1 August 2018

tzimmes

[tsim-is]

noun

1. Also, tsimmes. Jewish Cookery. any of various sweetened combinations of vegetables, fruit, and sometimes meat, prepared as a casserole or stew.
2. fuss; uproar; hullabaloo:
He made such a tzimmes over that mistake!

Origin of tzimmes

1890-1895; < Yiddish tsimes, akin to dialectal German (Swabia) zimmes, zimbes compote, stew, Swiss German zimis lunch; compound (orig. prepositional phrase) with Middle High German z, ze unstressed variant of zuo (German zu) at, to + Middle High German, Old High German imbiz, imbīz snack, light meal ( German Imbiss), noun derivative of Old High German enbīzan to take nourishment; see in-1, bite

Dictionary.com

Today’s quote

The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.

– Aldous Huxley

On this day

1 August – the official birthday for all thoroughbred horses in the Southern Hemisphere.(see 1 January for Northern Hemisphere).

1 August 10BC – birth of Claudius, Roman Emperor. He was treated as an imbecile because he’d been born with a limp and slight deafness. As a result he was not seen as a threat by others and therefore survived the purges by Caligula and Tiberius. He was the last surviving man in his family following Caligula’s assassination, leading to him being declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard. He proved himself to be an able administrator and constructed many roads, aqueducts and canals across the empire. He successfully invaded Britain, something that previous emperors, including Caligula, had failed to do achieve. He was assassinated by poisoning, many believe by his wife. He was succeeded by his grand-nephew, Nero. Died 13 October 54AD.

1 August 1774 – Joseph Priestly discovers oxygen. Controversially, Carl Willhelm Scheele claims to have discovered oxygen in 1773, but did not publish his findings until 1777, well after Priestly published his own in 1775. Scheele claimed Priestly was an oxygen thief. Other claimants to the discovery of oxygen include Michal Sędziwój (in the 16th century) and Antoine Laurent Lavoisier who was working concurrently with Priestly and Scheele.

1 August 1794 – Whiskey Rebellion, which was a protest against a tax imposed by George Washington on the production of whiskey by grain growers.

1 August 1799 – France becomes the first country to introduce the metric system.

1 August 1834 – slavery officially abolished throughout the British Empire.

1 August 1882 – death of Henry Kendall, Australian poet. Born 18 April 1839.

1 August 1936 – Adolph Hitler opens the XI Olympiad in Berlin, Germany.