Ripped from the Headlines: May 2025: May Vocabulary Words

Do you have a favorite teacher? Show your appreciation during Teacher Appreciation Week, which is celebrated during the first full week in May. In 1953, Eleanor Roosevelt lobbied Congress to acknowledge the contributions of teachers, although a National Teacher's Appreciation Day wasn't formalized until 1980. Four years later, this annual celebration of teachers was expanded to an entire week. Appreciation comes from a Latin word meaning "to appraise."

Although Cinco de Mayo is a commemoration of Mexico's victory over the invading French army in 1862's Battle of Puebla, it's more of an American holiday than a Mexican one. Observed in the U.S. for over 150 years, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a generic celebration of Mexican culture and heritage. In Mexico, the commemoration is low-key, mainly taking place in the town of Puebla itself.

Most U.S. college and university commencement ceremonies take place in May. This occasion, featuring graduates in traditional caps and gowns receiving their hard-earned diplomas, celebrates the fact that they've completed a course of study and received a college degree. More importantly — as the word's Old French root comencement, or "a beginning," implies — it's the start of something new.

Held annually at Churchill Downs in the city of Louisville, the Kentucky Derby is the first of the Triple Crown horse races. On the first Saturday in May, three-year-old thoroughbreds race a 1.2-mile track, a course they cover so quickly that the Derby is known as "the fastest two minutes in sports." This type of race was named after the British town of Derby, which began hosting its own eponymous horse race in the 1800s.

Each year, the third Friday of May offers a new opportunity to learn about, celebrate, and protect threatened plants and animals — it's National Endangered Species Day. Communities, schools, animal refuges, and botanical gardens around the world participate in this annual event dedicated to awareness of species at risk of extinction. It's also a chance to find out more about 1973's U.S. Endangered Species Act.

When smallpox was officially eradicated on May 8, 1980, it became the first (and only) human disease to be completely eliminated. It's an astounding public health achievement that has saved countless lives from a disease that killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century alone. The smallpox vaccine was the very first developed against a contagious illness, and it was a global vaccination campaign that finally eradicated the disease.

Star Wars Day, which is observed by fans of the iconic movie franchise every May 4, has a slightly silly origin. What's become a worldwide commemoration began as a simple play on words: "May the fourth be with you" sounds an awful lot like "May the force be with you." Wookiee lovers, Yoda enthusiasts, light saber aficionados, and would-be Jedi knights are all welcome to celebrate the out-of-this-world holiday.

Free Comic Book Day is held on the first Saturday in May at independent comic book stores around the world. During this celebration of graphic art, customers at participating stores can choose from about 50 free graphic novels and comics. The first Free Comic Book Day was held in 2001 by comics shop owner Joe Field, who was inspired by a Free Scoop Day at a local ice cream parlor. Graphic derives from the Greek graphe, "writing or drawing."

May marks Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. This tribute to the heritage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is an opportunity to learn about the culture and history of Americans of East Asian, South Asian, Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian descent. The month was chosen because of other May anniversaries: the first Japanese immigrant to the U.S., in 1843, and the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, primarily built by Chinese immigrants, in 1869.

International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, is a worldwide celebration of the working class and the labor movement. The date of May 1 holds great significance for proponents of workers' rights. The date was chosen in 1889 to commemorate the beginning of a landmark 1886 workers' strike in favor of an eight-hour workday and other protections for laborers.

English poet Edward Lear wrote over 200 limericks in his lifetime, and National Limerick Day on May 12 is the perfect occasion to read a few of them. Lear is particularly famous for his nonsense rhymes, invented words, and short-form limericks, like this one:
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard."

More than 40 countries around the world celebrate Mother's Day; the majority of them observe this day of maternal appreciation on the second Sunday in May. Social activist Anna Jarvis is credited with starting Mother's Day in the U.S. after her own mother died in 1905. Jarvis, noting that federal holidays mainly honored "male achievement," lobbied to establish a formal celebration of mothers and their families. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made Mother's Day official.

Memorial Day, which falls on the last Monday of May, honors Americans who died while serving in the military. The holiday is traditionally observed by visiting sites like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the graves of fallen loved ones. Memorial Day was first proposed after the Civil War as a national commemoration of the 620,000 soldiers who died in that conflict.

May is National Osteoporosis Month, a time to learn about bone health and raise awareness of the risks of bone loss. Osteoporosis is a common but preventable disease in people over the age of 50, not a normal part of getting older. Osteoporosis means "porous bone," from Greek roots osteo, "bone," and poros, "pore." The disease causes bones to become almost spongelike, with holes and spaces that make them weak and prone to breaking.

The landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education ended on May 17, 1954. On that day, the Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, putting an end to a previous "separate but equal" rule and inspiring many additional national efforts at desegregation. The Latin root of segregation is segregare, which literally means "separate (a sheep) from the flock."