Here you have some common idioms
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Sunday, July 28, 2013
Word of the Day Sunday, July 28, 2013
Spanish Word of the Day
Sunday, July 28, 2013
quejarse, reflexive verb
to complain
to complain
Quejarse is a basic word, meaning to complain, which it’s useful to know. To complain about something the preposition you use isde:
Se quejaban de la falta de información.
They were complaining about the lack of information.
If you want to complain about what someone is doing, the construction is de que followed by a clause with the verb in the indicative:
Los vecinos siempre se quejan de que Luis tiene el radio puesto.
The neighbors are always complaining that Luis has the radio on.
And if you’re happy enough with a situation, you use quejarse in a similar way to English:
¿Cómo te va todo? - No me quejo.
How are things? - I can’t complain.
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Word of the Day for Sunday, July 28, 2013
dreck \drek\, noun:
1. worthless trash; junk.
2. excrement; dung.
2. excrement; dung.
Though composed rapidly, it's a better elegy than Milton's to Edward King or Shelley's on the death of John Keats, which is puredreck—revolting, sentimental dreck.
-- Joseph Heller, God Knows, 1997
But in the end it's all dreck, or if not dreck then some form of bathetic aspiration: for our lives to course as smoothly, shifted but never stopped, draining into some glorious & storied sea.
-- Jonathan Miles, Dear American Airlines, 2009
Dreck entered English in the 1920s from the Yiddish word drek, which comes from the German word Dreck meaning "filth."
On This Day:
Sunday July 28, 2013
This is the 209th day of the year, with 156 days remaining in 2013.
Fact of the Day: vegetable oils
Vegetable oils are extremely important in cooking. They are extracted either from seeds (such as soya and sunflower seeds) or from fruits (such as olives and nuts). Sesame and olive oils have the oldest origins; records show both were used by the ancient Egyptians. The ancient Greeks used olive oil. Most vegetable oils are low in cholesterol, being made up of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids. Others, such as coconut and palm oil, contain almost as much saturated fatty acid as animal fats.
Holidays
Events
1540 - King Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed, the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.
1615 - French explorer Samuel de Champlain discovered Lake Huron on his seventh voyage to the New World.
1821 - Peru declared its independence from Spain.
1858 - Fingerprints were first used as a means of identification by William Herschel, who later established a fingerprint register.
1868 - The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, guaranteeing due process of law and African-Americans citizenship and all its privileges, went into effect.
1896 - The city of Miami, Florida, was incorporated.
1914 - Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, beginning World War I.
1932 - Federal troops forcibly dispersed the so-called"Bonus Army" of World War I veterans who had gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand money they weren't scheduled to receive until 1945.
1933 - The first singing telegram was delivered, to singer Rudy Vallee on his 32nd birthday.
1945 - A U.S. Army bomber crashed into the 79th floor of New York's Empire State Building, killing 14 people.
1976 - An earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude on the Richter scale leveled Tangshan, China, killing nearly a quarter million people; it was the worst earthquake in modern history.
1998 - Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. announced a deal to create the second-biggest telephone company. The resulting mega-corporation was later to be named Verizon Communications.
1615 - French explorer Samuel de Champlain discovered Lake Huron on his seventh voyage to the New World.
1821 - Peru declared its independence from Spain.
1858 - Fingerprints were first used as a means of identification by William Herschel, who later established a fingerprint register.
1868 - The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, guaranteeing due process of law and African-Americans citizenship and all its privileges, went into effect.
1896 - The city of Miami, Florida, was incorporated.
1914 - Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, beginning World War I.
1932 - Federal troops forcibly dispersed the so-called"Bonus Army" of World War I veterans who had gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand money they weren't scheduled to receive until 1945.
1933 - The first singing telegram was delivered, to singer Rudy Vallee on his 32nd birthday.
1945 - A U.S. Army bomber crashed into the 79th floor of New York's Empire State Building, killing 14 people.
1976 - An earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude on the Richter scale leveled Tangshan, China, killing nearly a quarter million people; it was the worst earthquake in modern history.
1998 - Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. announced a deal to create the second-biggest telephone company. The resulting mega-corporation was later to be named Verizon Communications.
Births
1866 - Beatrix Potter, British author of children's stories.
1901 - Rudy Vallee, American singer.
1929 - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, first lady of the U.S. (1961-1963), editor.
1938 - Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru.
1943 - Richard Wright English pianist and keyboardist; best known for his long career with Pink Floyd.
1945 - Jim Davis, American cartoonist who created the popular comic strip Garfield.
1954 - Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela.
1901 - Rudy Vallee, American singer.
1929 - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, first lady of the U.S. (1961-1963), editor.
1938 - Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru.
1943 - Richard Wright English pianist and keyboardist; best known for his long career with Pink Floyd.
1945 - Jim Davis, American cartoonist who created the popular comic strip Garfield.
1954 - Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela.
Deaths
1655 - Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist and satirist.
1750 - Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer.
1934 - Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber), Canadian actress.
1939 - William Mayo, a physician in the United States and one the founders of the Mayo Clinic.
1750 - Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer.
1934 - Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber), Canadian actress.
1939 - William Mayo, a physician in the United States and one the founders of the Mayo Clinic.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Word of the Day
Word of the Day for Saturday, July 27, 2013
additament \uh-DIT-uh-muhnt\, noun:
something added; an addition.
Secondly, with an additament, wherein brimstone is approved to help to the melting of iron or steel.
-- Francis Bacon, "Physiological Remains," The Works of Lord Bacon, 1838
But let her stand upon her female character as upon a foundation; and let the attentions incident to individual preference, be so many pretty additaments and ornaments, as many and as fanciful as you please, to that main structure.
-- Charles Lamb, Essays of Ella, 1838
Additament comes from the Latin word additāmentum which referred to an addition.
On This Day:
Saturday July 27, 2013
This is the 208th day of the year, with 157 days remaining in 2013.
Fact of the Day: sunflower
Sunflower heads consist of 1,000 to 2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base. The large petals around the edge of a sunflower head are individual ray flowers which do not develop into seed. A sunflower is ready to harvest when the back portion of the head turns brown. Floating rafts of sunflowers were used to clean up water contaminated by the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the former Soviet Union. The roots of the sunflower plants removed 95% of the radioactivity in the water by pulling contaminants out of the water.
Holidays
Feast day of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, St. Theobald of Marly, the Martyrs of Salsette, Saints Aurelia, Natalia and their Companions, and St. Pantaleon.
National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day.
National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day.
Events
1789 - Congress established the Department of Foreign Affairs, the forerunner of the Department of State.
1794 - Maximilien Robespierre, the architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, was overthrown and arrested by the National Convention.
1866 - Cyrus W. Field finally succeeded in laying the first underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe.
1921 - Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated insulin.
1940 - Bugs Bunny made his debut in the animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."
1953 - Representatives of the United Nations, Korea, and China signed the Korean War armistice at Panmunjon, Korea.
1976 - Air Force veteran Ray Brennan became the first person to die of so-called "Legionnaire's Disease" following an American Legionconvention in Philadelphia.
1995 - The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., by President Bill Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young-sam.
1996 - In Atlanta, Georgia, the XXVI Summer Olympiad was disrupted by the explosion of a nail-laden pipe bomb in Centennial Olympic Park, which killed one and injured more than 100.
2005 - Ahmed Ressam, aka "The Millennium Bomber," was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999.
2007 - Two news helicopters collide while covering a police car chase in Phoenix, Arizona.
1794 - Maximilien Robespierre, the architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, was overthrown and arrested by the National Convention.
1866 - Cyrus W. Field finally succeeded in laying the first underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe.
1921 - Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated insulin.
1940 - Bugs Bunny made his debut in the animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."
1953 - Representatives of the United Nations, Korea, and China signed the Korean War armistice at Panmunjon, Korea.
1976 - Air Force veteran Ray Brennan became the first person to die of so-called "Legionnaire's Disease" following an American Legionconvention in Philadelphia.
1995 - The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., by President Bill Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young-sam.
1996 - In Atlanta, Georgia, the XXVI Summer Olympiad was disrupted by the explosion of a nail-laden pipe bomb in Centennial Olympic Park, which killed one and injured more than 100.
2005 - Ahmed Ressam, aka "The Millennium Bomber," was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999.
2007 - Two news helicopters collide while covering a police car chase in Phoenix, Arizona.
Births
1824 - Alexandre (Dumas Fils) Dumas, French novelist and playwright.
1906 - Leo Durocher, American baseball player, manager.
1916 - Keenan Wynn, American actor.
1922 - Norman Lear, American Emmy Award-winning producer.
1944 - Jean-Marie Leblanc, a French retired professional road bicycle racer who was general director of the Tour de France from 1989 to 2005.
1906 - Leo Durocher, American baseball player, manager.
1916 - Keenan Wynn, American actor.
1922 - Norman Lear, American Emmy Award-winning producer.
1944 - Jean-Marie Leblanc, a French retired professional road bicycle racer who was general director of the Tour de France from 1989 to 2005.
Deaths
1946 - Gertude Stein, avant-garde American novelist and poet.
1988 - Frank Zamboni, Jr., U.S. inventor whose most famous invention is the modern ice resurfacer.
2001 - Leon Russell Wilkeson, the bass guitarist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 until his death.
2003 - Bob Hope (born Leslie Townes Hope), London-born American comedian and actor.
1988 - Frank Zamboni, Jr., U.S. inventor whose most famous invention is the modern ice resurfacer.
2001 - Leon Russell Wilkeson, the bass guitarist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 until his death.
2003 - Bob Hope (born Leslie Townes Hope), London-born American comedian and actor.
Spanish Word of the Day
Saturday, July 27, 2013
presumir, verb
to show off
to show off
Presumir is a bit of a ‘false friend’, since it doesn’t generally mean ‘presume’ - in the sense of ‘suppose.’ However, if someonepresume in Spanish, they are being a little bit presumptuous.
Lleva ropa cara sólo para presumir ante los amigos.
He wears expensive clothes just to show off in front of his friends.
The structure presumir de followed by a noun or adjective means to think you are the thing described by the noun or adjective:
Presume de generoso.
He likes to think he’s generous.
Presume de liberal.
He likes to think he’s a liberal.
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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.
Word of the Day for Friday, July 26, 2013
cyclopean \sahy-kluh-PEE-uhn, sahy-KLOP-ee-uhn\, adjective:
1. (sometimes lowercase) gigantic; vast.
2. of or characteristic of the Cyclops.
3. (usually lowercase) Architecture, Building Trades. formed with or containing large, undressed stones fitted closely together without the use of mortar: a cyclopean wall.
2. of or characteristic of the Cyclops.
3. (usually lowercase) Architecture, Building Trades. formed with or containing large, undressed stones fitted closely together without the use of mortar: a cyclopean wall.
Together in this greater self they felt the headway of the long, low hull, the prodigious heart glow of the hungry fires, the cyclopeanpush of steam in eight vast boilers, the pulsing click and travail of the engines...
-- George Washington Cable, Gideon's Band, 1915
On his return, he threw himself into the cyclopean labour of clearing, ploughing and planting the virgin territory he'd inherited; it was in the far south-west of the island, an area known as Terrenos de Sio Miguel.
-- Miguel Sousa Tavares, Equator, 2009
Cyclopean refers to the mythical Greek creature Cyclops, a kind of giant who has one large eye in the middle of its face. This adjective has been used to mean "gigantic" since it entered English in the 1600s.
Spanish Word of the Day
Friday, July 26, 2013
presentar, verb
to introduce
to introduce
You may need to introduce people to one another in Spanish. If so, presentar is the verb you need.
Le presento a Carlos Solchaga, un compañero de trabajo.
This is Carlos Solchaga, a colleague of mine.
Quiero presentarte a nuestra profesora, Marta.
I’d like you to meet our teacher, Marta.
En la fiesta nos presentó a toda su familia.
At the party she introduced us to her whole family.
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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.
Word of the Day for Thursday, July 25, 2013
dispositive \dih-SPOZ-i-tiv\, adjective:
involving or affecting disposition or settlement: a dispositive clue in a case of embezzlement.
Perhaps it had been a hallucination, or it was a false memory. Boggs had even predicted that later Ellis would doubt the incident had even happened—which seemed dispositive toward the dead man's reality…
-- Nick Arvin, The Reconstructionist, 2012
Looks and charm were often dispositive, the more attractive partner sailing on to other waters.
-- Louis Begley, About Schmidt, 1996
Dispositive comes from the word dispose meaning "to put in a particular place."
Spanish Word of the Day
por si, conjunction | |
Word of the Day for Wednesday, July 24, 2013
grammatology \gram-uh-TOL-uh-jee\, noun:
the scientific study of systems of writing.
"...He can figure out the surface of a cube and of a sphere, he's studied grammatology and stroboscopy, he has beautiful books in his library,” I explained all in one breath.
-- Emmanuel Dongala, Maria Louise Ascher, Johnny Mad Dog, 2007
"She was never in Troy," says one version of the myth, meeting, imaging in this negation the metaphysics or grammatology of absence implicit in optatives of the verb.
-- George Steiner, Antigones, 1996
Grammatology was coined in the 1950s from Greek roots, the root grámma meaning "letter" and -ology, a combining form used in the names of sciences or bodies of knowledge.
Friday, July 26, 2013
On This Day:
On This Day:
Friday July 26, 2013
This is the 207th day of the year, with 158 days remaining in 2013.
Fact of the Day: teeth
Each adult jaw contains 16 teeth: four incisors, two canines, four premolars, and six molars. Incisors are cutting teeth; canines grip and tear food; premolars and molars have flattened crowns to crush and grind food.
Holidays
Feast day of St. Anne, St. Simeon the Armenian, St. Joachim, and St. Bartholomea Capitanio.
Cuba: National Day.
Liberia: Independence Day.
Maldives: Independence Day.
Events
1775 - The Continental Congress established a postal system for the colonies with Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general.
1788 - New York became the eleventh state to ratify the Constitution of the United States of America.
1847 - The Republic of Liberia, formerly a colony of the American Colonization Society, declared its independence. It was the first African colony to secure independence.
1908 - U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte established the Office of the Chief Examine, which was the forerunner of the FBI.
1945 - In the 11th hour of World War II, Winston Churchill was forced to resign as British prime minister following his party's electoral defeat by the Labour Party. He became leader of the opposition and in 1951 was again elected prime minister.
1947 - President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, theCentral Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Truman unified the Army and Navy under the Department of Defense .
1948 - U.S. President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, officially integrating the Armed Forces many years before the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
1953 - Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led a group of approximately 160 rebels in the Moncada Barracks attacks, widely accepted as the beginning of the Cuban Revolution.
1956 - The Suez Crisis began when Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the British- and French-owned Suez Canal.
1974 - The U.S. House Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon.
1990 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act.
2000 - A federal judge approved a $1.25 billion settlement between Swiss banks and more than a half million plaintiffs who alleged the banks had hoarded money deposited by Holocaust victims.
Births
1856 - George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright.
1875 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist.
1892 - Pearl Buck, American Nobel Prize-winning author.
1894 - Aldous Huxley, American philosopher, satirist, author.
1895 - Gracie Allen, American actress, wife and foil of George Burns.
1902 - William Lear, American engineer and industrialist who founded the Lear Jet Corporation.
1912 - Vivian Vance, American Emmy Award-winning actress.
1922 - Blake Edwards (McEdwards), American film director.
1928 - Stanley Kubrick, American film director.
1943 - Mick Jagger, British singer, member of the rock group Rolling Stones.
1964 - Sandra Bullock, film actress born in Arlington County, Virginia.
1980 - Dave Baksh, Canadian guitarist.
Deaths
1863 - Samuel Houston, American lawyer, politician, and president of the Republic of Texas.
1925 - William Jennings Bryan, American lawyer, statesman, and politician.
1952 - Eva Perón, Argentinian populist leader and wife of Argentina president Juan Perón.
1984 - George Gallup, statistician and opinion pollster, born in Jefferson, Iowa.
1995 - George Romney, Mexican-born American businessman and politician.
On This Day:
Thursday July 25, 2013
This is the 206th day of the year, with 159 days remaining in 2013.
Fact of the Day: sushi
Sushi, the Japanese specialty, consists of rice mixed with a dressing that not only adds flavor but makes the rice shapeable in a mold or by rolling. Additional ingredients include raw or cooked fish or seafood and vegetables. Layers of sushi rice and prepared ingredients are pressed into a mold to form little cakes, or wrapped in a sheet of nori seaweed and served in slices. Dipping sauce, mustard, and pickled ginger are typical accompaniments.
Holidays
Feast day of St. Christopher, Saints Thea, Valentina and Paul, St. James the Greater, and St. Magnericus.
Spain: St. James Day.
Costa Rica: Guanacaste Day.
Puerto Rico: Constitution Day.
Tunisia: Republic Day.
Events
1832 - The first recorded railroad accident in U.S. history occurred, on the Granite Railway near Quincy, Massachusetts.
1866 - Ulysses S. Grant was named General of the Army, the first officer to hold the rank.
1868 - The U.S. Congress passed an act creating the Wyoming Territory.
1898 - During the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched their invasion of Puerto Rico.
1909 - Louis Bleriot first crossed the English Channel in an airplane.
1917 - Margaretha Zelle, the Dutch spy known as Mata Hari, was sentenced to death.
1943 - Benito Mussolini was forced to resign as Dictator of Italy, bringing an end to the Fascist regime.
1952 - Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
1956 - The Italian liner Andrea Doria sank after colliding with the Swedish ship Stockholm, 45 miles south of Nantucket Island; 51 people died.
1978 - Louise Joy Brown, the first test-tube baby, was born in Oldham, England; she'd been conceived through in-vitro fertilization.
1984 - Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space.
2000 - A New York-bound Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four people on the ground.
2004 - Lance Armstrong won a record sixth Tour de France bicycle race, in an amazing comeback after his bout with cancer.
2007 - Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first woman president.
2007 - Jeremy Clarkson and James May become the first people to reach the magnetic North Pole in a car.
Births
1844 - Thomas Eakins, American painter.
1937 - Colin Renfrew, British archaeologist.
1954 - Walter Payton, American football player.
1958 - Thurston Moore, American musician.
1967 - Matt LeBlanc, American actor.
Deaths
1843 - Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor.
1973 - Louis Stephen St. Laurent, 12th Prime Minister of Canada.
1997 - Ben Hogan, American golfer.
2003 - John Schlesinger, British film director.
On This Day:
Wednesday July 24, 2013
This is the 205th day of the year, with 160 days remaining in 2013.
Fact of the Day: college and university
A university is an institution of higher education, usually comprising a liberal arts and sciences college and graduate and professional schools and having the authority to confer degrees in various fields of study. A university differs from a college in that it is usually larger, has a broader curriculum, and offers graduate and professional degrees in addition to undergraduate degrees. In Europe, the first modern-style universities were set up in Italy (Bologna) in the 11th century, and in France and England (University of Paris and University of Oxford respectively) in the 12th century.Holidays
Feast day of St. Christina the Astonishing, St. Boris or Romanus, St. Declan, St. Christina of Bolsena, St. Lewinna, and St. Gleb or David.Utah, western U.S. states: Pioneer Day.
Venezuela: Bolivar's Birthday.
Events
1701 - Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac established Fort Ponchartrain for France at present-day Detroit.1847 - Brigham Young arrived with 148 Mormon pioneers at Utah's Valley of the Great Salt Lake.
1866 - Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.
1911 - Machu Picchu was discovered by Hiram Bingham.
1974 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon had to turn over subpoenaed White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor.
1990 - Iraqi forces start massing on the Kuwait/Iraq border.
2005 - Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France.
Births
1783 - Simón Bolivar, Latin American revolutionary.1802 - Alexander Dumas (Davy de La Pailleterie) (Dumas PÈre), French playwright, novelist.
1897 - Amelia Earhart, American aviator.
1920 - Bella Abzug, American feminist, U.S. Congresswoman.
1935 - Pat Oliphant, Australian political cartoonist.
1946 - Gallagher (born Leo Anthony Gallagher) is an American comedian and prop comic, most popularly known for smashing watermelons as part of his act.
1957 - Pam Tillis, country music singer and songwriter, born in Plant City, Florida.
1963 - Karl Malone, retired American basketball player.
1969 - Jennifer Lopez, actress and singer, born in South Bronx, New York.
Deaths
1240 - Konrad von Thüringen, fifth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.1862 - Martin van Buren, 8th President of the United States of America.
1980 - Peter Sellers, English comic actor.
1991 - Isaac Bashevis Singer, Nobel Prize-winning Polish-born American author, and one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literarymovement.
1997 - William J. Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
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