Let's Play Winter Word Scramble!

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”

 

    5.   emrsfufa: ________________

(plural form of a noun) *meaning “a pair of soft fabric coverings, connected by a band across the top of the head, that are worn over the ears to protect them from cold or noise”

 

6.   smtntei: _______________________

(plural form of a noun) *meaning “a glove with two sections, one for the thumb and the other for all four fingers = boxing gloves”

 

    7.   lropa: ___________________

*relating to north or south pole

 

    8.   htaw: __________________

*meaning “(of ice, snow, or another frozen substance, such as food) become liquid or soft as a result of warming”

 

    9.   facnure: __________________

     *meaning “an appliance fired by gas, oil, or wood in which air or water is heated to be circulated throughout a building in a heating system” or a noun used to describe a very hot place.

 

    10. gnogbaot: ___________________________

*meaning “a long narrow sled used for the sport of coasting downhill over snow or ice. It typically is made of a lightweight board that is curved upward and backward at the front”

 

    11. lgno  snjho: _________________    ____________________

*two words, meaning “underwear with closely fitted legs that extend to the wearer's ankles, often with a long-sleeved top”

 

    12.liecic: _______________________

*meaning “a hanging, tapering piece of ice formed by the freezing of dripping water”

 

<Answer Keys>

    1.  sniffle

    2.  frostbite

    3.  parka

    4.  hot chocolate

    5.  earmuffs

    6.  mittens

    7.  polar

    8.  thaw

    9.  furnace

    10.   toboggan

    11. long johns

    12.  icicle

The Presidents Day in the U.S.

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 already passed, John Adams was quoted as saying, “___________________ survives,” when he whispered his last words.

 

    3.   William McKinley was the first president to campaign by ________________.

 

4.   _________________________ was the first president to call his residence in Washington, D.C. the “White House”. Prior to his term, it had been called the Executive Mansion or the President’s House.

    

    5.   ___________________ was the first American president to name an African American to his cabinet.

    

    6.   _____________________ is the only American president to be elected four times.

    

    7.   ______________________ was the first president to hold a press conference on TV.

    

    8.   The term “O.K.” is credited to ___________________________ who was raised in Kinderhook, New York. After he went into politics, _____________________________________ became known as “Old Kinderhook.” Soon people were using the term O.K. referring to Van Buren and the word “okay” was derived.

 

Answer Keys   

1.  George Washington

    2.  Thomas Jefferson

    3.   telephone

    4.  Theodore Roosevelt

    5.  Lyndon B. Johnson

    6.  Franklin D. Roosevelt

    7.  John F. Kennedy

    8.  Martin Van Buren

Time to play the latest Sunday Puzzle from NPR! Try to find a new word by adding 'OM' to the first answer!

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, dominoes

    2. Sale, Salome

    3. Oreo, O Romeo! 

           4. Dingo, Domingo

    5.  touch, too much

    6.  Thanks, Tom Hanks

    7.  Comprise/ compromise

Let us get these Gen Z's slang down pat!

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”)

 

    4.   Hey, have you guys checked out motorhead Hans’s new tuner? It looks sn_______ed!

(*adjective meaning “looking sleek/ great/fashionable)

 

    5.   Lady Gaga really understood the _________________ in the movie House of Gucci! She never disappoints us.

(*expression used to compliment someone’s awesome job in doing…)

 

    6.   Sheila is so obsessed with designer clothing or boujee purses, but all she’s carrying and wearing don’t look as d_________ as your cheap but chic shirts.

(*adjective meaning “totally awesome/cool”)

 

    7.   Thomas: Your presentation was trash. You should’ve made it way simpler to get your ideas across better.

Jamie: Whoa, you’re about to ____________ch these hands!

(*phrase meaning “to pick a fight” or “to come at someone” or "want a piece of someone")

 

    8.   Hannah says her boyfriend has been acting pretty s___s. I know what she means. Jimmie has truly been acting shady lately.

(*short for the word meaning suspicious or not trustworthy)

 

    9.   Joshua made you invest that much money in his new business? Uh-oh…looks like you got fin_________! What a shame that you haven’t checked his credit score and career history!

(*a verb meaning “to trick or manipulate someone or a situation in order to get something they want”)

 

    10. Don’t be such a s________! You have done too much for that girl and she doesn’t even care at all! Time for you to quit being whipped by her.

(*a word meaning a guy that is overly desperate for women, especially if she is a bad person, or has expressed her disinterest in him whom which he continues to obsess over)

 

Answer Keys

    1.  cheugy

    2.  drip

    3.  cap

    4.  snatched

    5.  assignment

    6.  dank

    7.  catch

    8.  sus

    9.  finessed

    10. simp

 

NPR Sunday Word Puzzle! Let's find words ending in sound /tu:/

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.  cockatoo

    4.  impromptu 

    5.  Hutu

    6.  in situ

    7.  Nosferatu

    8.  Vanuatu

    9.  Timbuktu

   10.  One-two

   11.  Metoo

February is the African-American History Month.

February is the month to celebrate African-American History in the United States. Why don’t we test our knowledge of achievements and historic moments in African-American history?

1. Who was the first African-American to appear on a U.S. postage stamp?

a. Martin Luther King Jr.

b. Jackie Robinson

c. Harriet Tubman

d. Booker T. Washington

 

2. What state was the first to elect a black governor, doing so in 1989?

a. Delaware

b. Mississippi

c. Virginia

d. Washington

 

3. Which of these honors was Martin Luther King Jr. not awarded?

a. Nobel Peace Prize

b. Congressional Gold Medal

c. Presidential Medal of Freedom

d. Freedom Award

 

4. Who was the first African-American head coach in the NFL?

a. Tony Dungy

b. Fritz Pollard

c. Ray Rhodes

d. Art Shell

 

5. True or false: The first president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was white.

a. True    b. False

 

6. Who was the plaintiff in the Supreme Court decision that upheld the legal doctrine of "separate but equal?"

a. Oliver Brown

b. Homer Plessy

c. Dred Scott

d. Theodore S. Wright

 

7. Who was the first African-American to win a gold medal at the Olympics?

William DeHart Hubbard

a.   William DeHart Hubbard

b.   Jesse Owens

c.   George Poage

d.   John Taylor

 

8. In what city did the National Guard try to prevent nine black students from attending a segregated school in 1957?

a. Oxford, Miss.

b. Columbia, S.C.

c. Little Rock, Ark.

d. Tuscaloosa, Ala.

 

9. How many African-Americans have served in the United States Senate since it first convened in 1789?

a. 6     b. 27     c. 81     d. 112

 

10. Juneteenth, which became an official federal holiday in 2021, commemorates this:

a. The emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the U.S.

b. The service of black troops in the U.S. Army during the Civil War.

c. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively ended 'separate but equal' education.

d. The signing into law of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

 

Answer Keys

    1.  d. Booker T. Washington

    2.  c. Virginia

    3.  d. Freedom Award

    4.  b. Fritz Pollard (Head Coach of the Akron Pros in 1921)

    5.  a. True(Moorfield Storey)

    6.  b. Homer Plessy (Plessy v. Ferguson)

    7.  d. John Taylor (1908 Men's Medley Relay)

    8.  c. Little Rock, Ark.

    9.  a. 6

    10.  a. The emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the U.S. The name comes from the June 19, 1865 date when federal troops arrived in Texas after the Civil War and proclaimed that the state's slaves were free.

 

 

(*source from https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/02/07/quiz-celebrating-african-american-history-month and https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-10-2011/black-history-trivia-quiz.html#quest1 )

Time to play the latest Sunday Puzzle from NPR!

Here’s another fun word puzzle to play from NPR this Sunday. I'm going to give you some categories in two words. You name something in each category starting with each initial in the category. Any answer that works is fine.

 

Example: Zoo Animals --> Zebra, Aardvark

1. Greek Letters

2. Roulette Bets

3. Orchard Fruits

4. Ford Models

5. Computer Languages

6. Annual Prizes

7. Salad Ingredients

8. [triple:] Comic Book Heroes

 

Answer Keys

    1.  Gamma, Lambda

    2.  Red, Black

    3.  Orange, Fig

    4.  Fiesta, Model T or Mustang

    5.  C+, Linux

    6.  Academy, Pulitzer

    7.  Spinach, Iceberg lettuce or Italian dressing

    8.  Cat woman (or Captain America) , batman (or black panther), Hulk