2 February 2013

denizen

[den-uh-zuhn]

noun

1. an inhabitant; resident.
2. a person who regularly frequents a place; habitué: the denizens of a local bar.
3. British . an alien admitted to residence and to certain rights of citizenship in a country.
4. anything adapted to a new place, condition, etc., as an animal or plant not indigenous to a place but successfully naturalized.
verb (used with object)
5. to make a denizen of.

Today’s aphorism

‘I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it’.

– Edgar Allan Poe

On this day

2 February 1943 – the German 6th Army surrenders to Soviet forces in Stalingrad.

2 February 1964 – Hasbro launches G.I. Joe (‘Government Issue Joe), an Armed Forces toy.

2 February 1971 – Idi Amin declares himself President of Uganda and launches a genocidal program that massacres between 100,000 and 500,000 people.

2 February 1990 – South African President, F.W. De Klerk orders the release of Nelson Mandela from jail. Mandela had served 27 years in prison for his anti-apartheid work with the African National Congress. De Klerk also lifted the 30 year ban on the ANC.