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.
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