Best is a name of Anglo-Saxon origin. It was a name given to a strong or resourceful man. The surname Best is derived from the Old English Old French word beste, and ultimately comes from the Latin word bestia, which means beast. What nationality is the name Ellis from? EnglishRead More →
slang Nonsense or foolishness. What is a jibber? jibber (plural jibbers) A horse that jibs, i.e. refuses, stops short. When was gobbledygook first used? Gobbledygook, coined by Maury Maverick in the early 1940s, means, in his words, “talk or writing which is long, pompous, vague, involved, usually with Latinized words.”Read More →
Last name: Lackey Recorded in various spellings including Lackie, Lackey, Lackeye, Leckie, Leckey, and Lecky, this is an old Scottish surname, which is also well recorded both in Ireland and England. How many people have the last name lackey? The surname Lackey is the 20,805th most commonly occurring surname throughoutRead More →
But that’s what life was like 80 years ago, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt — who had himself contracted polio in 1921 at age 39 — started the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The organization, which officially launched on Jan. 3, 1938, was behind the popular March of Dimes fundraisingRead More →
In the 1920s, Americans ate very light breakfasts, so public relations pioneer Edward Bernays persuaded doctors to promote bacon and eggs as a healthy breakfast in order to promote sales of bacon on behalf of Beech-Nut, a packaging company that had diversified into food production. What did they eat forRead More →
“The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang” defines a “boondoggle” as “an extravagant and useless project,” but behind the funny-sounding name is actual history. Who invented boondoggle? Story has it New York Scoutmaster Robert Link invented the word “boondoggle” in 1929 and applied it to the leather lanyards Boy ScoutsRead More →
The Paisley Pattern can BE traced back to the Indo-European cultures of 2,000 and more years ago. In Britain the pattern is represented in Celtic art, which died out in Europe under the influence of the Roman Empire. However in India the motif continued to flourish in many different artRead More →
Larimar is a gemstone found exclusively in the Caribbean, on the island of Hispaniola. Though it looks like this watery patterned, natural gemstone could come from the ocean, it is actually found in a dormant, volcanic mountain range in the Baoruco Mountains of the Barahona region of the Dominican Republic.Read More →
Shamans are the most notable of the multiple religious figures present in traditional Aboriginal religion. They function as healers, prophets, diviners and custodians of religious mythology. … In some societies, all these functions are performed by the same person; in others, shamans are specialists. What are the branches of shamanism?Read More →
The exact origin of the Mexican sombrero is unknown, but it is usually accepted that the hat originated with Mestizo cowboys in Central Mexico. What culture is a sombrero? Today, the sombrero is a symbol of Mexican culture. It’s an important part of the traditional Mexican Hat Dance. This danceRead More →