13 February 2014

antidisestablishmentarianism

[an-tee-dis-uh-stab-lish-muhn-tair-ee-uh-niz-uhm, an-tahy-]

noun

– originally, opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England (meaning to remove the Anglican church as the state church of England, Ireland and Wales). Now, it’s opposition to the belief that there should no longer be an official church in a country.

Example: When people are asked for the longest word they know, they often say antidisestablishmentarianism.

Antidisestablishmentarianism is one of the longest words in the English language, with 28 letters and 12 syllables.

Anagram

A Databases Interim Hint Slim Sin
Mine Ambassadress hit a lint in it

Today’s aphorism

Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose.

– C.S. Lewis

On this day

13 February 1915 – birthday of General Aung San, founder of modern day Burma and Burmese Army. Father of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, activist and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient.

13 February 1920 – the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland is recognised by the League of Nations (predecessor of the United Nations).

13 – 15 February 1945 – the bombing of Dresden in which 722 British and 527 USAF aircraft drop more than 3,900 tons of explosives on Dresden, Germany. At the time, Nazi Germany claimed more than 300,000 casualties, however, an official report in 2010 claimed that casualties were around 25,000, historians generally number the casualties between 35,000 and 135,000. Because of the number of refugees in the city, it is unlikely the exact figure will ever be known.

13 February 2008 – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologises to Australia’s indigenous peoples, particularly those of the stolen generation from whom children were forcibly removed from their parents.