ARE is a verb form of the irregular verb “to be.” A verb is irregular when it does not follow the typical conjugation of most verbs. Compare “I see,” “you see,” “he sees” (regular) with “I am,” “you are,” and “he is” (irregular).
During William Shakespeare’s time, “you are” was “thou art.” The most famous use of “to be” in Shakespeare’s plays is the soliloquy by the title character in the 1603 tragedy Hamlet. “To be, or not to be: that is the question,” says Hamlet, deeply depressed over the death of his father and contemplating suicide. Hamlet muses on the life’s suffering and wonders whether death, with the mystery surrounding the afterlife, is a better alternative. Later in the soliloquy, he relates:
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
One of the more notable misappropriations of “are” is in the name of the store chain Toys “R” Us. In the store logo, the “R” is backward, further infuriating English teachers already upset about the grammatical incorrectness of the name.
Toys “R” Us was the extension of a business started by Charles Lazurus in post-World War II Washington, D.C., called Children’s Bargain Town. Although initially only stocking baby furniture, Lazurus ultimately listened to customer demand for toys for older children and changed his business to accommodate their wishes. The spokesgiraffe for the company, Geoffrey, was introduced in 1960.
“All your base are belong to us” is a poorly translated phrase from a Japanese game manufactured for Sega called Zero Wing. The phrase received exposure in 2001 after Flash animation montages of the phrase in various fonts and locales appeared on the Internet, notably on the Web site Something Awful. The phrase regularly appears in Internet chat exchanges among gaming and pop culture enthusiasts.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
9. ali
ALI is an Arabic name that means “high.”
Boxer Muhammad Ali changed his name from Cassius Clay in 1964 after joining the Nation of Islam. In doing so, Ali honored the practice of dissociating himself from the surname of his enslaved ancestors.
Ali was known for his confidence and bravado. He routinely made predictions about the round in which he would knock out an opponent and for his rhyming taunts. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see” and “My face is so pretty, you don’t see a scar, which proves I’m the king of the ring by far” are both attributed to him.
After winning an Olympic gold medal in 1960, Ali went onto a professional career that spanned more than twenty years and included many notable fights including the “Rumble in the Jungle” on October 30, 1974, when Ali defeated George Foreman in the African nation of Zaire, and the “Thrilla in Manila,” on October 1, 1975, when Ali defeated Joe Frazier on the island nation of the Philippines. The victory over Frazier avenged Ali’s first professional career loss on March 8, 1971, in what was dubbed the “Fight of the Century.”
For his fight against Foreman, Ali used a strategy dubbed rope-a-dope, in which he protected his face and leaned against the ropes along the perimeter of the ring, allowing Foreman to exhaust himself by delivering body blows until Ali delivered the knock out punch in the eighth round. The fight is featured in the Academy-Award winning 1996 documentary When We Were Kings.
Ali also notably refused to enter the U.S. Army presaging the antiwar protests against the Vietnam War. During his career, Ali often increased awareness of the international community by fighting in venues outside of the United States. He has been celebrated for his contributions to humanitarian and charitable causes both domestically and internationally.
He was named sportsman or athlete of the twentieth century by many media outlets, including Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Will Smith portrayed Ali in the biopic of the same name in 2001.
Ali Baba is a fictional character whose stories are often set in ancient Arabia. “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” appears in some versions of the story collection One Thousand and One Nights. Although early versions of One Thousand and One Nights—stories out of the traditions of Arabia, Yemen, India, and Persia—date back to 800 or 900 C.E., “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” was added by a European translator or group of translators somewhere along the way.
Boxer Muhammad Ali changed his name from Cassius Clay in 1964 after joining the Nation of Islam. In doing so, Ali honored the practice of dissociating himself from the surname of his enslaved ancestors.
Ali was known for his confidence and bravado. He routinely made predictions about the round in which he would knock out an opponent and for his rhyming taunts. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see” and “My face is so pretty, you don’t see a scar, which proves I’m the king of the ring by far” are both attributed to him.
After winning an Olympic gold medal in 1960, Ali went onto a professional career that spanned more than twenty years and included many notable fights including the “Rumble in the Jungle” on October 30, 1974, when Ali defeated George Foreman in the African nation of Zaire, and the “Thrilla in Manila,” on October 1, 1975, when Ali defeated Joe Frazier on the island nation of the Philippines. The victory over Frazier avenged Ali’s first professional career loss on March 8, 1971, in what was dubbed the “Fight of the Century.”
For his fight against Foreman, Ali used a strategy dubbed rope-a-dope, in which he protected his face and leaned against the ropes along the perimeter of the ring, allowing Foreman to exhaust himself by delivering body blows until Ali delivered the knock out punch in the eighth round. The fight is featured in the Academy-Award winning 1996 documentary When We Were Kings.
Ali also notably refused to enter the U.S. Army presaging the antiwar protests against the Vietnam War. During his career, Ali often increased awareness of the international community by fighting in venues outside of the United States. He has been celebrated for his contributions to humanitarian and charitable causes both domestically and internationally.
He was named sportsman or athlete of the twentieth century by many media outlets, including Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Will Smith portrayed Ali in the biopic of the same name in 2001.
Ali Baba is a fictional character whose stories are often set in ancient Arabia. “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” appears in some versions of the story collection One Thousand and One Nights. Although early versions of One Thousand and One Nights—stories out of the traditions of Arabia, Yemen, India, and Persia—date back to 800 or 900 C.E., “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” was added by a European translator or group of translators somewhere along the way.
8. ale
8. All beers can be classified as ALEs or lagers. Ales use ale yeast, a top-fermenting yeast suited to warmer temperatures. Ales tend to have a fuller body.
A lager is a beer that uses lager yeast, a bottom-fermenting yeast suited to cooler temperatures. Modern lagers are fermented in refrigerated rooms, but in earlier times, beer was fermented in caves. Lagers tend to have a crisper/cleaner taste.
A stout is an ale and is not easily distinguishable from a porter. Some barkeeps use the terms without much distinction. Both beers are dark due to the dark roasting of the grains. The primary distinction between the two beers centers on porters using just roasted malt and stouts using roasted malt and roasted barley.
A cream stout is a stout that has had lactose added to it for sweetness. Adding other sweeteners like sugar or honey the yeast would simply convert that into alcohol. Yeast cannot convert lactose into alcohol, so the sweetness remains.
Stouts and porters are often served in pint glasses, with either a smooth or a bulbous design.
The brewer Samuel Adams has designed a modern pint glass with the help of Tiax. The new glass features laser etchings in the bottom to stimulate bubbles and continuously deliver carbonation to the beer, a rounded middle to capture the beer’s aromas, and a bead around the inside of the lip to agitate the beer as it is drunk.
A pilsner is a light stout. Most light American beers are pilsners. They gained popularity because they were light enough to be enjoyed after a long hot day at work, offering an alternative drinking a heavy beer. Pilsner glasses, which are thin and conical often hold less than a pint of beer and are designed to spotlight the color of the beer and create and maintain a lasting head.
An IPA (India Pale Ale) is an ale created by the British. Regular beer would spoil on the six-month trip to India, so brewers created a beer with more alcohol and more hops, each of which helped to preserve the beer on the long hot journey.
Steam beer is a beer that uses lager yeast, but at warmer temperatures. Old San Francisco brewers lacked refrigeration and caves so they were forced to make their lagers in warm temperatures, resulting in steam beer. Anchor Steam beer has been brewed in San Francisco since 1896.
A wheat beer uses wheat malt.
A mead isn't a beer, but is one of the earliest alcoholic beverages. A mead is basically water, yeast, honey, and maybe some fruit juice. It is not cooked, but rather left to sit and ferment.
The phrase “cakes and ale” describes that which can be afforded by the good life. It appears in the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night. “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” A translation of the moral to Aesop’s fable The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is “Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.”
W. Somerset Maugham titled a 1930 novel Cakes and Ale; or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard. Some charged that the story's unflattering characters were based on contemporaries such as novelist Thomas Hardy, but Maugham denied the connection. The work is regarded as a roman à clef, a thinly disguised fictionalization of real life.
A lager is a beer that uses lager yeast, a bottom-fermenting yeast suited to cooler temperatures. Modern lagers are fermented in refrigerated rooms, but in earlier times, beer was fermented in caves. Lagers tend to have a crisper/cleaner taste.
A stout is an ale and is not easily distinguishable from a porter. Some barkeeps use the terms without much distinction. Both beers are dark due to the dark roasting of the grains. The primary distinction between the two beers centers on porters using just roasted malt and stouts using roasted malt and roasted barley.
A cream stout is a stout that has had lactose added to it for sweetness. Adding other sweeteners like sugar or honey the yeast would simply convert that into alcohol. Yeast cannot convert lactose into alcohol, so the sweetness remains.
Stouts and porters are often served in pint glasses, with either a smooth or a bulbous design.
The brewer Samuel Adams has designed a modern pint glass with the help of Tiax. The new glass features laser etchings in the bottom to stimulate bubbles and continuously deliver carbonation to the beer, a rounded middle to capture the beer’s aromas, and a bead around the inside of the lip to agitate the beer as it is drunk.
A pilsner is a light stout. Most light American beers are pilsners. They gained popularity because they were light enough to be enjoyed after a long hot day at work, offering an alternative drinking a heavy beer. Pilsner glasses, which are thin and conical often hold less than a pint of beer and are designed to spotlight the color of the beer and create and maintain a lasting head.
An IPA (India Pale Ale) is an ale created by the British. Regular beer would spoil on the six-month trip to India, so brewers created a beer with more alcohol and more hops, each of which helped to preserve the beer on the long hot journey.
Steam beer is a beer that uses lager yeast, but at warmer temperatures. Old San Francisco brewers lacked refrigeration and caves so they were forced to make their lagers in warm temperatures, resulting in steam beer. Anchor Steam beer has been brewed in San Francisco since 1896.
A wheat beer uses wheat malt.
A mead isn't a beer, but is one of the earliest alcoholic beverages. A mead is basically water, yeast, honey, and maybe some fruit juice. It is not cooked, but rather left to sit and ferment.
The phrase “cakes and ale” describes that which can be afforded by the good life. It appears in the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night. “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” A translation of the moral to Aesop’s fable The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is “Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.”
W. Somerset Maugham titled a 1930 novel Cakes and Ale; or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard. Some charged that the story's unflattering characters were based on contemporaries such as novelist Thomas Hardy, but Maugham denied the connection. The work is regarded as a roman à clef, a thinly disguised fictionalization of real life.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
7. one
7. ONE (1) is a number used to represents a single entity. In mathematics, it usually represents the first ordinal number, though some modern conventions use 0 as the first ordinal number. One is the smallest positive odd integer.
President George Washington, the first president of the United States, is on the one dollar bill.
“One” is one of the most well known songs from the musical A Chorus Line, book by James Kirkwood, Jr., and Nicholas Dante, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and music by Marvin Hamlisch. The original Broadway production was an unprecedented box office and critical hit, receiving twelve Tony Award nominations and winning nine of them, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Running for 6,137 performances, it was the longest-running production in Broadway history up to that time. “One” (reprise/finale) begins with an individual bow for each of the nineteen dancer characters, their hodgepodge rehearsal clothes replaced by identical spangled gold costumes. As each dancer joins the group, it is suddenly difficult to distinguish one from the other; each character who was an individual to the audience is now an anonymous member of an ensemble.
The band Three Dog Night reminded us that “one is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do” in their number 5 billboard hit song “One,” first written and recorded by Harry Nilsson in 1968. Aimee Mann rerecorded this song for soundtrack for Magnolia in 1999, which starred Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, and Jason Robards.
A clip of Jason Robards from the movie Johnny Got his Gun (1971) can be seen in the music video “One” by thrash metal band Metallica. A fan favorite, the song's theme is based on the book Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. The book tells the story of a soldier whose body was severely damaged after he stepped on a mine during World War I, leaving his body damaged beyond recognition. Knowing only pain, the soldier was kept alive on life support. “One” was released as the third single from, the band’s 1988 album ... And Justice For All. Metallica won their first Grammy Award in 1990 for “One” winning Best Metal Performance. “One” was also the band's first top 40 hit single peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 15 on the Mainstream Rock charts.
The ONE Campaign is a project that is part of Debt AIDS Trade Africa, or DATA, which was created by Bono of U2. One of U2’s most popular songs is “One,” the third single to be released from their Achtung, Baby! CD. The program educates people, one by one, about the seriousness of AIDS and poverty via celebrities, partnerships with America OnLine, the National Basketball Association, and other groups. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water, and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. ONE also seeks to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty by advocating for legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair, and fighting corruption.
President George Washington, the first president of the United States, is on the one dollar bill.
“One” is one of the most well known songs from the musical A Chorus Line, book by James Kirkwood, Jr., and Nicholas Dante, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and music by Marvin Hamlisch. The original Broadway production was an unprecedented box office and critical hit, receiving twelve Tony Award nominations and winning nine of them, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Running for 6,137 performances, it was the longest-running production in Broadway history up to that time. “One” (reprise/finale) begins with an individual bow for each of the nineteen dancer characters, their hodgepodge rehearsal clothes replaced by identical spangled gold costumes. As each dancer joins the group, it is suddenly difficult to distinguish one from the other; each character who was an individual to the audience is now an anonymous member of an ensemble.
The band Three Dog Night reminded us that “one is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do” in their number 5 billboard hit song “One,” first written and recorded by Harry Nilsson in 1968. Aimee Mann rerecorded this song for soundtrack for Magnolia in 1999, which starred Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, and Jason Robards.
A clip of Jason Robards from the movie Johnny Got his Gun (1971) can be seen in the music video “One” by thrash metal band Metallica. A fan favorite, the song's theme is based on the book Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. The book tells the story of a soldier whose body was severely damaged after he stepped on a mine during World War I, leaving his body damaged beyond recognition. Knowing only pain, the soldier was kept alive on life support. “One” was released as the third single from, the band’s 1988 album ... And Justice For All. Metallica won their first Grammy Award in 1990 for “One” winning Best Metal Performance. “One” was also the band's first top 40 hit single peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 15 on the Mainstream Rock charts.
The ONE Campaign is a project that is part of Debt AIDS Trade Africa, or DATA, which was created by Bono of U2. One of U2’s most popular songs is “One,” the third single to be released from their Achtung, Baby! CD. The program educates people, one by one, about the seriousness of AIDS and poverty via celebrities, partnerships with America OnLine, the National Basketball Association, and other groups. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water, and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. ONE also seeks to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty by advocating for legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair, and fighting corruption.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
6. eli
ELI Whitney is the inventor of the cotton gin. While Whitney created other inventions during his lifetime and was very connected to the firearms trade, he is most well known for the cotton gin. The cotton gin, which could remove the seeds from more than fifty pounds of cotton a day, contributed to the perpetuation of slavery in the South. He and his business partner Phineas Miller intended not to sell the cotton gin but to provide the service of “cleaning” the cotton for a proposed 40 percent of the crop. Farmers were outraged by the proposal. Their reaction along with the relative simplicity of the invention and the loose nature of the patent process at the time resulted in the manufacture of copycat machines and disputes over the ownership of advances associated with the invention.
Whitney was a graduate of Yale University and was well-connected both to other people associated with the institution and prominent members of New Haven, Connecticut, society. The Eli Whitney Student Program allows students to enter Yale College (the undergraduate program at Yale University) on a part- or full-time basis. Students matriculating under the banner of the program are typically older than students enrolling as graduating high school applicants.
Yale students are often called Elis not after Eli Whitney but after the benefactor Elihu Yale.Yale earned his fortune as part of the British East India Company and was also the second governor of a settlement at Madras (present-day Chennai) in India. In 1701, at the behest of Cotton Mather, Yale donated a crate of goods to the Collegiate School of Connecticut. The merchandise was sold, and the money earned from the sale was put toward a new building. The building—and eventually the entire college—was named after Yale.
Eli Wallach is an actor who started on Broadway stages before earning film and television roles. He won a Tony Award in 1951 for his portrayal of Alvaro Mangiaco in Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo. His most memorable film role is arguably that of Tuco in Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, a “spaghetti Western” known in English as The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly. The term spaghetti Western was originally a put-down applied to a string of Westerns produced in Italy beginning in the 1960s. Spaghetti Westerns were more violent and made use of more minimalist cinematography than conventional Westerns up until that time. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and My Name Is Nobody (1974) are also considered part of the genre.
Eli Manning is the quarterback for the New York Giants and the Most Valuable Player for the Super Bowl of 2008. He led his team on a successful fourth-quarter drive against the New England Patriots, who until the Super Bowl had had an undefeated season. A memorable highlight of the drive was a third-down reception by David Tyree by a ball that was thrown high by Manning. Manning had eluded a sack and hurled the ball for a resultant first down. Plaxico Burress scored the game-winning touchdown a few minutes later. Manning’s brother Peyton, a member of the Indianapolis Colts, had been named Super Bowl MVP the year before.
Whitney was a graduate of Yale University and was well-connected both to other people associated with the institution and prominent members of New Haven, Connecticut, society. The Eli Whitney Student Program allows students to enter Yale College (the undergraduate program at Yale University) on a part- or full-time basis. Students matriculating under the banner of the program are typically older than students enrolling as graduating high school applicants.
Yale students are often called Elis not after Eli Whitney but after the benefactor Elihu Yale.Yale earned his fortune as part of the British East India Company and was also the second governor of a settlement at Madras (present-day Chennai) in India. In 1701, at the behest of Cotton Mather, Yale donated a crate of goods to the Collegiate School of Connecticut. The merchandise was sold, and the money earned from the sale was put toward a new building. The building—and eventually the entire college—was named after Yale.
Eli Wallach is an actor who started on Broadway stages before earning film and television roles. He won a Tony Award in 1951 for his portrayal of Alvaro Mangiaco in Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo. His most memorable film role is arguably that of Tuco in Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, a “spaghetti Western” known in English as The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly. The term spaghetti Western was originally a put-down applied to a string of Westerns produced in Italy beginning in the 1960s. Spaghetti Westerns were more violent and made use of more minimalist cinematography than conventional Westerns up until that time. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and My Name Is Nobody (1974) are also considered part of the genre.
Eli Manning is the quarterback for the New York Giants and the Most Valuable Player for the Super Bowl of 2008. He led his team on a successful fourth-quarter drive against the New England Patriots, who until the Super Bowl had had an undefeated season. A memorable highlight of the drive was a third-down reception by David Tyree by a ball that was thrown high by Manning. Manning had eluded a sack and hurled the ball for a resultant first down. Plaxico Burress scored the game-winning touchdown a few minutes later. Manning’s brother Peyton, a member of the Indianapolis Colts, had been named Super Bowl MVP the year before.
5. ore
ORE is a volume of rock that potentially contains valuable mineral deposits.
Iron ore, lead ore, and gold ore are all examples of ores. Once ore is mined, various physical and chemical methods are used to remove the commodity from its source. Material can be pulverized and sifted to give mining operations a smaller amount of material to analyze for value. The unique physical and chemical properties of the materials that comprise ore allow for techniques that take advantage of characteristics like magnetism and gravity differentiation to successfully extract metals and minerals.
Ore is part of the brand name of Ore-Ida, a labeled owned by Heinz. Ore-Ida produces frozen potato products, such as French fries and Tater Tots. Tater Tots celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 2004. Tater Tots were invented in 1953 (and released to the public in 1954) by Golden and Nephi Grigg, the Oregon brothers who founded the company. They were looking for a way to make use of the shredded potato that remained after French fry production. Tater Tots are prominently featured in the quirky independent comedy Napoleon Dynamite and in songs by the parody artist Weird Al Yankovic.
According to their Web site, Ore-Ida uses Russet Burbank, some Shepody, and some Ranger potatoes in most of their products.
No telling whether sifting, gravitational differentiation, or magnetism are employed in Tater Tot production.
Iron ore, lead ore, and gold ore are all examples of ores. Once ore is mined, various physical and chemical methods are used to remove the commodity from its source. Material can be pulverized and sifted to give mining operations a smaller amount of material to analyze for value. The unique physical and chemical properties of the materials that comprise ore allow for techniques that take advantage of characteristics like magnetism and gravity differentiation to successfully extract metals and minerals.
Ore is part of the brand name of Ore-Ida, a labeled owned by Heinz. Ore-Ida produces frozen potato products, such as French fries and Tater Tots. Tater Tots celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 2004. Tater Tots were invented in 1953 (and released to the public in 1954) by Golden and Nephi Grigg, the Oregon brothers who founded the company. They were looking for a way to make use of the shredded potato that remained after French fry production. Tater Tots are prominently featured in the quirky independent comedy Napoleon Dynamite and in songs by the parody artist Weird Al Yankovic.
According to their Web site, Ore-Ida uses Russet Burbank, some Shepody, and some Ranger potatoes in most of their products.
No telling whether sifting, gravitational differentiation, or magnetism are employed in Tater Tot production.
Monday, March 24, 2008
4. erie
ERIE is the name of a Native American tribe that was conquered by the Iroquois. They lived along the southern shore of the lake that was named after them. Erie, or Eriez, is a shortened form of “Erielhonan,” which means “long tail” referring to the raccoon.
Lake Erie is the shallowest of the five Great Lakes, thought to have formed at the end of the most recent Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. Meltwater from the Laurentide ice sheet filled the depressed areas left by the glaciers.
The Battle of Lake Erie, also known as the Battle of Put-In Bay, was fought during the War of 1812 on September 10, 1813. Navy Commander Oliver Hazard Perry and Marine Commander Jesse Elliott defeated the British in one of the five naval battles regarded by Naval Academy professor Craig L. Symonds in his 2005 book Decision at Sea as instrumental in defining U.S. maritime supremacy.
Erie, Pennsylvania, is the state’s only lake port city and fourth largest city. It is home to the oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes, built in 1818 and replaced in 1867.
The Erie Canal, with its 18 aqueducts and 83 locks, was regarded as an engineering landmark when it was completed on October 26, 1825. The canal, which was originally intended to run to Lake Huron, was dubbed “Clinton’s Big Ditch” by skeptics who were doubtful of the project advocated by New York Governor Dewitt Clinton.
The governor broke ground on the canal in 1817. Once the canal was opened, “hoggees” led groups of pack animals along the adjacent towpath to help boats navigate the canal. The hoggees worked in six hour shifts to guide the boats over the 363-mile length of the canal. James A. Garfield, who would later become president, worked as a hoggee early in his life. The four-foot deep, forty-foot wide canal started at Albany and ended at Buffalo, passing through Rochester and Syracuse along the way.
Erie is a homophone of eerie, meaning scary or creepy.
Lake Erie is the shallowest of the five Great Lakes, thought to have formed at the end of the most recent Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. Meltwater from the Laurentide ice sheet filled the depressed areas left by the glaciers.
The Battle of Lake Erie, also known as the Battle of Put-In Bay, was fought during the War of 1812 on September 10, 1813. Navy Commander Oliver Hazard Perry and Marine Commander Jesse Elliott defeated the British in one of the five naval battles regarded by Naval Academy professor Craig L. Symonds in his 2005 book Decision at Sea as instrumental in defining U.S. maritime supremacy.
Erie, Pennsylvania, is the state’s only lake port city and fourth largest city. It is home to the oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes, built in 1818 and replaced in 1867.
The Erie Canal, with its 18 aqueducts and 83 locks, was regarded as an engineering landmark when it was completed on October 26, 1825. The canal, which was originally intended to run to Lake Huron, was dubbed “Clinton’s Big Ditch” by skeptics who were doubtful of the project advocated by New York Governor Dewitt Clinton.
The governor broke ground on the canal in 1817. Once the canal was opened, “hoggees” led groups of pack animals along the adjacent towpath to help boats navigate the canal. The hoggees worked in six hour shifts to guide the boats over the 363-mile length of the canal. James A. Garfield, who would later become president, worked as a hoggee early in his life. The four-foot deep, forty-foot wide canal started at Albany and ended at Buffalo, passing through Rochester and Syracuse along the way.
Erie is a homophone of eerie, meaning scary or creepy.
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