Cultural Notes:
S
aratoga
Springs - a
city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The name reflects
the presence of mineral springs in the area. While the word
"Saratoga" is known to be a corruption of a Native
American place name, authorities disagree on what the exact word
was, and hence what it meant. The city is near the center of
Saratoga County in upstate New York.
Roman candle - Roman candle is a traditional type of firework, that ejects one or more stars or exploding shells.
The Philippine campaigns - was the Allied campaign to defeat Japanese forces occupying the Philippines, during World War II. The invasion commenced on October 20, 1944 and hostilities continued until the war's end.
Boogie man - is a legendary ghost-like monster. The bogeyman has no specific appearance and conceptions of the monster can vary drastically even from household to household within the same community; in many cases, he simply has no set appearance in the mind of a child, but is just an amorphous embodiment of terror. Bogeyman can be used metaphorically to denote a person or thing of which someone has an irrational fear. Parents often say that if their child is naughty, the bogeyman will get them, in an effort to make them behave. The bogeyman legend may originate from Scotland, where such creatures are sometimes called bogles, boggarts, or boggers.
Mick - an ethnic slur for a person of Irish heritage (possibly deriving from the patronymic Mac or Mc in many Irish surnames); a Roman Catholic of Irish descent.
The Giants - are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area.
C
oogan’s
bluff - is
the name of a promontory located in upper Manhattan in New York
City. Rising abruptly from the Harlem River, it is colloquially
regarded as the boundary between the neighborhoods of Harlem and
Washington Heights.
T
he
bluff overlooks the former site of the
Polo Grounds,
where Major League Baseball's New York Giants played their home
games prior to their move to San Francisco after the end of the 1957
season; as a result, the name "Coogan's Bluff" was often
used, particularly by journalists, to denote the Polo Grounds
itself, much the same way "Chavez Ravine" is frequently
used today to refer to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles (just as the
Angels did during their time there), the latter being located
therein. However, the ballpark sat in Coogan's Hollow, the
bottomland beneath the bluff. The John T. Brush Stairway down
Coogan's Bluff is one of the few remaining parts of the Polo
Grounds, which now occupied by the Polo Grounds Towers housing
complex.
The El – a rapid transit system that serves in the United States. This name for the rail system applies to the whole system, as well as its elevated, subway, at-grade and open-cut segments. The use of the nickname dates from the earliest days of the elevated railroads. Newspapers of the late 1880s referred to proposed elevated railroads in Chicago as '"L" roads. The first route to be constructed, the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad gained the nickname "Alley Elevated", or "Alley L".
Read chapters from 31 to 32 and answer the following questions:
How did the family finally resolved to calm their situation?
What as the tangible proof of Coalhouse’s grievance that was presented to public?
How come Mother’s Younger Brother appeared n Coalhouse’s gang? Describe the gang, their common idea and some peculiarities of their interrelationship.
Look up the dictionary for the following words and phrases:
Borne (adv)
Totter (v)
Spite (n)
Dissemble (v)
Crutch (v)
Concoct (v)
Cohort (n)
Trip (v)
Drip (v)
Tangible (adj)
Waterlogged (adj)
Aldermen (n)
Implacable (adj)
Renegade (n)
Alienist (n)
Irate (adj)
Martyr (n, v)
Torpor (n)
Concession (n)
Defame (v)
Commodious (adj)
Corrugate (v)
Concourse (n)
Intermittent (adj)
Mortician (n)
Appraisal (n)
Commence (v)
Pilferage (n)
Clandestine (adj)
Mercenary (adj)
Munificent (adj)
Cot (n)
Barracks (n)