It’s Colorado Day! On August 1, 1876, President Ulysses S. Grant officially welcomed Colorado into the Union as the 38th state. On this day in 1774, Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen (one wonders what he had been breathing up until that day). In 1914, World War I, the so-called war to end all wars, erupted. And in 1943, the Navy’s PT-109 was sunk by the Japanese, leading to John F. Kennedy becoming a bona fide war hero, a U.S. senator, and the first Catholic president.
Time to get high (so to speak) on that fresh Colorado air and tackle today’s vocab quiz. How many do you know?
1. nil sine numine
(a) never give up valor – motto of U.S. Navy
(b) never fail to seek – motto of Joseph Priestly
(c) nothing without the divine will — motto of Colorado
(d) no one will ever forget – motto of the U.S. Army
2. does not share a border with Colorado
(a) Utah
(b) New Mexico
(c) Nevada
(d) Arizona
3. anaerobic
(a) living, active, or occurring only in the presence of oxygen
(b) life in the presence of air or oxygen
(c) oxidation by direct combination with oxygen (as in air) at ordinary temperatures
(d) living, active, occurring, or existing in the absence of free oxygen
4. hypoxia
(a) a deficiency of oxygen reaching the tissues of the body
(b) to take up oxygen and produce carbon dioxide through oxidation
(c) a binary compound of oxygen with a more electropositive element or group
(d) the rarefied element formerly believed to fill the upper regions of space
5. doughboy
(a) a military drummer
(b) an American infantryman especially in World War I
(c) an Army cook
(d) a purveyor of food to the military
6. kamikaze
(a) a member of a Japanese air attack corps in World War II assigned to make a suicidal crash on a target (as a ship)
(b) the code that governs or one of the rules that govern the rights and duties of belligerents in international war
(c) an inflatable life jacket in the form of a collar extending down the chest that was worn by fliers in World War II
(d) an artifice or trick in war for deceiving and outwitting the enemy
7. ordnance
(a) a law set forth by a wartime governmental authority
(b) a prescribed usage, practice, or ceremony
(c) military supplies including weapons, ammunition, combat vehicles, and maintenance tools and equipment
(d) a statement made by a party to a legal transaction usually not under oath
8. Four Horsemen
(a) war, famine, pestilence, and death personified as the four major plagues of mankind
(b) war, famine, pestilence, and ignorance personified as the four major plagues of mankind
(c) war, famine, apathy, and death personified as the four major plagues of mankind
(d) sloth, betrayal, gluttony, and avarice personified as the four major faults of mankind
9. Year of JFK’s inauguration as president
(a) 1957
(b) 1961
(c) 1965
(d) 1963
10. PT
(a) patrol tank
(b) portable torpedo
(c) pilot target
(d) patrol torpedo
Correct answers:
1c; 2c; 3d; 4a; 5b; 6a; 7c; 8a; 9b; 10d
How will we describe you today?
| Score | Comment |
| All 10 | You’ve climbed every vocabulary mountain, no doubt. |
| 7-9 | You made a valiant effort. |
| 4-6 | Keep marching. You’ll get there. |
| 2-3 | Breathe slowly and deeply and let’s get more oxygen into that brain. |
| 0-1 | Is it true your country is doing more for you than you are doing for your country? |
Intro text: inspired by history.com
Definitions: Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary
