06 April 2013

Guess who I'm watching?

Your boyfriend professor engel!!! He's talking about Gone With the Wind :)

03 April 2013

Spartan

Origin-was unique among the Greek city-states because of the rigid program of military indoctrination it instilled in its citizens.

Definition-rigorously self-disciplined or self-trained

El dorado

Spanish for "the gilded one" is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dove into the Guatavita Lake. Later, it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold", that fascinated explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors.

02 April 2013

Marathon

a long distance race; source of the Victory of the Greeks over Persians in 490 B.C

Casanova

Casanova: Giovanni Giacomo Casanova (1725–98) was a famous Venetian adventurer and writer who romanced well over a hundred women in the course of his travels. In modern parlance, a Casanova is a charismatic man with a reputation for having many romantic conquests. I know he's a Casanova, but I can't resist those eyes
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Chauvinist

One who exhibits fanatical patriotism

Named after Nicolas Chauvin, a legendary French soldier famous for his devotion to Napoleon.

Bloomer

Origin: invented by Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818-94), and American social reformer

Definition: undergarments for dance or active wear; underwear formally worn by females that was composed of loose trousers gathered at the ankles

Attila

Origin-A king of the Huns in the fifth century. Attila's forces overran many parts of central and eastern Europe.His armies were known for their cruelty and wholesale destruction, and Attila himself was called the“scourge of God.”

Definition- a successful barbarian 


Boycott

Definition: an act of voluntarily abstaining from someone or something

Origin: there was an Irish land war and Captain Charles Boycott was an absentee landlord. Prices and things dropped dramatically and his tenants wanted lower rates because they weren't making as much money on their crops. The tenants ended up boycotting Mr. Boycott

Horatio Alger

Origin: Horatio Alger is the author of a series of rags-to-riches stories. The main characters work hard and earn the American Dream in his stories, despite the many challenges they face.

Definition: A person who achieves success by his own effort in the face of great obstacles.

Sardonic

O: Sardinian plant that makes you laugh until you die if eaten
D: skeptically humorous, cynically mocking, smile

Swiftian

Origin: Jonathan swift's famous satire on politics in Gulliver's travels
Definition: satirical
SHANGHAI : 
To coerce or trick someone into a position or into doing something
ORIGIN: 
comes from the Chinese city of Shanghai, a common destination of the ships with abducted crews

McCarthyism

Origin: Joseph McCarthy- 2nd red scare
Meaning: unfair allegations

Machiavelli

Origin: Niccolo Machiavelli was a Renaissance political philosopher whose book The Princeadvised rulers to be ruthless and cunning if they wanted to hold onto their power

Meaning: a willingness to engage in trickery in order to achieve political power

Nostradamus

Origin: French physician and astrologer who wrote a book of rhymed prophecies Definition: Fortune teller