Lincoln School of English, Mexico City

The same is true for bananas, maize, in fact practically everything we eat and grow.

I used to be a cabbage researcher.
Never understood how these cool plants could be a conversation killer at parties...

Very true.

What an interesting discovery!!

https://www.zmescience.com/science/scientists-find-neurons-in-the-human-brain-that-only-respond-to-singing/

Scientists find neurons in the human brain that only respond to singing Further evidence that humans are inherently musical.

Los gigantes del océano.

I had heard that the word 'eskimo' was not considered polite so I did a little digging. In Canada, you should refer to someone as an Inuit instead.
It turns out to derive from a word meaning an 'eater of raw meat' in Algonkian, which I think explains the reason why it should be avoided quite clearly!

Is it 'toward' or 'towards'?

You can use either, but 'toward' is more common in American English.

Useful phrasal verbs include put or give money towards something.
If I give my son $5,000, he might put the money towards the new car he wants to buy.

November the fifth, and the English tradition of Bonfire Night.
Remember, remember
The fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason
And plot!

The English do not celebrate Hallowe’en. At approximately this time of year, people used to light bonfires to frighten away the spirits of the dead who, freed from the constraints of the calendar, could do terrible things on the last day of the Celtic year. The Celtic year ran from the beginning of November to the end of October. The last day of October was “All Hallow’s Eve” (now shortened to ‘Hallowe’en’), and a good day to play tricks on other people. Irish immigrants took this tradition to the United States in the nineteenth century and their bad behaviour, the threat of “Trick or treat” made Halloween very famous. With the spread of American culture, Hallowe’en has spread all over the world.
A traditionally important autumn celebration is the Harvest Festival, somewhat similar to “Thanksgiving” in the United States, when people go to church to give thanks for the harvest.
In 1606, Parliament established November 5th as a public holiday and to this day people in England celebrate “Guy Fawkes’ Night” or “Bonfire Night”, though there is no longer any religious meaning to the festivities.
The basic idea is that children make their “Guy”, (an effigy made from newspapers, old clothes and a mask), and ask for money, saying: “Penny for the Guy?” They save the money and use it to buy fireworks which they set off in the evening of November 5th. Nowadays, children are not allowed to buy fireworks themselves – only someone over 18 can buy fireworks for important safety reasons.
The Pendulum
The sixteenth century in England saw the pendulum swing backwards and forwards between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism: Henry VIII, Catholic then Protestant (Church of England) from the time when he broke with Rome in 1534; Edward VI, Protestant (2 years); Mary Tudor, Catholic (10 years); Elizabeth Tudor, Protestant (45 years).
Although this was in many senses a religious issue, it was also political because of the extraordinarily strong ties between the Pope in Rome and Catholic Spain. The other European giant, France, was also a Catholic power. In later years, Henry’s break with Rome would have important and quite unforeseen consequences.
When Henry died, his only son became King Edward VI at the age of 16. However, the young Protestant king was constantly ill and died two years later, his most visible legacy being the foundation of a number of schools.
The next in line to the throne was the daughter of Henry’s first marriage, in spite of the confusion as regards its legality. Mary Tudor was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and devoutly Roman Catholic. She was married to Philip II of Spain, and both monarchs considered that it was their sacred duty to return England to Roman Catholicism. Numerous Protestants were publicly burned as heretics, which led to Mary becoming known as Bloody Mary. Unhappily for the royal couple, Mary was unable to bear children, and upon her death, the throne fell to her younger sister, Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, the woman Henry had married after Mary’s mother.
Elizabeth was a Protestant and throughout her reign, particularly during the early years, Philip II of Spain, who had actually been joint monarch of England for the last three years of Mary’s life, supported at least three plots to have her killed. He also attempted to invade the country and was arming his third armada when he died. The constant threat of the Catholic Spanish invasion made being a patriotic Englishman practically synonymous with being Protestant and openly opposed to the Pope. This fact is all the more relevant as, at this time, the personal ties of feudalism were giving way to ties of nationality. Elizabeth was queen for some forty-five years and by the end of her reign, England was both solidly “English” and solidly Protestant. Elizabeth had had her cousin Mary Queen of Scots executed in Fotheringhay because she had twice plotted to assassinate her, yet it was Mary’s son, James Stuart, who succeeded to the English throne on her death.
The Gunpowder Plot
In 1605, not long after Elizabeth died, there was a conspiracy of English Catholics to blow up Parliament and the Royal Family: the famously erudite King James, his Queen and his oldest son on November 5th. The conspirators were Robert Catesby (the leader), Thomas Winter, Thomas Percy, John Wright and Guy Fawkes, a “well-known Flemish mercenary”. In brief, they were angry that Roman Catholics, who did not go to Church of England services, had to pay a special tax; James had promised to change the laws and did, but only until he ran short of money. They hoped that, in the confusion after the deaths of so many important people, Catholics would be able to take over the country.

Guy Fawkes caught in the cellar of the Houses of Parliament with the explosives.
In spring, Guy Fawkes hid first twenty, then another sixteen barrels of gunpowder in a cellar under the Houses of Parliament. He was to light the fuse then escape across the Thames. As they needed more political support, they told more people, specifically warning a Catholic nobleman, Lord Mounteagle, in an anonymous letter to stay away from the opening of Parliament on November 5th (the date of the opening, originally in July, had been set back by the threat of plague).
Unfortunately (for the conspirators but not, of course, for the King and Parliament), Mounteagle was suspicious, and the letter was shown to the king. In the early hours of November 5th, he sent men to conduct a search, finding Guy Fawkes in the cellar. They tortured him lightly at first, then progressively more brutally until he told them the names of the other people. Eight conspirators were hanged and quartered, their heads were chopped off and put on spikes on the city walls.
After this, English Protestants became even more suspicious of Catholics and the “recusancy” law, requiring people who refused to go to Anglican services to pay a fine, was enforced even more rigorously.

Lincoln School of English, Mexico City updated their address.

Demolition of the tower where I lived as a first-year student. Executed very skilfully, the falling building does not affect nearby buildings at all.

Stafford Tower Demolition

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/mispronunciations-words-pacifically-probly-study-b1871225.html

The top 10 most annoying mispronunciations listed in the survey
Pacifically for specifically (35 per cent)
Probly for probably (28 per cent)
Expresso for espresso (26 per cent)
Specially for especially (25 per cent)
Artick for Arctic (19 per cent)
Nucular for nuclear (19 per cent)
Tenderhooks for tenterhooks (18 per cent)
Excetera for et cetera (18 per cent)
Assessory for accessory (15 per cent)
Triathalon for triathlon (9 per cent)

These are the most irritating words people mispronounce, according to a new survey New survey identifies top 10 most annoying words that people mispronounce

Gráfica de la comida vertical callejera

A miniature of Lincoln Cathedral, once owned by my great aunt Marjorie, now gracing my desk. 🙂

A common mistake from today's newspaper:
France has been *hardly* hit by COVID-19, with a total nearing four million cases and 90,000 deaths since the pandemic started a year ago.
Hardly = not very much at all
The correct phrase is "hard hit" = hit very hard

France has been *hard hit* by COVID-19, with a total nearing four million cases and 90,000 deaths since the pandemic started a year ago.

Microbes Left Behind From The Handprint Of An 8-Year-Old Boy After Playing Outside.

What An Eclipse Looks Like From Space.

This is just one image from a much larger post I will eventually share about writing systems, including a map, and charts showing relationships.
This one shows the most widely used writing systems in the world, with the area of the circles representing approximate numbers of users. Numbers show millions of users.
South and Southeast Asia have by far the most diversity of writing systems.

This is a fantastic article and a great infographic that shines light on the fact that we already know how to reduce fossil fuels, as eight places in the world already depend on predominately clean energy. LH
https://poetandengineer.com/2019/02/13/we-know-how-to-do-this/

A map showing the most common words used to mean "baby" in the English language dialects of different parts of the UK and Ireland. Many of them are also used to mean "young child".
This is kind of a prototype for a bunch of similar images I'll eventually share with a big post accompanying them, but they're not quite ready yet.

Bairn is from Old English bearn, and is related to the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic words for child: "barn".

Wain, Wean, and Wee'un all come from Scots "wee ane" (little one).

Bab, babby, and baby all come from middle English "babe".

Nipper (which exists as a less common word across the map but is especially common on and near the Isle of Wight) was originally used for young errand boys who helped workmen, probably from the verb "nip" (to quickly do an errand) as in "I'm nipping to the shops".

Kid originally referred only to young goats, and is from from Old Norse kið. It was probably first applied to children as a Thieves' Cant word meaning "young pickpocket".

Imponentes y con una belleza sin igual; estos son los 8 volcanes más grandes de nuestro .

En se encuentra el quinto volcán más alto.

Papas milenarias cultivadas por nuestros ancestros.

Fascinating stuff!!

What Montezuma's Aztec Sounded Like - and how we know The Aztecs didn't call him Montezuma. Nor Moctezuma. They didn't call chocolate "chocolate". Heck, they didn't even call themselves Aztec! Though they were a...

Mapped: Visualizing the True Size of Africa Common map projections warp our view of the globe. This graphic reveals the true size of Africa, which could fit the U.S., China, India, and more.

thumbs.gfycat.com