11 August 2013

anachronism

[uh-nak-ruh-niz-uhm]

noun

1. something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time: The sword is an anachronism in modern warfare.
2. an error in chronology in which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other than the correct one: To assign Michelangelo to the 14th century is an anachronism.
Compare parachronism, prochronism.

Origin:
1640–50; < Latin anachronismus < Greek anachronismós a wrong time reference, equivalent to anachron ( ízein ) to make a wrong time reference (see ana-, chron-, -ize) + -ismos -ism

Related forms
an·a·chron·i·cal·ly [an-uh-kron-ik-lee] adverb

Today’s aphorism

Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.

– William Faulkner

On this day

11 August 3114BC – ok, so there is an argument that the month of August didn’t exist in 3114BC, but humour me … some mathemetician type has calculated the equivalent Mesoamerican date using the Gregorian calendar and determined that it was on this day that the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, (aka the Mayan Calendar) came into being. It was used by a number of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. Oddly enough, the creation of the calendar wasn’t a problem. The problem has arisen with the lack of fore-thought on the end-date. Inconveniently, some inconsiderate Mesoamerican culture (let’s blame the Mayans) decided the calendar would end on 21 December 2012, which has caused a little consternation amongst some of the inhabitants of Earth, who fear the calendar ends on that date because the world ends on that date … considering that the earth has managed to survive beyond 21/12/12, speculation is rife that perhaps the calendar ended on that date because its creator got bored, or was called in for dinner, or went hunting sabre-tooth tigers and never returned …

11 August 480BC – death of Leonidas, King of Sparta, famous for the Battle of Thermopylae in which he led an Army of 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans and managed to hold off Persian Army (estimated to be at least 100,000 strong) led by Xerxes. Leonidas was eventually over-run and killed. He would have been stoked to know a Hollywood movie would be made about him in 1962 and again in 2006.

11 August 1897 – birthday of Enid Blyton, British author of numerous series of children’s stories, including ‘Noddy‘, ‘Famous Five‘, and ‘Secret Seven‘. Died 1967.

11 August 1921 – birthday of Alex Haley, U.S. author of ‘Roots‘, ‘Malcolm X‘. (Died 1992).

11 August 1945 – Japan offers surrender, conditional on the retention of their Emperor, Hirohito. The U.S. rejects the offer, demanding that Emperor Hirohito subject himself to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces.

10 August 2013

putative

[pyoo-tuh-tiv]

adjective

– commonly regarded as such; reputed; supposed: the putative boss of the mob.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin putātīvus reputed, equivalent to putāt ( us ) (past participle of putāre to think, consider, reckon, orig. to clean, prune) + -īvus -ive

Related forms
pu·ta·tive·ly, adverb
un·pu·ta·tive, adjective
un·pu·ta·tive·ly, adverb

Today’s aphorism

To forgive takes love. To forget takes strength.

– unknown

On this day

10 August 587BC – Solomon’s Temple (also known as the ‘First Temple’) destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzer II during the Siege of Jerusalem. The temple was later rebuilt.

10 August 70AD – Solomon’s Temple (also known as the ‘Second Temple’) set alight by Roman Army, led by future Emperor Titus.

10 August 1960 – birthday of José Antonio Domínguez Banderas, Spanish actor, otherwise known as Antonio Banderas.

10 August 1964 – Following the Gulf of Tonkin incidents on 2 and 4 August 1964, the US Congress passes ‘The Southeast Asia Resolution’ (the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Resolution’), which authorised the United States ‘to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom‘. The passage of this Resolution led to US involvement in the Vietnam War.

9 August 2013

bellygod

[BEL-ee god]

noun

– One who takes great pleasure in eating; a glutton.

ETYMOLOGY:
A bellygod is one who makes a god of his belly, i.e. a glutton. From Old English belig (bag) + god. Earliest documented use: 1540.

USAGE:
“Hudibras becomes the puritan bellygod par excellence:
Our knight did bear no less a pack
Of his own buttocks on his back.”
Kristen Poole; Radical Religion from Shakespeare to Milton; Cambridge University Press; 2000.

“The figure of Hercules [rebuked] Comus the belly-god for his ‘drunken orgies’ and addiction to swinish pleasure.”
Ian Donaldson; Ben Jonson: A Life; Oxford University Press; 2011.

Today’s aphorism

You can not save people, you can only love them

– Anais Nin

On this day

9 August 1936 – Jesse Owens, an African-American athlete, wins his 4th gold medal at the Berlin Olympics – much to Adolf Hitler’s chagrin. Hitler had hoped the games would show-case white Aryan ideals, and was disgusted that a black athlete had achieved more than the white athletes.

9 August 1945 – USA drops an atomic bomb, called ‘Fat Boy’ on Nagasaki, Japan. It is estimated that between 60,000 to 80,000 people died within four months of the bombing, with half that number dying on the day of the bombing.

8 August 2013

meed

[meed]

noun Archaic.

– a reward or recompense.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English mede, Old English mēd; cognate with German Miete hire; akin to Old English meord, Gothic mizdō, Greek misthós reward

USAGE:
‘And speaking of seats, the folding chairs were hideously uncomfortable — something like that fabled throne in Hades, which demanded a meed of blood and bone if you tried to leave it’.
– Craig Smith; Axelrod Quartet and NMSO; The Santa Fe New Mexican; Oct 17, 2003.

Today’s aphorism

In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated.

– Margaret Halsey, novelist (1910-1997)

On this day

8 August 1864 – Formation of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland.

8 August 1945 – The Soviet Union declares war on the Empire of Japan and invades the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. In late, July 1945 Japan, naively, had been petitioning the neutral Soviets to broker a peace deal favourable to the Japanese. While the invasion violated the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, it was in accordance with the secret Yalta Agreements that the Soviet Union made with the United States and the United Kingdom at the Crimea Conference held between 4-11 February 1945, in which Stalin agreed to attack Japan within 3 months of Germany’s surrender.

8 August 1959 – death of Albert Namatjira, Australian Aboriginal artist. Born 28 July 1902.

8 August 1974 – USA President Richard Nixon resigns because of his impending impeachment for ‘obstruction of justice’, ‘abuse of power’, and ‘contempt of congress’, in relation to the Watergate Scandal.

8 August 1979 – birthday of Emiliano Zapata Salazar, Mexican revolutionary.

8 August 1981 – birthday of Roger Federer in Switzerland, champion tennis player.

8 August 1988 – The ’8888′ Uprising in Burma, from which Aung Sun Suu Kyi gains popularity and becomes a national hero.

7 August 2013

scion

[sahy-uhn]

noun

1. a descendant.
2. Also, cion. a shoot or twig, especially one cut for grafting or planting; a cutting.

Origin:
1275–1325; ME shoot, twig < Old French cion < Frankish *kī- (compare Old English cīnan, Old Saxon kīnan, Old High German chīnan to sprout, Old English cīth, Old Saxon kīth sprout) + Old French -on noun suffix

Synonyms
1. child, issue, offshoot, progeny.

Today’s aphorism

Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

– Ernest Hemingway

On this day

7 August 1876 – birthday of Mata Hari, (born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle), Dutch dancer, courtesan and spy. She was charged with espionage and executed by firing squad in France, after being accused of spying for Germany during World War I. (Died 1917).

7 August 1964 – birthday of John Birmingham, Australian author.

6 August 2013

noisome

noisome

[noi-suhm]

adjective

1. offensive or disgusting, as an odor, example: noisome stench.
2. harmful or injurious to health; noxious, example: noisome plants.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English noy (aphetic variant of annoy) + -some1

Related forms
noi·some·ly, adverb
noi·some·ness, noun

Synonyms

1. fetid, putrid, rotten, stinking, mephitic.

Today’s aphorism

Employees make the best dates. You don’t have to pick them up and they’re always tax-deductible.

– Andy Warhol

On this day

6 August 1661 – Holland sells Brazil to Portugal for 8 million guilders.

6 August 1806 – The Holy Roman Empire comes to an inglorious end at the hands of Napoleon.

6 August 1927 – birthday of Andy Warhol, American pop artist. American writer, Gore Vidal, once said, ‘Andy Warhol is the only genius I’ve ever known with an IQ of 60‘.

6 August 1945 – USA drops an atomic bomb, called ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima, Japan. It is estimated that between 70,000 to 140,000 people died within the four months of the bombing, with half that number dying on the day of the bombing.

6 August 1965 – President Lydon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act which removed discriminatory voting practices against African Americans. Essentially it meant African Americans could vote freely, without having to meet qualifications that white Americans didn’t need to meet, such as literacy tests.

5 August 2013

lethologica

noun

– the state of being unable to remember the correct word or the word you want.

Example:

He was struck by lethologica at a critical moment in the debate, frustrating his ability to drive home the point.

Today’s aphorism

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.

– Neil Armstrong

On this day

5 August 910 – Battle of Tettenhall, in which King Edward and Earl Aethelred defeat the last of the Viking armies to raid England.

5 August 1305 – Scottish revolutionary, William Wallace, captured by English forces near Glasgow. He was transported to London for trial and execution.

5 August 1861 – the United States Army abolishes flogging and increases enlistment terms from 3 months to 2 years.

5 August 1884 – construction of the Statue of Liberty commences in New York City with the laying of the cornerstone.

5 August 1930 – birthday of Neil Armstrong, astronaut, first man on the moon. Died 25 August 2012.

5 August 1957 – the ‘Andy Capp’ comic strip makes its debut.

5 August 1962 – Marilyn Monroe found dead. She was 36 years old. It is believed she deliberately over-dosed on drugs, but questions remain around whether she administered it voluntarily or someone murdered her.

5 August 1966 – Datebook magazine quotes John Lennon controversially declaring that the Beatles are more popular than Jesus. Lennon had made the comment on 4 March 1966 in England, where no-one paid attention to it. When Datebook published it in August in the United States it caused an uproar. The full quote was ‘Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me‘.

4 August 2013

epanalepsis

[ep-uh-nuh-lep-sis]

noun Rhetoric .

– a repetition of a word or a phrase with intervening words setting off the repetition, sometimes occurring with a phrase used both at the beginning and end of a sentence, as in Only the poor really know what it is to suffer; only the poor.

Origin:
1575–85; < Greek epanálēpsis literally, resumption, taking up again, equivalent to ep- ep- + ana- ana- + lêpsis taking hold ( lēp-, variant stem of lambánein to take + -sis -sis)

Examples:

* The king is dead; long live the king.

* Severe to his servants, to his children severe.

* They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down. —Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

* Beloved is mine; she is Beloved.

* Blow winds and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow! —Shakespeare, King Lear, 3.2.1

* Nice to see you, to see you, nice. —Bruce Forsyth

Today’s aphorism

‘He is noticeable for nothing in the world except for the markedness by which he is noticeable for nothing’.

– Edgar Allan Poe, (‘The Literati of New York City’, Godey’s Lady’s Book, Sep. 1846)

On this day

4 August 1181 – Supernova (not the rock band), SN1181, observed by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was visible for 185 days. A supernova is the explosive death of a star, resulting in a nebula of illuminated gas.

4 August 1914 – United States declares its neutrality in World War I.

4 August 1944 – German police and Gestapo officers arrest Jewish diarist, Anne Frank and her family, in Amsterdam. The family was eventually transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In March 1945 a typhus epidemic spread through the camp, claiming the Anne’s life. The camp was liberated only weeks later, in April 1945, by British troops. Anne Frank kept a diary which later was published and became a best seller.

4 August 1964 – the second Gulf of Tonkin Incident in which it was believed North Vietnamese troops fired on two US destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy. It is now believed the second incident may have involved false radar images and not the North Vietnamese.

3 August 2013

anadiplosis

[an-uh-di-ploh-sis]

noun Rhetoric .

– repetition in the first part of a clause or sentence of a prominent word from the latter part of the preceding clause or sentence, usually with a change or extension of meaning.
Origin:
1580–90; < Latin < Greek, equivalent to anadiplō-, variant stem of anadiploûsthai to be doubled back + -sis -sis. See ana-, diplosis

Examples:

* “Turn the lights out now / Now, I’ll take you by the hand / Hand you another drink / Drink it if you can / Can you spend a little time / Time is slipping away / Away from us, so stay / Stay with me I can make / Make you glad you came “Glad You Came” by The Wanted

* “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” —Yoda, Star Wars

* “Strength through purity, purity through faith.” —Chancellor Adam Susan, V for Vendetta

* “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us.” —Romans 5:3–5

* “They call for you: The general who became a slave; the slave who became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an Emperor. Striking story.” —Commodus, Gladiator (2000 film)

Today’s aphorism

Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not truth, truth is not beauty, beauty is not love, love is not music and music is the best.

– Frank Zappa

On this day

3 August 1811 – birthday of Elisha Graves Otis, American industrialist and founder of the Otis Elevator Company. In 1854, he put the finishing touches to his signature invention: a safety device to prevent elevators falling if the cable fails.

3 August 1905 – birthday 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.

3 August 1914 – World War I heats up: Germany invades Belgium and declares war on France, Britain declares war on Germany, while Turkey signs a pact with Germany.

3 August 1914 – Formation of the World Alliance for International Friendship through the Churches. It’s purpose was to help churches promote peace, disarmament,rights of racial and religious minorities, conscientious objection, arms control, and the League of Nations.

3 August 1963 – birthday of James Hetfield, US rock star, member of Metallica.

3 August 1973 – birthday of Patrick Wilson, American actor, from movies such as ‘the Alamo‘, ‘Watchmen‘, ‘The A-Team‘, ‘Phantom of the Opera‘ – with Gerard Butler and Emma Rossum.

3 August 1973 – Fire kills 51 people at an amusement on the Isle of Man.

3 August 2008 – death of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian dissident writer, ‘The Gulag Archipelago‘, ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich‘, ‘The First Circle‘.

2 August 2013

polyptoton

[POL-ip-toe-tuhn]

(plural polyptota or polyptotons)

noun (rhetoric)

– A stylistic scheme in which words from the same root are used together, or a word is repeated in a different inflection or case.
Usage notes[edit]

An example of polyptoton appears in the following quote with variation on the word feed:
c1595, William Shakespeare, s:Richard II, act II, scene i,

‘With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder’.

Other examples:

“The Greeks are strong, and skillful to their strength, Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant;” William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida I, i, 7-8

“Not as a call to battle, though embattled we are.” John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

“Who shall watch the watchmen themselves (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)?” Juvenal

Today’s aphorism

‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Lord Acton

On this day

2 August 216BC – 2nd Punic War, Battle of Cannae, in which Hannibal defeats the much larger Roman army.

2 August 1776 – the United States Declaration of Independence officially signed by 56 Congressional delegates who were not present on 4 July 1776, when 34 Congressional delegates signed and ratified it.

2 August 1934 – the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in the United States, levying $1 on commercial dealers of cannabis. It did not outlaw cannabis, but included hefty penalties if the Act was violated, namely five years imprisonment and a $2,000 fine. The Act was repealed in 1970.

2 August 1964 – the first Gulf of Tonkin Incident in which North Vietnamese troops fired on a US destroyer, the USS Maddox (the second incident allegedly occurred on 4 August 1964). The incident gave rise to the US Congress passing the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Resolution’ – officially the ‘Southeast Asia Resolution – which eventually led to the Vietnam War.