14 July 2015

blarney

[blahr-nee]

noun

1. flattering or wheedling talk; cajolery.
2. deceptive or misleading talk; nonsense; hooey:
a lot of blarney about why he was broke.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object), blarneyed, blarneying.
3. to flatter or wheedle; use blarney:
He blarneys his boss with the most shameless compliments.

Origin of blarney

1760-1770; after the hamlet Blarney, in Ireland; see Blarney stone

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Anagram

ban lyre
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Today’s quote

The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.

– Marcel Pagnol

On this day

14 July 1789 – Bastille Day – commemorating the storming of the Bastille, a fortress-prison. Parisians feared being attacked by King Louis XVI following an economic meltdown and subsequent breakdown in communication between the royalty and the Third Estate (representing the common people and which formed the National Guard represented by the colours of red, white and blue). The Bastille represented the brutality of the monarchy, although at the time it was attacked it only held seven prisoners. The storming of the Bastille led to the French Revolution, bringing an end to feudalism and the proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which was influenced the US President Thomas Jefferson and declared the universal right of freedom for every person.

14 July 1881 – death (?) of William H. Bonney aka Billy ‘The Kid’. American outlaw. Legend has it that he killed 21 men, although historians believe it may have been between 4 and 9 men. He was shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett around 14 July 1881. Some conspiracy theorists believe that Bonney did not get shot that day, but that Garrett staged the shooting so that Billy ‘The Kid’ could escape. Born 23 November 1859.