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Washington, D.C. America’s Capital City Posted by Gabriele on Mar 22, 2012
Washington, D.C., is the capital city of the United States of America. This city is named after the first president of the United States, George Washington. The D.C. in the name of the city stands for “District of Columbia” and the word “Columbia” refers to the last name of the explorer Christopher Columbus. Nicknames or…
Foreign Words in English (Part I) Posted by Gabriele on Mar 20, 2012
Like most other languages, English contains words that are directly taken from other languages. This was true when the English language was new and it is true today. If you didn’t think English was hard enough to learn before, you might think so now that you realize you are going to have to learn some…
March Madness Posted by Gabriele on Mar 19, 2012
The term “March Madness” does not refer to people in the United States becoming crazy in the month of March, well, not exactly. March Madness is the name given to the championship tournament played by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Division I (the highest division) basketball teams in the United States. Because teams…
Understanding Shakespeare Posted by Gabriele on Mar 18, 2012
The English language has changed a great deal in the last 400 years and, as I am sure you know, it is still changing. In 400 years from now English speakers will look back and likely have difficulty understand today’s English as much as we have trouble understanding the English of Shakespeare’s time. Yet, we…
Who is Shakespeare? Posted by Gabriele on Mar 16, 2012
This is a very good question indeed; who is William Shakespeare? Some historians do not believe the writer we know of as Shakespeare truly wrote all of the works that are attributed to him or that he lived the life we ascribe* to him, but since some of these facts are still debated I will…
March 15th: The Ides of March Posted by Gabriele on Mar 15, 2012
The day, March 15th, which is today, is known as the “ides of March.” In fact the fifteenth of any month is considered “the ides” of that month as “ides” is a word that means the day that is the middle of the month. This word comes from the Latin word “Idus” which means “half…
S’mores Posted by Gabriele on Mar 13, 2012
Yesterday I wrote a post about Girl Scouts (also called ‘Girl Guides’) in commemoration of National Girl Scouts Day in the United States, but I neglected to mention s’mores, which is a famous campfire treat invented by Girl Scouts! Today I will try to make up for my oversight yesterday by telling you all about…