23 March 2013

auspicious

[aw-spish-uhs]

adjective

1. promising success; propitious; opportune; favorable: an auspicious occasion.
2. favored by fortune; prosperous; fortunate.

Origin:
1600–10; < Latin auspici ( um ) auspice + -ous

Related forms
aus·pi·cious·ly, adverb
aus·pi·cious·ness, noun
un·aus·pi·cious, adjective
un·aus·pi·cious·ly, adverb

Today’s aphorism

Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing.

– Bernard Malamud

On this day

23 March 1919 – Benito Mussolini establishes the Italian National Fascist Party. In 1936, Mussolini joins forces with Adolf Hitler through the Axis Pact. Following Mussolini’s arrest in 1943, the party was dissolved. The Italian Constitution has banned the reformation of the INF.

22 March 2013

desiderata

[dih-sid-uh-rey-tuh, -rah-, -zid-]

plural noun, singular de·sid·er·a·tum.

– things wanted or needed;

the plural of desideratum: “Happily-ever-after” and “eternal love” appear to be the desiderata of the current generation; to whom “fat chance” say those of us who are older, wiser, and more curmudgeonly.

Synonyms: essentials, necessities, requisites, sine qua nons.

Today’s aphorism

The surest path to success is to learn to have a healthy relationship with failure. If we aren’t failing, then we aren’t doing anything interesting.

– Kristen Lamb

On this day

22 March 1418 – death (?) 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 that he also had the ‘elixir of life’ which reputedly made him and his wife immortal. It’s been claimed that he was seen at least 3 times after his death, which led to rumour that he had produced the elixir of life. 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. Born 28 September 1330.

20 March 2013

antipodes

[an-tip-uh-deez]

plural noun

1. places diametrically opposite each other on the globe. Usually Australia/New Zealand (often used by Britons).
2. those who dwell there.
3. things which are the exact opposite of each other.

Example sentence:

1. Captain James Cook set sail from England in 1768, on his first voyage to explore the antipodes.

2. The newly married couple epitomised the saying that opposites attract, as they were the antipodes of each other.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek ( hoi ) antípodes literally, (those) with the feet opposite (plural of antípous ), equivalent to anti- anti- + -podes, nominative plural of poûs foot

Related forms
an·tip·o·de·an [an-tip-uh-dee-uhn] Show IPA , adjective, noun

Today’s aphorism

Never ignore someone who cares for you, because someday you’ll realise you’ve lost a diamond while you were busy collecting stones.

– Unknown

On this day

20 March 1969 – John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.

20 March 1995 – Sarin gas, a nerve agent, is released in a Tokyo subway, killing 12 people and injuring 5,500. A doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo is responsible.

19 March 2013

frisson

[free-sohn; French free-sawn]

noun, plural fris·sons [-sohnz; French -sawn]

– a sudden, passing sensation of excitement; a shudder of emotion; thrill: The movie offers the viewer the occasional frisson of seeing a character in mortal danger.

Origin:
1770–80; < French: shiver, shudder, Old French friçons (plural) < Late Latin frictiōnem, accusative of frictiō shiver (taken as derivative of frīgēre to be cold), Latin: massage, friction

Today’s aphorism
‎
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

– Martin Luther King Jnr

On this day

19 March 1932 – Opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Captain Frank de Groot is arrested when he rides up on his horse and cuts the ribbon before the Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang, can cut it. Captain de Groot was a member of a right-wing paramilitary group called the New Guard who was politically opposed to the more left-wing Premier Lang. De Groot claimed he was protesting that the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Phillip Game, should have opened the Bridge.

19 March 1950 – death of Edgar Rice Burroughs, American science fiction author: Tarzan, Mars series (on which the 2012 movie ‘John Carter‘ was based).

18 March 2013

inure

[in-yoor, ih-noor]
verb, in·ured, in·ur·ing.
verb (used with object)

1. to accustom to hardship, difficulty, pain, etc.; toughen or harden; habituate (usually followed by to ): inured to cold.
verb (used without object)
2. to come into use; take or have effect.
3. to become beneficial or advantageous.

Today’s aphorism

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

– Mahatma Gandhi

On this day

18 March 1922 – Mahatma Gandhi sentenced to six years imprisonment by an Indian court for civil disobedience against the British Empire, which included boycotting British made goods. He ended up serving two years.

18 March 1965 – Russian cosmonaut, Lt Col Alexei Leonov becomes the first man to walk in space, when he exits his spacecraft for a short ‘walk’, which included a somersault.

17 March 2013

compunction

[kuhm-puhngk-shuhn]
noun

1. a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain; contrition; remorse.
2. any uneasiness or hesitation about the rightness of an action.
Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English compunccion (< Anglo-French ) < Late Latin compūnctiōn- (stem of compūnctiō ), equivalent to Latin compūnct ( us ), past participle of compungere to prick severely ( com- com- + pungere to prick; cf. point) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms
com·punc·tion·less, adjective

Example sentence:

‘Robin Hood had no compunction about robbing from greedy and corrupt noblemen’.

Today’s quote

An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass to keep from falling off the earth.

– Irish saying

On this day

17 March – St Patrick’s Day.

17 March 1931 – The U.S. state of Nevada legalises gambling, which paves the way for the establishment of Las Vegas as the casino capital of America.

17 March 1966 – a hydrogen bomb is recovered from the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. The bomb had fallen from a U.S. B-52 after it collided with a KC-135 refuelling jet.

15 March 2013

backronym

noun

[portmanteau of back + acronym]

Whereas an acronym is created from a the letters of a phrase, a backronym is a reverse acronym, in that a phrase is created to fit the letters of an acronym. For example, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), COLBERT (Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill – this was created by NASA in recognition of comedian Stephen Colbert’s attempts to have a space module named after him).

Today’s aphorism

Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something.

– Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary

On this day

15 March 1916 – President Woodrow Wilson sends thousands of troops into Mexico to capture the Mexican revolutionary, Pancho Villa.

14 March 2013

pena ajena

from Mexican Spanish

[PAY-nah ah-HAY-na]

– the embarrassment felt watching someone else’s humiliation.

Example:

I squirmed with pena ajena watching him crash and burn on TV.

Today’s aphorism

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.

– Stephen Hawking.

On this day

14 March 1939 – the independent republic of Czechoslovakia is dissolved, enabling occupation by Nazi forces following the 1938 Munich Act. Czechoslovakia had been created in 1918.