Today’s Features on Gardner Magazine
charlatan | |
Definition: | A person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud. |
Synonyms: | mountebank |
a modest proposalAn extreme, unorthodox, and often provocative or distasteful remedy to a complex problem, generally suggested humorously or satirically. (An allusion to Jonathan Swift’s 1729 essay A Modest Proposal, in which he suggests that the poor of Ireland could alleviate their woes by selling their children as food.) |
Bill of Rights DayThe first 10 amendments to the US Constitution of 1787—referred to collectively as the Bill of Rights—were ratified on December 15, 1791. This landmark document protected American citizens from specific abuses by their government and guaranteed such basic rights as the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated December 15 as Bill of Rights Day and called upon Americans to observe it with appropriate patriotic ceremonies. More… |
To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it.
Herman Melville (1819-1891) |
Today’s topic: nourishalimony – From Latin alimonia, "nourishment" or "eating money," from alere, "to nourish," and mony, "result, resulting condition," it first meant "nourishment, support." More… alumnus, alumna, alumni – Alumnus and alumna stem from Latin alere, "to nourish or be nourished," now by a university; originally alumnus was a pupil and now it is a male graduate. Alumni refers to either sex. More… coalesce – Meaning "cause to grow together," it is from Latin co- and alere, "nourish." More… nurture – The verb was formed after the noun, which first referred (c. 1330) to a person's training or breeding. The word can be traced back to Latin nutritus, meaning "to nourish." More… |