This word goes back to the dark ages and the time of the 'black death' or 'black plague'. From trial and error, the doctors of the day determined that if a person is seen to be free of the disease for forty days, he was probably disease free. When ships visited foreign harbors, they were required to stay in port without any sailors coming ashore for forty days. That made sure they were not carrying the sickness.
The word for forty in Italian is quaranta and the French is quarante and the Spanish is cuarenta. Got the picture? The word quarantine comes from the word for 'forty'.
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The latest estimate is that there are about 200,000 feral cats living in the Chicago area. Sounds like a lot to me. Do you think there are any rats left?
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What? There are more Italians living in the city of Sao Paolo, Brazil than in any city in Italy.
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Oh sure! Brazil nuts come from Columbia, Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela in addition to Brazil. Caution! Don't stand under a brazil nut tree too long, you may get bombarded from above. The trees grow to 200 feet tall and the nuts grow in a flower pod holding as many as 20 nuts. That would hurt if it fell and hit you.
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