2 August 2014

chicanery

[shi-key-nuh-ree, chi-]

noun, plural chi·can·er·ies.
1. trickery or deception by quibbling or sophistry: He resorted to the worst flattery and chicanery to win the job.
2. a quibble or subterfuge used to trick, deceive, or evade.

Origin:
1605–15; < French chicanerie. See chicane, -ery

Synonyms
1. fraud, deception, knavery. 2. evasion.

Anagram
racy niche
nice chary
A cynic her

Today’s aphorism

After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say ‘I want to see the manager’.

– William S. Burroughs

On this day

2 August 216BC – 2nd Punic War, Battle of Cannae, in which Hannibal defeats the much larger Roman army.

2 August 1776 – the United States Declaration of Independence officially signed by 56 Congressional delegates who were not present on 4 July 1776, when 34 Congressional delegates signed and ratified it.

2 August 1934 – the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in the United States, levying $1 on commercial dealers of cannabis. It did not outlaw cannabis, but included hefty penalties if the Act was violated, namely five years imprisonment and a $2,000 fine. The Act was repealed in 1970.

2 August 1964 – the first Gulf of Tonkin Incident in which North Vietnamese troops fired on a US destroyer, the USS Maddox (the second incident allegedly occurred on 4 August 1964). The incident gave rise to the US Congress passing the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Resolution’ – officially the ‘Southeast Asia Resolution – which eventually led to the Vietnam War.

2 August 1997 – death of William Seward Burroughs, otherwise known as William S. Burroughs or William Lee, Beat Generation author, painter, spoken word performer. The beat generation rose to prominence in the 1950s and experimented with innovation in art, style, rules and drugs. Burroughs work includes Junkie, Queer, and Naked Lunch. Born on 5 February 1914 .