Today’s WOTD – 30 September 2012
peccadillo
[pek-uh-dil-oh]
noun
plural peccadilloes, peccadillos.
– a very minor or slight sin or offense; a trifling fault.
Today’s aphorism
‘I don’t like telephones’.
Marc Bolan
On this day
30 September 1947 – birth of Marc Bolan, singer/guitarist for T-Rex. (Born as Mark Feld). Died 16 September 1977.
Today’s WOTD – 29 September 2012
nudiustertian
[noo-dee-yoo-stur-shun]
adjective
– the day before yesterday.
Latin, from nudestarianus, which was descended from the phrase ‘nudius tertius’, literally meaning ‘now the third day’.
For example:
‘She is still raving about how much she enjoyed the nudiustertian lunch’.
Today’s aphorism
‘Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?’
– Confucius
On this day
29 September 1997 – death of Roy Lichtenstein, American pop artist.
29 September – World Heart Day.
Today’s WOTD – 28 September 2012
gammon
[gam-uhn]
verb – Australian slang
– to lie, deceive
– to be false
For example:
‘He said the Cowboys played a good game, but he was just gammon.’
Also:
noun
1. the game of backgammon.
2. a victory in which the winner throws off all his or her pieces before the opponent throws off any.
verb (used with object)
3. to win a gammon over.
Origin:
1720–30; perhaps special use of Middle English gamen (game)
Today’s aphorism
‘To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it’.
– Confucius
On this day
28 September 551BC – birth of Confucius, Chinese teacher and philosopher, founder of Confucianism. Died 479BC.
28 September 1330 – birth of Nicholas Flamel, French alchemist who purportedly made it his life’s work to decode a mysterious book, known as Book of Abramelin the Mage. Some believe he decoded the recipe for the Philosopher’s Stone, which could turn base metals into silver and gold, and was said to be the elixir of life. Died 22 March 1418(?) He was seen at least 3 times after his death, which led to rumour that he had produced the elixir of life and was therefore immortal. He has been immortalised in numerous books and movies, including ‘Harry Potter‘ by J.K. Rowling, and the ‘Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel‘ series by Michael Scott.
28 September 1895 – death of Louis Pasteur, French bacteriologist, one of the founders of microbiology. Invented the process for preventing milk and wine from causing sickness, known as pasteurisation. (Not entirely fool-proof, as over-imbibing wine still seems to cause sickness in some). Born 27 December 1822.
28 September 1967 – birth of Moon Unit Zappa, American musician. Son of legendary musician, Frank Zappa.
Today’s WOTD – 27 September 2012
depone
[dih-pohn]
— verb
chiefly law, Scots law to declare (something) under oath; testify; depose
[from Latin dēpōnere to put down, from de- + pōnere to put, place]
Today’s quote
‘I think young writers should get other degrees first, social sciences, arts degrees or even business degrees. What you learn is research skills, a necessity because a lot of writing is about trying to find information’.
Irvine Welsh
On this day
27 September 1540 – The Jesuits (Society of Jesus) founded by Ignatius Loyola.
27 September 1660 – death of St Vincent de Paul, Catholic priest, born in France, who dedicated himself to serving the poor. Born 24 April 1581.
27 September 1722 – birth of Samuel Adams, American revolutionary and founding father. Died 2 October 1803.
27 September 1947 – birth of Marvin Lee Aday, American rocker – otherwise known as Meatloaf.
27 September 1961 – birth of Irvine Welsh, Scottish writer – ‘Train-spotting‘, ‘Ecstasy‘.
27 September 1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald visits Cuban embassy in Mexico to apply for a Cuban visa. The embassy initially denies the visa, stating that the man was not Lee Harvey Oswald. The embassy said he would need Soviet approval. Following scrutiny from the KGB and CIA, and intense debate between the Soviets, Cuba and Oswald (?) the visa was finally issued. Oswald, or the man purporting to be Oswald, never travelled to Cuba, but returned to the U.S. on 3 October 1963 … conspiracy, anyone?
Today’s WOTD – 26 September 2012
sententious
[sen-TEN-shuhs],
adjective:
1. Abounding in pithy aphorisms or maxims: a sententious book.
2. Given to excessive moralizing; self-righteous.
3. Given to or using pithy sayings or maxims: a sententious poet.
4. Of the nature of a maxim; pithy.
Sententious is related to sententia, the Latin root for the word sentence. The Latin word sententiosus meant “full of meaning, pithy.”
Examples:
For he was a poet and drowned untimely, and his verse, mild as it is and formal and sententious, sends forth still a frail fluty sound like that of a piano organ played in some back street resignedly by an old Italian organ-grinder in a corduroy jacket.
— Virginia Woolf, “Street Haunting: A London Adventure,” Collected Essays
It was inconceivable that she was using the boring, sententious, contentious Shepherd for anything but a hollow threat to him, but this semblance of wrongdoing could now be turned to advantage.
— Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano
Today’s aphorism
‘Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule’
Stephen King
(What? Not even when researching for Panda’s word of the day?)
On this day
26 September 1181 – birth of St Francis of Assisi, Italian friar and founder of the men’s Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St Clare and the Third Order of St Francis. Although these are all Catholic Orders, he was never ordained as a Catholic priest. Died 3 October 1226.
26 September 1902 – death of Levi Strauss, German-born, American clothing manufacturer. Most notable for Levi jeans. Born 26 February 1829.
26 September 1907 – New Zealand declares independence from Great Britain.
26 September 1960 – Fidel Castro delivers the longest speech in U.N. history, at 4 hours, 29 minutes.
26 September 1983 – Australia wins the America’s Cup yacht race; the first nation to take the cup off America in 132 years.
26 September 1997 – the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi (in Assisi, Italy) partially collapses after an earthquake strikes the region.
Today’s WOTD – 25 September 2012
stet
[stet]
verb, stetted, stetting.
verb (used without object)
1. let it stand (used imperatively as a direction on a printer’s proof, manuscript, or the like, to retain material previously cancelled, usually accompanied by a row of dots under or beside the material).
For example:
This text is superfluous. STET (the use of stet indicates the phrase is not to be deleted).
Today’s quote
Max: Oh, yes, I’m a big music lover. Would you believe that I once listened to three weeks of Beethoven? Would you believe it? Three weeks!
Villain: I find that quite hard to believe.
Max: Would you believe (thinks a while) Two weeks of Bach?
Villain: I don’t think so.
Max: Would you believe… one hour of Looney Tunes?
– Quote from the TV show ‘Get Smart’, starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86.
On this day
Before revealing events for 25 September, we are going to have a flashback to 12 September. Why? Well, because I’d like to reveal the true dates for the end of both World War I and II. Forget 1918 and 1945 respectively … in the style of Maxwell Smart, ‘would you believe World War I ended in 1957? …. no? well, then … would you believe World War II ended in 1990?‘
12 September 1990 – formal end of World War II. In 1945 there was no formal German state to accept the terms of surrender or the ongoing governing of Germany. The 1945 Potsdam Agreement set the provisional terms under which the Allies would govern Germany. The lack of a German government at the time, became known as ‘The German Question’ and was used by the U.S.A. as the reason for maintaining American bases in West Germany throughout the Cold War. It wasn’t until German re-unification in 1990, that the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) unified. To achieve full sovereignty the new unified state was required to accept the terms of the Potsdam Agreement. A settlement was then negotiated with the new German government between the new German state, the U.S.A, France, U.S.S.R and Britain, formally ending World War II.
Now to 25 September events and the end of World War I:
25 September 1785 – U.S. traitor, Benedict Arnold, joins the British during the American Revolution.
25 September 1958 – End of World War I in Andorra … Andorra was not invited to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, so diplomatic peace between Germany and Andorra, relating to World War I, was not settled until this date.
25 September 1980 – death of John Bonham, Led Zeppelin drummer. Born 31 May 1948.
25 September 2005 – death of Don Adams, American actor, most famous for his character Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the TV show ‘Get Smart’. Born 13 April 1923. Famous catchphrases include ‘missed it by that much‘, ‘would you believe …‘, ‘sorry about that Chief‘, ‘the old [something] trick‘, ‘that’s the second […..] I’ve ever seen‘.
Today’s WOTD – 24 September 2012
antebellum
[an-tee-bel-uhm]
adjective
before or existing before a war, especially the American Civil War; prewar. For example: the antebellum plantations of Georgia.
Today’s quote
‘Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened’.
Dr Seuss
On this day
24 September 1724 – birth of Sir Arthur Guiness, Irish brewer and founder of the Guinness brewery. Died 23 January 1803.
24 September 1869 – Black Friday. Wall Street panic caused by two speculators, Fisk and Gould, trying to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. During reconstruction following the American Civil War, the US government had issued large amounts of money backed by nothing but credit. Rumour had it that the government would buy back the money with gold. Fisk and Gould attempted to profit from this by buying large amounts of gold, driving the price higher. The government unloaded $4 million of its own gold on the market which caused the price to plummet. As the price plummeted, investors panicked and sold their holdings, many were ruined.
24 September 1936 – birth of Jim Henson, American muppeteer (Sesame Street, the Muppet Show). Died 16 May 1990.
24 September 1990 – The Supreme Soviet agrees to change to free market.
24 September 1991 – death of Theodore Seuss Geisel, (Dr Seuss), children’s author. Born 2 March 1904.
Today’s WOTD – 23 September 2012
tartuffery
[tahr-TOOF-uh-ree],
noun:
Behavior or character of a Tartuffe, especially hypocritical piety.
When Terry had finished showing his contempt and had left the office in disgust at the head’s Tartuffery, Jan had calmly got up from her seat and looked hard at the shell-shocked, speechless woman before addressing her.
— Derryl Flynn, The Albion
Not the sophistry, the malevolence, the restless apathy of the masses, the arrogance and insensitivity of the ruling class, the vulgarity, the bigotry, the intemperance, the maniacal piety and the ungodly Tartuffery.
— W.E. Gutman, Nocturnes
Tartuffery comes from the comedy by French playwright Molière. The central character of the eponymous play Tartuffe was a hypocritical pretender.
Today’s quote
‘Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed’.
Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1819-1891)
On this day
23 September 63BC – birth of Augustus Caesar, founder of the Roman Empire and first Roman Emperor.
23 September 1122 – The Concordat of Worms, sometimes known as Pactum Calixtinum, which was an agreement between Pope Calixtinum and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, near the City of Worms, to end the first phase of the power struggle between the Papacy and the Emperors by granting Kings the right to grant Bishops in their territories with secular authority, but not sacred authority. Bishops then swore allegiance to the King and the Pope. The Kings could also call on them for military support.
23 September 1215 – birth of Kublai Khan, of the Mongol Empire. He was the grandson of Genghis Khan. In 1271, Kublia Khan established the Yuan Empire ruling over modern-day Mongolia, China and Korea. He became the first non-Chinese Emperor to conquer all of China. He died on 18 February 1294.
23 September 1913 – French aviator Roland Garros, becomes the first person to fly across the Mediterranean Sea.
23 September 1949 – birth of Bruce Springsteen (a.k.a. The Boss), American rocker.
Today’s WOTD – 22 September 2012
kakistocracy
[kak-uh-stok-ruh-see]
noun, plural kak·is·toc·ra·cies.
government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power.
Today’s quote
‘This thaw … took a while to thaw, it’s going to take a while to unthaw’.
George W. Bush, on liquidity in the markets, 20 October 2008.
On this day
22 September 1957 – birth of Nick Cave in Warracknabeal, Victoria (Australia). Australian gothic/alternative musician. Frontman of ‘The Birthday Party’ and ‘Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’, also having a successful solo career. In 2006, he formed ‘Grinderman’, an alternative rock band which disbanded in 2011.
22 September 2890 – birth of Bilbo Baggins, Hobbit, born in the Shire. Star of the iconic novel, ‘The Hobbit‘, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Bilbo also features in Tolkien’s ’The Lord of the Rings‘. Note, his birthday is in the year 2890 in the Third Age or in the year 1290 in Shire-Reckoning). There is some disparity between Shire-Reckoning and the Gregorian calendar. Some believe that 12 September is the comparative Gregorian date, others believe 14 September is the Gregorian date to celebrate Bilbo’s birthday, as explained in one of the appendices to Lord of the Rings.
22 September 2968 – birth of Frodo Baggins, Hobbit, born in the shire. Nephew of legendary hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, with whom he shares his birthday. Star of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ’Lord of the Rings‘. His birthday is in the year 2968 in the Third Age, or in the year 1368 in Shire-Reckoning). As Bilbo celebrated his eleventy-first (111th) birthday, Frodo was celebrating his 33rd birthday, which is the age at which a hobbit legally comes of age.
Today’s WOTD – 21 September 2012
drupe
[droop]
noun (Botany)
any fruit, as a peach, cherry, plum, etc., consisting of an outer skin, a usually pulpy and succulent middle layer, and a hard and woody inner shell usually enclosing a single seed.
Drupa means ‘over-ripe olive’.
A coconut is a fruit that is classified as a drupe.
Today’s quote
‘I don’t know half of you half as as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve’.
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, quoted from the speech by Bilbo Baggins at the birthday party to celebrate his eleventy-first (111th) birthday.
On this day
21 September – International Day of Peace.
21 September – World Alzheimer’s Day.
21 September 1937 – J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ first published.
21 September 2012 – ‘The Hobbit Second Breakfast’ at 11am – to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Hobbit, people everywhere are invited to celebrate the Hobbit Second Breakfast at 11am by popping on the kettle and sitting down with family and friends for camaraderie, companionship and a love of good food.