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Some of our finest [ about ] Approved Articles Developed Articles (over 700) Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality. —Often attributed to the Dalai Lama Article of the Week [ about ] Common wheat, Triticum aestivum Linnaeus Wheat (various species of the genus Triticum) is a grass with so many important uses that it is cultivated worldwide. Not only is wheat an important crop today, it may well have influenced human history. Wheat was a key factor enabling the emergence of city-based societies at the start of civilization because it was one of the first crops that could be easily cultivated on a large scale, and had the additional advantage of yielding a harvest that provides long-term storage of food. Globally, wheat is the leading source of vegetable protein in human food, having a higher protein content than either maize (corn) or rice, the other major cereals. In terms of total production tonnages used for food, it is currently second to rice as the main human food crop, and ahead of maize (corn), after allowing for maize's more extensive use in animal feeds. [more...] New Draft of the Week [ about ] This article examines the differences between British (and Commonwealth) English and American English in the areas of vocabulary, spelling and phonology. In particular, it compares standard British (including the accent known as Received Pronunciation, or RP) and standard American speech (this article uses Midland American English, usually perceived to be the least marked American dialect). Grammatical and lexical differences between British and American English are, for the most part, common to all dialects, but there are many regional differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, usage and slang, some subtle, some glaring, some rendering a sentence incomprehensible to a speaker of another variant. American and British English both diverged from a common ancestor, and the evolution of each language is tied to social and cultural factors in each land. Cultural factors can affect one's understanding and enjoyment of language; consider the effect that slang and double entendre have on humour. A joke is simply not funny if the pun upon which it is based can't be understood because the word, expression or cultural icon upon which it is based does not exist in one's variant of English. [more...]