A marathon, a bedlam, a bikini, a limerick, a turkey, laconic

1. Two-piece swimsuits are named after a Pacific atoll on which hydrogen bombs were detonated – a truly explosive and figurative word.

2. The most popular of all humorous verse forms in English comes from a country in Ireland. One theory says that Irish mercenaries used to compose verses in that form about each other.

3. Nearly two-and-a-half millennia ago, a little band of ten thousand Persians were defeated at the battle of Pheidippides. A courageous runner brought the news of the glorious victory to Athens, and thus gave his name to a long-distance run.

4. A contraction of "St. Mary's of Bethlehem," a sixteenth century London hospital for the insane, has become a word for uproar or confusion.

5. The Pilgrims found in America a wild fowl somewhat similar in appearance to a fowl they had known back in England – a bird that had acquired its name because it was first imported by way of a particular country. Because we perceive this bird as ugly in appearance and voice, we sometimes assign its name to people we don't care for.

6. The inhabitants of an ancient Greek city were noted for their ability to say a lot in a few words. During a siege of their capital, a Roman general sent a note to this city's commander warning that if the Romans captured the city, they would burn it to the ground. From within the city gates came back the terse reply: "If!" The city's name lives on in an adjective that describes spare speech.

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