Michelle from Valdosta, Georgia, says that in 1976, when she started out as a circus performer, she was referred to as a first of May, circus lingo that means “a newbie.” Throughout her two decades traveling with the circus, she and her co-workers...
Mesmerize, meaning to attract strongly or hold spellbound, comes from Franz Mesmer, an 18th-century German doctor who promoted a theory he called animal magnetism. After completing a medical thesis in Vienna in 1766, Mesmer treated patients with...
