Contents
=> About the “Almost April Fool’s” Issue
=> “Unusual U.S. Town Names” - creative writing activity
=> “Warm-up Russia Fact Quiz”
=> “Word Origins: Turkey”
=> In the Next Issues

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About the “Almost April Fool’s” Issue
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I call this the “Almost April Fool’s Issue” because it almost came out on April Fool’s Day, which almost would have helped teachers with timely lesson ideas. But almost everything about April Fool’s Day, anyway, should be a lie or joke, and almost everything in THIS issue is almost the truth, so I almost decided not to publish this issue at all, since it was almost certain to confuse people expecting almost all lies. Hope that clarifies things.

I.M. Poosheesty, Editor

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“Unusual U.S. Town Names”
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Here are some interesting U.S. town names. Give students the list (perhaps through dictation. You know how I love dictation). Then ask them to create brief little stories as to why or how the town got its name.

The town names are real. The following example of how it got its name is not.

Lizard Lick, North Carolina. In the 1700s the early settlers in North Carolina used to have contests during a summer festival. The most popular was the Lizard Lick. Competitors would lick the length of a lizard, from nose to tail. The lizard skin was rough and a little painful on the tongue. Thus, it took toughness to lick a lot of lizards. The person who licked the most lizards was declared the winner and received a 5-pound ham.

1. Burnt Corn, Alabama
2. Big Ugly, West Virginia
3. Unalaska, Alaska
4. Surprise, Arizona
5. Cool, California
6. Deadman Crossing, California
7. Embarrass, Minnesota
8. Sleepy Eye, Minnesota
9. Loveladies, New Jersey
10. Satan’s Kingdom, Vermont

As a follow-up you could ask students to go to the internet and research the above town names, and then make a report to the class about the real origin of the name.

By the way, there are several Moscows in the USA, in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Vermont. There’s also a Kremlin, South Dakota, and, of course, St. Petersburg, Florida. How do you think they got their names?

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Warm-Up Russia Fact Quiz
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Here’s a little quiz, mostly about Russia, to serve as a warm-up. Place the following words in the correct blanks (for you grammar-lovers), then answer the questions.

farther, longer, northerly, oldest, populous

1. What is more ___________, Rostov-Na-Donu or Vladivostok? (location)

2. What is ___________ south, Vladivostok or Paris? (location)

3. What is more ___________, Moscow or the entire Republic of Moldova (number or people)

4. What city is ___________, Kiev, Moscow, or Stockholm? (age)

5. Which river is ____________, the Rhine or the Neva? (length)

Bonus: There are 6 Russian cities that have undergrounds, or metros. Can you name them?

Answers after “Word Origins: Turkey”

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Word Origins: Turkey
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You may have noticed “turkey” is a name for a country and the name bird that Americans eat on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Are these related at all?

Well, yeah. Before America was colonized, birds called guinea-fowl were shipped from Africa to Europe via Turkey. When the colonists came to America, the local birds reminded them of these guinea-fowl, which they associated with Turkey, so they started to call the new birds turkeys.

“Turkey” has a couple other meanings. It can be a foolish or inept person. Or it can mean a flop or failure–especially a film or play that fails.

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Answers to “Warm-Up Russia Fact Quiz”
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1. What is more northerly . . . .? Rostov-Na-Donu. Its latitude is 47 degrees; Vladivostok is 43.

2. What is farther south, Vladivostok or Paris? Vladik is farther south. Paris lies at 48 degrees latitude; that’s the same as Volgograd.

3. What is more populous, Moscow or the entire Republic of Moldova? Moscow easily. Moscow has almost 10 million, about twice that of Moldova.

4. Which city is oldest, Kiev, Moscow, or Stockholm? Kiev is from the 5th century. That makes it one of northern Europe’s oldest cities. Stockholm dates from about the same time as Moscow, about 1250.

5. Which river is longer? Not even close. The Rhine is 1,300 kilometers long. The Neva only flows from Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland, a distance of 74 kilometers.

Bonus: Cities with Russian underground systems: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novosibirsk, and Samara.

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In the Next Issues
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April 15th: Tough Questions. Tax day facts

April 30th: Mr. Poosheesty’s unorthodox dictations

May 15th: A Brief History of Mayonnaise

May 30th: New Vocab

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copyright 2005, Kevin McCaughey and I.M. Poosheesty