Definition: (adjective) Tending to cause death or serious injury.
Synonyms: baneful, pestilent, deadly.
Usage: The pernicious effects of alcoholism are well documented in the medical literature.
Discuss
Month: August 2021
overcome
Dozynki Festival
For many Christians around the world, August 15 is the Feast of the Assumption. But in Poland, it is also a time for celebrating the harvest. During the wheat harvest festival known as Dozynki Pod Debami, or Festival under the Oaks, the reapers make wreaths out of grain, flowers, nuts, and corn. When they present their wreaths to the master and mistress of the estate on which the wheat is grown, they are invited in for a feast, which is followed by dancing. Discuss
the inmates are running the asylum
The people least capable of running a group or organization are now in charge. Said especially when the result is total chaos or calamity. Watch the video
The Maunder Minimum
The Maunder Minimum was the 70-year period from about 1645 to 1715 when sunspots were exceedingly rare, as noted by the solar observers of the time. The years of the Maunder Minimum coincided with the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, during which Europe and North America were subjected to bitterly cold winters—leading to speculation that the phenomena were related. Astronomer John A. Eddy popularized the concept in his landmark 1976 paper “The Maunder Minimum.” Who was the eponymous Maunder? Discuss
apotheosis
Definition: (noun) Exaltation to divine rank or stature.
Synonyms: deification, exaltation.
Usage: How strange was this miracle of fame, I pondered, this strange apotheosis by which a mere private name becomes a public symbol.
Discuss
temporary
booth – First a temporary dwelling made of branches, material, etc. More…
learning cottage – A residential trailer used as a temporary or portable classroom. More…
lodge – First was a temporary dwelling, as a hut or tent. More…
jerry-built – Is either from English dialect jerry, “bad, defective,” a pejorative use of the male nickname Jerry, or from nautical slang jury, “temporary,” which came to be used of all sorts of makeshift and inferior objects. More…
Pakistan Independence Day
On this day in 1947, Pakistan gained independence from Britain. Pakistan had been part of the immense British colony of India since the 18th century. Independence Day is a national holiday observed in much the same way as Pakistan Day. Discuss
have a lump in (one's) throat
To have difficulty speaking as a result of feeling that one is about to cry due to an intense emotional response to something. Watch the video
Oases
An oasis is a fertile area of desert land that forms when groundwater lies close enough to the surface to form a spring or to be reached by wells, providing it with a permanent supply of fresh water. Oases vary in size from a pond with a group of date palms to the oasis cities of the deserts of Arabia. Because oases allow travelers, most importantly traders, to replenish their food and water supplies, they are of great strategic and economic value. What Nordic country has a so-called oasis? Discuss