letter_trainer_1_2 Flashcards
IK_
IKE. When the future president was growing up, the Eisenhower family used the nickname ‘Ike’ for all seven boys in the family, as ‘Ike’ was seen as an abbreviation for the family name. ‘Big Ike’ was Edgar, the second oldest boy. ‘Little/Young Ike’ was Dwight, who was the third son born. Dwight had no sisters.
_VA
EVA. Nowadays, President Juan Perón of Argentina is perhaps less well-known than his second wife, Eva Perón of “Evita” fame. Juan and Eva Perón were overthrown in a military coup in 1955, although Juan Perón was returned to power in 1973 when he served for only nine months before he passed away. Juan was succeeded in office by his third wife, Isabel Perón.
NE_
NED. Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer, and has been around since the very first episode aired on Fox in 1989.
E_O
EMO. The musical genre of “emo” originated in Washington D.C. in the 80s, and takes its name from “emotional hardcore”. ‘Emo’ is also the name given to the associated subculture. Not my cup of tea …
_TIS
OTIS. Shuggie Otis is the son of R7B musician Johnny Otis.
_EL
EEL. Electrophorus electricus is the biological name for the electric eel. Despite its name, the electric “eel” isn’t an eel at all, but rather what is called a knifefish, a fish with an elongated body related to the catfish. The electric eel has three pairs of organs along its abdomen, each capable of generating an electric discharge. The shock can go as high as 500 volts with 1 ampere of current (that’s 500 watts), and that could perhaps kill a human.
SO_
SOS. The combination of three dots - three dashes - three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots - pause - three dashes - pause - three dots), although in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so SOS is in effect only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are also mnemonics, introduced after the “SOS” signal was adopted.
O_CA
ORCA. The taxonomic name for the killer whale is Orcinus orca. The use of the name “orca” is becoming more and more common in English. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.
NE_O
NERO. The Roman Emperor Nero has a large (30m tall) statue made of himself in bronze, which he located outside of his palace. After he died, the bronze was altered and renamed the Colossus Solis, after the Roman sun god. It was later moved and located near the huge amphitheater that became known as the Colosseum. It is likely that the amphitheater actually took its name from the Colossus statue.
OR_A
ORCA. ‘Jaws’ is a thrilling 1975 movie directed by Steven Spielberg that is based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley. The film has a powerful cast, led by Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw. ‘Jaws’ was perhaps the first ‘summer blockbuster’ with the highest box office take in history, a record that stood until ‘Star Wars’ was released two years later.
IR_
IRS. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.
RE_E
RENE. René Lacoste was a French tennis player who went into the clothing business, and came up with a more comfortable shirt that players could use. This became known as a ‘tennis shirt’. When it was adopted for use in the sport of polo, the shirts also became known as ‘polo shirts’. And a ‘golf shirt’ is basically the same thing.
_EL
EEL. Electrophorus electricus is the biological name for the electric eel. Despite its name, the electric “eel” isn’t an eel at all, but rather what is called a knifefish, a fish with an elongated body that is related to the catfish. The electric eel has three pairs of organs along its abdomen, each capable of generating an electric discharge. The shock can go as high as 500 volts with 1 ampere of current (that’s 500 watts), and that could perhaps kill a human.
_SA
NSA. The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.
TA_
TAO. The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.
UM_
UMA. Robert Thurman was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Robert raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”.
_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. Smith originally called Cape Tragabigzanda in her memory, but King Charles I changed the name to Cape Ann in honor of his own mother, Anne of Denmark.
SS_
SSN. The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation although, given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an “identity number” to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. There was concern that a lot of people were claiming children as dependents on their tax returns who did not really exist, so from 1986 onwards it was a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the ago of 5. Sure enough, in the following year’s returns, seven million dependents “disappeared”.
_VA
EVA. Eva is the heroine in Richard Wagner’s (long!) opera titled ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’ (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg).
_IA
CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed during WWII, and was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947.
OM_N
OMAN. The town of Bahla in Oman is famous for it’s old fort, pottery and a surrounding oasis.
I_E
IKE. President Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas and given the name David Dwight Eisenhower, but by the time he made it to the White House he was going by the name Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE). Growing up, his family called him Dwight, and when “Ike” enrolled in West Point he himself reversed the order of his given names.
OMA_
OMAN. The coalition forces that engaged in the Gulf War of 1990 to 1991 comprised mainly US military personnel. The next largest contributors of forces were Saudi Arabia, the UK and Egypt, in that order.
N_D
NED. Ned Beatty is probably best remembered for the rather disturbing “squeal like a pig” scene in the movie “Deliverance”.
AO_
AOL. Even though instant messaging (sending IMs) has been around since the 1960s, it was AOL who popularized the term ‘instant message’ in the eighties and nineties. The ‘AOL Instant Message’ service was known as AIM.
IOT_
IOTA. Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet. We use “iota” to portray something very small as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.
_SR
SSR. Estonia is one of the former Soviet Socialist Republics. It is located in Northern Europe on the Baltic Sea, due south of Finland. Estonia has been overrun and ruled by various empires over the centuries. Estonia did enjoy a few years of freedom at the beginning of the 20th century after a war of independence against the Russian Empire. However, the country was occupied again during WWII, first by the Russians and then the Germans, and reoccupied by the Soviets in 1944. Estonia has flourished as an independent country again since the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
NER_
NERO. The 2009 movie “Star Trek” is in effect a prequel to the original “Star Trek” series. The film features a young James T. Kirk (played by Chris Pine) and a young Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) battling Romulan named Nero (played by Eric Bana) who comes back in time. As always, there’s an appearance by the original Spock (Leonard Nimoy, of course) who does a bit of time travel himself.
E_K
ELK. The elk (also known as the wapiti) is the one of the largest species of deer in the world, with only the moose being bigger. Early European settlers were used to seeing the smaller red deer back in their homelands, so when they saw the “huge” wapiti they assumed it was a moose, and incorrectly gave it the European name for a moose, namely “elk”. The more correct term then is “wapiti”, the Shawnee name for the animal, which means “white rump”. It’s all very confusing …
EE_
EEL. A dragon roll is a sushi dish made from eel, cucumber, seaweed, rice and avocado. Without the eel, I am sure it’s delicious!
N_RO
NERO. The 2009 movie “Star Trek” is in effect a prequel to the original “Star Trek” series. The film features a young James T. Kirk (played by Chris Pine) and a young Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) battling Romulan named Nero (played by Eric Bana) who comes back in time. As always, there’s an appearance by the original Spock (Leonard Nimoy, of course) who does a bit of time travel himself.
_SP
ASP. The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp’s bite was therefore her chosen method.
AL_
A LA. In French “à la mode” simply means “fashionable”. In America it has come to describe a way of serving pie, usually with ice cream, or as I recall from when I lived in Upstate New York, with cheese.
_LK
ELK. Male elks are called bulls, and females are known as cows. Bull elks are known for their very loud screaming, which is called bugling. Cow elks are attracted to bulls that bugle more often and most loudly.
ERI_
ERIC. Eric Trump is the second son of Donald Trump and his first wife Ivana Zelníčková. Eric works for his father, and in particular manages Donald’s golf courses and the Trump Winery in Charlottesville, Virginia. Eric also appears in the boardroom alongside his Dad on the reality show ‘The Apprentice’.
E_K
ELK. The elk (also known as the wapiti) is the one of the largest species of deer in the world, with only the moose being bigger. Early European settlers were familiar with the smaller red deer back in their homelands, so when they saw the “huge” wapiti they assumed it was a moose, and incorrectly gave it the European name for a moose, namely “elk”. The more correct name for the beast is “wapiti”, which means “white rump” in Shawnee. It’s all very confusing …
_EO
LEO. Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio is from Los Angeles, California. DiCaprio’s mother was visiting a museum in Italy when she was pregnant and felt the first kick of her unborn child. At the moment of that first kick, Mama DiCaprio was looking at a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, and so named her son Leonardo.
L_O
LEO. There has been a lion in the logo of the MGM studio since 1924. The original was an Irishman (!), a lion named Slats who was born in Dublin Zoo in 1919. However, it wasn’t until Jackie took over from Slats in 1928 that the roar was heard, as the era of silent movies was coming to an end. The current lion is called Leo, and he has been around since 1957.
EV_
EVA. Eva Gabor was the youngest of the Gabor sisters all three of whom were celebrated Holywood actresses and socialites (her siblings were Zsa-Zsa and Magda). The Gabor sisters were born in Budapest and immigrated to the United States separately, with Eva being the first to arrive. Eva broke into movies, but her most famous role was on the TV sitcom “Green Acres” in which she played the lovely character Lisa Douglas opposite Eddie Albert. One of Eva’s claims to fame is the unwitting promotion of the game called “Twister”, the sales of which was languishing in 1996. In an appearance on “The Tonight Show” she got on all fours and played the game with Johnny Carson. Sales took off immediately, and Twister became a huge hit.
ANN_
ANNE. Tradition states that Mary, Mother of Jesus was the daughter of Joachim and Anne.
OB_
OBI. The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied in what is called a butterfly knot.
RH_
RHO. Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”.
O_IS
OTIS. Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.
NS_
NSA. Edward Snowden is a former NSA contractor who leaked several top secret NSA documents to the media beginning in June 2013. After disclosing his name as the source of the leaks, Snowden tried to seek asylum in Ecuador. While travelling to Ecuador he had a layover in Moscow. While in Moscow, the US government revoked his passport, which effectively left him stranded in the transit area of Moscow Airport. The Russian government eventually granted his an annually renewable temporary asylum.
ES_U
ESAU. Esau was the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. He is portrayed as being very different from his brother, a hunter, someone who loves the outdoor life.
NS_
NSA. The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.
_OL
AOL. Founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1983, the company changed its name in 1989 to America Online. As America Online went international, the acronym AOL was used in order to shake off the “America-centric” sound to the name. During the heady days of AOL’s success the company could not keep up with the growing number of subscribers, so people trying to connect often encountered busy signals. That’s when users referred to AOL as “Always Off-Line”.
UM_
UMA. Robert Thurman was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Robert raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”. Uma’s big break in movies came with her starring role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit ‘Pulp Fiction’. My favorite Uma Thurman film is the wonderful 1996 romantic comedy ‘The Truth About Cats and Dogs’.
_NCA
INCA. (5D. See 21-Across : EMPIRE)
A_ARI
ATARI. At one point Atari was the fastest growing company in US history, but it never really recovered from the video game industry crash of 1983.
OR_O
OREO. The Oreo cookie was first introduced in 1912. The Oreo was intended to be a competitor to the very similar Hydrox cookie which had debuted four years earlier. The Oreo won the resulting battle on the grocery store shelves …
ET_A
ETNA. Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-guage railway, and two ski resorts.
CS_
CSI. The ‘CSI’ franchise of TV shows has been tremendously successful, but seems to be winding down. ‘CSI: Miami’ (the ‘worst’ of the franchise, I think) was cancelled in 2012 after ten seasons. ‘CSI: NY’ (the ‘best’ of the franchise) was cancelled in 2013 after nine seasons. The original ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’, set in Las Vegas, hung in there until 2015 when it ended with a two-hour TV movie. The youngest show in the series is ‘CSI: Cyber’, and it’s still on the air.
I_S
IRS. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.
LE_
LEO. 48. 6-Down preceder : CANCER
_OTA
IOTA. Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.
_TIS
OTIS. Elevators (simple hoists) have been around for a long time. What Elisha Otis did was come up with the “safety elevator”, a design that he showcased at the 1853 World’s Fair in New York. At the Fair, Otis would stand on an elevated platform in front of onlookers and order his assistant to cut the single rope holding up the platform. His safety system kicked in when the platform had only fallen a few inches, amazing the crowd. After this demonstration, the orders came rolling in.
_LO
ELO. The Elo rating system is used to compare the skill levels of competing chess players. The system is named for a Hungarian-born professor of physics called Arpad Elo, who was also a master-level chess player active in the US Chess Federation.
EE_
EEL. Anyone going to a sushi restaurant can order all types of raw fish (known collectively as ‘sashimi’). However, eel is always served cooked, and that’s because the blood of eels contains a protein that cramps muscles if eaten. If the heart muscle ‘cramps’, the result can be death. The protein is easily rendered harmless by applying heat, i.e. cooking.
A_A
A LA. The French for ‘spit-roasted, on a skewer’ is ‘à la broche’.
_TNA
ETNA. Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt Vesuvius. The Roman poet Virgil described an eruption of Mt. Etna in his epic poem the “Aeneid”.
EL_
ELO. ELO of course stands for the Electric Light Orchestra, a symphonic rock group from the north of England. Their manager was Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne (wife of Ozzy).
T_D
TED. Ted Stevens was a US Senator from Alaska. He first became a senator on Christmas Eve in 1968, and served continuously in that office until he was killed in a plane crash in 2009. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican US Senator in history.
_TON
ETON. The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders, including David Cameron who took power in the recent UK general election. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington, George Orwell, and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming.
ER_C
ERIC. According to Icelandic tradition, Erik the Red was the man responsible for founding the first Nordic settlement in Greenland. Erik had a famous son, the explorer Leif Ericson.
ORC_
ORCA. The taxonomic name for the killer whale is Orcinus orca. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.
OB_
OBI. The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied in what is called a butterfly knot.
NE_
NED. Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer and has been around since the very first episode aired in 1989.
_HO
RHO. Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”.
O_E
ONE. The game of Scrabble has been produced in many international versions, and each of these editions has its own tile distribution to suit the local language. For example, in English we have two tiles worth ten points: one ‘Q’ and one ‘Z’. If you play the game in French then there are five tiles worth ten points: one ‘K’, one ‘W’, one ‘X’, one ‘Y’ and one ‘Z’.
S_S
SOS. The combination of three dots - three dashes - three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots - pause - three dashes - pause - three dots), although in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so SOS is in effect only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are simply mnemonics, introduced after the SOS signal was adopted.
AD_
ADA. The reference here is to the 1969 novel by Vladimir Nabokov called “Ada”. The story takes place in the 1800s on Antiterra, an Earth-like planet that has a history similar to ours but with interesting differences. For example, there is a United States, but the country covers all of North and South America. What we call eastern Canada is a French-speaking province called “Canady”, and western Canada is a Russian-speaking province “Estody”. The plot-line is about a man called Van Veen who, when 14 years old, meets for the first time his cousin, 11-year-old Ada. The two cousins eventually have an affair, only to discover later that they are in fact brother and sister.
E_IC
ERIC. Eric Holder is the Attorney General of the United States, and is the first African American to hold the position. Holder was close to President Obama during the presidential campaign. He was the campaign’s legal advisor, and was also one of the three members on the Obama vice-presidential selection committee, which of course opted for Vice-President Joe Biden.
_RS
IRS. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.
ATA_I
ATARI. At one point Atari was the fastest growing company in US history, but it never really recovered from the video game crash of 1983.
TE_
TED. Better Off Ted’ was a comedy series that aired for two seasons on ABC. Never saw it …
IN_A
INCA. The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. The Incas developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire of course fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Tupac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.
_TIS
OTIS. Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.
CI_
CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed during WWII. The CIA was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947.
E_NA
ETNA. Michelangelo Antonioni was a film director from Italy. Antonioni’s most famous movies are the trilogy ‘L’Avventura’ (1960), ‘La Notte’ (1961) and ‘Eclipse’ (1962). He died in 2007, coincidentally on the same day that famed director Ingmar Bergman also passed away.
_AU
EAU. In French, fish (poissons) need water (eau) to survive.
O_E
ONE. On a keyboard, the exclamation point shares the one key.
L_S
LES. Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a Hungarian composer, and a fabulous pianist. Particularly towards the end of his life, he gained a tremendous reputation as a teacher. While he was in his sixties, his teaching profession demanded that he commute regularly between the cities of Rome, Weimar and Budapest. It is quite remarkable that a man of such advanced age, in the 1870s could do so much annual travel, estimated to be at least 4,000 miles every year.
_TON
ETON. The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders including David Cameron who took power in the last UK general election. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington, George Orwell, and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming (as well as 007 himself as described in the Fleming novels).
_OTA
IOTA. Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.
_ED
NED. “Waking Ned Devine” is an entertaining comedy film from 1998, set in Ireland. It’s all about Ned Devine who wins a fortune from the National Lottery, but who dies before he can claim the prize. The whole village conspires to “keep him alive” so that the winnings will be delivered and the locals can share the loot. Worth a rental …
_MO
EMO. The musical genre of “emo” originated in Washington D.C. in the 80s, and takes its name from “emotional hardcore”. Not my cup of tea …
_SA
NSA. The National Security Agency was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The agency has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that set up the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the nickname given to the NSA: “No Such Agency” …
A_A
ADA. Back in 1889, Jeff Reed was hired to carry the mail between the two communities of Stonewall and Center in what was then called the Indian Territory. Reed had moved to the area from Texas and he bought some land in between the two limits of his mail route and built himself a log cabin. Pretty soon other settlers built homes nearby and in 1891 the settlement got its own post office. As postman, Reed got to name the new post office and he called it Ada, after his oldest daughter. Ada is now a county seat in Oklahoma and has over 17,000 residents. One of the sons of the city of Ada was the televangelist Oral Roberts.
CI_
CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed during WWII. The CIA was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947. The organization has been nicknamed ‘the Company’ at least since 1972. The nickname became popular with the public following the release of the book ‘Inside the Company’ by former case officer Philip Agee in 1975.
E_IC
ERIC. According to Icelandic tradition, Erik the Red was the man responsible for founding the first Nordic settlement in Greenland. Erik had a famous son, the explorer Leif Ericson.
AD_
ADA. “Ada” is a 1969 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The story takes place in the 1800s on Antiterra, an Earth-like planet that has a history similar to ours but with interesting differences. For example, there is a United States, but that country covers all of North and South America. What we call eastern Canada is a French-speaking province called “Canady”, and western Canada is a Russian-speaking province called “Estody”. The storyline is about a man called Van Veen who, when 14 years old, meets for the first time his cousin, 11-year-old Ada. The two cousins eventually have an affair, only to discover later that they are in fact brother and sister.
A_A
ADA. The Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) was set up in 1947, with founding members including Hubert Humphrey and Eleanor Roosevelt. The ADA’s mission is to advocate progressive policies and is well known for rating politicians on a scale of 0-100 depending on the degree of agreement with the group’s policies.
N_D
NED. Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer and has been around since the very first episode aired in 1989.
E_O
EMO. The musical genre of “emo” originated in Washington D.C. in the 80s, and takes its name from “emotional hardcore”. Not my cup of tea …
A_TI
ASTI. Asti is in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. The region is perhaps most famous for its Asti Spumante sparkling white wine.
CS_
CSI. The TV show “CSI” gets a lot of criticism from law enforcement agencies for its unrealistic portrayal of the procedures and science of criminal investigation. I don’t care though, as I just think it’s fun television. The original “CSI” set in Las Vegas seems to have “gone off the boil” lately, but the addition of Sela Ward to the cast of “CSI: NY” has really, really raised the level of the sister show set in New York City.
_SA
NSA. Edward Snowden is a former NSA contractor who leaked several top secret NSA documents to the media beginning in June 2013. After disclosing his name as the source of the leaks, Snowden tried to seek asylum in Ecuador. While travelling to Ecuador he had a layover in Moscow. While in Moscow, the US government revoked his passport, which effectively left him stranded in the transit area of Moscow Airport. The Russian government eventually granted him annually renewable temporary asylum.
_LO
ELO. ELO of course stands for the Electric Light Orchestra, a symphonic rock group from the north of England. Their manager was Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne (wife of Ozzy). “Ole ELO” is a compilation album the band released in 1976.
I_N
IAN. The name ‘John’ translates into Scottish as ‘Ian’, into Russian as ‘Ivan’, and into Irish as ‘Seán’.
LE_
LEI. May 1 is Lei Day in Hawaii, a celebration of Hawaiian culture that started in 1927 in Honolulu. There is a traditional song from the islands called ‘May Day is Lei Day in Hawai’i’.
_NNE
ANNE. Anne Klein was a fashion designer from Brooklyn, New York.
A_A
ABA. American Bar Association (ABA)
CI_
CIA. CIA-gate is an alternative name for the Plame affair.
L_S
LES. The 1980 musical “Les Miserables” is an adaptation of the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The show opened in London in 1985, and is the longest running musical in the history of London’s West End. My wife and I saw “Les Miz” in the Queen’s Theatre in London quite a few years ago, but were only able to get tickets in the very back row. The theater seating is very steep, so the back row of the balcony is extremely high over the stage. One of the big events in the storyline is the building of a street barricade over which the rebels fight. At the height we were seated we could see the stagehands behind the barricade, sitting drinking Coke, even having a cigarette. On cue they would get up and catch a dropped rifle, or an actor that had been shot. It was pretty comical. I didn’t really enjoy the show that much, to be honest. Some great songs, but the storyline just didn’t seem to hang together for me.
REN_
RENE. Belgian artist Rene Magritte was a surrealist. His most recognized work maybe is “The Son of Man”, a painting he created as a self-portrait. It is the one that shows a man in a bowler hat with his face covered by an apple. It features prominently in the great movie, the 1999 remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair”.
AS_
ASP. The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.
_SA
NSA. The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.
_MAN
OMAN. Oman lies on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula, neighbored by the OAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Oman is a Sultanate, headed by a hereditary sultan. The current head of state is Qaboos bin Said Al Said, and he rules with the help of an elected advisory council (instituted in the early nineties). There are no legal, political parties however.
_AN
IAN. Sir Ian McKellen is a marvelous English actor, someone who is comfortable playing anything from Macbeth on stage and Magneto in an X-Men movie. On the big screen he is very famous for playing Gandalf in “The Lord of Rings”. In the UK Sir Ian is noted for being at the forefront of the campaign for equal rights for gay people, a role he has enthusiastically embraced since the eighties.
A_N
ANN. Barack Obama, Sr. was first married at the age of 18 in his home country of Kenya, and had two children during that marriage. He left his wife and children back in Kenya when he enrolled in the University of Hawaii in 1959 as the school’s first African foreign student. There Obama met Ann Dunham in a Russian language course. The two entered into a romantic relationship and Dunham became pregnant. Obama told Dunham that he was divorced from his first wife (not true), and the pair were married on Maui in 1961. Six months later, Barack Obama II was born, destined to become the 44th President of the United States. The couple divorced in 1964. After the divorce, Dunham was able to marry Lalo Soetoro, a Javanese surveyor who she met while he was studying for a masters degree at the university. Soetoro returned to Indonesia in 1966, and Dunham joined him there the following year with her 6-year-old son. Barack Obama spent four years in Indonesia before returning to Hawaii to live with his grandparents.
OTI_
OTIS. The singing group known as the Temptations used to be known as the Elgins, and was formed in 1960 in Detroit. The group is still performing today, although only the second tenor, Otis Williams, was part of the original quintet. The Temptations were very much associated with their ‘sister group’, the Supremes.
I_E
IKE. When the future president was growing up, the Eisenhower family used the nickname ‘Ike’ for all seven boys in the family, as ‘Ike’ was seen as an abbreviation for the family name. ‘Big Ike’ was Edgar, the second oldest boy. ‘Little/Young Ike’ was Dwight, who was the third son born. Dwight had no sisters.
_RR
ORR. Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time. 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 anymore. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking …
_OL
AOL. Founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1983, the company changed its name to America Online in 1989. As the company went international, the acronym AOL was used in order to shake of the “America-centric” sound to the name. During heady days of AOL’s success, the company could not keep up with the growing number of subscribers, so people trying to connect often encountered busy signals. That’s when users called AOL “Always Off-Line”.
_KE
IKE. There doesn’t seem to be any good reason why President Eisenhower was called “Ike”. It is known however, that the nickname dates back to his childhood as that is what his parents called him.
OB_
OBI. The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied in what is called a butterfly knot.
_NNE
ANNE. The young actress Anne Hathaway is a favorite of mine, I must say. She starred in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ in 2006 and in 2007’s ‘Becoming Jane’, a film I particularly enjoyed.
ANN_
ANNE. The Glorious Revolution took place in 1688, resulting in the overthrow of the Catholic King James II of England. English Parliamentarians had been looking to the Protestant daughter of the king, Mary, to ascend to the throne along with her husband William of Orange. These plans were jeopardized with the birth of a son to King James II. And so, William of Orange led an invasion of England, and then seizing the throne as William III beside his wife Mary II. Mary II died before her husband, and so William III ruled alone for the last six years of his life. When William passed away in 1702, his wife’s sister ascended to the throne as Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Anne, was the last British monarch from the House of Stuart, as she died without issue. Anne’s successor was her nearest Protestant relative, as a law had been passed preventing Roman Catholics from occupying the throne. So, George I succeeded Anne, marking the transition from the House of Stuart to the House of Hanover.
E_NA
ETNA. Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt Vesuvius.
LE_
LES. The 1980 musical “Les Misérables” is an adaptation of the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The show opened in London in 1985, and is the longest running musical in the history of London’s West End. My wife and I saw “Les Miz” in the Queen’s Theatre in London quite a few years ago, but were only able to get tickets in the very back row. The old theater’s seating is very steep, so the back row of the balcony is extremely high over the stage. One of the big events in the storyline is the building of a street barricade over which the rebels fight. At the height we were seated we could see the stagehands behind the barricade, sitting drinking Coke, even smoking cigarettes. On cue, the stagehands would get up and catch a dropped rifle, or an actor that had been shot. It was pretty comical. I didn’t really enjoy the show that much, to be honest. Some great songs, but the musical version of the storyline just didn’t seem to hang together for me.
_NE
ONE. In motor racing, the designation “formula” is a set of rules that all participants and cars must abide by. The definition of “Formula One” was agreed back in 1946, with the “one” designating that it is the most advanced of the “formulae”, and the most competitive.
ER_C
ERIC. Eric Lindros is a retired Canadian hockey player. During his NHL career he played for the Philadelphia Flyers, the New York Rangers, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Dallas Stars.
N_A
NSA. The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.
AN_
ANN. The television journalist Ann Curry is perhaps best known for the time she spent as co-host on NBC’s ‘Today’ show. NBC executives asked Curry to resign from the ‘Today’ show because ratings were low. I just read online that Curry was also pushed out because of the way she insisted on dressing and because she refused to dye her gray hair. I hope that isn’t true …
_TON
ETON. Captain Hook is the bad guy in ‘Peter Pan’, the famous play by J. M. Barrie. Hook is Peter Pan’s sworn enemy, as Pan cut off Hook’s hand causing it to be replaced by a ‘hook’. It is implied in the play that Hook attended Eton College, just outside London. Hook’s last words are ‘Floreat Etona’, which is Eton College’s motto.
L_I
LEI. “Lei” is the Hawaiian word for “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a “lei” is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.
O_E
ONE. Three, two, one, blastoff!
S_N
SSN. Prior to the June 2011, the first three digits of the Social Security Number (SSN) was designated as an Area Number. In recent decades this Area Number reflects the ZIP code in the mailing address of the person for which the SSN was applied. From June 2011, all SSNs issued have been assigned randomly. I always think that’s a good idea …
RH_
RHO. I think the idea is that the letter rho is a character in the name Aristophanes, when written in Greek.
OTI_
OTIS. Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.
ON_
ONE. One World Trade Center (One WTC) is the legal name for the tallest building in the US that is known colloquially as ‘Freedom Tower’. The building stands at the symbolic height of 1776 feet.
_RIC
ERIC. Eric Roberts is an actor from Biloxi, Mississippi. Eric is the older brother of actress Julia Roberts.
ON_
ONE. Time to remember our math classes. f(x) = x + 10 is the equation or function describing a straight line. The ‘10’ in the equation tells us that the line crosses the y-axis at 10. As there is a ‘1’ (implied) before the ‘x’, then the slope of the line is said to be 1. Another way to arrive at the value of the slope is to take the derivative of the function with respect to x, and that turns out to be 1 as well.
_AU
EAU. Eau Claire, Wisconsin is named for the Eau Claire River, which in turn was named by French explorers. The explorers had been travelling down the muddy Chippewa River and diverted into the clear water of what is now called the Eau Claire River. They exclaimed ‘Voici l’eau claire!’ meaning ‘Here is clear water!’ The French phrase ‘Voici l’eau claire’ is now the city’s motto that appears on the city seal.
ET_A
ETNA. Vulcan is the Roman god of fire, including the fire coming out of volcanoes. He was an iron-smith, and manufactured the arms, armor and jewelry for other gods. His smithy was believed to be underneath Mount Etna in Sicily.
AO_
AOL. Founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1983, the company changed its name in 1989 to America Online. As America Online went international, the acronym AOL was used in order to shake off the “America-centric” sound to the name. During the heady days of AOL’s success the company could not keep up with the growing number of subscribers, so people trying to connect often encountered busy signals. That’s when users referred to AOL as “Always Off-Line”.
_ENE
RENE. The great French philosopher Rene Descartes made the famous statement in Latin, ‘Cogito ergo sum’. This translates into French as ‘Je pense, donc je suis’ and into English as ‘I think, therefore I am’.
I_S
IRS. April 15th wasn’t always Tax Day in the US. The deadline for returns was March 1st from 1913-18, when it was moved to March 15th. Tax Day has been April 15th since 1955.
O_AN
OMAN. Muscat is the capital of Oman, and lies on the northeast coast of the state on the Gulf of Oman, a branch of the Persian Gulf.
E_IC
ERIC. Eric Ambler was a British author of spy novels, an author that I read voraciously for relaxation as I worked my way through college. One of his books was ‘The Light of Day’, which provided inspiration for the comic movie adaption called ‘The Pink Panther’. Ambler also wrote the screenplay for the excellent film ‘A Night to Remember’ which told the story of the fateful maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.
AD_
ADA. The American Dental Association (ADA) is the largest and oldest national dental association in the world. Today the ADA is based in Chicago, but the association was founded in Niagara Falls, New York in 1859. The ADA started out as a group of 26 dentists and it now has more than 152,000 members.
I_N
IAN. Sir Ian McKellen is a marvelous English actor, someone who is comfortable playing anything from Macbeth on stage to Magneto in an ‘X-Men’ movie. On the big screen, McKellen is very famous for playing Gandalf in “The Lord of Rings”. In the UK Sir Ian is noted for being at the forefront of the campaign for equal rights for gay people, a role he has enthusiastically embraced since the eighties.
A_NE
ANNE. Queen Anne was the last of the Stuarts to rule in the British Isles, and the first sovereign of the Kingdom of Great Britain (after England and Scotland united). Anne was the last of the Stuart line because she died without any surviving children, despite having been pregnant seventeen times.
REN_
RENE. Rene Auberjonois is an American actor. His most famous role on the big screen was that of Father Mulcahy in “MAS*H”.
_ED
TED. The acronym TED stands for Technology Entertainment and Design. TED is a set of conferences held around the world by a non-profit group called the Sapling Foundation. The conference subjects are varied, and the meetings are often led by big names such as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Gates and Jane Goodall. The Sapling Foundation then makes recordings of the conferences available for free online with the intent of disseminating the ideas globally. These conferences are known as ‘TED Talks’.
INC_
INCA. Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro discovered the Incas in 1526, the beginning of the end for the ancient civilization, ravaged by force and by imported smallpox.
EV_
EVA. Little Eva is a character in the novel ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, whose full name is Evangeline St. Clare.
_TIS
OTIS. Elevators (simple hoists) had been around for a long time. What Elisha Otis did was come up with the “safety elevator”, a design that he showcased at the 1853 World’s Fair in New York. He would stand on an elevated platform in front of onlookers and order his assistant to cut the single rope holding up the platform. His safety system kicked in when the platform had only fallen a few inches, amazing the crowd. After this demonstration at the fair, the orders came rolling in.
_NCA
INCA. Machu Picchu is known as “The Lost City of the Incas”, and it can be visited on a mountain ridge in Peru, 50 miles northwest of the city of Cuzco in the southeast of the country. The name Machu Picchu means “old peak”.
OD_
ODE. A Horatian Ode is an ode with a specific structure, designed to resemble the odes of the Roman poet, Horace.
_RCA
ORCA. ‘Orca’ was a 1977 horror movie, starring Richard Harris and Charlotte Rampling. It is often compared (unfavorably) with ‘Jaws’, which was released just two years earlier.
E_NA
ETNA. Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius.
TA_
TAO. The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.
_RR
ORR. The bomber pilot in Joseph Heller’s novel “Catch 22” is called Orr, and he has no other name, just “Orr”.
E_U
EAU. ‘Eau de toilette’ (toilet water) is a diluted perfume. A French person when dressing is said to be attending to his or her “toilette”.
I_S
IRS. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) came into being during the Civil War, to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.
EM_
EMO. The musical genre of “emo” originated in Washington D.C. in the 80s, and takes its name from “emotional hardcore”. Not my cup of tea …
A_A
A LA. Chicken à la King is a dish made with diced chicken in a cream sauce served over rice or pasta. There are several claims about the origin of the dish, but the most credible (to me) is that it was created in the 1890s in the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia by the hotel’s chef William King.
_EL
EEL. “Kabayaki” is a specific way of preparing fish in Japanese cuisine, and in particular refers to the preparation of eel.
_SA
NSA. The National Security Agency was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The agency has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that set up the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the nickname given to the NSA: “No Such Agency” …
_AU
EAU. Eau Claire, Wisconsin is named for the Eau Claire River, which in turn was named by French explorers. The explorers had been travelling down the muddy Chippewa River and diverted into the clear water of what is now called the Eau Claire River. They exclaimed ‘Voici l’eau claire!’ meaning ‘Here is clear water!’ The French phrase ‘Voici l’eau claire’ is now the city’s motto that appears on the city seal.
TA_
TAO. The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.
O_R
ORR. Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time. 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 anymore. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking …
L_O
LEO. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation of Leo. Regulus is a multiple star and what we see as one entity is actually made up of four stars rotating around a common center of mass. ‘Regulus’ is Latin for ‘prince’.
IN_A
INCA. Machu Piccho was probably a luxurious estate built for Incan emperor Pachacuti. It is way off the the beaten track high up n the Andes, and is accessed by trekking for 3-4 days along what’s called the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu.
L_S
LES. ‘Les Amants’ (‘The Lovers’) is a 1958 French movie directed by Louis Malle when he was just 25 years old. The film was a great success in France but when it was first shown here in the US, a theater manager was convicted of distributing obscene material.
E_A
EVA. Eva Longoria is a fashion model and an actress with a regular role on “Desperate Housewives”, playing Gabrielle Solis.
E_U
EAU. ‘Eau’ is the French word for ‘water’; ‘Mer’ is the French word for ‘sea’.
EE_
EEL. Eel Pie Island is in the River Thames, in the western side of Greater London. It is privately owned, and is home to about 50 houses and a few small businesses. It can only be accessed by footbridge or boat. Peter Townshend of The Who had a recording studio nearby on the mainland, one that he called Eel Pie Studios.
_LA
A LA. The phrase ‘in the style of’ can be translated in ‘alla’ in Italian and ‘à la’ in French.
UM_
UMA. Robert Thurman was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Robert raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”. Uma’s big break in movies came with her starring role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit ‘Pulp Fiction’. My favorite Uma Thurman film is the wonderful 1996 romantic comedy ‘The Truth About Cats and Dogs’.
_EI
LEI. “Lei” is the Hawaiian word for “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a “lei” is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.
E_K
ELK. The elk (also known as the wapiti) is the one of the largest species of deer in the world, with only the moose being bigger. Early European settlers were familiar with the smaller red deer back in their homelands, so when they saw the ‘huge’ wapiti they assumed it was a moose, and incorrectly gave it the European name for a moose, namely ‘elk’. The more correct name for the beast is ‘wapiti’, which means ‘white rump’ in Shawnee. It’s all very confusing …
A_A
A LA. A dish prepared “a la king” (usually chicken or turkey), is food prepared in a cream sauce, with mushrooms, pimentos, green peppers and sherry.
_NNE
ANNE. Anne, Princess Royal was born in 1950 and is the only daughter of British Queen Elizabeth II. Princess Anne has been in the public spotlight for many things, including her success as an equestrian. Princess Anne was the first member of the British Royal Family to have competed in an Olympic Games. Her daughter Zara Phillips continued the tradition and competed as a member of the British equestrian team in the 2012 Olympic Games. Zara’s medal was presented to her by her own mother, Princess Anne.
_AO
TAO. The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.
_SR
SSR. The former Soviet Union (USSR) was created in 1922, not long after the Russian Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the Tsar. Geographically, the new Soviet Union was roughly equivalent to the old Russian Empire, and was comprised of fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs).
A_ARI
ATARI. Centipede is an arcade game from Atari (it was my favorite!). The game was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, with Bailey being one of the few female game designers back then (it was released in 1980). Perhaps due to her influence, Centipede was the first arcade game to garner a significant female following.
AS_I
ASTI. The Palio di Asti is an Italian festival dating back to medieval times, with the highlight being a bareback horse race. The name of the race comes from its location, Asti, and “palio”, the name of a rectangular sheet of cloth awarded to the winner of the race. Yoo hoo! Rectangular cloth …
_OL
AOL. Founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1983, the company changed its name in 1989 to America Online. As the company went international, the acronym AOL was used in order to shake off the “America-centric” sound to the name. During the heady days of AOL’s success, the company could not keep up with the growing number of subscribers, so people trying to connect often encountered busy signals. That’s when users called AOL “Always Off-Line”.
E_AU
ESAU. Esau was the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. When their mother Rebekah gave birth to the twins “the first emerged red and hairy all over (Esau), with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out (Jacob)”. As Esau was the first born, he was entitled to inherit his father’s wealth (it was his “birthright”). Instead, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for the price of a “mess of pottage” (a meal of lentils).
_SI
CSI. I’m told that the TV show “CSI” gets a lot of razzing by law enforcement professionals for its unrealistic portrayal of the procedures and science of criminal investigation. I don’t care though, as I just think it’s fun television. The original “CSI” set in Las Vegas seems to have “gone off the boil”, but the addition of Sela Ward to the cast of “CSI: NY” has really, really raised the level of the sister show centered around New York City.
LE_
LEI. “Lei” is the Hawaiian word for “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a “lei” is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.
R_O
RHO. Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”.
_EI
LEI. “Fantasy Island” was a fun television series that aired from 1978 to 1984, starring the dashing Ricardo Montalban as Mr. Roarke and Herve Villechaize as Tattoo. Tattoo is Roarke’s colorful sidekick, famous for shouting out, “The plane! The plane!” as the guests arrived on the island at the beginning of each episode. There were lots of celebrity guest stars that appeared over the years, such as Sonny Bono, Tom Jones, Victoria Principal and Heather Locklear.
LE_
LES. ‘Les’ is French for ‘the’, and is used with a plural noun.
SO_
SOS. The combination of three dots - three dashes - three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots - pause - three dashes - pause - three dots), but in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so SOS is in effect only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are simply mnemonics, introduced after the SOS signal was adopted.
OMA_
OMAN. ‘Oman’ sounds like ‘oh, man!’
EA_
EAU. ‘Eau de Lourdes’ is water from Lourdes, said to have healing power.
A_A
ADA. Many tubes of toothpaste contain an endorsement from the American Dental Association (ADA).
I_CA
INCA. Quechua was the existing Native American language that was adopted and by the Incan Empire and favored over other dialects. Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro discovered the Incas in 1526, the beginning of the end for the ancient civilization, ravaged by force and by imported smallpox.
ANN_
ANNE. Katherine Anne Porter was a journalist, novelist and political activist from Indian Creek, Texas. One of Porter’s most famous works is her one and only novel ‘Ship of Fools’, which was the best-selling novel in the US in 1962.
E_K
ELK. Elk Mountain Ski Area is located about 30 miles north of Scranton, in the Endless Mountain region of Pennsylvania.
O_R
ORR. Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time. 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 anymore. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking …
_SAU
ESAU. ‘The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau’ is a painting by Sir Peter Paul Rubens.
_EL
EEL. “Kabayaki” is a specific way of preparing fish in Japanese cuisine, and in particular refers to the preparation of eel.
AB_
ABA. The American Bar Association.
UM_
UMA. Robert Thurman was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Robert raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”. Uma’s big break in movies came with her starring role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit ‘Pulp Fiction’. My favorite Uma Thurman film is the wonderful 1996 romantic comedy ‘The Truth About Cats and Dogs’.
_MA
UMA. Robert Thurman was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Robert raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”. Uma’s big break in movies came with her starring role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit ‘Pulp Fiction’. My favorite Uma Thurman film is the wonderful 1996 romantic comedy ‘The Truth About Cats and Dogs’.
