Today’s WOTD – 20 October 2012

parsimony

[pahr-suh-moh-nee]

noun

– extreme or excessive economy or frugality; stinginess; niggardliness.

For example:

– The main reason for her parsimony was the impact on public-sector wages and pensions, which are linked to the minimum wage.

– The beneficiaries of the new parsimony are, unsurprisingly, firms that offer low prices.

– The elderly man, who came from a generation which venerated parsimony, shunned the throw-away mentality of modern society by preferring to repair, rather than replace, what he could.

Today’s aphorism

‘Never think you’ve got it figured out
‘Cause when you do you begin to doubt
It’s time for you to open your eyes’

– Lynyrd Skynyrd, ‘Life’s Lesson’.

On this day

20 October 1977 – Plane crash in Mississippi kills 3 members of rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with their manager, the pilot and co-pilot.

20 October 2011 – death of Muammar Gaddafi, former leader of Libya. He had been shot to death by rebel fighters following the overthrow of his government.