Baptism is a sacrament of the Christian faith that is associated with the public declaration that an individual has renounced his or her old ways and has entered into a new life […]
What Does an Ancient Pickle Recipe Teach Us About Baptism?
Why Grammar Nerds Get Sick to Their Stomachs When You Say You Are Nauseous
Have you ever used the excuse of staying home, saying, “I feel nauseous”? You probably meant that you weren’t feeling well, and that is the way most people interpreted your words. It’s […]
Words That No Longer Mean What They Used To
Everyone reading this is a girl. You lived much of your life in the Matrix. You’re really not all that fantastic; in fact, you’re really quite awful. Even before you were born, […]
Is Xmas an Attempt to Take Christ out of Christmas?
For all of the gift-giving, decorations, holiday music, delicious food, and festive traditions, there is no escaping the fact that the central element of Christmas is the recognition of the birth of […]
Sound Asleep With Eyes Wide Open
As many as 20% of people sleep with their eyes open. The condition is officially known as nocturnal lagophthalmos. It gets its name from λαγωός, the Greek word for “hare.” This stems […]
What Happened to the Lost Letters of the English Alphabet?
Although the English language presents more than its fair share of challenges, its alphabet is pretty cut and dry. Granted, there are simpler alphabets to learn. Rotokas, spoken in parts of Papua […]
What Was the Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden?
Even the most casual student of the Bible knows that Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden because they ate the forbidden fruit. Have you ever wondered what kind […]
Big, Fat, Hairy Word Origin
When Thomas Savage attempted to develop the first scientific classification of the large primate we know as the gorilla, he reached back over 2,000 years and found a word in a long-filed […]
This Word for a Tasty Dish is a Real Mouthful
Aristophanes (427 BC – 386 BC) was groundbreaking with his plays. His skills as a satirist and as a keen observer of everyday life led him to give us one of the […]
The Bacon Brigade
In 266 BCE, the Greek city of Megara fended off the Macedonian conqueror Antigonus II Gonatas using flaming pigs doused in resin. Antigonus’s battle elephants fled in terror from the bacon brigade. […]
Commonplace Fun Facts 