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People Have Been Mispronouncing Top Vacation Spots Around the World

It happens more often than not — you’ve remembered all your essentials, booked a cab from the airport, secured a beautiful vacation rental, but when you arrive, you get funny looks from all the locals because you’ve mispronounced your destination. To save you from embarrassing yourself on your next trip, here are some of the most commonly mispronounced places around the globe, with their correct and incorrect pronunciations revealed.

Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, is commonly mispronounced as “Briz-bain,” but the correct way to say it is “Briz-bn.”

The South Asian country of Maldives is commonly mispronounced “MAL-deeves,” when in reality it’s pronounced “MULL-deeves.”

The tiny village of Mousehole in Cornwall, England, is often mispronounced as “mouse-hole.” In reality, the correct pronunciation is “mow-zuhl.”

When visiting Thailand, many tourists mispronounce the city of Phuket by saying “foo-ket,” when in reality it’s pronounced “Poo-ket.”

The Middle Eastern country of Qatar is often mispronounced “cutter,” but the actual pronunciation is “kuh-TAR.”

Many tourists visiting Iceland's most popular city might refer to it as "Rek-juh-vick," but it's actually pronounced "Rake-yah-vick.”

If you want to avoid embarrassing yourself in this Paris suburb, don't refer to it as "Ver-sales" or "Ver-say-les.” The correct pronunciation is say "Verse-eye.”

You wouldn’t necessarily know how to pronounced Worcestershire unless you live in England. Most tourists automatically default to “Wore-chest-er-shire” or “War-sest-er-shire,” or even “Wooster-shire,” but the correct pronunciation is “Wuh-stuh-shuh.”

Simple Brain Exercises To Keep Your Mind Sharp and Active

With a rise in dementia cases becoming a very real fear for most Americans, many people have become hyper-focused on dementia-related conditions. Dr. Richard Restak, Clinical Professor of Neurology at George Washington University Hospital School of Medicine and Health Sciences, says there are preventive measures you can take to keep your brain sharp and build your memory. Have your hearing and vision tested periodically is important. Most people think the first signs of dementia are memory loss and confusion, but poor vision and hearing can often be mistaken for early signs of dementia. The social aspect of preventing dementia is often overlooked, which is why it’s important to be socially active. Meet new people who have the same interests and keep your mind engaged in the here and now. Find ways to keep your mind busy with memory exercises like finding the definition of a new word every day. Finally, exercise and physical activity are important for living a healthy lifestyle. “What’s good for the brain is good for the heart, too,” said Dr. Restak. Do things you enjoy, like reading novels, traveling, listening to music, or working in the garden.

Why Your Hard-Boiled Eggs Have Green Yolks

Whether you’re making deviled eggs for a summer picnic or whipping up egg salad for sandwiches, it’s disconcerting when you slice open that first egg and discover the dreaded green hard-boiled egg yolk waiting inside. Are they safe to eat — and if so, will they taste weird? What causes a green hard-boiled egg yolk? It’s all about heat. When an egg is cooked for too long and/or at too high a temperature, the sulfur in the egg white combines with the iron in the yolk to create ferrous sulfide, which has a green tint to it. This chemical reaction — which scientists call denaturation — isn’t limited to hard-boiled eggs. Using too much heat can give scrambled eggs and omelets a greenish cast as well. Is it safe to eat a discolored egg yolk? They may look unappealing, but yes. While they might be visually off-putting and have a bit of a chalky texture, they are safe to eat. The ferrous sulfide that’s formed when the egg is overcooked is the same form of iron you find in iron supplements. It’s actually safer to eat an overcooked egg than an undercooked one. So, how do you hard-boil eggs to avoid the green yolks? The best way is to not boil them at all. Instead, remove the eggs from the carton and place them in a saucepan. Fill the pan with enough water to cover the eggs and place over medium-high heat. As soon as the water boils, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let the eggs stand in the water for 12 minutes, 18 minutes for extra-large eggs. Remove the eggs and immerse them in a bowl of cold water. Once they have cooled, they’re ready to peel.

The Floating Homes of Yellowknife Bay

Type “Yellowknife” into Google search and it’s likely that the houseboats on Great Slave Lake will appear. They’re a major attraction for tourists, a muse for photographers and artists, and a source of casual curiosity for local residents. They were even the basis of a short-lived Animal Planet reality series, Ice Lake Rebels. Slowly but surely, these unconventional abodes made their way into the heart of the city’s identity. The exact beginnings of the houseboats on Yellowknife Bay can be hard to pin down. They can be traced back to the early 1980s, when Old Town residents Gary Vaillancourt and John Alexander used old barrel barges and salvaged wood from torn-down Giant Mine dormitories to build floating homes. The men had grown frustrated with rising real estate prices and yearned for a space beyond the ever-expanding net of city regulations. They moored their barges next to Jolliffe Island — technically off municipal lands — where they were shielded from the wind and could live year-round. From there, the community quickly grew, and today 30 houseboats make up Great Slave Lake’s floating community. Some are retired marine vessels, but most are similar to tiny houses on metal or plastic pontoons. Heat and power are derived from solar panels, small wind turbines, diesel generators, wood stoves, and propane tanks, while water is sourced from the lake. The homes can be surprisingly spacious and modern, with some being more compact and rustic. When it comes to houseboats, there’s no one-size-fits-all. The market for buying a houseboat is rather informal. It’s done friend-to-friend or through someone who knows someone. Needless to say, the only way to access the area is by boat. In the winter, when the lake freezes over, a snowmobile is crucial to facilitating trips into town for supplies. All of the residents in the community agree that the pleasures of living on a houseboat far outweigh the perils that come with it.