Words! Words! Words!

Sadness, ‘high’ness, newness, and oldness

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Feb 3, 2022 10:30:00 AM

This is the day, in 1959, that the music died. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper lost their lives in a tragic plane crash in Iowa. On this day in 1966, the first controlled landing of a spacecraft on the moon occurred (see below). In 2005, Alberto Gonzales became the first Hispanic U.S. attorney general. And in 1924, President Woodrow Wilson died. Let’s see if you can keep your word skills among the living, and even get them off the ground. Comprende, mi amigo?

 

 

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Topics: vocabulary test, vocabulary, vocabulary quiz

Go Deep?

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Sep 30, 2021 10:30:00 AM

On this day in 1954, the world’s first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, was commissioned by the U.S. Navy. On this day in 1947, the World Series was broadcast on TV for the first time. In 1938, the ill-fated Munich Pact was signed by British and French prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier and Germany’s Adolf Hitler. And in 1822, José Mariano (Joseph Marion) Hernández became the first Hispanic to be elected to the United States Congress.

Take our quiz today and 1) see if you can finish it without refueling, 2) be the first to broadcast your high score nationwide on Zoom, 3) make your country proud, and 4) win in less than seven games.

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Topics: vocabulary test, vocabulary, vocabulary quiz

Herd These Words?

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Sep 25, 2020 8:00:00 AM

On September 25, 1867, the pioneering cattleman Oliver Loving died from gangrene poisoning in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. A few weeks before, Loving had been trapped by 500 Comanche braves along the Pecos River. Shot in the arm and side, Loving managed to escape and reach Fort Sumner. Though the wounds alone were not fatal, Loving soon developed gangrene in his arm, a common infection in the days before antibiotics. Sometimes referred to as the “Dean of the Trail Drivers,” Loving had been braving the Comanche territory along the Pecos in order to make his second pioneering drive of cattle from Texas to Denver.

Loving and his partner Charles Goodnight proposed to drive a herd of cattle directly to the growing population centers in New Mexico and Colorado where they could avoid middlemen and earn higher prices per head. The result was the Goodnight-Loving Trail, a 700-mile route through west Texas and New Mexico that eventually brought the cattle right into the booming mining regions of Colorado.

Okay, tenderfoot… head ‘em up and move ‘em out. Let’s see how you round up today’s word herd and how you rate in the table below the quiz.

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Topics: vocabulary test, vocabulary, vocabulary quiz

Wash Your Hands and Take Our Quiz

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Sep 4, 2020 8:00:00 AM

Seems everybody’s a scientist these days…deciding when masks are required and when they’re not, when schools should open and when they should close, what kind of cough is OK in public. If you’re not sick of it all yet, you must be a world-class epidemiologist who thrives on diseaseiology (I just made that word up). Or maybe a wannabe. Or in-between. Whatever. Take our test today and see if you’re the one Dr. Birx has been looking for all these trying months.

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Topics: vocabulary test, vocabulary, vocabulary quiz

Still on the Road With ProofreadNOW.com

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Jun 25, 2020 9:41:34 AM

We’re still on the road across the rugged West and beautiful Midwest of the U.S.A. Some fields are corn, some are wheat, some are barley, some are hay, and some are something else. There are cows, horses, sheep, buffalo, and antelope roaming and grazing as far as the eye can see. Every field is an awesome sight. If you’re one who thinks corn, steaks, sausage, and flour magically originate at the grocery store, you’ll be at a disadvantage in this week’s quiz. Try hard anyway, and be sure to look for a local farm stand next time you need some eggs or milk.

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Topics: vocabulary test, vocabulary, word quiz, vocabulary quiz

On the Road With ProofreadNOW.com

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Jun 19, 2020 9:26:52 AM

St. Louis, Missouri ArchWe’re literally on the road this week, traveling across this great country called America. As we travel the highways and byways, we are often curious about how geographical names came about. Ever wonder, for example, where the word ‘Appalachia’ came from? We find this on Wikipedia: “While exploring inland along the northern coast of Florida in 1528, the members of the Narváez expedition, including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, found a Native American village near present-day Tallahassee, Florida, whose name they transcribed as Apalchen or Apalachen. The name was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north." And you thought it was French for ‘toothless banjo player.’ Well, try your hand at our non-extensive list of some well-known places, and see where you end up. (Definitions according to Wikipedia.)

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Topics: vocabulary, word quiz, vocabulary quiz

TOTE (Take Our Test - Encore)

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Jun 12, 2020 11:01:48 AM

We got great emails about last week’s post, all about acronyms and initialisms. Well, we’re going to do it again this week. List some more. Get you guessing. Answering your lifelong wonderments. LTIP (Last time, I promise).

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Topics: vocabulary test, vocabulary, word quiz, vocabulary quiz

Reaching New Heights

Posted by Phil Jamieson   May 1, 2020 12:09:09 PM

On May 1, 1931, President Herbert Hoover officially dedicated New York City’s Empire State Building, pressing a button from the White House that turned on the building’s lights. Hoover’s gesture, of course, was symbolic; while the president remained in Washington, D.C., someone else flicked the switches in New York. On this day in 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. The incident derailed an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month. Let’s see how high and how fast you can go with today’s word quiz. Be sure not to bail out before you finish!

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Topics: vocabulary test, vocabulary, word quiz

A Founding, a Downing, and a Stolen Crowning

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Apr 21, 2020 10:39:39 AM

 

According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, founded Rome on the site where they were suckled by a she-wolf as orphaned infants. Would you believe there is a coin in the Louvre dated April 21, 753 B.C., commemorating the founding? In 1918, in the skies above France, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as the “Red Baron,” was killed by Allied fire (and not by Snoopy). In 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto, the Texas militia under the leadership of Sam Houston routed Mexican forces led by General Santa Anna. And in 1980, Rosie Ruiz faked her win in the Boston Marathon. She actually jumped into the race about a mile before the finish line. Poor Rosie was crowned the winner, only to be shamed and disqualified a week later. See if you can get ALL the words in today’s quiz. Don’t start at #9 and think you can win.

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Topics: vocabulary test, vocabulary, vocabulary quiz

The Famous Date of April 15

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Apr 15, 2020 2:06:49 PM

The date April 15 is loaded with good and bad. The most recent good is that this year, it’s NOT Tax Day in the US, what with the COVID situation and all! And on this day in 1947, the great Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball. But also on this day, the Titanic sank in 1912, the so-called Boston Bombers killed three spectators at the Boston Marathon and injured many more in 2013, and President Abraham Lincoln died after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth in 1865. See if you can apply your vocabulary skills for better or worse today in our quiz.

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Topics: vocabulary test, vocabulary, vocabulary quiz

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