Author Archives: Warren Ediger

High-tech Panhandler

No one will confuse Abe Hagenston with Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Evan Spiegel (Snapchat), Larry Page (Google), or Jeff Bezos (Amazon). They are all successful high-tech entrepreneurs (someone who starts a business from a new idea). He is a panhandler (someone … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 7 Comments

Often Forgotten, But Not Gone

When you walk through the older parts of American cities, if you stop and look up you’ll see fire escapes climbing up the outside of many older buildings, as in the photo. The need for fire escapes – steel platforms … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 22 Comments

A New Job For A Familiar Prefix

“Co-” is a prefix (a group of letters at the beginning of a word that makes a new word) that adds the idea of “together with” to the words it begins, words like “cooperate” and “coworker.” Recently “co-” has taken … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 24 Comments

It’s Bumper Sticker Time!

It’s politics time in the U.S. And that usually means cars with bumper stickers (small signs with messages) like those in the photo. Political bumper stickers first appeared in 1952. That’s when former World War II general Dwight D. Eisenhower … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 8 Comments

100 Years Later

Albert Einstein was right. Again. But it took scientists more than 100 years to find the first evidence (facts to show something is true) that a prediction (to say that something will be true) he made in 1915 is correct. … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 8 Comments

What’s In A Name?

In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, his family and her family hate each other. But Juliet tells Romeo that “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” In modern English she might have said, “I don’t care what your … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 13 Comments

Warning: TOEFL Ahead

“I need to take the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language). Can you help me?” I get a lot of emails like that every year, often just before TOEFL scores are due (need to be sent to universities). I frequently have … Continue reading

Posted in Language & Terms, Life in the United States | 10 Comments

The Other “They”

Here’s a short quiz for you: Which pronouns would you use to complete these sentences? 1. Someone left _____ lunch in the office. Would _____ please come get it? 2. When a student wants to study, _____ should try to find … Continue reading

Posted in Language & Terms | 11 Comments

A Different Look At Life

It’s that week. The end of one year and the beginning of a new year is the time when many people think about the resolutions (promises to yourself to do something) they made last year. And make new ones for … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 29 Comments

Acts of Kindness

2015 has not been a year that made it easy to think about peace, hope, and joy – words we often use at this time of the year as we celebrate the holidays. We can’t change what’s happening in the world, … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 15 Comments