Miserable Mis-er-a-ble Adjective being in a pitiable state of distress or unhappiness wretchedly inadequate or meager causing extreme discomfort or unhappiness being likely to discredit or shame Let’s face it, the weather in August will be miserable. Weather must have been crappy for a long time since miserable goes back to the 15th century. The Middle English stole…
Word of the Week
My Word! July 4
by Betsey Ellis •
Initiative In-i-ti-a-tive Noun an introductory step energy or aptitude displayed in initiation of action, enterprise the right to initiate legislative action; a procedure enabling a specified number of voters by petition to propose a law and secure its submission to the electorate or to the legislature for approval Many believe the Battle of Bunker Hill was the initiative of…
States Well Stated
MASSACHUSETTS – BIRTHPLACE OF PRESIDENTS, THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, THE DIGITAL COMPUTER AND THANKSGIVING
by Betsey Ellis •
Given the patriotic season upon us, it is more than past time for me to resume our review of these United States with one of the oldest original 13 colonies, Massachusetts! Of course, there were native tribes in the area before Europeans arrived in the 17th century. If there hadn’t been how else would…
Word of the Week
My Word! June 27
by Betsey Ellis •
Hypothesis Hy-poth-e-sis Noun an assumption or concession made for the sake of argument an interpretation of a practical situation or condition taken as the ground for action a tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its logical or empirical consequences the antecedent clause of a conditional statement The earlier hypothesis that Machu Picchu was the birthplace of the Inca empire is no…
States Well Stated
Jousting! Crabs! Lions! Oh My!
by Betsey Ellis •
Maryland’s interest to Europeans goes back to 1498, when the shoreline was mapped by the Venetian John Cabot for the English. In 1632 George Calvert (later also known as Baron Baltimore) came to the shores in hopes of establishing a place where he could practice his Roman Catholicism in peace. He founded a settlement and…
States Well Stated
Remember the What?
by Betsey Ellis •
Maine used to be a lot of things. It used to be the northernmost State. It used to have the most coastline (it has more than 3500 miles of coastline). It was even included in the original United States, as part of Massachusetts until 1820. Not wanting to be dominated by the megalopolis of Boston,…