A very quick and easy way to earn money. Primarily heard in UK. Watch the video
Month: December 2021
Larping
“Larping” is the act of participating in a live-action-role-playing game (LARP). Fiction and reality are blurred as “larpers” meet and play their games in person—though not as themselves, as fictional characters—in an artificially created or even imagined setting—somewhat like improvisational theater. Settings vary from historical to modern to fantasy. Event arrangers called gamemasters oversee the games, which can last days and include thousands of players. When was the first recorded LARP? Discuss
remonstrate
mushroom
mushroom – Before it was a mushroom, it was called either toadstool or funge, from Latin fungus; small mushrooms are called “buttons,” medium-sized ones are “cups,” and the largest are “flat” or “open” mushrooms. More…
fly agaric – A mushroom with a narcotic juice that, in sufficient quantities, is poisonous. More…
pileated – Etymologically means “capped,” like a mushroom, but now refers to a bird with a crest on the top of the head from the bill to the nape. More…
shiitake – Japanese for “evergreen beech, chinquapin” (shii) and “mushroom” (take). More…
(one's) moment in the sun
A brief period of time in which one is or has been particularly successful, popular, famous, etc., especially when set against an otherwise moderate or unremarkable life. Watch the video
Eton Wall Game
Every year to mark St. Andrew’s Day, England’s Eton College holds the Eton Wall Game, in which scholarship students square off against non-scholarship holders. In this unusual type of rugby with rules so complex and mysterious that spectators are often confused, players try to win goals by getting the ball into the opposing team’s “calx,” designated by a chalk line on a wall at one end of the field and by a mark on a tree at the other. Goals are extremely rare. When was the last one scored? Discuss
gossamer
nourish
alimony – From Latin alimonia, “nourishment” or “eating money,” from alere, “to nourish,” and mony, “result, resulting condition,” it first meant “nourishment, support.” More…
alumnus, alumna, alumni – Alumnus and alumna stem from Latin alere, “to nourish or be nourished,” now by a university; originally alumnus was a pupil and now it is a male graduate. Alumni refers to either sex. More…
coalesce – Meaning “cause to grow together,” it is from Latin co- and alere, “nourish.” More…
nurture – The verb was formed after the noun, which first referred (c. 1330) to a person’s training or breeding. The word can be traced back to Latin nutritus, meaning “to nourish.” More…
a modest proposal
An extreme, unorthodox, and often provocative or distasteful remedy to a complex problem, generally suggested humorously or satirically. (An allusion to Jonathan Swift’s 1729 essay A Modest Proposal, in which he suggests that the poor of Ireland could alleviate their woes by selling their children as food.) Watch the video
Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys had already pioneered California rock—guitar-oriented songs about girls and surfing—when Brian Wilson resolved to create “the greatest rock album ever made.” Wilson’s new arrangements, full of sweeping harmonies and sounds ranging from the electro-theremin to the bicycle bell, made up the 1966 album Pet Sounds. Its songs—including “God Only Knows” and “You Still Believe in Me”—shocked his bandmates but enthralled listeners. What album inspired Wilson’s creative quest? Discuss