This will be a short one.  The other day I was listening to the news and heard a story about one of the countries in central Asia that ended in “stan”.  Being the inquisitive type I wanted to know what the “stan” means. This wasn’t the first time that had crossed my mind but it was the first time I actually did something about it. What I did was what any respectable person would do and I asked Google.  I got a lot of results and a great article from The Atlantic spelled it all out for me.  From it I learned that today there are 7 countries with the “-stan” ending.  The ending simply means land and is from the Persian root istan.  Now I have no idea what I will do with this amazing knowledge.  Maybe go on Jeopardy.