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Toll

November 2018

Cartoon by Gymglish

Don’t confuse “toll” with:

Troll. Folkloric creature. Hides in caves, under bridges, or behind computer screens.

Stroll. A short walk. No toll currently, but the government is working on it.

Roll. Small loaf of bread. Goes well with butter, but so does everything.

Definitions

A toll: money paid to use a road or bridge.

A death toll: the number of deaths caused by a war or disaster.

Also:
To toll: to sound a bell.

Tolls in the News

On November 11th, the bells tolled to mark the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I.

The bells tolled, but no one “lolled”. With a death toll of 17 million people, it's going to be a while until we can joke about this one.

Wars that took a toll

Napoleonic Wars: 7M deaths. 5 feet of megalomania is surprisingly efficient.

Mongol Conquests: 30-40M. Genghis says: “Yes we Khan!”

WWII: 85M. WTF?

WWIII: World leaders, please, let’s not find out!
Cartoon by Gymglish

Definitions

A toll: money paid to use a road or bridge.

A death toll: the number of deaths caused by a war or disaster.

Also:
To toll: to sound a bell.

Tolls in the News

On November 11th, the bells tolled to mark the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I.

The bells tolled, but no one “lolled”. With a death toll of 17 million people, it's going to be a while until we can joke about this one.

Don’t confuse “toll” with:

Troll. Folkloric creature. Hides in caves, under bridges, or behind computer screens.

Stroll. A short walk. No toll currently, but the government is working on it.

Roll. Small loaf of bread. Goes well with butter, but so does everything.

Wars that took a toll

Napoleonic Wars: 7M deaths. 5 feet of megalomania is surprisingly efficient.

Mongol Conquests: 30-40M. Genghis says: “Yes we Khan!”

WWII: 85M. WTF?

WWIII: World leaders, please, let’s not find out!

The Word of the Month is created by Gymglish, in partnership with Le Monde.
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