Saturday, March 21, 2020

Wearing a Helmet essays

Wearing a Helmet essays A quiet humming sound caused by the neon lights dominated the room. This sound was accompanied by the low rumbling of the nurses talking with each other about the latest gossip, and whatever else it is that nurses talk about. Occasionally this noise would be rudely interrupted by the chirping telephone screaming annoyingly for someone to answer it. It was an extremely slow Sunday afternoon in the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center Emergency Room for Dr. Roberts and his team of medical professionals. It was the type of day that a person has when they at work and there is nothing to, and all that you can think about is going home early and enjoying the wonderful summertime atmosphere. Meanwhile, while this atmosphere of doing nothing but organizing the medical supply crash carts existed, somewhere on the local freeway, a group of friends were out riding their motorcycles, and getting away from the pressures of life. One of the friends was a twenty-two year old named Taylor. He is a student, attending the University of Utah, who had just recently been married. He was also anticipating on attending medical school later on in his future. Even though he had a lot of things going for him, for one reason or another Taylor decided to not wear his helmet that day. Taylors friends began showing off to one another by popping wheelies, standing on the seats of their bike, and weaving in and out of traffic, at speeds of over ninety miles per hour. Taylor was riding behind the pack of bikes and decided that he should catch up to the rest of the group. He shifted gears and darted ahead into an opening in between the cars. Suddenly he collided with a car that moved into the op ening the same time that Taylor did. Taylor and his motorcycle were knocked over, and were both sent hurdling into the air, flipping end over end. Soon the team of paramedics, who had been dispatched to attend to the wreck, arrived on the scene of the motorcycle acci...

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

The Post Office is Kitty-corner to the Court House

The Post Office is Kitty-corner to the Court House The Post Office is Kitty-corner to the Court House The Post Office is Kitty-corner to the Court House By Maeve Maddox Cassandra Marx writes: In the last few weeks, I have seen or heard numerous references to something being catty-cornered, katty-cornered, and kitty-cornered to something else. Would you please tell me what the correct usage/spelling is? Although I have included this expression in a previous post on cat words, I think it deserves a post of its own. Heres what I had to say the first time around: Catty-corner is a directional word, meaning that something is diagonally across from something else. The word started out as cater-corner. Cater is an English dialect word meaning â€Å"to set or move diagonally.† When the word cater with its meaning of to set or move diagonally dropped out of the language, folk etymology got busy and now we have all kinds of â€Å"cat† variants for this concept: catty-cornered†¨ kitty-corner†¨ kitty-cornered†¨ catty-corner†¨ cat-a-corner kitty-corner†¨ kit-a-corner This time I have my brand-new copy of Brewers Dictionary of Phrase Fable (17th edtion) to consult. This is what I find under the entry cater-cornered: Cater-cornered. Placed diagonally, as of a badly parked car in a parking space. Cater is an old word for the four dots on dice, which form diagonals, from French quatre, four. Other spellings of the term are catty-cornered and kitty-cornered, as if somehow to do with cats. Apparently the dialect word with the meaning to set or move diagonally, derived from quatre. As for the correct usage/spelling, the usage seems to be universal as to meaning. Something that is catty-cornered to something else is diagonally opposite. Until some authority decrees otherwise, I suppose that spelling and pronunciation are a matter of local usage. I grew up with kitty-corner. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Mostly Small But Expressive Interjections15 Words for Household Rooms, and Their Synonyms20 Ways to Cry