Old-school news, just in time
by Dictionary Scoop We all have nursery rhymes etched in our memory, verses that take us straight back to our childhood. But behind some of those catchy, cheerful tunes lie surprisingly dark and mysterious origins rooted in real-life history. Join us to discover the hidden stories behind the most popular nursery rhymes. 1-The …
Continue reading “Some Nursery Rhymes Not Exactly Kid Stuff”
by Kevin Burton I know I shouldn’t be doing this. But here’s my excuse up front: The dictionary made me do it! There is more than enough bad blood, ill manners, insincerity and name calling to go around these days. Nevertheless, Merriam-Webster dictionary provides you today with entirely new and creative ways to …
Continue reading “Bolster Your Vocabulary With Creative Insults!”
by Kevin Burton After last week’s posts about the Food Network, we set the table once more with words about food from our friends at Merriam-Webster dictionary. I have heard the chefs on TV drop some of these words, but other words on the list sound more like Roman or Jewish names from …
by Kevin Burton Yesterday we rode the wayback machine and looked at one of my earliest Page 7 blog posts, one that made fun of the weird meals they make on Food Network. We also established that since that time I have developed an appetite for Food Network and have stopped dialing up …
by Kevin Burton It’s been 40 years and I haven’t forgotten. But it would appear that my limited affection for Simple Minds begins and ends with Ally Sheedy and The Breakfast Club. Both the band and the Brat Pack were white hot in 1985, 40 years ago this week, when “Don’t You …
Continue reading “Can’t Forget The Breakfast Club, Simple Minds”
by Kevin Burton Thirty-six little hours before we were to set sail for Memphis, my wife Jeannette checked the weather. And we never set sail for Memphis. The National Weather Service had issued a flood warning covering Memphis at exactly the same time we had planned to hit town. That sort of …
by Dictionary Scoop Charlie Chaplin once said that a day without laughter is a wasted day, and we couldn’t agree more. In a world where humor is often overshadowed by seriousness, people with the ability to laugh at themselves and the silliness of life are like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer day. …
by Kevin Burton Now flowers come from seeds. But flower etymologies come from every linguistic corner under heaven, ubiquitous as the flowers themselves it seems. On a beautiful Spring day, imagine an average couple driving the highways and byways of the heartland in a beautiful 2012 Toyota. And the wife might say, “Do …
Continue reading “Flowers Can Wait, They’ll Be Here Tomorrow”
by Kevin Burton Roberta Flack had an ear for music as good as her legendary voice, and she knew she was on to something. The vocalist-composer-arranger was on a cross-country flight when she first heard “Killing Me Softly With His Song” over headphones on the plane’s sound system. Flack would re-shape the song …
Continue reading ““Killing Me Softly” Singer Roberta Flack Dies”
by Kevin Burton What would you say to Sir Elton John if you could have a moment’s conversation with him today? Now that question may be absurd, or at least rhetorical. If you’re like me and grew up with Elton John in his prime all over the radio, as part of the fabric …
Continue reading “Of Sir Elton John And Seeing Things Clearly”
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