15 May 2013

dramatis personae

[dram-uh-tis per-soh-nee, drah-muh-]

(noun)

1. (used with a pl. v.) the characters in a play
2. (used with a sing. v.) list of the characters preceding the text of a play

Example:

‘But on this most auspicious of nights … permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet … to suggest the character of this dramatis personae’.

– V, from V for Vendetta

synonyms: actors, actresses, artists, characters

Today’s aphorism

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.

– George Bernard Shaw

On this day

15 May – The Nakba (Day of the Catastrophe), Palestine – commemoration of the displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians and the depopulation and destruction of at least 400 villages during the establishment of Israel in 1948.

15 May 1970 – At Jackson State University in Mississippi, police open fire on students who were protesting against the Vietnam and Cambodian Wars, killing two and injuring twelve.