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Well-rounded
WotD: Well-rounded It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of a well-rounded education. People need to attain a comprehensive academic education and be physically healthy. These days in Canada, physical education has suffered due to a lack of funds. The same is true in the United States. It’s one of the reasons why so many…
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Land of milk and honey
Phrase: Land of milk and honey Religion has played a considerable part in creating the English language. Although for Christians, the eighth commandment is ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ the English language ‘borrows’ and never gives back. Is that stealing? Only if it is intentional, I suppose. Anyways, the phrase the land of milk and honey…
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Trickle-down
WotD: Trickle-down If you are a coffee drinker, you already understand how the trickle-down theory works. Hot water trickles down through the ground coffee into a waiting cup or pot to create the perfect morning beverage or afternoon pick-me-up. In a nutshell, trickle-down means that something begins at the top of a structure or system…
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The error of your ways
Phrase: The error of your ways Take a moment to look back on your life until now. Have you realized the error of your ways and modified your behaviour as you have progressed through the years, or have you continued to do the same things repeatedly? Which is, by the way, the informal definition of…
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Like a lamb to the slaughter
Phrase: Like a lamb to the slaughter Here we walk hand in hand into an uncertain future like lambs to the slaughter. I don’t want to tell you I told you so, but I like to toot my own horn, especially when I’m right. When Russia annexed Crimea back in 2014, I told my students…
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Talking head
Wednesday Email: Talking head If you are a news junky like me, you probably know the talking heads in your country by sight, if not by name. Even though the days of sitting in front of the TV to watch a scheduled news program are numbered, we still see the talking heads on YouTube or…
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Back into a corner
Idiom: Back into a corner What a difference 50 days make. On February 24th, Vladimir Putin was preparing victory parades for a puppet Ukrainian regime after running over the Ukrainian military and Zelenskyy government. He thought the Ukrainians would be quickly backed into a corner and forced to surrender. Sometimes things don’t go exactly as…
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Balkanization
WotD: Balkanization For the first time in our lifetimes, we are experiencing a major war in Europe that can erupt into a full-blown world war. One word that you may hear used is Balkanization. It’s a heavy word both in its historical significance and what it means for the people in Balkanized areas. Balkanization means…
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Trust but verify
Proverb: Trust but verify Because Russia is back as being the number one threat to world peace, I’m focusing all of my posts this week on words, idioms, phrases and proverbs related to current events in Europe that affect the world. Do you Remember Regan, Gorbachev, the fall of the Berlin wall and the nuclear…
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Oligarch
Word of the Day: Oligarch Nations and their militaries always spend their time preparing for the last war. When the next war does begin, it’s always fought in a way different from what was predicted. The next war has already started, and one of the main targets in Russia is about 117 men known as…
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