Nuclear Food, Goop Avoidance, Super Salads

by Kevin Burton    I invite you to step today, if you dare, into Kev’s Kitchen.    Just yesterday on Page 7 we looked at some jargon used by professional chefs and servers as they communicate in their busy restaurants.  At our house we don’t use too many of their terms. We do say “behind” …

Ten American Idioms Used Around The World

by Dictionary Scoop     In different parts of the world, people often express the same ideas in very similar ways, while using different languages. Join us to discover the foreign counterparts of these 10 everyday American idioms. 1-Beggars can’t be choosers    When you’re faced with a situation where you have to take what is …

American Slang Phrases Through The Decades

by Dictionary Scoop     Have you listened to teenagers talk lately? Their vocabulary is full of words we don’t quite understand. But come on, we did it too: every decade has had its own set of slang words and expressions.    Today, we look back at ten slang words and expressions that have defined each decade from …

“Fantasy Football Anthem” Tells The Truth

by Kevin Burton    All love to Kevin Rowland and to Dexy’s Midnight Runners, makers of Come On Eileen. All love to Eileen, all love to Johnnie Ray, all love to bib overalls.    But I may just have a new all-time favorite song.    It’s called Fantasy Football Anthem, and it’s by Holderness Family …

USA And UK Divided By Common Language

by Dictionary Scoop    While many things bring Americans closer to the UK, some aspects of our language set us apart.    English is spoken by more than 1.4 billion people worldwide; with so many people using this language, it is understandable that some differences have developed.    Today we walk through 10 drastic vocabulary differences between American …

Significant Words About Insignificance

by Kevin Burton    You may not have heard of some of the words on today’s list from Merriam-Webster, especially the first one.    The dictionary is serving up words about insignificance. But the first offering is from my childhood days at the Ohio State School for the Blind.    I may have heard this …

She Did The Mocking, I Did The Drafting

by Kevin Burton     In business, you have to give a report to the CEO from time to time, so she knows what’s going on.    It’s called being accountable. And this is serious business.    So it was Thursday that the CEO of the Burtons’ fantasy football company paid a visit to the Mock …

“Peanuts” First To Introduce Minority Character

by Kevin Burton    “At the time of Charles Schulz’s death he had produced 17,897 strips, and Peanuts had run in more than 2,600 newspapers worldwide and been translated into 21 languages,” reports http://www.interestingfacts.com.    Today we continue yesterday’s post, presenting more facts from that website.    I know for a fact that the Peanuts gang speaks …

Facts About The “Peanuts” Comic Strip

by interestingfacts.com    Charlie Brown and his gang of lovable young’uns are bonafide stars when it comes to classic American comic strip characters.     Peanuts, the brainchild of cartoonist Charles Schulz, is so well-known that many of its quotes and common catchphrases are now a part of our cultural lexicon. (Think: “Good grief,” “AAUGH,” and …

Facts You Might Not Know About M*A*S*H

by Interestingfacts.com    From its premiere on CBS in Sept. 1972 through its historic series finale watched by more than 106 million Americans in Feb. 1983, M*A*S*H changed television forever.     The series followed the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War of the early 1950s and seamlessly blended comedy and drama like never before. …