21 December 2012

uxorious

[uhk-sawr-ee-uh s, -sohr-, uhg-zawr-, -zohr-]

adjective

1. doting upon, foolishly fond of, or affectionately submissive toward one’s wife.

Example sentence:

‘I am not uxorious by nature, just ask my wife’.

Today’s aphorism

‘Nya b’a’n tu’n tjax tk’on chi’l toj twiy, ku’n b’e’x ch’ajila tu’n tx’yan’.

Which translates as: ‘It’s not wise to put a basket on your head as you will be eaten by a dog’, meaning [He who walks without looking will fall into trouble]

– Ancient Mayan proverb.

On this day

21 December 1913 – American newspaper, New York World, publishes the world’s first crossword puzzle. It was created by English journalist, Arthur Wynne.

21 December 1940 – birth of Frank Zappa, American revolutionary musician. Died 3 December 1993.

21 December 1991 – representatives of all Soviet Republics, except Georgia, signed the Alma-Ata Protocol which confirmed the Belavezha Accords of 8 December 1991 that declared the Soviet Union dissolved.

21 December 2012 – end of the world as predicted by the Ancient Mayans … or is it just the end of an age within their calendar? All will be revealed today …

20 December 2012

wassail

[WOS-uhl, wo-SAYL]

verb tr.: To toast.

verb intr.:

To go from house to house singing carols at Christmas.

noun:

1. A toast to someone’s health.
2. A festivity with much drinking.
3. A drink for toasting, especially spiced ale.

Example:

Wassailing the apple tree is a traditional ritual carried out on twelfth night.

Today’s aphorism

‘I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me’.

– Hunter S. Thompson

On this day

20 December – International Human Solidarity Day.

20 December 1973 – Basque Nationalists kill Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco in a car-bombing in Madrid.

20 December 1989 – Operation ‘Just Cause’ in which President George Bush orders 27,684 U.S. troops into Panama in an effort to oust Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Noriega surrendered on 3 January 1990.

19 December 2012

cahoots

[kuh-hoot]
Idioms
1. go cahoots, to share equally; become partners: They went cahoots in the establishment of the store. Also, go in cahoot with, go in cahoots.
2. in cahoot / cahoots,
a. in partnership; in league.
b. in conspiracy: in cahoots with the enemy.

Today’s aphorism

‘Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves’.

– Emily Bronte

On this day

19 December 1847 – death of Emily Bronte, author of the novel, ‘Wuthering Heights‘.

19 December 1915 – birth of Édith Piaf, French singer. Born Édith Giovanna Gassion, died 10 October 1963.

18 December 2012

chary

chary

[chair-ee]

adjective, charier, chariest.
1. cautious or careful; wary: He was chary of investing in oil wells.
2. shy; timid.
3. fastidious; choosy: She is excessively chary about her friends.
4. sparing (often followed by of ): chary of his praise.

Related forms

charily, adverb.
unchary, adjective.

Synonyms
1. circumspect. 4. frugal.

Antonyms
1. trustful. 2. confident. 3. uncritical. 4. lavish.

Example sentence:

‘As a materialist, Marx was chary of ideas which were divorced from historical reality, and thought that there were usually good historical reasons for this separation’.

– from ‘Why Marx Was Right‘, by Terry Eagleton.

Today’s aphorism

‘I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in 20 minutes. It involves Russia’.

– Woody Allen.

On this day

18 December 1942 – U.S. B24 Liberator bomber crashes into Mt Straloch on Hinchinbrook Island, North Queensland. All 29 persons on board were killed. Because of the rugged terrain and monsoonal ‘wet’ season, the bodies were not recovered for some months. The plane had flown from Amberley air base, near Brisbane, to Garbutt air base in Townsville to pick up passengers. The plane crashed during a violent storm, shortly after departure from Garbutt. It was on its way to Iron Range air base, near Lockhardt River, North Queensland.

17 December 2012

obsequious

[uh b-see-kwee-uh s]

adjective

1. characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning: an obsequious bow.
2. servilely compliant or deferential: obsequious servants.
3. obedient; dutiful.

Today’s aphorism

‘Only the pure in heart can make a good soup’.

– Ludwig van Beethoven

On this day

17 December 1770 – baptism of Ludwig von Beethoven, German composer. One of the world’s most influential composers. He composed 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatos and 16 string quartets. Died 26 March 1827.

17 December 1903 – Orville and Wilbur Wright makes the world’s first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight.

16 December 2012

haptic

[hap-tik]

adjective

– of or relating to the sense of touch, tactile.

‘She was a very haptic person, expressed through her habit of hugging everyone she met’.

Today’s aphorism

‘Patriotism is a arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles’.

– Colonel Sanders

On this day

16 December 1980 – death of Harlan Sanders who eventually becomes a Colonel and chickens throughout Kentucky, and ultimately the rest of the world, are never the same again as he invents Kentucky Fried Chicken. Born 9 September 1890.

15 December 2012

convivial

[kuh n-viv-ee-uh l]

adjective

1. friendly; agreeable: a convivial atmosphere.
2. fond of feasting, drinking, and merry company; jovial.
3. of or befitting a feast; festive.

Today’s aphorism

‘Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise’.

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

On this day

15 December 1970 – Russia’s Venera 7 spacecraft lands on Venus, the first man-made object to land on the planet. It was launched on 15 August 1970.

14 December 2012

apposite

[ap-uh-zit, uh-poz-it]

adjective

– suitable; well-adapted; pertinent; relevant; apt: e.g. ‘an apposite answer’.

Origin:

1615–25; < Latin appositus added to, put near (past participle of appōnere ), equivalent to ap- ap-1 + positus placed ( posi- place + -tus past participle suffix)

Related forms

ap·po·site·ly, adjective.
ap·po·site·ness, noun.
un·ap·po·site, adjective.
un·ap·po·site·ly, adverb.
un·ap·po·site·ness, noun.

Example sentence:

‘The term ” lifeless pallor ” seems very apposite’.

Today’s aphorism

‘Feed the poor and get rich or feed the rich and get poor.’

– Colonel Harlan Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

On this day

14 December 1972 – The last men to walk on the moon are Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan during the Apollo 17 mission. In all, 12 men walked on the moon between 1969 and 1972.

14 December 2008 – Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, throws his shoes at US President George W. Bush who was in a press-conference in Iraq.

13 December 2012

bifurcate

[bahy-fer-keyt, bahy-fur-keyt; bahy-fer-kit, bahy-fur-]

verb, bifurcated, bifurcating, adjective.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

1. to divide or fork into two branches.

adjective
2. divided into two branches.

Example sentence:

He speaks with bifurcated tongue.

Today’s aphorism

‘Everybody has a right to like or dislike anything or anyone. From a flower to a flavor to a book or a composition but it is very sad that in our country we actually fight over such things in an unseemly manner’.

– Ravi Shankar

On this day

13 December 1937 – Nanking, China, is captured by Japanese forces. The Japanese General Matsui orders the destruction of the city, resulting in the massacre of more than 200,000 people, and rape and mutilation of around 20,000 women and girls.

13 December 1939 – Premier of the classic movie, Gone With The Wind, starring Clark Gable and Vivienne Leigh.

13 December 1995 – Thousands of people riot in Brixton, England, ransacking shops and attacking police.

13 December 2003 – US forces capture Saddam Hussein at a compound near Tikrit. He was executed by hanging on 30 December 2006 after being found guilty of the 1982 murder of 148 Iraqi Shi’ites.

13 December 2006 – Belgians react angrily to the news that their country is to be bifurcated, with the Dutch speaking component of the country declaring their independence. The news was a joke propagated by Belgian public television station, R.T.B.F.

13 December 2007 – Pakistani President, Pervez Musharaff, moves responsibility for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal from the Prime Minister to the President amid fears of it falling into the hands of Islamic extremists.

12 December 2012

elysian

[i-LIZH-uhn]

adjective:

– Blissful; delightful.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin Elysium, from Greek elysion pedyon (Elysian plain/fields). In Greek mythology, Elysium (or the Elysian Fields) was the final resting place for the souls of heroes and the virtuous after their death. Earliest documented use: 1579.

USAGE:
‘Our neighbour stuck his head over the fence one arvo* and regaled me with Elysian illusions involving the company he worked for’.
Doug Anderson; Summer Job: Toilet Assembler; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Jan 10, 2012
* Australian slang for ‘afternoon’

Today’s aphorism

‘I learned that fighting on the chess board could also have an impact on the political climate in the country’.

– Garry Kasparov

On this day

12 December 1901 – Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi sends the world’s first wireless transmission over 2,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Poldhu, Cornwall, England to Newfoundland, Canada. The message he sent was the letter ‘s’ in morse code, represented by three dots …

12 December 1913 – the Mona Lisa is recovered in Florence, two years after being stolen from the Louvre in Paris.

12 December 1925 – the world’s first motel, the Milestone Mo-Tel, opens in San Luis Obispo, California. The motorists-hotel enabled visitors to park their cars outside their rooms.

12 December 1946 – John D. Rockefeller donates six blocks of Manhattan to the United Nations, which is now the site of UN Headquarters.

12 December 2003 – Keiko, the killer whale from the movie, ‘Free Willy’, dies in Norway.

12 December 2007 – International Chess Grand-Master, Garry Kasparov announces that he is withdrawing from running for the presidential election. Kasparov’s party, Other Russia, had faced difficulty in meeting the electoral requirements for supporters to meet in Moscow.