20 January 2015

phrontistery

[fron-tis-tuh-ree]

noun

– a place for thinking or study.
e.g. Away from the maddening crowd, his beach hut became his phrontistery.

Origin: Greek

Greek phrontistērion, from phrontistēs philosopher, deep thinker, person with intellectual pretensions, from phrontizein to reflect, take thought, from phrontid-, phrontis reflection, thought; akin to Greek phren-, phrēn diaphragm, mind

Source: The Free Dictionary

Anagram

sprint theory
thorny stripe
thirsty prone

Today’s aphorism

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.

– Henry Ford

On this day

20 January – Penguin Awareness Day.

20 January 1952 – birth of Stanley Harvey Esien, better known as Paul Stanley, singer and guitarist in glam rock band, Kiss.

20 January 1982 – It was the chomp heard around the world, when Ozzy Osbourne, The Prince of Darkness, bit the head off a bat while performing on stage in Des Moines, Iowa. A fan had thrown a bat on stage. Ozzy claims he thought it was rubber, but found out the hard way, that it was, in fact, a real bat. He was taken to hospital and given rabies shots. This follows on from an incident in 1981, when Ozzy bit the head off a dove after signing his first solo record deal … as you do … Word has it that Ozzy had planned to release a number of doves as a symbol of peace, but was drunk and felt one of the doves could do with a trim … which didn’t work out too well for the dove. There is no truth in the rumour that the Prince song, ‘When Doves Cry’ is about the incident. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/ENT/502270318&nclick_check=1