Sometimes we must turn to other languages to find the perfect word.... READ ON
Once in a while, an international company will come out with a new product, brand name or slogan that gets, well, seriously lost in translation. One famous example is Mitsubishi’s unfortunate 1973 decision to name its new SUV the “Pajero,” which translates in Spanish to "wanker." Here are 11 more tragic, hilarious, and definitely off-color examples of products that really exist—and don’t always mean what their manufacturers... READ ON
Anyone with even a fleeting relationship to political news these days has probably noticed that partisan bickering in the U.S. Congress has reached a bit of a crescendo of late. So we got to thinking: When do politicians just give up on the vitriolic rhetoric and throw a punch? The answer: more often than you’d think. Here’s a list of our favorite instances—both historical and contemporary—when schoolyard tactics have made an appearance in the marbled halls of congresses, parliaments and... READ ON
Pretty much ever since humans discovered flight, we’ve been strapping animals into our new devices just to see what would happen. Over the last 330 years or so, we’ve launched dogs, cats, chimps, monkeys, roosters, ducks, spiders, fruit flies, silk worms, ants, bees, moss, turtles, rabbits, jellyfish, amoebae, fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, goldfish, and one Enlightenment-era sheep—into the air, into orbit, and into space. While it was difficult to choose which of these brave, history-making animals... READ ON
© Najlah Feanny/CORBIS SABA It's been almost 16 years since Dolly the cloned sheep was born. As she fades from our cultural memory, here’s a look at 11 up-and-coming (and often controversial) genetically engineered animals that might start appearing in backyards and on dinner tables near you. 1. Remote Control Rats Photo: CC bclinesmith By attaching wires to rats’ brains, a group of scientists at SUNY found in 2002 that they could get the little guys to turn left and right by remote... READ ON
Now that you’ve added those 19 distinctly American words to your vocabulary, here are 11 more phrases from different linguistic regions around the country—courtesy of the wonderful Dictionary of American Regional English, edited by Joan Hall, which released its fifth volume this spring. Keep in mind that these phrases are representative not only of a geographic region, but also of certain linguistic subsets, which split down generational, racial, ethnic and... READ ON
REUTERS /KEVIN LAMARQUE /LANDOV When traveling across the United States, it sometimes feels like the locals are speaking a whole different language. That's where the Dictionary of American Regional English comes to the rescue. The last installment of this staggering five-volume tome, edited by Joan Houston Hall, was published last month, and let me tell you, it’s a whoopensocker. In celebration of slang, here’s a list of 19 delightful obscure words from around the U.S. that you'll want to start... READ ON
Blizzard image via Shutterstock Forty years ago this week, the deadliest blizzard on record ripped through the lower Caucasus and into Iran, where it left 4,000 people dead. The Blizzard of 1972, as this hellish storm has come to be known, wasn’t your run of the mill squall; it wiped entire villages—200 villages, to be exact—off the... READ ON
Roughly 3,500 years ago—right about the time the Ancient Phoenicians were hitting their stride—a tiny cypress tree, no bigger than a fist, sprouted in the swamplands of Central Florida. 3,500 years later, on January 17 this year, that very same cypress burned to the... READ ON
Most of us have heard of the international NGOs Doctors Without Borders and Engineers Without Borders, and you might know about Reporters Without Borders. But what about Monks Without Borders? Or Clowns? Here's a list of borderless organizations you really should hear about. 1. Bikes Without... READ ON
5 Questions: Yoga Poses
Troy McClure Film or Actual Terrible Movie?
John Adams drank a tankard of hard cider each day and had the occasional beer for breakfast.
