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Why isn't the U.S. on the metric system?

11/27/2017

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Pirates?
My students often ask me "Why isn't the U.S. on the metric system?" This Washington Post article suggests that one of the reasons is pirates. Read it and tell me if you think it's plausible or not. Then listen to the podcast "How Stuff Works" for another take on the subject.
How Stuff Works podcast
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Commonly misused phrases to learn correctly once and for all

11/24/2017

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Most of these phrases rang a bell with me as (1) commonly misused, and (2) useful to know, which is why I am posting this link. The slideshow should be enough for you to learn them once and for all. By the way, "pique interest" is the one of these three you want to learn and use correctly, as in "My goal is to pique your interest, to get you to stay a minute or more, so you don't even realize you are doing something that advances your English".
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slide show
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Why Is Soccer Called ‘Soccer' Instead Of 'Football?'

11/20/2017

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​Would you believe the word 'soccer' comes from shortening the term 'association football'? Listen to the podcast and read the transcript for more information.
podcast and transcript
more podcasts for curious kids
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Hints of Trigonometry on a 3,700-Year-Old Babylonian Tablet

11/14/2017

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This clay tablet contains Pythagorean triples, integer solutions of the equation a2 + b2 = c2, a thousand years before the age of Pythagoras.
more on ancient trigonometry
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You will be happy to know that in Canada you may now say "grilled-cheese" instead of "sandwich au fromage fondant"

11/6/2017

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... which is news to me as I've been saying "croque-monsieur". Just don't forget the hyphen, please, says Quebec's French Language Office.
Quebec's language watchdog
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    Author, or rather, Curator

    My goal is to pique your interest, to get you to stay a minute or more, so you don't even realize you are doing something that advances your English.

    Categories

    All
    Culture: Old And New
    Diction And Phonetics
    Math
    Science
    Vocabulary Enrichment

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