Hey, Word Lovers!

If you’re anything like me, then you love flexing your vocabulary and learning new words to build your lexicon. When you have command of the English language, you possess more power than you probably realize. Why? Because if you can deliver your thoughts and ideas with precise articulation, the world understands you better. You’re more likely to be heard when you express yourself with intelligence and clarity.

The dictionary is an excellent source for gaining lexical knowledge. It’s an obvious authority on words, concerning a slew of important information about them, like their spelling, definition, pronunciation, syllable count, etymology, and more. It’s no wonder we have a day like today, National Dictionary Day.

Dictionaries used to be books, but nowadays, the word ‘dictionary’ includes all technological modernizations such as CD-ROMs, applications on mobile devices, and resource sites online—like Dictionary.com. Basically, if you can use it like a dictionary, then it’s still a dictionary…unless it’s a thesaurus. Then it’s a thesaurus…the dictionary’s cousin.

We’ll celebrate Thesaurus Day in a few months.

Believe it or not, Noah Webster did not make the first dictionary—just the one that we all know and love. Actually, dictionaries (as far as we know) date back to 2300 B.C. The oldest dictionary ever found was a simple, bilingual wordlist of words in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages.

It took time for dictionaries to develop certain characteristics that are nothing short of customary for us nowadays. The listing order, for example, wasn’t always alphabetical. They didn’t necessarily provide such a wide assortment of information. And, thus, they had yet to yield their authoritative connotation as they do now.

We have Mr. Noah Webster to thank for his boundless efforts in creating the expanded and fully comprehensive ‘American Dictionary of the English Language’ in 1828. It took him 27 years to complete his dictionary—which isn’t really even THAT long, when you consider that he learned 26 languages in order to properly get the job done!

Have fun building your vocabularies today by looking up any words you didn’t understand in my Blog post today. I intentionally threw in some particularly big ones just for you. Thanks for reading, Blog Fans, and Happy Dictionary Day.

- John

Hey, Dessert Devotees!

Desserts are made with lots of calories, lots of butter, lots of sugar, and, nutritionally speaking, work against our general health overall; but despite our understanding, we still love them. After all, who can resist the call of a cool ice cream treat or a delicious bite of delicate cake? Today is a day dedicated entirely to indulging ourselves in those rich, dark, delectable desserts. Today is Dessert Day.

Desserts will forever be glorified. There’s a soft spot for them in each and every one of our hearts. That goes without question.

It may surprise you to discover just how far back it goes that people have been making desserts. Believe it or not, the ancient Egyptians were pretty good bakers. It’s true—cake is thousands of years old! And that’s not the only dessert that has a history to it.

Egyptians are responsible for pies too. Pie was the answer for the Egyptians’ need of nutritious, long-lasting, easy-to-store and easy-to-transport food items that Egyptian sailors could take on long journeys. Pies started showing up some time around 9500 BC.

The end of the 17th Century is when Italians first started experimenting with freezing drinks for desserts. Hot chocolate had recently become a fast-favorite, standing alongside other popular drinks like coffee and tea. These became the first three ice cream flavors.

Cake, Pie, and Ice Cream only scratch the surface of desserts, but they are the most popular and customary desserts. Celebrate Dessert Day with a dish of your favorite after-dinner treat and partake in the mouth-watering creations from many, many years ago.

Everyone here at Everything Summer Camp enjoys indulging their sweet-tooth. We all brought our own favorite dessert-creations for each other to try today. Check out these delightful dishes and thanks for reading, Dessert Lovers!

- John

Hi, Neighbors!

The people who live in our neighborhood make up the community to which we belong. If you’re lucky, you appreciate your neighbors, you get along with them, you might even consider them your friends. Good neighbors are there to play with, to lend us things, to give us advice, and to get our mail in when we’re on vacation. Today we celebrate the people in our communities. Happy Good Neighbor Day!

It’s truly great to have good neighbors that you can count on which is why it’s important to recognize the two-way street of neighborliness. Good neighbors beget good neighbors so the more neighborly you are to the people around you, the more neighborly they’ll be in turn. After all, why should your neighbor lend you their lawn mower if you wouldn’t give them a cup of sugar the other day?

I know when I was growing up, we were incredibly close in particular with our next-door neighbor. We’d borrow and lend things without a second thought. Of course, because my dad had married the girl next-door, the next-door neighbor was my grandfather. I guess I REALLY lucked out with a neighbor who was MORE than just a neighbor…

But I’m not the only one who had such a lucky find! In fact, families are sort of how neighborhoods began. See, the first ‘neighborhoods’ that were formed, early in human history, were based on families sticking together. Extended families would all stay together in large numbers and move with the weather.

This was the case until people started farming on a significant scale. Such farming allowed people to occupy their time with things other than farming. They did other jobs, built cities, and settled down in communities and neighborhoods.

Things changed when cars and airplanes made traveling a simpler situation; families didn’t necessarily stick so close together anymore. That’s why it’s important to develop a relationship with the people in your neighborhood. You’re safe and supported when you know the people around you. Happy Good Neighbor Day! And thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Burger Buffs!

There’s lots of different ways to fancy up a good ol’ fashioned burger. Some people like pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. Some people say ketchup. Others swear by mustard. Sometimes there’s bacon and sometimes there’s French fries. But the most basic topping that pretty much everybody is in agreement about…is cheese. The cheeseburger is an unparalleled hurdle in burger evolution.

Which is exactly why we celebrate National Cheeseburger Day yesterday! There’s something magical about this ingredient. Most popular of cheeses is processed cheese, but also frequently used are Cheddar, Swiss  Cheese, Mozzarella, Blue Cheese, and (my personal favorite) Pepper Jack.

There’s a good number of people who have tried to take claim as the inventor of the cheeseburger. It’s more than possible that multiple people from different areas started adding cheese, and, thinking they were the only ones to have done it, called themselves the inventor! Adding cheese became popular in the late-20’s to mid-30’s.

One Lionel Sternberger is said to have done it the earliest, in 1926 when he was just 16 years old, working at his dad’s sandwich shop, ‘The Rite Spot,’ in Pasadena, California. He’s said to have “experimentally dropped a slab of American Cheese on a sizzling hamburger.”

The first appearance of a Cheeseburger on a menu in a restaurant is in 1928 at O’Dell’s in Los Angeles. This restaurant served a Cheeseburger smothered in chili that cost the customer only 25 cents!

There are other contenders, but like I said, it isn’t that unlikely that multiple people started doing the same thing around the same time—especially something as simple as topping a burger with cheese. After all, it just makes sense!

We all love cheeseburgers here at Everything Summer Camp. How much do you love this most American of American foods? Celebrate Cheeseburger Day belatedly if you didn’t do it yesterday and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Play-Doh People!

Today is National Play-Doh Day. Kids of all ages love to play with Play-Doh. The fact that 2 billion cans of the stuff have been sold since its beginnings in 1933 just goes to show what a great toy it is! Funny thing is, back then, Play-Doh wasn’t made to be a toy at all! It was actually meant to be a wallpaper cleaner. 

A man named Cleo McVicker had just saved a company called Kutol from going under. His next move was telling representatives of Kroger grocery stores that he could make a wallpaper cleaner despite the fact that neither he nor anyone at Kutol knew anything about wallpaper cleaners. It was a bold, risky move, but it would eventually lead to amazing success.

At the time, coal was pretty much the only means of home heating. Therefore, wallpaper cleaner was in high demand. You couldn’t simply wash wallpaper with water the way you can today’s vinyl wallpaper. So people needed a putty-like substance that could dryly clean coal residue from their wallpaper. Cleo hired his brother Noah to help concoct the substance that would become Play-Doh.

When easy-to-wash, vinyl-based wallpaper came along, it seemed, once again, that Kutol would have to close its doors. To make matters worse, Cleo passed away. Around this time, Joe McVicker, Noah’s nephew was brought on to help fill Cleo’s role at Kutol. This move proved beneficial to the company as it was Joe’s sister-in-law, Kay Zufall who became Play-Doh’s unrecognized heroine.

It was Kay who, running a nursery school, discovered that wallpaper cleaner could be used to make cheap Christmas decorations! Aware of Kutol’s tough position, she called her brother-in-law immediately to order a bunch of wallpaper cleaner. Not only did the cleaner work great, but the kids had a great time playing with it. By 1955, Play-Doh was sold on the market, the same concoction as before but without the detergent. Play-Doh is easy to alter and easy to make. In fact, you can easily make your own Play-Doh. Check out these easy recipes here and thanks for reading!

- John