Month: December 2021

solid

cholesterol – Comes from Greek words meaning “bile, gall” and “stiff, solid,” plus the ending “-ol.” More…

hydrogenated oil – An oil with trans-fatty acids that has been chemically changed from a room-temperature liquid state into a solid. More…

sublimate – In chemistry, to change from a solid to a gas or from a gas to a solid without becoming a liquid. More…

solder, solid – To solder something is etymologically to make it solid; solid comes from Latin solidus, “solid, whole.” More…

Crossing of the Delaware

On Christmas night in 1776, General George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River just before the Battle of Trenton. The crossing is reenacted on December 25 each year, beginning at Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, and ending on the opposite bank at Washington Crossing, New Jersey. The costumed actors who cross the river try to reproduce the scene exactly as it is depicted in the painting by Emanual Leutze: Green Mountain Boys sit in the bow, Gloucester fishermen man the oars, and General Washington stands with one foot on the gunwale. Discuss

The Llibre Vermell de Montserrat

On a narrow terrace more than halfway up the precipitous cliffs of Montserrat in Spain is a Benedictine monastery that houses a library. Perhaps its most precious item is the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, or Red Book of Montserrat, a manuscript containing devotional songs by unknown composers. Filled with songs for pilgrims, the manuscript was completed around 1399 and once contained 172 double pages, but more than 30 have been lost. Why does the manuscript have “red” in the title? Discuss

womb

gestation – Literally the period during which unborn young are “carried” inside the womb—from Latin gerere, “carry” or “conduct.” More…

lightening – A drop in the level of the womb during the last weeks of pregnancy, as the head of the fetus engages in the pelvis. More…

matrix – From Latin, meaning “breeding female,” it originally was used for the uterus or womb, then for a supporting or enclosing structure. More…

uterus – From the Latin word meaning “belly, womb.” More…

Tolling the Devil's Knell

To celebrate the birth of Christ and the death of the Devil, All Saints Minster Church in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, rings its bell the same number of times as the number of the year (for example, 2,014 times in 2014) on Christmas Eve. The tolling starts at 11:00 PM, stops during the church service from midnight to 12:45, and then resumes until the years have been tolled away. The custom has been going on for almost 700 years. The bell has been called “Black Tom of Soothill” since the 13th century, and Tolling Black Tom is supposed to keep the parish safe from the Devil for another 12 months. Discuss

Georges-Marie Guynemer (1894)

A top French fighter ace during World War I and a national hero, Guynemer shot down 53 enemy planes and survived being shot down several times before he presumably died in a firefight on September 11, 1917. During an engagement that fateful day, Guynemer’s plane disappeared, reportedly shot down by a German pilot who was himself killed in action weeks later. To ease the blow of the loss of their young hero, French schoolchildren were taught that what had happened to him? Discuss