comb, resemble, pretzel, tarmac, superpower, "a man with a fork in a world of soup"

In terms of hard power, the EU resembles Noel Gallagher's description of his brother Liam: "a man with a fork in a world of soup"

Wonder wall-sockets

ECONOMIST.COM

The paradoxes of the EU's superpowers

Sandy Huffaker for The New York Times

After Ubiquitous Pets, Second Life for Chia

By STEPHANIE STROM

With Chia Pets, a mix of seeds and water in an animal-shaped figurine could sprout a plant resembling green hair. Now, chia is becoming a nutritional “it” item.

The New Rules of Airport Delays

This summer puts new rules on tarmac-wait times to the test, as airports stock up on water and pretzels, and deploy buses to unload those who want off long-delayed flights.

Spotlight:

What came first, the soft pretzel or the hard one? The soft pretzel came first. Pretzels have been traced back to seventh-century Europe. Legend has it that a monk took some scraps of leftover dough and twisted them to resemble arms crossed in prayer. He baked them and gave them to children as rewards for learning their prayers. The treats were called "pretiola " ("little prayers). Pretzels made their way to the US in the mid-1800s. Julian Sturgis, a baker in Lititz, PA, offered a meal to a drifter, who, in thanks, gave him a recipe for European pretzels. The popularity of the snack led Sturgis to open the first pretzel bakery in the US, the Sturgis Pretzel House, which remains in operation today. In 2003, Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell declared April 26 National Pretzel Day, honoring the pretzel and its place in Pennsylvania's history and economy. By the way, hard pretzels supposedly came about when a baker left the tray of soft pretzels in the oven too long.

Quote:

"I wake up every morning in a bed that's too small, drive my daughter to a school that's too expensive, and then I go to work at a job for which I get paid too little. But on pretzel day... well, I like pretzel day." — Stanley Hudson, The Office (US version)



 combs sites
Google introduced a new service that aims to make its Internet-search results timelier, using a "real-time" search approach that better combs sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

comb
n.

1. 1. A thin toothed strip, as of plastic, used to smooth, arrange, or fasten the hair.
   2. An implement, such as a card for dressing and cleansing wool or other fiber, that resembles a hair comb in shape or use.
   3. A currycomb.
2. 1. The fleshy crest or ridge that grows on the crown of the head of domestic fowl and other birds and is most prominent in the male.
   2. Something suggesting a fowl's comb in appearance or position.
3. A honeycomb.

v., combed, comb·ing, combs. v.tr.

1. 1. To move a comb through (the hair) so as to arrange or groom: combed her hair with a comb; combed his hair with his fingers.
   2. To move though or pass across with a raking action: The wind combed the wheatfields.
2. To card (wool or other fiber).
3. To search thoroughly; look through: combed the dresser drawers for a lost bracelet.
4. To eliminate with or as with a comb: combed the snarls out of his hair.

v.intr.

1. To roll and break. Used of waves.
2. To make a thorough search: combed through the file for the contract.

[Middle English, from Old English.]

pret·zel (prĕt'səl) n.
A glazed, brittle biscuit that is usually salted on the outside and baked in the form of a loose knot or a stick.

[German Brezel, Pretzel, from Middle High German brēzel, prēzel, from Old High German brezitella, from Medieval Latin *brāchitellum, diminutive of Latin bracchiātus, branched, from bracchium, arm, from Greek brakhīōn, upper arm.]

WORD HISTORY The German word Brezel or Pretzel, which was borrowed into English (being first recorded in American English in 1856) goes back to the assumed Medieval Latin word *brāchitellum. This would accord with the story that a monk living in France or northern Italy first created the knotted shape of a pretzel, even though this type of biscuit had been enjoyed by the Romans. The monk wanted to symbolize arms folded in prayer, hence the name derived from Latin bracchiātus, "having branches," itself from bracchium, "branch, arm."

 

resemble

verb [ T ]

UK 

 /rɪˈzem.bəl/ US 

 /rɪˈzem.bəl/

 

C1

to look like or be like someone or something:

You resemble your mother very closely.

After the earthquake, the city resembled a battlefield.

音節

re • sem • ble

発音

rizémbl

resembleの変化形

resembles (複数形) • resembled (過去形) • resembled (過去分詞) • resembling (現在分詞) • resembles (三人称単数現在)

[動](他)［III[名]（[副]）］…に似ている, （…の点で）…のようである((in ...)). ▼ふつう進行形・受身不可. ⇒LIKE¹[類語]

An avocado resembles a pear in shape but not in taste.
アボカドはナシと形は似るが味は似ていない

Pat and Lynda resemble each other.
パットとリンダは似ている（▼each otherは省略不可）

Mary closely resembles her mother.
メアリーは母親によく似ている（▼ふつう進行形不可だが推移を表す場合は可：Mary is resembling her mother more and more. ますます母親に似てきている）.

［中フランス語resembler （re-強意＋ラテン語simulāreまねる）. △SIMILAR, ASSIMILATE, FACSIMILE, SIMULTANEOUS, SIMULATE］