The Bible
first man & woman in the Creation story
Adam & Eve
pirate-villain whose hand was devoured by a crocodile and was replaced with a hook
Captain Hook
a disease that killed nearly half the people in western Europe in the 14th century
Black Death (bubonic plague)
a mountainous region in the eastern U.S. from Georgia to Maine
Appalachians
an English scientist who discovered gravity and invented calculus
Isaac Newton
spirits who live in Heaven (and Hell)
angels
a much used expression that has lost its descriptive power
cliche
Greek ruler who conquered most of the ancient world
Alexander the Great
a five-thousand foot deep gorge carved by the Colorado River in northwestern Arizona
Grand Canyon
a large, self-contained mass of stars
galaxy
the apostle who betrayed Jesus
Judas Iscariot
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Animal Farm
a Roman general and dictator who once said "I came, I saw, I conquered."
Julius Caesar
the boundary between northern and southern states
Mason-Dixon Line
the galaxy to which our Sun belongs
Milky Way
the departure of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt
Exodus
novel, and later movie, set in Georgia in the period of the Civil War
Gone With the Wind
a system of obligation that bound lords and their subjects in Europe during the Middle Ages
feudalism
a National Park in California known for its rock formations and waterfalls
Yosemite
an American physicist who was the head of the Manhattan Project
J. Robert Oppenheimer
the angel who appeared to Mary at the Annunciation
Gabriel
a fine shade of meaning
nuance
the methods of training and standards of behavior for knights in the Middle Ages
chivalry
urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest marked by a concentration of old, declining industries
Rust Belt
Italian scientist who proved objects with different masses fall at the same velocity and used the telescope to see the moons of Jupiter
Galileo
persons who go out of their way to perform acts of kindness
"Good Samaritans"
e.g.
"for example"
the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
Charlemagne
area of low, barren mountains and flat valleys in southern California
Mojave Desert
a chemical element that is naturally radioactive and used for nuclear reactors
uranium
a man whose faith was severely tested by Satan, with God's permission
Job
an agreeable word substituted for one that is potentially offensive
euphemism
Spanish explorer who searched for the legendary Fountain of Youth
Juan Ponce de Leon
mountain range in northeastern New York state
Adirondacks
the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water by one degree celsius
calorie
the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus to death
Pontius Pilate
the brief, traditional, anonymous nursey rhymes learned by children
a tribe from western Asia who conquered much of central and eastern Europe during the 5th century
Huns
area of Manhattan formed by the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue between 42nd and 44th Streets
Times Square
the two occasions each year when the position of the sun at a given time of day does not seem to change direction
solstice
large collection of written scrolls of the Old Testament found in a cave in the 1940s
Dead Sea Scrolls
earliest long work of literature in English about a hero slaying a monster named Grendel
Beowulf
long war between Athens and Sparta in which Sparta won
Peloponnesian War
mountain in Alaska which is the highest peak in North America
Mt. McKinley
a phenomenon where the frequency of a wave of light seems higher if the source is moving toward the observer
Doppler effect
the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Jesus
Pentecost
a thought that does not logically follow what has just been said
non sequitur
three wars between Carthage and Rome in which Rome won
Punic Wars
island in the Atlantic Ocean off Massachusetts
the ancient Greek mathematician who founded geometry
Euclid