By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/12/2024 1:34 PM
Guinness World Records released its annual book Tuesday, and along with it a slew of new records including dog tricks, magic tricks, skateboarding feats and the world's largest electric toothbrush. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/12/2024 12:58 PM
Commuters on a California highway were given ample reason to "wine" when a semi crash caused the roadway to become covered in crushed grapes. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/12/2024 12:47 PM
Seven goats on the loose in Kansas City, Mo., since early August were finally wrangled by animal services officers and taken to a shelter. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/11/2024 3:32 PM
Animal care and control officers in San Francisco came to the rescue of a coyote that spent several days living in a family's back yard. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/11/2024 1:33 PM
A North Carolina woman won $346,088 from a Cash 5 lottery drawing, her second major jackpot after previously winning $100,000 less than a year ago. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/11/2024 11:46 AM
A Royal National Lifeboat Institution crew in England responded to a report of a stranded person in the water -- but arrived to discover it was an RNLI training dummy lost by another crew two weeks earlier. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/11/2024 11:34 AM
A penguin that escaped from an animal encounter event on a Japanese island was found two weeks later after traveling more than 18 miles. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/11/2024 11:05 AM
A pair of South African farmers harvesting their crops made a startling discovery: a record-breaking plum weighing in at 16.3 ounces. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/11/2024 10:54 AM
Emergency responders in Indiana experienced "a first" when a medical call ended with firefighters rescuing a monkey that got loose and scaled a building. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/10/2024 4:46 PM
A Massachusetts woman taking a walk in the woods with her dog came across a mysterious pinecone formation she believes might be an art installation. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/10/2024 1:46 PM
Hotels.com revealed some of the most unusual items left behind at its partner hotels around the world, including a pet lizard, as well as some of the most bizarre room service requests. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 9/10/2024 12:16 PM
A tiger that prompted warnings in Texas when it escaped from a zoo just across the border in Mexico has been captured after nearly a week on the loose. ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 12, 2024 is:
fraternize \FRAT-er-nyze\ verb
To fraternize with someone is to be friendly with them or to spend time with them in a friendly way. Fraternize is often, though not always, used in situations where such friendly behavior is considered wrong or improper, as in “fraternizing with the enemy.”
// The boss warned that fraternizing with the junior employees could be a risky career move for a manager.
“Ten years after the successful opening of the Tyler Colleges, my grandfather, who was 17 at the time, began to study and take advantage of the rich social and economic legacy of barbering. He opened the first barbershop to be owned and operated by an African American in Gordon Heights, Long Island. From its humble beginnings to the next 68 years thereafter, his business became a place in the Black community that men gathered to connect, fraternize and—of course—get groomed; a place where Black men found hopes, dreams and pride.” — Stacey Morris, Variety, 23 Feb. 2022
Did you know?
O brother where art thou? In many an English word descended from the Latin noun frater, meaning “brother,” that’s where. Both fraternize and fraternal (meaning “of, relating to, or involving brothers”), for example, come to us by way of Medieval Latin from frater. Other fraterprogeny in English include friar and fraternity. Even brother itself shares a relationship with frater (albeit it a more distant one). These days, although fraternize can still apply to a brotherly association or simple friendliness, it is often used in phrases, such as “fraternizing with the enemy,” implying friendliness toward someone who would be better avoided.