Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

Time to play the latest word puzzle from NPR!  I'm going to give you two five-letter words. Rearrange the letters in one of the words to get an antonym of the other. Which word is the anagram and which is the antonym is for you to discover. Ex. SMALL REGAL --> LARGE (anagram of REGAL, antonym of "small")   1. LANCE DIRTY 2. LOWER ARISE 3. BORES DRUNK 4. WORDY RESET 5. THOSE SHEET 6. SERVE PROSE 7. BOWEL ABOVE 8. LOVED DEATH 9. FRIED HIRED 10. WRONG GIRTH 11. HARPS BLUNT 12. SMART NEEDS     Answer Keys     1.    CLEAN (ANAGRAM OF LANCE, WHICH IS OPPOSITE TO DIRTY)         2.    RAISE (ANAGRAM OF ARISE, WHICH IS OPPOSITE TO LOWER)        3.    SOBER (ANAGRAM OF BORES, WHICH IS OPPOSITE TO DRUNK)     4.    TERSE (ANAGRAM OF RESET, WHICH IS OPPOSTIE TO WORDY)     5.    THESE (ANAGRAM OF SHEET, WHICH IS...

Like it or not, it feels like we are still in deep winter. Can you rearrange the following letters to make words related to wintertime? e.g., eezfgrni   anri: freezing rain       1.    nseffil : _________________ *meaning “to repeatedly take air into your nose in short breaths that are loud enough to be heard because of a cold or crying”       2.    irteosftfb : _________________ *meaning “damage to tissues from freezing due to the formation of ice crystals within cells, rupturing the cells and leading to cell death”       3.    arakp :___________________ *meaning “a large windproof and/or waterproof jacket, typically with a hood, of a kind originally used in polar regions”       4.    oht   thcoaeolc : _________    __________________ *two words, meaning “a hot drink made with milk or water and chocolate or powdered chocolate”   ...

The Presidents Day in America is a holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, the holiday became popularly known as Presidents Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act for the nation’s workers. Presidents Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents, past and present.   As the Presidential Oath of Office states, all Americans hope that our national leader will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of our country. I believe this is what people around the world wish for their leaders as well.   Here is a set of some trivia about the presidents in the United States of America for you to fill in the blanks to complete each one.     1.    ___________________________ was the only American president to be unanimously elected.       2.    Not knowing that ______________________ had...

Today's puzzle involves a bit of meditation. I'm going to give you clues for two words. Insert the letters O-M inside the first word to get the second one. Ex. Sprinted / Person from the capital of Italy --> RAN, ROMAN   1. Brontosaurus or Iguanodon, informally / Game piece with dots 2. Store event with reduced prices / Richard Strauss opera 3. Popular sandwich cookie / Cry from Juliet 4. Wild Australian dog / )Spanish for "Sunday" 5. Come into contact with, as with the hand / Oversupply (2 wds.) 6. Word of appreciation / Star of "Forrest Gump" (2 wds.) 7. Consist of / Meet someone halfway   (* Picture source: https://tryhardguides.com/5-letter-words-with-om-in-the-middle/ Answer Keys           1. Dino, d om inoes     2. Sale, Sal om e     3. Oreo, O R omeo!              4. Dingo, D om ingo     5.   touch, to o m uch     6.   T...

Which generation do you belong to? Are you the one called boomers or zoomers? Here I present some popular words or phrases among Generation Z – the ones born in the range of timeline between 1997 and 2012. Would you try to fill in the blanks before going over the expressions?       1.    Felicia’s so extra and ch_________ ! She always poses at fancy places and uploads a ton of pics of pricey meals from posh restaurants.    (*the adjective/ noun meaning “so uncool” or “trying too hard to be in    style/ to look good”)       2.    Wow! Look at you! You’ve seriously got dr______ ! Where did you get those groovy shades and one-of-a-kind leather jacket? (*the adjective/noun meaning “extremely fashionable” or “swag”)       3.    Trust me, I’m sending you the finalized draft tonight! No more dilly-dally, no c___p . (*expression meaning “for real” or “no lies”)     ...

Last Wednesday, Feb. 2, was abbreviated as 2/2/22. And the 22nd this month will be 2/22/22. So here is a puzzle based on "2." Every answer today is a word or name that ends in the syllable "2" (/tu:/ sound) in any spelling.   Ex. Language group of southern Africa --> BANTU 1. Design made with ink on the skin 2. Temporary shelter with a slanted roof (hyph.) 3. Noisy parrot with a decorative crest 4. Unplanned or off-the-cuff, as remarks 5. Along with the Tutsi ethnic group, one of the main ethnic groups in Rwanda 6. In ___ (as originally found) 7. Classic 1922 silent horror film 8. South Pacific island nation NE of Australia 9. Town in Mali whose name is sometimes used to designate any remote place 10. Boxing combination consisting of a left and a right (hyph.) 11. Social movement whose name starts with a hashtag   Answer Keys          1.   tattoo     2.   lean-to     3.   cockato...