letter_trainer_0_0 Flashcards
AN_
ANN. The Beach Boys “Barbara Ann” was actually a cover version released in 1965, of a song first recorded by the Regents in 1961 (with a different spelling “Barbara Anne”).
E_E
ETE. One might spend the summer (été) on the River Seine in Paris.
E_S
ENS. Ensign (ens.)
T_T
TNT. TNT is an abbreviation for TriNitroToluene. The explosive chemical was first produced by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand in 1863, who used it as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate, so it was used as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.
E_A
ERA. Earned run average (ERA)
ERO_
EROS. As always seems to be the case with Greek gods, Eros and Aphrodite have overlapping spheres of influence. Aphrodite was the goddess of love between a man and a woman, and Eros was the god who stirred the passions of the male.
EDE_
EDEN. Hieronymus Bosch was a Dutch painter who worked late 15th and early 16th centuries. Perhaps his most recognized work is his triptych titled “The Garden of Earthly Delights”.
N_E
NEE. “Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.
EL_
ELS. There are two letters L (els) in the center of the word ‘excellence’.
I_A
IRA. The actual branch of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that ended its armed campaign in 2005 was the Provisional IRA, the most active group pursuing a united Ireland. Since the ‘Provos’ ended their campaign, two splinter groups have continued to engage in paramilitary activity, namely the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA.
E_S
ELS. The Chicago “L” is the second largest rapid transit system in the US, with the New York City Subway being the largest. It is also the second oldest, again with the New York Subway system having the honor of being around the longest. Note that the official nickname for the system is the “L” (originally short for “elevated railroad”), although the term “El” is also in common use. (especially in crosswords as “ELS”).
_SP
ESP. Extra Sensory Perception.
E_I
ELI. Eli Manning plays as quarterback for the New York Giants. Eli’s brother Peyton Manning is quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Eli and Peyton’s father is Archie Manning, who was also a successful NFL quarterback.
_SD
LSD. LSD (also known as ‘acid’) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …
OD_
ODE. William Wordsworth wrote his poem ‘Ode to Duty’ in 1805. In the poem, Wordsworth uses the term ‘duty’ to mean a devotion to things such as childhood hope and an alignment with natural world. I guess the message is ‘leave the rat race behind’.
_NS
ENS. There are two letters N (ens) at the heart of the word ‘sinner’.
_RIE
ERIE. The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal, and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, it had immediate impact on the economy of New York City, and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal, that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname, the Empire State.
_TA
ETA. Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”.
_DEN
EDEN. ‘Paradise Lost’ is an epic poem written by Englishman John Milton. It is indeed an epic work, published originally in ten volumes with over ten thousand lines of verse. The ‘paradise’ that is ‘lost’ is the Garden of Eden, from which Adam and Eve were expelled by God in the ‘Fall of Man’.
E_S
ELS. Ernie Els is a South African golfer. He’s a big guy but he has an easy fluid golf swing that has earned him the nickname “The Big Easy”. Els has a child who suffers from autism and the golfer has been very effective in raising money for charities that focus on the condition.
T_T
TNT. TNT is an abbreviation for trinitrotoluene. The chemical was first produced by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand in 1863, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.
_TE
ETE. In French, spring (printemps) is followed by summer (été).
OS_O
OSLO. Oslo, the capital of Norway, is an ancient city that was founded around 1048. The medieval city was destroyed by fire in 1624 and was rebuilt by the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV and renamed to Christiana. In 1877 there was an official change of the spelling of the city’s name to “Kristiana”, and then more recently in 1925 the name was restored to the original Oslo. Things have almost gone full circle and now the center of Oslo, the area that would have been contained by the original medieval walls, has apparently been renamed to Christiana.
_AE
RAE. Carly Rae Jepsen is a singer/songwriter from Mission, British Columbia. Jepsen got her start on TV’s ‘Canadian Idol’ when she placed third in the show’s fifth season.
E_O
ENO. Brian Eno is a musician, composer and record producer from England who first achieved fame as the synthesiser player with Roxy Music. As a producer, Eno has worked with David Bowie, Devo and U2.
_RIE
ERIE. A famous mnemonic for remembering the names of the Great Lakes is HOMES: standing for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.
E_P
ESP. Extrasensory perception (ESP)
A_I
ALI. Ali Krieger was a member of the 2015 Women’s World Cup-winning US soccer team. Krieger lived for five years in Germany, playing for FFC Frankfurt.
EP_
EPA. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
_NS
ENS. There are two letters N (ens) in the word ‘nine’.
ERI_
ERIE. The Beaver Wars fought in the middle of the 1600s were the result of the Iroquois expanding their territory in the northeastern part of North America. The Iroquois were largely incited to take such steps by their trading partners, the Dutch and English, who profited from the gains in territory. On the losing side of the expansion were the Huron, Neutral, Erie and Susquehannock tribes.
_NO
ENO. Brian Eno started out his musical career with Roxy Music. However, his most oft played composition (by far!) is Microsoft’s “startup jingle”, the 6-second sound you’d hear when the Windows 95 system starts up.
E_U
EMU. ‘Emu oil’ is an oil that comes from the adipose tissue of some emus. Emu oil is touted as a dietary supplement, but apparently all claims of health benefits are fraudulent.
A_I
ARI. The Arizona Diamondbacks joined Major League Baseball’s National League in 1998. By winning the World Series in 2001, the Diamondbacks became the fastest expansion team to do so in Major League history.
N_E
NEE. “Née” is the French word for “born”, when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.
O_LO
OSLO. Oslo is the capital of Norway. The city of Oslo burns trash to fuel half of its buildings, including all of its schools. The problem faced by the city is that it doesn’t generate enough trash. So, Oslo imports trash from Sweden, England and Ireland, and is now looking to import some American trash too.
E_IE
ERIE. The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed ‘Clinton’s Folly’ and ‘Clinton’s Ditch’.
_DEN
EDEN. In the Christian tradition, the ‘fall of man’ took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, against the bidding of God. As a result, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to prevent them becoming immortal by eating from the tree of life. The first humans had transitioned from a state of innocent obedience to a state of guilty disobedience.
N_E
NEE. Nee it the French word for “born”.
RA_
RAE. John Rae was a Scottish explorer, who took on the task of searching for the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845. The Franklin Expedition was itself searching for the elusive Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific. John Rae created much controversy back in England when he reported evidence of cannibalism among the ill-fated Franklin explorers.
LE_
LEE. Taiwanese director Ang Lee sure has directed a mixed bag of films, mixed in terms of genre but not in terms of quality. He was at the helm for such classics as “Sense & Sensibility” (my personal favorite), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Hulk”, “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi”.
_SLO
OSLO. Oslo is an ancient city, founded around 1048. The medieval city was destroyed by fire in 1624 and was rebuilt by the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV and renamed Christiana. In 1877, there was an official change of the name’s spelling to “Kristiana”, and then more recently in 1925 the name was restored to the original Oslo. Things have gone full circle, as the center of Oslo, the area that would have been contained by the original medieval walls, has recently been named Christiana again.
ET_
ETE. One might spend the summer (été) under the sun (le soleil) in France.
_BE
ABE. Shinzo Abe first became Prime Minister of Japan in 2006, at which time he was the youngest person to hold the post since WWII and was the first PM born after the war. Abe was in office for less than a year, but was voted in again in 2012. Abe is usually characterized as a right-wing nationalist.
_LI
ELI. Laura Nyro was a singer-songwriter from the Bronx, New York. Nyro had success with her own recordings, but her songs were even more successful when recorded by other big names. Two of Nyro’s compositions were ‘Eli’s Coming’ recorded by Three Dog Night, and ‘Stoney End’ by Barbra Streisand.
LS_
LSD. LSD (colloquially known as ‘acid’) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …
_AE
RAE. Charlotte Rae is an American actress, best known for playing the character Edna Garrett on two sitcoms from the seventies and eighties, “Diff’rent Strokes” and “The Facts of Life”.
_NL
SNL. NBC first aired a form of ‘Saturday Night Live’ (SNL) in 1975 under the title ‘NBC’s Saturday Night’. The show was actually created to give Johnny Carson some time off from ‘The Tonight Show’. Back then ‘The Tonight Show’ had a weekend episode, and Carson convinced NBC to pull the Saturday or Sunday recordings off the air and hold them for subsequent weeknights in which Carson needed a break. NBC turned to Lorne Michaels and asked him to put together a variety show to fill the vacant slot, and he came up with what we now call ‘Saturday Night Live’.
ER_
ERA. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was written by the American suffragist leader, Alice Paul. Although Paul was successful in her campaign to get passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution (guaranteeing voting rights regardless of sex), her 1923 Equal Rights Amendment didn’t make it to the Senate floor until 1972. The amendment was passed by the Senate, and then headed to the state legislatures for the required ratification. 38 states had to approve the legislation for the amendment to be adopted, but only 35 states voted in favor before the deadline. So the amendment is still pending, although about half of the fifty states have adopted the ERA into their state constitutions.
A_E
ALE. India Pale Ale is a style of beer that comes from England. The beer was originally intended for transportation from England to India, hence the name.
_NN
ANN. Ann Richards was the second woman to serve as Governor of Texas, and held the office from 1991 to 1995. Richards was a Democrat, and she was defeated in the 1994 election by George W. Bush.
E_S
ENS. Vanna White is the lady who turns the letters on the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ game show. White is big into knitting and crochet, and has her own line of yarns called ‘Vanna’s Choice’.
EL_
ELS. Elevated railroad (El)
EN_
ENO. Will Eno is an American playwright working in Brooklyn, New York. That said, Eno’s plays are mainly produced across the pond in the UK.
_LE
ALE. Ale is not hard liquor.
O_O
ONO. Strawberry Fields’ is a memorial in Central Park in New York City. The memorial is a triangular piece of land found directly across from the Dakota Apartments where Lennon lived and was murdered. At the center of the triangle of land is a circular pathway mosaic of stones with the word ‘Imagine’ in the middle. Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, contributed over one million dollars to help pay for the memorial’s design and upkeep.
TN_
TNT. TNT is an abbreviation for trinitrotoluene. The explosive chemical was first produced by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand in 1863, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate, so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.
_NL
SNL. NBC first aired a form of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in 1975 under the title “NBC’s Saturday Night”. The show was actually created to give Johnny Carson some time off from “The Tonight Show”. Back then “The Tonight Show” had a weekend episode, and Carson convinced NBC to pull the Saturday or Sunday recordings off the air and hold them for subsequent weeknights in which Carson needed a break. NBC turned to Lorne Michaels and asked him to put together a variety show to fill the vacant slot, and he came up with what we now call “Saturday Night Live”.
_TE
ETE. One might spend the summer (été) under the sun (le soleil) in the French-speaking parts of Canada.
_LI
ELI. The Eli Young Band is a country group from Texas founded by Mike Eli and James Young when they were roommates in the University of North Texas.
R_A
RNA. Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.
NR_
NRA. National Rifle Association (NRA)
E_IE
ERIE. The Erie Railroad operated from 1832 to 1960, and connected New York City with Lake Erie. The Erie Railroad was largely built as compensation for the towns in the Southern Tier of New York who lost business when the Erie Canal was completed in 1825. The railroad operated from 1832 until 1861 as the New York and Erie Rail Road (NY&E).
AL_
ALE. A stein is a type of beer glass. The term is German in origin, and is short for ‘Steinkrug’ meaning ‘stone jug’. ‘Stein’ is the German for ‘stone’.
_NN
ANN. Cape Ann is 30 miles north of Boston, and is on the northernmost edge of Massachusetts Bay. The Cape was first mapped by the explorer John Smith. Early in his adventurous life Smith had been captured and enslaved by the Ottoman Empire. His “owner” in his days of slavery was a woman called Tragabigzanda, and apparently the slave and owner fell in love. What we know today as Cape Ann, Smith originally called Cape Tragabigzanda, in her memory.
_ROS
EROS. Cupid is the god of desire and erotic love in Roman mythology. The Greek counterpart of Cupid is Eros.
EL_
ELS. Ernie Els is a South African golfer. He’s a big guy, but he has an easy, fluid golf swing that has earned him the nickname “The Big Easy”. Els has a child who suffers from autism, and he has been very effective raising money for charities that focus on the condition.
_MU
EMU. The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. The aborigines used them for food and are very adept at hunting them using a variety of traditional techniques. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food, and knocked down fences. Soldiers were sent in using machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the emus. The emus were clever though, and broke formation and adopted guerrilla tactics, operating as small units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers was refused.
NR_
NRA. National Rifle Association (NRA)
EL_
ELI. Eli Manning plays as quarterback for the New York Giants. Eli’s brother Peyton Manning is quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Eli and Peyton’s father is Archie Manning, who was also a successful NFL quarterback.
E_O
ENO. Brian Eno started out his musical career with Roxy Music. However, his most oft played composition (by far!) is Microsoft’s “startup jingle”, the 6-second sound you’d hear when the Windows 95 system starts up.
N_E
NEE. “Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.
AN_
ANA. Ana Gasteyer is an actress best known for being a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” from 1996 to 2002. Gasteyer was famous on SNL for playing Martha Stewart … topless!
OS_O
OSLO. Oslo is an ancient city, founded around 1048. The medieval city was destroyed by fire in 1624 and was rebuilt by the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV and renamed Christiania. In 1877 there was an official change of the name’s spelling to “Kristiania”, and then more recently in 1925 the name was restored to the original Oslo. Things have gone full circle as the center of Oslo, the area that would have been contained by the original medieval walls, has recently been named Christiania again.
_NT
TNT. TNT stands for Turner Network Television. The TNT cable channel made a big splash in the eighties when it started to broadcast old MGM movies that had been “colorized”, not something that was a big hit with the public. In recent years, the TNT programming lineup is touted with the tagline “We Know Drama”, and includes shows like “Judging Amy”, “ER” and “Cold Case”.
EL_
ELI. Eli is the nickname for a graduate of Yale University, a term used in honor of the Yale benefactor Elihu Yale.
L_D
LSD. LSD (colloquially known as ‘acid’) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …
T_T
TNT. TNT is an abbreviation for trinitrotoluene. Trinitrotoluene was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.
_PA
EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was set up during the Nixon administration and began operation at the end of 1970.
_EE
LEE. I’ve always thought Lee Marvin a very talented actor. Marvin had an amazing voice, and the appearance of a man who was hard and villainous. Yet he was able to break free from the villain roles in which he was typecast and played some characters with more depth. He won an Academy Award for his dual-role performance in 1965’s “Cat Ballou”. His totally unique rendition of the song “Wand’rin Star” from the 1969 musical film “Paint Your Wagon” made it to number one in the UK charts, keeping the Beatles hit “Let it Be” in the number-two spot. I’ll bet that surprised even Marvin himself!
_ROS
EROS. If you didn’t know Oscar Wilde was Irish, you will when you see the name he was given at birth: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde!
I_A
IRA. As well as writing novels, Ira Levin was a dramatist and a songwriter. His first novel was “A Kiss Before Dying”, and his most famous was “Rosemary’s Baby” which became a Hollywood hit. His best known play is “Deathtrap”, a work that is often seen in local theater (I’ve seen it a couple of times around here), but it also was a successful movie, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. My favorite Levin novels though are “The Boys from Brazil” and “The Stepford Wives”.
T_T
TNT. TNT is an abbreviation for trinitrotoluene. TNT was first produced by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand in 1863, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. The material is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.
_SD
LSD. LSD (colloquially known as ‘acid’) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …
_TA
ETA. Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”.
E_S
ENS. Ensign (ens.)
ERI_
ERIE. Erie County lies just west of Wyoming County in New York State. Erie County is home to the city of Buffalo, and of course sits right on the shores of lake Erie.
AL_
ALE. Mead is a lovely drink, made from fermented honey and water.
_LI
ELI. Eli Wallach has been appearing consistently and making great performances on the big and small screens since the 1950s. Wallach’s most famous role was probably as ‘the Ugly’ in ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. More recently he gave a very strong performance in 2006’s ‘The Holiday’.
L_D
LSD. LSD is short for Lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. But it wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that the psychedelic properties of the drug were discovered. Trippy, man …
E_A
ETA. In the Greek alphabet, Z (zeta) is the sixth letter. H (eta) is the seventh.
O_E
ODE. Joseph Addison was an English man of letters and a politician. Most famously, Addison is remembered for publishing “The Spectator” magazine from 1711-12 along with his friend Richard Steele. In fact, Addison’s famous poem “Ode to Creation” first appeared in “The Spectator”. Back in my home country, Addison is noted for holding the political post of Chief Secretary for Ireland in the early 1700s.
ER_
ERA. The National Organization of Women was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1966. NOW is focused on six core issues:
AR_A
ARIA. Luciano Pavarotti has to have been one of the most celebrated tenors of all time. He was able to appeal to audiences beyond the traditional fans of opera, helped by his performances “The Three Tenors”, Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. Pavarotti made his final performance on stage at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, where he sang his famous rendition of the moving aria “Nessum dorma” and brought the house down. Pavarotti passed away from pancreatic cancer the following year, at the age of 71.
OR_
ORR. Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players who ever played the game. By the time he retired in 1978 he had undergone over a dozen knee surgeries. At 31 years of age, he concluded that he just couldn’t skate any more. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking …
_BE
ABE. The US five-dollar bill is often called an ‘Abe’, as President Lincoln’s portrait is on the front. An Abe is also referred to as a ‘fin’, a term that has been used for a five-pound note in Britain since 1868.
E_U
EMU. The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formations and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …
AR_A
ARIA. ‘Libretto’ is the diminutive form of ‘libro’, the Italian word for a book. We use ‘libretto’ to mean the text used in a musical work, or perhaps the ‘book’ of that musical work.
E_I
ELI. Even I know that Eli Manning and his older brother, Peyton, are quarterbacks!
SN_
SNL. Don Pardo’s distinctive voice announces the show “Saturday Night Live, and has been doing so since Pardo’s was the first voice heard in the premiere episode that aired in 1975. Pardo has been the announcer for all the SNL shows except for the 1981-82 season. Pardo retired from NBC in 2004 and moved to Tucson, Arizona, but the producers of “Saturday Night Live” persuaded him to stay on as announcer for their show. He has a lifetime contract, one of only two people ever to have such an arrangement with NBC (the other was Bob Hope!). He is still doing the job, and celebrated his 90th birthday on air, blowing out candles on his birthday cake at the end of an episode of SNL.
L_D
LSD. LSD is short for LySergic acid Diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. But it wasn’t until some five years later, when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally, that its psychedelic properties were discovered. That is so trippy, man …
E_OS
EROS. As always seems to be the case with Greek gods, Eros and Aphrodite have overlapping spheres of influence. Aphrodite was the goddess of love between a man and a woman, but Eros was the god who stirred the passions of the male.
LS_
LSD. LSD (colloquially known as ‘acid’) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …
E_U
EMU. The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. The aborigines used them for food and are very adept at hunting them using a variety of traditional techniques. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food, and knocked down fences. Soldiers were sent in using machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the emus. The emus were clever though, and broke formation and adopted guerrilla tactics, operating as small units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers was refused.
AN_
ANN. Cape Ann is 30 miles north of Boston and is on the northernmost edge of Massachusetts Bay. The Cape was first mapped by the explorer John Smith. Early in his adventurous life Smith had been captured and enslaved by the Ottoman Empire. His “owner” in his days of slavery was a woman called Tragabigzanda, and apparently the slave and owner fell in love. What we know today as Cape Ann, Smith originally called Cape Tragabigzanda in her memory.
RA_
RAE. Carly Rae Jepsen is a singer/songwriter from Mission, British Columbia. Jepsen got her start on ‘Canadian Idol’, when she placed third in the show’s fifth season.
EM_
EMU. The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formation and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …
_LE
ALE. The term ‘stout’ was first used for a type of beer in the 1600s when was used to describe a ‘strong, stout’ brew, and not necessarily a dark beer as it is today.
O_E
ODE. The great English poet William Wordsworth lived in the Lake District in the north of England, a beautiful part of the country. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Dove Cottage in Grasmere a couple of times, where Wordsworth lived with his wife, Dorothy.
E_EE
EPEE. The hilt of a sword consists of a grip and a guard (also called a bell guard). One grasps the sword with the grip, and the bell guard is a metal shell that is designed to protect the fingers. And, ‘épée’ is the French word for sword.
A_I
ALI. Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in 1964. Who can forget Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame for the 1996 games in Atlanta? Ali was presented with a gold medal during those ‘96 Games, a replacement for the medal he won at the 1960 Olympics. He had thrown the original into the Ohio River as a gesture of disgust after being refused service at a “whites only” restaurant.
EL_
ELI. The inventor Eli Whitney is a best known for inventing the cotton gin. Whitney also came up with the important concept of ‘interchangeable parts’. Parts that are interchangeable can be swapped out of equipment or perhaps used in related designs.
ET_
ETE. One might spend the summer (été) under the sun (le soleil) in French-speaking countries.
E_I
ELI. “The Book of Eli” was released in January of this year and stars Denzel Washington in the title role. It is one of those post-apocalyptic movies, so I skipped it.
E_IE
ERIE. The language of the Erie people was an Iroquoian language that was similar to Wyandot.
S_E
STE. Suite (ste.)
_RA
IRA. Ira Glass is a well-respected presenter on American Public Radio, most noted for his show “This American Life”. I was interested to learn that one of my favorite composers, Philip Glass, is Ira’s first cousin.
AL_
ALE. The brand most closely associated with ginger ale is Canada Dry. “Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale” was first formulated in 1904 by a Canadian chemist called John McLoughlin from Ontario. Prohibition in the United States helped sales of the drink as it was particularly effective in masking the taste of illegally-produced homemade liquor.
A_I
ARI. The Arizona Diamondbacks joined Major League Baseball’s National League in 1998. By winning the World Series in 2001, the Diamondbacks became the fastest expansion team to do so in Major League history.
A_I
ARI. The Arizona Diamondbacks joined Major League Baseball’s National League in 1998. By winning the World Series in 2001, the Diamondbacks became the fastest expansion team to do so in Major League history.
_TE
STE. Sainte (ste.)
A_IA
ARIA. Di quella pira’ is an aria from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera ‘Il trovatore’. Written for Manrico, the tenor part, the aria contains a famous and somewhat controversial ‘high C’ note. This high C is tough for many tenors to reach, and those who manage to do so tend to get a round of applause during a performance. Interestingly, the high C does not appear on Verdi’s original score. Apparently, one of the first tenors to sing the part decided to introduce the note to add some drama to the role, and subsequent tenors have been asked to follow his lead.
O_O
ONO. Yoko Ono was born into a prosperous Japanese family, and is actually a descendant of one of the emperors of Japan. Her father moved around the world for work and she lived the first few years of her life in San Francisco. The family returned from the US to Japan before moving on to New York, Hanoi and back to Japan just before WWII, in time to live through the great fire-bombing of Tokyo in 1945. Immediately after the war, the family was far from prosperous. While Yoko’s father was being held in a prison camp in Vietnam, her mother had to resort to begging and bartering to feed her children. When her father was repatriated, life started to return to normal and Yoko was able to attend university. She was the first woman to be accepted into the philosophy program of Gakushuin University.
OSL_
OSLO. Trygve Lie was a Norwegian politician who served as the first UN Secretary-General, from 1946 to 1952. Prior to his time at the UN, during WWII, Lie was the Foreign Minister of the Norwegian government-in-exile during the Nazi occupation.
NR_
NRA. National Rifle Association (NRA)
E_IE
ERIE. Erie is a city in the very north of Pennsylvania, right on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The city takes its name from the Erie Native American tribe that resided in the area.
_EE
LEE. The Lee company famous for making jeans was formed in 1889, by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.
EP_E
EPEE. The French word for sword is “épée”, which is also the name given to the Olympic sport of fencing.
ERI_
ERIE. Presque Isle State Park is off the coast of Erie, Pennsylvania and sits on a peninsula that juts out into Lake Erie. The name ‘Presque Isle’ translates from French as ‘peninsula’, or more literally ‘almost an island’.
R_E
RAE. Issa Rae is Stanford University graduate who created a YouTube web series called ‘Awkward Black Girl’. Rae also plays the title role in the series, a young lady named ‘J’.
_RA
ERA. Steroids are found commonly in nature, with familiar examples being cholesterol and testosterone. The controversial class of drugs called anabolic steroids (known informally as ‘roids’ or simply “steroids”) are artificially produced chemicals designed to mimic the effect of the male sex hormone, testosterone. They are termed “anabolic” as they build up cellular tissue (particularly muscle) in a process called anabolism.
_EE
NEE. Eleanor Roosevelt was the daughter of Elliot, brother to President Theodore Roosevelt. Eleanor met Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was her father’s fifth cousin, in 1902, and the two started ‘walking out together’ the following year after they both attended a White House dinner with President Roosevelt.
E_I
ELI. Eli Manning plays as quarterback for the New York Giants. Eli’s brother Peyton Manning is quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Eli and Peyton’s father is Archie Manning, who was also a successful NFL quarterback.
_TE
STE. ‘Sainte’ (ste.) is French for ‘saint’, when referring to a female.
O_O
ONO. John Lennon grew up in a modest home in Liverpool in the northwest of England. Named ‘Mendips’, the house belonged to Lennon’s maternal aunt and her husband. Lennon was raised by his aunt from the age of five, after his mother was persuaded that the arrangement would be of benefit to young John. Mendips was purchased by Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono in 2002, who then handed it over the National Trust, a British conservation organization.
E_P
ESP. That would be the Psychic Hotline.
_RA
ERA. The pitching stat, earned run average (ERA), measures how many runs a pitcher tends to give up per nine innings.
E_A
ERA. By most definitions, the Napoleonic era started with Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup d’état that effectively ended the French Revolution. The era itself ended with Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
_RIA
ARIA. When Georges Bizet wrote his famous opera “Carmen”, he used the melody of what he thought was an old folk song as a theme in the lovely aria “the Habanera”. Not long after he finished “Carmen” he discovered that the folk song was in fact a piece that had been written by another composer, who had died just ten years before “Carmen” was published. Fittingly, Bizet added a note to the score declaring the original source.
ED_N
EDEN. In the Christian tradition, the ‘fall of man’ took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, against the bidding of God. As a result, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to prevent them becoming immortal by eating from the tree of life. The first humans had transitioned from a state of innocent obedience to a state of guilty disobedience.
_IO
RIO. Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo). ‘Rio de Janeiro’ translates as “January River”. The name reflects the discovery of the bay on which Rio sits, on New Years Day in 1502.
AL_
ALI. The Rumble in the Jungle was the celebrated 1974 fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman that took place in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The fight was set in Zaire because of financial arrangements between promoter Don King and Zaire’s President Mobutu Seko. Ali coined the term ‘Rope-a-dope’ to describe his incredibly successful strategy in the contest. From the second round onwards, Ali adopted a protected stance on the ropes letting Foreman pound him with blows to the body and head, with Ali using his arms to dissipate the power of the punches. He kept this up until the eighth round and then opened up and downed the exhausted Foreman with a left-right combination. I hate boxing but I have to say, that was an fascinating fight.
_NA
RNA. Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. Amino acids are delivered in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA and then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.
ST_
STE. Joan of Arc led the French Army successfully into battle a number of times during the Hundred Years War with England. When she was eventually captured, she was tried in Rouen, the seat of the occupying English government in France at that time. There she was burned at the stake having been found guilty of heresy. Joan of Arc was canonized some 600 years later, in 1920, and is now one of the patron saints of France.
EL_
ELS. The IRT Third Avenue El was one of the last elevated trains to operate in Manhattan. The line opened in 1878, and the last of the service was shut down in 1973. Trains running along the Third Avenue El were a popular backdrop used in movies set in New York City.
EDE_
EDEN. According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.
ER_
ERA. Era was the first liquid laundry detergent produced by Procter & Gamble.
A_E
ALE. India Pale Ale (IPA) is a style of beer that originated in England. The beer was originally intended for transportation from England to India, hence the name.
R_E
RAE. Charlotte Rae is an American actress, best known for playing the character Edna Garrett on two sitcoms from the seventies and eighties: “Diff’rent Strokes” and “The Facts of Life”. Towards the end of the series, the Edna Garrett character operated her own gourmet food shop called ‘Edna’s Edibles’.
_PEE
EPEE. The original pentathlon of the ancient Olympic games consisted of a foot race, wrestling, long jump, javelin and discus. When a new pentathlon was created as a sport for the modern Olympic Games, it was given the name the “modern pentathlon”. First introduced in 1912, the modern pentathlon consists of:
EN_
ENO. Brian Eno started out his musical career with Roxy Music. However, Eno’s most oft-played composition (by far!) is Microsoft’s “start-up jingle”, the 6-second sound you hear when the Windows operating system is booting up. Eno might have annoyed the Microsoft folks when he stated on a BBC radio show:
ET_
ETA. Expected time of arrival (ETA)
_NA
ANA. “Fifty Shades of Grey” is an incredibly popular erotic novel by British writer E. L. James. ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is the fastest-selling paperback of all time. And there are two other titles to complete the trilogy: ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ and “Fifty Shades Freed”.
AL_
ALI. The boxer Muhammad Ali is recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the greatest sports figures of the 1900s. In 1999, Ali was named ‘Sportsman of the Century’ by ‘Sports Illustrated’ and ‘Sports Personality of the Century’ by the BBC.
_ROS
EROS. As always seems to be the case with Greek gods, Eros and Aphrodite have overlapping spheres of influence. Aphrodite was the goddess of love between a man and a woman, but Eros was the god who stirred the passions of the male.
AN_
ANA. The Santa Ana winds are the very dry air currents that sweep offshore late in the year in Southern California. Because these air currents are so dry, they are noted for their influence over forest fires in the area, especially in the heat of the fall. The winds arise from a buildup of air pressure in the Great Basin that lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Under the right conditions, that air spills over the peaks of the Sierra Nevada and basically “falls” down the side of the Sierra range, heading for the ocean. As the air falls it becomes drier and heats up so that relative humidity can fall to below 10% by the time it hits the coast.
A_I
ALI. Muhammad Ali first used his famous catchphrase ‘float like a butterfly and sting like a bee’ before his world title fight against Sonny Liston in 1964. Back then Ali still went by his birth name of Cassius Clay.
RN_
RNA. Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.
R_E
RAE. John Rae was a Scottish explorer, who took on the task of searching for the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845. The Franklin Expedition was itself searching for the elusive Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific. John Rae stirred up much controversy back in England when he reported evidence of cannibalism among the ill-fated Franklin explorers.
AL_
ALI. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier had three memorable fights. The first was billed as the “Fight of the Century” and took place in 1971 in Madison Square Garden. It was a fight between two great boxers, both of whom were undefeated up till that point. Frazier won in a unanimous decision after fifteen rounds. A couple of years later, in 1973, Frazier lost his title to George Foreman. Ali and Frazier had a non-title rematch in 1974, with Ali coming out ahead this time, also in a unanimous decision. Later that year, Ali grabbed back the World Heavyweight Title in “The Rumble in the Jungle”, the famous “rope-a-dope” fight against George Foreman. That set the stage for the third and final fight between Ali and Frazier, “The Thrilla in Manila”. Ali won the early rounds, but Frazier made a comeback in the middle of the fight. Ali took control at the end of the bout, so much so that Frazier wasn’t able to come out of his corner for the 15th and final round. He couldn’t come out of his corner because both of his eyes were swollen shut, giving Ali a victory due to a technical knockout (TKO).
O_LO
OSLO. King Harald V is the current king of Norway, and has been on the throne since 1991 when his father passed away, King Olav V. You know how incestuous things are in the European Royal houses, so King Harald V of Norway is in the line of succession for the throne of England, albeit around no. 60).
E_P
ESP. Extrasensory perception (ESP)
_LS
ELS. Ernie Els is a South African golfer. Els a big guy but he has an easy fluid golf swing that has earned him the nickname “The Big Easy”. He has a child who suffers from autism and so Els has been very effective in raising money for charities that focus on the condition.
A_N
ANN. Cape Ann is 30 miles north of Boston and is on the northernmost edge of Massachusetts Bay. The Cape was first mapped by the explorer John Smith. Early in his adventurous life Smith had been captured and enslaved by the Ottoman Empire. His “owner” in his days of slavery was a woman called Tragabigzanda, and apparently the slave and owner fell in love. What we know today as Cape Ann, Smith originally called Cape Tragabigzanda, in her memory.
_RIA
ARIA. The Metropolitan Opera of New York City is the largest classical music organization in the country, presenting about 220 performances each and every year. Founded in 1880, the Met is renowned for using technology to expand its audiences. Performances have been broadcast live on radio since 1931, and on television since 1977. And since 2006 you can go see a live performance from New York in high definition on the big screen, at a movie theater near you.
AN_
ANA. Santa Ana is the county seat of Orange County, California and takes its name from the Santa Ana River that runs through the city.
E_I
ELI. Eli Lilly is the largest corporation in the state of Indiana. The founder, Eli Lilly, was a veteran of the Union Army in the Civil War, and a failed Mississippi plantation owner. Later in life he returned to his first profession and opened a pharmaceutical operation to manufacture drugs and sell them wholesale. Under Lilly’s early guidance, the company was the first to create gelatin capsules to hold medicines and the first to use fruit flavoring in liquid medicines.
_EE
NEE. “Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.
N_E
NEE. “Née” is the French word for “born”, when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.
AR_
ARI. “Exodus” is a wonderful novel written by American writer Leon Uris, first published in 1947. The book was incredibly well received by the public and is the second biggest bestseller in the US after “Gone with the Wind”. The hero of the piece is Ari Ben Canaan, played by Paul Newman in the 1960 film adaptation directed by Otto Preminger.
S_E
STE. Joan of Arc (also Jeanne d’Arc) led the French Army successfully into battle a number of times during the Hundred Years War with England. When she was eventually captured she was tried in Rouen, the seat of the occupying English government in France at that time. There she was burned at the stake having been found guilty of heresy. Joan of Arc was canonized some 600 years later, in 1920, and is now one of the patron saints of France.
_EE
LEE. The Lee company famous for making jeans was formed in 1889, by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.
L_D
LSD. LSD (colloquially known as ‘acid’) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …
ST_
STE. ‘Sainte’ (ste.) is French for ‘saint’, when referring to a female.
_SP
ESP. Extrasensory Perception (ESP)
_LE
ALE. Something that is ‘potable’ is fit to drink. The term derives from the Latin verb ‘potare’ meaning ‘to drink’, which is also the root for our word ‘potion’.
_PEE
EPEE. The French word for sword is ‘épée’. In competitive fencing the épée is connected to a system that records an electrical signal when legal contact is made on an opponent’s body.
R_O
RIO. ‘Rio’ is a 1982 song released by Duran Duran.
A_I
ALI. ‘Aladdin’ is a famous tale in the ‘Arabian Nights’, also called ‘The Book of One Thousand and One Nights’. However, there is no evidence at all that the story was in the original collection. It is generally believed that one Antoine Galland introduced the tale when he translated the ‘Arabian Nights’ into French in the early 1700s.
TN_
TNT. TNT is an abbreviation for trinitrotoluene. Trinitrotoluene was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.
ES_
ESP. Extrasensory perception (ESP)
O_O
ONO. The wonderful, wonderful photographer Annie Leibovitz was given the assignment to capture iconic musician John Lennon. During the photoshoot, Lennon insisted that his wife Yoko Ono be included in the shot. The result was the memorable ‘Rolling Stones’ cover in which a naked Lennon is is kissing Yoko Ono while the two lie on the ground. Sadly, very sadly, Lennon was shot and killed just five hours later.
_NA
ANA. The Santa Ana winds are the very dry air currents that sweep offshore late in the year in Southern California. Because these air currents are so dry, they are noted for their influence over forest fires in the area, especially in the heat of the fall. The winds arise from a buildup of air pressure in the Great Basin that lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Under the right conditions, that air spills over the peaks of the Sierra Nevada and basically ‘falls’ down the side of the Sierra range, heading for the ocean. As the air falls it becomes drier and heats up so that relative humidity can fall to below 10% by the time it hits the coast.
_LI
ALI. Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in 1964. Who can forget Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame for the 1996 games in Atlanta? Ali was presented with a gold medal during those ‘96 Games, a replacement for the medal he won at the 1960 Olympics. He had thrown the original into the Ohio River as a gesture of disgust after being refused service at a “whites only” restaurant.
E_E
ETE. One might spend the summer (été) under the sun (le soleil) in France.
RN_
RNA. Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.
L_E
LEE. The Lee company famous for making jeans was formed in 1889, by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.
EL_
ELS. The Chicago “L” is the second largest rapid transit system in the US, with the New York City Subway being the largest. The “L” is also the second oldest, again with the New York City Subway system having the honor of being around the longest. Note that the official nickname for the system is the “L” (originally short for “elevated railroad”), although the term “El” is also in common use (especially in crosswords as “ELS”). The L is managed by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).
E_S
ENS. Ensign is (usually) the most junior rank of commissioned officer in the armed forces. The name comes from the tradition that the junior officer would be given the task of carrying the ensign flag.
_LI
ALI. Muhammad Ali first used his famous catchphrase ‘float like a butterfly and sting like a bee’ before his world title fight against Sonny Liston in 1964. Back then Ali still went by his birth name of Cassius Clay.
_RIE
ERIE. Presque Isle State Park is off the coast of Erie, Pennsylvania, sitting on a peninsula that juts out into Lake Erie. The name ‘Presque Isle’ translates from French as ‘peninsula’, or more literally as ‘almost an island’.
ET_
ETA. Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”.
ED_N
EDEN. There is mention in the Bible of both the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Apparently there is some debate over whether or not the two trees are one and the same.
_EE
NEE. “Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.
ET_
ETA. Estimated time of arrival (ETA)
ST_
STE. Sainte (Ste.)
E_A
ETA. Estimated time of arrival (ETA)
I_A
IRA. Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
_LE
ALE. The brand most closely associated with ginger ale is Canada Dry. “Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale” was first formulated in 1904 by a Canadian chemist called John McLoughlin from Ontario, Canada. Prohibition helped sales of the drink as it was particularly effective in masking the taste of illegally produced, homemade liquor.
_SLO
OSLO. King Harald V is the current king of Norway, and has been on the throne since 1991 when his father King Olav V passed away. The European Royal houses are famously quite ‘incestuous’, so King Harald V of Norway is in the line of succession for the throne of England (albeit around no. 60).
