is harder to find pupae than it is to find adult insects.

Trivial Pursuit
Here are the questions:
Global View (Geography):
What city-state’s residents speak a language called Singlish, a mix of English, Malay and Hokkien?

Entertainment:
What Latino hip-hoppers were well-known for going “insane in the membrane”?

News:
What rental company got free publicity in 2000 from endless TV news shots of its van lugging ballots from Miami to Tallahassee?

Written Word:
What seldom-seen author appears as a character in W.P. Kinsella’s novel, Shoeless Joe?

Life & Science: What type of vegetable is the Sharpshooter, the result of crossbreeding prolific El Toro with rot-resistant Montello and mildew-proof Alpha?

Games & Sports:
What once-mighty NBA team opened three straight seasons with a 1-12 record, starting in 1999?

Here are last week’s answers:
Global View (Geography):
What U.S. state’s town of Fairfax churned out every U.S. and Canadian Scrabble tile, until 1998? Vermont

Entertainment:
What glockenspiel-laden album did Bjork call “a love affair with a laptop”? Vespertine

News:
What U.S. congressman from Modesto, California began his 2001 web site bio with: “Life in politics has been anything but dull”? Gary Condit

Written Word:
What “oldest comic strip still in circulation” celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1997? The Katzenjammer Kids

Life & Science: How many seconds does the average patient get to speak before being interrupted by a doctor, according to a David Boyle book – 8, 16, or 32? 8 seconds

Games & Sports:
What sport served up a 134 – 0 British rout over Romania before 61,000 delirious fans, in 2001? Rugby

Word of the Week - 6-9-2008

Word of the Week
TCHOTCHKE
Pronunciation: \ˈchahch-kuh\
Function: noun
Etymology: Yiddish tshatshke trinket, from obsolete Polish czaczko
Date: 1971
: knickknack, trinket


Interesting Fact
Richard Amerike (or Ameryk) pronounced America (c. 1445–1503) was a wealthy English merchant, Royal customs officer and Sheriff of Welsh descent. He was the principal owner of John Cabot's ship Matthew during his voyage of exploration to North America in 1497. Amerike is chiefly remembered because of old documents rediscovered in 1955, proving the discovery of Newfoundland in 1479 prompting Columbus's voyage of discovery in 1492. It is also believed that "America" is derived from his name, owing to his sponsorship of the voyages to Newfoundland, rather than from Amerigo Vespucci, the map-maker.

John Cabot (originally Giovanni Caboto, a Venetian seaman) had become a well known mariner in England, and he came to Bristol in 1495 looking for investment in a new project. On March 5, 1496, Cabot received a letter of authority from King Henry VII to make a voyage of discovery and claim lands on behalf of the monarch. It is believed that Amerike may have been one of the principal investors in the building of Cabot's ship, the Matthew. Cabot is known to have produced maps of the coast from Maine to Newfoundland, though none have survived. Copies of these maps were sent to Spain by John Day, where Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci would have seen them. The theory suggests that Cabot may have written the name America (or similar) on his maps, but no extant maps are available to prove this assertion. Vespucci sailed to South America and the Caribbean with Alonso de Ojeda (Hojeda) in 1499 and Gonçalo Coelho in 1501 and became convinced that these were new lands, not Asia as Columbus believed. Martin Waldseemüller, a German map-maker, published a world map in 1507 using Vespucci's previously published letters. The theory suggests that Waldseemüller assumed that the "America" that Vespucci used was derived from his first name. Waldseemüller provided an explanation of this assumption as an attachment to the map. Vespucci himself never stated that this was the case. There were immediate protests from Columbus' supporters to get the continent renamed for Columbus, but attempts were unsuccessful, since 1,000 copies of the map were already in circulation. On later maps Waldseemüller substituted the words "Terra Incognita," but it was too late; the name America was now firmly associated with the entire northern and southern continent across the Atlantic from Europe.


Trivial Pursuit
Here are the questions:
Global View (Geography):
What U.S. state’s town of Fairfax churned out every U.S. and Canadian Scrabble tile, until 1998?

Entertainment:
What glockenspiel-laden album did Bjork call “a love affair with a laptop”?

News:
What U.S. congressman from Modesto, California began his 2001 web site bio with: “Life in politics has been anything but dull”?

Written Word:
What “oldest comic strip still in circulation” celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1997?

Life & Science: How many seconds does the average patient get to speak before being interrupted by a doctor, according to a David Boyle book – 8, 16, or 32?

Games & Sports:
What sport served up a 134 – 0 British rout over Romania before 61,000 delirious fans, in 2001?

Here are last week’s answers:
Global View (Geography):
What celebration’s seven principles are Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Nia, Kuumba and Imani? Kwanzaa

Entertainment:
What movie features cameo appearances by Tweety Bird, Betty Boop and Dumbo? Who Framed Roger Rabbit

News:
What U.S. state’s department of criminal justice was the first to post last meal requests of death row inmates on its web site? Texas

Written Word:
What daily comic often shows its title character morphing into a biker babe named Vicki? Rose Is Rose

Life & Science: What medical diagnostic tool from 1895 got a complete overhaul in 1997, when Xerox’s digital version scrapped the need for film altogether? X-Ray

Games & Sports:
What was the second horse in history to run the Kentucky Derby in under two minutes, in 2001? Monarchos

Word of the Week - 6-2-2008

Word of the Week
INVEIGLE
Pronunciation: \in-ˈvay-guhl \
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Anglo-French enveegler, aveogler, avogler to blind, hoodwink, from avogle, enveugle blind, from Medieval Latin ab oculis, literally, lacking eyes
Date: 1539
1 : to win over by wiles : entice
2 : to acquire by ingenuity or flattery : wangle


Interesting Fact
Puerto Rico is an organized unincorporated U.S. territory which has been given internal self-governing powers which are referred to as "Commonwealth" status. (The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, located in the western Pacific Ocean, has a similar delegation of self-government powers by the United States.) Puerto Rico has more latitude over its internal affairs than the U.S. territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or American Samoa. Puerto Rico has approximately the same degree of authority over its internal affairs as an American state. The United States federal government controls interstate trade, foreign commerce, customs, aviation and navigation, immigration, currency, all military and naval matters, radio and television communications, mining and minerals, highways, the postal system, social security, and other areas generally controlled by the federal government in the United States. As in the case of a state, the United States Supreme Court also have the final say over the constitutionality of Puerto Rican laws. Puerto Rico's elected governor and legislature control all other delegated internal affairs.
The major differences between Puerto Rico and the states are:
Puerto Rico does not have the rights of a state as granted by the US constitution, because it is not a state. These include:
· Lack of voting representation in either house of the U.S. Congress, as the US Constitution provides these rights only to full states. The only delegate to the Congress is an elected Resident Commissioner who represents the people of P.R. in the United States House of Representatives. The delegate may speak but cannot vote for final passage of congressional legislation, and may serve and vote in committees, as well as the Committee of the Whole.
· The ineligibility of Puerto Rican residents to vote in presidential elections, as the US Constitution provides these rights only to full states. (Note, residents the District of Columbia only attained this right in 1960 by a constitutional amendment.) P.R. does not have any electors in the U.S. Electoral College, although the Puerto Rico chapters of the Republican and Democratic parties can (and do) have state-like voting delegations to their respective nominating conventions, as well as voting representation in the Democratic and Republican National Committee.

Trivial Pursuit
Here are the questions:
Global View (Geography):
What celebration’s seven principles are Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Nia, Kuumba and Imani?

Entertainment:
What movie features cameo appearances by Tweety Bird, Betty Boop and Dumbo?

News:
What U.S. state’s department of criminal justice was the first to post last meal requests of death row inmates on its web site?

Written Word:
What daily comic often shows its title character morphing into a biker babe named Vicki?

Life & Science: What medical diagnostic tool from 1895 got a complete overhaul in 1997, when Xerox’s digital version scrapped the need for film altogether?

Games & Sports:
What was the second horse in history to run the Kentucky Derby in under two minutes, in 2001?

Here are last week’s answers:
Global View (Geography):
How much taller was the average Japanese 11-year-old in 2001, compared to 1950 – 2, 4, or 6 inches? 6 inches

Entertainment:
What contrarian comic rants darkly on a 2001 CD entitled The White Album? Lewis Black

News:
What Shakespearean play did Crown Prince Dipendra quote from on Mother’s Day, shortly before he killed her along with the king? Hamlet

Written Word:
What comic strip bird was named by creator Berke Breathed for a song by the band Kansas? Opus

Life & Science: What large internet portal was accused in 2001 of denying access to millions of netizens using “alternate” browers like Opera and Mozilla? MSN

Games & Sports:
Who was the only man besides Cal Ripkin Jr. to make baseball’s All-Century team at shortstop? Ernie Banks