Why are they called 'pommes de terre'?
601885
Right this is why.... potatoes were a strange food that had never been intoduced before to france, not like now a days when you can have all mannor of strange and wonderful things. Now because it was so unusaual people were a little frightened of them, So they were introduced as being like and apple cause everyone knew what they were and liked them, so it took some of the fear away cause an apple of the earth cant be unnatural!! my french teacher told me that (she was an old french lady too to add to the arthantisity of it all) cause like you i wondered why!! hope this answers your question!
1019525
As it turns out, when speaking technically about things like\nmountains or mountain ranges, geologists typically prefer to use\nother, more descriptive terms that convey much more information with\nless effort.  Using very technical language is of great advantage to\nscientists because it is a  more efficient means of communicating very\ncomplex ideas to other scientists.  Unfortunately, this technical\nlanguage is also one reason that the general public is somewhat\nuncomfortable with science.\n\nAs far as geologists are concerned, you could call just about any sort\nof positive topographic feature a mountain and probably get away with\nit (within reason, of course).  Geographers, on the other hand, who's\nprimary interests often concern topographic anomalies like mountains\nand basins, usually reserve the term "mountain" for a positive\ntopographic feature which rises to a height of at least 305 meters\nabove the surrounding terrain.  Anything less than 305 meters in\nheight is considered a hill, and anything considerably less than 305\nmeters is termed a "hillock."  Why 305 meters is the magic number, I\ndo not know.  I would guess that it was chosen as the result of a\nstatistical study of hill/mountain heights and was consequently made\nthe standard by which all hills/mountains would be judged.
378888
It means town on clay land. Its an English name.
637398
1.) the species existed for a short span of geologic time - this is important because it makes it easier to identify certain strata. If they existed for longer periods of time then it would be harder to correlate rocks found in different places. It's like when you find it you say I KNOW this is definitely from ___ period.\n\n2.) they existed worldwide or over a very large area - in order to correlate the geologic age of rocks from continent to continent or across continents it is important that these specie exist all over the world.
189202
Its only called "Earth" in English, a minority of the world.  The origin of the English Language is a combination of the old english/germanic/norse language spoken by the everyday uneducated populace, and the Latin, Greek and French spoken by the educated classes. So, any word that the common man would use survived the attempts of the educated classes to change the language, and is still used today- Thats why we use the names of the old Norse gods for the days of the week, because they were common words used by common people, while the months are latinized-the common farmer did not use names of the months commonly, but used the names of the Season- which are English words. Common people in the middle ages did not talk about the other planets, and likely didnt even know that names of them, but they did use the word "Earth" all the time.  If you look at our language, and see which are Latin, Greek and French, they always refer to things an uneducated farmer in the middle ages would not talk about-and all the Germanic and old English words are those that refer to things that the common people spoke about all the time.
150101
The small size and weird, distant orbit makes it feel more or less like a stray double-moon. I'm not sure why it's considered a planet really - maybe it's the smaller body that rotates it, Charon, that makes us class it as a planet, maybe it's because we looked for a reason for the deviations in the planets orbits and prematurely labeled it planet. As for me, I do - mostly because Pluto is always mentioned as a planet.
55305
Geodes (Greek geoides, "earthlike") are geological formations common to the United States (Indiana, Iowa, and Kentucky), Brazil, and Mexico. Essentially rock bubbles with internal crystal formations, the exterior of a geode is generally limestone or a related rock, while the interior contains quartz crystals and/or chalcedony deposits. Other geodes are completely filled with crystal, being solid all the way though. These types of geodes are called nodules.\n\nGeologists do not yet have a widely accepted theory about how geodes are formed, but it is believed geodes can form in any cavity that is buried. These can be bubbles in igneous rocks, pockets under tree roots, bubbles in lava after a volcanic eruption, or even animal burrows. Over time, the external wall of the cavity hardens, and dissolved silicates and/or calcites are deposited on the inside surface. Over time, this slow feed of minerals allows crystals to form inside the hollow chamber. Then, over millions of years, the geode makes its way back to the surface through normal geologic processes.\n\nFollow the link for more information.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geode
111853
The land of make believe. I think that is what it was called.
53177
they are basically named after where they are found, who found them, or in honor of someone.
115175
They r called Geordies, and not Jordies. \n In any city or region that has a long history, its people attains a distinct identity. There are the cockneys of London; the Liverpudlians (Scousers) of Liverpool and the Mancunians (Mancs) of Manchester. And so it is with the North-East of England, but its a little more complicated than that.\nGeordie' is used to refer to the inhabitants of an area stretching from Carlisle to Durham.
1088558
According to the English, it is derived from a place name indicating that they came from a place near the woods, or perhaps a grove of trees. My guess is that it is of Scandinavian origin and can be found all over Northern Europe.
783845
"Earth" is the name the inhabitants of the third Solar planet call their world. This word is an ancient one, and is in English. All the logical paths that lead to a planet's name require the conclusion that no other planet could have this exact name.\n\n;-D Of course miracles happen every day! If some aliens like the name "Earth" then I won't stop them from calling their planet 'Earth!"
1083494
I S LAND\nLAND In Sea\nIn Sea LAND thats where the word came from\n\na land mass is so called becaus the "seas or oceans" may differ on either sides so its not a " land in a sea".\nhope this explains a bit better.
633361
They are called the khamasini not khamsin. Very dusty wind that blows from Sahara from late winter till mid-spring. Very hot dry weather. You can barely see anything onfront of you. It could blow anytime in the 50 days ( late winter to mid spring)  and that's where it gets its name from. khamaseeni in Arabic meens 50.
865279
I saw a flash about that online but I can't seem to find it. Here's a text version on a website I just found though:\n\nhttp://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/russiaweb2005/wrworkshop/images/smart.tin.it/luccacos/miniatureearth/Miniature%20Earth
517718
They think its cool or just don't care.\nThe French do it as kind of a "I'm French and this is how it's done." Some naturalists do it as well.
19019
There is no technical reason, other than consistancy. It was established by the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy a couple thousand years ago. Probably because the land that was known when the first maps were made were in the North.