22 April 2013

erudite

[er-yoo-dahyt, er-oo-]

adjective

– characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly: an erudite professor; an erudite commentary. Synonyms: educated, knowledgeable; wise, sapient.

Origin:
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin ērudītus, equivalent to ērud- ( ē- e-1 + rud- unformed, rough, rude) + -ītus -ite2

Related forms
er·u·dite·ly, adverb
er·u·dite·ness, noun
non·er·u·dite, adjective
non·er·u·dite·ly, adverb
non·er·u·dite·ness, noun

Today’s aphorism

Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.

– Zelda Fitzgerald

On this day

22 April 1995 – death of Maggie Kuhn, activist and founder of the Gray Panthers, who campaigned for nursing home reform and opposed ageism. She also fought for human rights, social and economic justice, global peace, integration, and mental health issues.

20 April 2013

Draconian

[drey-koh-nee-uhn, druh-]
adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Draco or his code of laws. (Draco was the first legislator for Athens in Ancient Greece. He replaced the oral law and blood feud system with harsh, written laws enforced by a court).
2. ( often lowercase ) rigorous; unusually severe or cruel: Draconian forms of punishment.
Also, Draconic.

Origin:
1810–20; < Latin Dracōn- (stem of Draco) + -ian

Related forms
Dra·co·ni·an·ism, noun

Today’s aphorism

How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.

– Bram Stoker

On this day

20 April 1912 – death of Bram Stoker, Irish novellist, author of ‘Dracula’. Born 8 November 1847.

19 April 2013

shibboleth

[shib-uh-lith, ‐leth]
noun
1. a peculiarity of pronunciation, behavior, mode of dress, etc., that distinguishes a particular class or set of persons, e.g. ‘The New York accent is a distinct shibboleth’, ‘political shibboleths distinguished the major parties during the election’.
2. a slogan; catchword.
3. a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth.

Origin:
< Hebrew shibbōleth literally, freshet, a word used by the Gileadites as a test to detect the fleeing Ephraimites, who could not pronounce the sound sh (Judges 12:4–6)

Today’s aphorism

Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.

– Japanese proverb

On this day

19 April 1987 – The Simpsons is first aired on television in the United States.

19 April 1993 – 70 members of the cult Branch Davidian sect, led by David Koresh, perish following a fire at their Waco compound. It is believed they lit the fire deliberately as federal agents stormed the compound following a siege that began in February 1993.

19 April 1995 – Terrorist Timothy McVeigh detonates a bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring 680 people. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on 11 June 2001.

18 April 2013

false flag

Covert military or paramilitary operations designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities may be described as being carried out under a false flag or black flag. Operations carried out during peace-time by civilian organisations, as well as covert government agencies, may by extension be called false flag operations if they seek to hide the real organisation behind an operation.

The term originates from naval warfare in which a ship from one country would replace their national flag with the national flag of an enemy nation in order to fool enemy ships. Similarly, it has been used in land warfare. ‘False Flag’ activity in warfare are generally acceptable providing it is not perfidious (a form of deception in which one combatant promises to act in good faith with the intention of breaking that promise, e.g. raising a flag of surrender with the intention of attacking instead of surrendering).

Today’s aphorism

Since the wrestling and endurance
Give assurance
To the faint at bay with pain,
That no soul to strong endeavour
Yoked for ever,
Works against the tide in vain.

– Henry Kendall

On this day

18 April 1839 – birthday of Henry Kendall, Australian poet.

17 April 2013

stricture

[strik-cher]

noun

1. a remark or comment, especially an adverse criticism: The reviewer made several strictures upon the author’s style.

2. an abnormal contraction of any passage or duct of the body.

3. a restriction.

4. Archaic. the act of enclosing or binding tightly.

5. Obsolete , strictness.

Today’s aphorism

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
and no religion too

Imagine all the people
living life in peace.

– John Lennon

On this day

17 April 1961 – the U.S. government sponsor 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade the Bay of Pigs, Cuba in an effort to overthrow the socialist government of Fidel Castro. The attacks fails, resulting in the deaths or capture of all of the exiles.

17 April 1969 – assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan. Robert Kennedy was the brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

17 April 2010 – A Manhattan library reveals that first President George Washington failed to return two library books, accruing an overdue fees of $300,000. The library said they weren’t pursuing payment of the fees.

15 April 2013

segue

[sey-gwey, seg-wey]

verb, se·gued, se·gue·ing, noun
verb (used without object)

1. to continue at once with the next musical section or composition (often used as a musical direction).
2. to perform in the manner of the preceding section (used as a musical direction).
3. to make a transition from one thing to another smoothly and without interruption: ‘The conversation segued from travel anecdotes to food’.
noun
4. an uninterrupted transition made between one musical section or composition and another.
5. any smooth, uninterrupted transition from one thing to another.

Origin:
1850–55; < Italian: (there) follows, 3rd person singular present indicative of seguire ≪ Latin sequī to follow.

There is also the ‘Segway’, a two-wheeled, self-balancing, electric powered, personal transportation device.

Today’s aphorism

I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.

– Tony Robbins

On this day

15 April 1452 – birthday of Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian renaissance inventor, painter, sculptor, mathematician, writer.

15 April 1865 – Death of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln after being shot the day before. Born 12 February 1809.

15 April 1912 – RMS Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton UK to New York City, USA, costing the lives of 1,502 people out of the 2,224 crew and passengers who were on board. The White Star Line, who owned the Titanic, had declared her unsinkable.

14 April 2013

allegory

[al-uh-gawr-ee, -gohr-ee]
noun, plural al·le·go·ries.

1. a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.
2. a symbolical narrative: the allegory of Piers Plowman.
3. emblem ( def 3 ) .

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English allegorie < Latin allēgoria < Greek allēgoría, derivative of allēgoreîn to speak so as to imply something other. See allo-, agora; Greek agoreúein to speak, proclaim, orig. meant to act (e.g., speak) in the assembly

Synonyms
2. fable, parable.

Today’s aphorism

The best way to know life, is to love many things.

– Vincent Van Gogh

On this day

14 April 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater, Washington DC. Lincoln died the following day.

14 April 1912 – the RMS Titanic strikes an ice-berg just before midnight in the north Atlantic ocean as it sailed on its maiden voyage from Southampton UK to New York City USA , resulting in the deaths of 1,502 of the 3,372 people onboard.

14 April 1988 – Soviet Union begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after nine years of occupation.

13 April 2013

homologate

[huh-mol-uh-geyt, hoh-]
verb (used with object), ho·mol·o·gat·ed, ho·mol·o·gat·ing.

1. to approve; confirm or ratify.
2. to register (a specific make of automobile in general production) so as to make it eligible for international racing competition.

Origin:
1635–45; < Medieval Latin homologātus (past participle of homologāre < Greek homologeîn to agree to, allow); see -ate1

Related forms
ho·mol·o·ga·tion, noun

Today’s aphorism

A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.

– Irish saying

On this day

13 April 1923 – birth of Don Adams, American actor, most famous for his character Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the TV show ‘Get Smart’. Died 25 September 2005.