Methylphenidate, a mild stimulant used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy, was first synthesized in 1944 by Italian chemist Leandro Panizzon. He named it for his wife Marguerite, who went by Rita, which is why methylphenidate is more commonly called Ritalin. This is part of a complete episode.
The cardboard cylinder left after the last sheet of toilet, tissue, or wrapping paper comes off the roll has inspired families to make up a lot of names for the tube or the sounds you can make with it. These include oh-ah, oh-ah, drit-drit, dah-dah...
A native Texan says his Canadian wife teases him about his use of hitten for a past participle, as in You have hitten every green light instead of You have hit every green light. Charles Mackay’s 1888 work, A Dictionary of Lowland Scotch, does...
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