Today’s WOTD – 2 September 2012

Xanthippe   

[zan-tip-ee]

noun
1. flourished late 5th century b.c., wife of Socrates.
2. a scolding or ill-tempered wife; a shrewish woman.

Origin:
Xanthippe, 1596, spouse of Socrates (5c. B.C.E.), the prototype of the quarrelsome, nagging wife. The name is related to the masculine proper name Xanthippos, a compound of xanthos “yellow” + hippos “horse.”

Today’s aphorism

‘If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world’.

J.R.R. Tolkien

On this day

2 – 5 September 1666 – Great Fire of London.

2 September 1752 – last day of the Julian calendar as the British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar. To balance the books, the next 10 days (3 – 13 September) are written off so the Gregorian commences on 14 September, which should have been 3 September in the Julian calendar.

2 September 1945 – Japan signs the ‘Instrument of Surrender’, on the USS Missouri, bringing World War II to an end.

2 September 1951 – Australia, New Zealand and United States sign the ANZUS Security Treaty, a defence pact.

2 September 1973 – death of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of ‘The Hobbit‘ and ‘Lord of the Rings‘. Born 3 January 1892.