January 11, 2023

LINGUISTIC ROOTS  Where Is ‘Y’all’ From?  Southern Living Magazine once described “y’all” as “the quintessential Southern pronoun.” While “y’all” is considered slang, it’s a useful word nonetheless. The English language doesn’t have a good second person plural pronoun; “you” can be both singular and plural, but it’s sometimes awkward to use as a plural. “Y’all” fills that second person plural slot—as does “you guys,” “youse,” “you-uns,” and a few others. But its etymology is murky; where is it really from? Writer David Parker embarked on a search and uncovered the fact that “y’all” appeared 225 years before its citation in the Oxford English Dictionary, and the word appeared first in England rather than the United States.  READ MORE →   GASTRO OBSCURA A Tour of Mouth-Numbing Spices How’s your spice tolerance? Around the world, cooks have long made delicious food with mouth-numbing spices. The Sichuan peppercorn and its relatives dominate in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and unrelated plants such as Brazilian jambú carry similar—and sometimes more intense—culinary and medicinal properties. Here’s a look at the spices that will convince you that “tongue-tingling” deserves a seat at the table along with sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Buckle in. READ MORE →   CANTERBURY, ENGLAND Geoffrey Chaucer Statue The plinth of this statue depicts the characters featured in Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, but their faces are represented by locals with Canterbury connections. For example, actor Orlando Bloom, who was born in Canterbury, is depicted at the front of the plinth as the “Young Squire,” along with other locals. READ MORE →   SPONSORED BY VISIT ST. PETE/CLEARWATER The Sunken Gardens  Roadside attractions are peculiar places of entrepreneurial ambition and dreams that have driven tourists to pockets of a unique Americana culture since the 1900s. In St. Pete, Florida, the Sunken Gardens is one such attraction—an unnatural creation celebrating the wonder of nature. Within its four acres guests can enjoy small waterfalls, countless species of flora, meandering paths, pretty-in-pink flamingos, and towering walls of magenta bougainvillea—all of it “sunken” below sea level. WATCH NOW →   CULINARY HISTORY The Era of Automat Restaurants People in the late 1800s really did not like waiters. Though waiters were still a novelty—they sprung up with the rise of the restaurant earlier that century—they had come to be regarded as a burden to service and, especially in the United States, were assailed for their unpleasantness. Beginning in the late 1800s, restaurants went to great lengths to develop “waiterless” systems to please their customers—and when the inventor of the vending machine teamed up with a candy company, the concept of the waiterless Automat restaurant was born. READ MORE →   DUBLIN, IRELAND Aungier Street Lidl Archaeology Constructed into the floor of this Dublin branch of Lidl, in the shadow of the ancient Dublin Castle, is a series of glass panels that showcase a long-hidden history. One of these museum-like glass panels reveals the archeological remains of a structure constructed almost 1,000 years ago. READ MORE →   ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Marvel, Extended Universe Crossword This week’s crossword puzzle comes to us from the students in Atlas Obscura’s Creating Crossword Puzzles course in October 2022, along with their instructors, expert crossword creators Brooke Husic and Natan Last. See if you can solve your fellow explorers’ riddles here, and then join us for the next iteration of the Creating Crossword Puzzles course, scheduled to start on Tuesday, March 28 at 8 p.m. ET. PLAY NOW →   ENROLL IN THIS COURSE →   BOO, HISS Missouri’s Great Escaped Snake Scare In 1953, Springfield, Missouri, was a city of about 65,000 people and at least 11 escaped Indian cobras slithering loose on the streets. While a local pet shop was always suspected to be the source of the snakes, its owner denied any involvement. It would be 35 years until the person who set the reptiles free came forward. READ MORE →   ATHENS, GEORGIA The Tree That Owns Itself This famous tree is a white oak located in Athens, Georgia. Its owner loved it so dearly that upon his death he granted it its autonomy within a plot of land 8 feet in radius. Sadly, the tree was felled by a windstorm in 1942, after it had grown too old and feeble to survive. In an effort to preserve it, residents of Athens planted a seedling of the original tree in the same spot. The offspring tree is thriving at the corner of Dearing and Finley Streets, and is commonly known as the “Son of the Tree that Owns Itself.” Talk about sovereigntree. READ MORE →   ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Build Your Own Tiny Ecosystem Modern terrariums sprouted from a spectacular accident—a fern unexpectedly thriving inside of a glass bottle. Today, these tiny, self-sustaining ecosystems are everywhere, perched on desks in offices, or hanging from a porch ceiling. In this seminar led by Austin Colter of The Terrorium Shop, we’ll trace the history of terrariums from their earliest origins before building our own miniature world. By the end of our time together, you’ll not only have a fully assembled terrarium, but also the context and skills to support your small ecosystem well into the future. ENROLL NOW →