14 October 2013

shrift

[shrift]

noun Archaic.

1. the imposition of penance by a priest on a penitent after confession.
2. absolution or remission of sins granted after confession and penance.
3. confession to a priest.

The term ‘short shrift’ referred to condemned criminals being given only a short amount of time with the priest to confess their sins.

These days, ‘short shrift’ means to receive little attention or consideration in dealing with a person or matter: ‘to give short shrift to an opponent’s arguments’.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English scrift penance; cognate with German, Dutch schrift writing; see shrive

Today’s aphorism

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.

– Frank Zappa

On this day

14 October 1066 – Battle of Hastings. When King Edward of England died, William the Duke of Normandy felt the throne should go to him. Meanwhile, Earl Harold Godwinson (cousin of King Edward) felt the throne was his. The two went to battle with William decisively defeating Harold. The battle changed history as William brought England under Norman rule and stripping the Saxons of their rights. King William introduced three major changes, firstly, he made himself the principal authority, having executive, judicial and legislative power. (This was replaced centuries later by the Westminster System, which separates these three powers). Secondly, William introduced a new language and culture, by replacing 300 years of Anglo-Saxon culture with a French dialect. Thirdly, he introduced the feudal system in which a plot of land (called a fief) would be given to loyal followers.

14 October 1322 – Scotland forces led by Robert the Bruce defeat England at Byland, forcing King Edward II to grant Scotland’s independence.

14 October 1947 – American pilot, Chuck Yeager, breaks the speed of sound in the experimental jet, Bell X-1, travelling at Mach 1 and at 45,000 feet.

14 October 1959 – death of Errol Flynn, Australian-born American actor. Born 20 June 1909.

14 October 2012 – Felix Baumgarten, Austrian adventurer, becomes the first man to break the speed of sound while in freefall after jumping from a helium balloon at the edge of space, 39km above the surface of the earth. He reached a speed of 1,342 km/hr (1.24 times the speed of sound). He also broke the record for the highest altitude reached in a manned balloon flight.

13 October 2013

wanderlust

[won-der-luhst]

noun

– a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.

Origin:
1850–55; < German, equivalent to wander ( n ) to wander + Lust desire; see lust

Today’s aphorism

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

– Nelson Mandela

On this day

13 October 54AD – death of Claudius, Roman Emperor.

13 October 1307 – Pope Clement V orders the overthrow, arrest and torture of Knights Templar in France. This is believed to be the origin of Black Friday or Friday the 13th being unlucky.

12 October 2013

deus ex machina

[dey-uhs eks mah-kuh-nuh, dee-uhs eks mak-uh-nuh]

noun

1. (in ancient Greek and Roman drama) a god introduced into a play to resolve the entanglements of the plot.
2. any artificial or improbable device resolving the difficulties of a plot.

Origin:
1690–1700; < Neo-Latin literally, god from a machine (i.e., stage machinery from which a deity’s statue was lowered), as translation of Greek apò mēchanês theós (Demosthenes), theòs ek mēchanês (Menander), etc.

Today’s aphorism

‘For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons’.

– Douglas Adams, from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

On this day

12 October 1492 – Christopher Columbus lands on an island in the Bahamas, claiming ‘East Asia’ for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

12 October 1810 – world’s first Oktoberfest when the people of Munich are invited to celebrate a Bavarian royal wedding.

12 October 1823 – Charles MacIntosh, Scottish inventor, sells his first water-proof ‘rubber raincoat’, which became known as the ‘MacIntosh’ or ‘Mac’.

12 October 1944 – ‘Columbus Day Riot’ in which 35,000 hysterical teenage girls dressed in bobby socks, descend on Times Square, New York City, in anticipation of Frank Sinatra appearing.

12 October 1979 – ‘Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams is first published. He eventually wrote a total of 5 books in the series, with a sixth one being written by Eoin Colfer.

12 October 2002 – Terrorist bombings of the Sari Club and Paddy’s Bar in Kuta, Bali, kill 202 people and injure 209. Members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a group linked with Al Qaeda, are convicted of the crime and on 9 November 2006, three of them are executed by firing squad.

11 October 2013

corsair

[kawr-sair]

noun

1. a fast ship used for piracy.
2. a pirate, especially formerly of the Barbary Coast.
3. ( initial capital letter ) Military . a gull-winged, propeller-driven fighter plane built for the U.S. Navy in World War II and kept in service into the early 1950s.

Origin:
1540–50; < Middle French corsaire < Provençal corsar ( i ) < Upper Italian corsaro < Medieval Latin cursārius, equivalent to Latin curs ( us ) course + -ārius -ary

Today’s aphorism

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.

– Albert Einstein

On this day

11 October 1844 – birth of Henry John Heinz, founder of Heinz Company, responsible for canned baked beans. Died 14 May 1919.

11 October 1935 – death of Steele Rudd, Australian author, (pen-name for Arthur Hoey Davis). Wrote ‘On Our Selection‘, which introduced Australia to ‘Dad and Dave’. Born 14 November 1868.

11 October 1930 – Australian Rules football club, Collingwood, win the VFL premiership for the fourth consecutive year.

11 October 1939 – German theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein explains to the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the possibility of building an atomic bomb.

11 October 1967 – premier of the childrens’ TV series, ‘Johnny Sokko and his flying robot‘.

10 October 2013

avant-garde

[uh-vahnt-gahrd, uh-vant-, av-ahnt-, ah-vahnt-; French a-vahn-gard]

noun

1. the advance group in any field, especially in the visual, literary, or musical arts, whose works are characterized chiefly by unorthodox and experimental methods.
adjective
2. of or pertaining to the experimental treatment of artistic, musical, or literary material.
3. belonging to the avant-garde: an avant-garde composer.
4. unorthodox or daring; radical.
Origin:
1475–85; in sense “vanguard”; < French: literally, fore-guard. See vanguard

Related forms
a·vant-gard·ist, noun

Today’s aphorism

Money? How did I lose it? I never did lose it. I just never knew where it went.

– Edith Piaf

On this day

10 October – World Day Against the Death Penalty.

10 October 1963 – death of Roy Cazaly, Australian Rules football legend, known for his high marks and ruck-work. Immortalised in the song, ‘Up there Cazaly‘, by The Two Man Band (Mike Brady & Peter Sullivan). Born 13 January 1893.

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

10 October 1965 – the ‘Vinland Map’, is presented by Yale University, which claims it was the first known map of America, drawn by Norseman Leif Eriksson around 1440.

9 October 2013

conniption

[kuh-nip-shuhn]

noun

Often, conniptions. Informal.

– a fit of hysterical excitement or anger.

Also called conniption fit.

Example:

– She had a conniption when her mobile phone went missing.

Origin:
1825–35, Americanism; origin uncertain

Today’s aphorism

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.

– John Lennon

On this day

9 October 1940 – birthday of John Lennon. English guitarist and singer-songwriter for the Beatles. Murdered 8 December 1980.

9 October 1967 – death of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Argentinian Marxist revolutionary, physician, author. Executed in Bolivia.

9 October 1969 – birth of P.J. Harvey, English musician.

9 October 1975 – Andrei Sakharov, Soviet dissident, wins Nobel Peace Prize.

8 October 2013

plenipotentiary

(ˌplɛnɪpəˈtɛnʃərɪ)

— adj
1. (esp of a diplomatic envoy) invested with or possessing full power or authority
2. conferring full power or authority
3. (of power or authority) full; absolute

— n , -aries
4. See also envoy a person invested with full authority to transact business, esp a diplomat authorised to represent a country

[C17: from Medieval Latin plēnipotentiārius, from Latin plēnus full + potentia power ]

Today’s aphorism

‘You can maintain power over people, as long as you give them something. Rob a man of everything, and that man will no longer be in your power’.

– Sonmi-451 [quoting Aleksandr Sozhenitsyn], in the movie Cloud Atlas

On this day

8 October 1769 – Captain James Cook lands at Poverty Bay, New Zealand.

8 October 1939 – birth of Paul Hogan, Australian actor.

8 October 1970 – Soviet dissident author, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins Nobel Price for Literature. Author of numerous books, including ‘The Gulag Archipelago’, ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’, ‘Cancer Ward’, and ‘The First Circle’.

8 October 1971 – John Lennon releases the iconic song, ‘Imagine’.

8 October 1980 – Bob Marley collapses on stage in New York. The following day he collapses while jogging in Central Park. He is diagnosed with a brain tumour, which developed from a melanoma that had spread from his toe. He died on 11 May 1981.

7 October 2013

taiga

[tahy-guh, tahy-gah]

noun

– the coniferous evergreen forests of subarctic lands, covering vast areas of northern North America and Eurasia.

Origin:
1885–90; < Russian taĭgá < one or more Turkic languages of the Altai Mountain region; compare Altai, Shor tayγa forest-covered mountain

Today’s aphorism

If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

– Archbishop Desmond Tutu

On this day

7 October 1849 – death of Edgar Allan Poe, American poet and novelist, The Raven. Born 19 January 1809.

7 October 1913 – Henry Ford implements the moving assembly line … changing the face of manufacturing forever.

7 October 1931 – birth of Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop of South Africa. Won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

7 October 2001 – United States invades Afghanistan as they hunt for Osama Bin Laden and to take down the Taliban government for allowing him to live there.

6 October 2013

blackguard

[blag-ahrd, -erd, blak-gahrd]

noun

1. a low, contemptible person; scoundrel.
2. Obsolete .
a. a group of menial workers in the kitchen of a large household.
b. the servants of an army.
c. camp followers.
verb (used with object)
3. to revile in scurrilous language.
Origin:
1525–35; black + guard; original sense obscure

Related forms
black·guard·ism, noun
black·guard·ly, adverb

Synonyms
1. scamp, rascal, rapscallion, rogue, devil, villain. 3. berate, vilify.

Today’s aphorism

The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-interest always runs a good race.

– Gough Whitlam, former Prime Minister of Australia, 1972-1975.

On this day

6 October 1961 – President John F. Kennedy advises Americans to build fall-out shelters, as Cold War paranoia continues to grow.

6 October 1966 – LSD, a synthetic hallucinogenic drug, declared illegal in the United States.

6 October 1978 – death of Johnny O’Keefe, Australian rock and roll legend. Known as J.O.K. or ‘The Wild One’. Born 19 January 1935.

5 October 2013

irascible

[ih-ras-uh-buhl]

adjective

1. easily provoked to anger; very irritable: an irascible old man.
2. characterised or produced by anger: an irascible response.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English irascibel < Late Latin īrāscibilis, equivalent to Latin īrāsc- (stem of īrāscī to grow angry; equivalent to īr ( a ) ire + -ā- theme vowel + -sc- inchoative suffix + -ī infinitive ending; see -esce) + -ibilis -ible

Related forms
i·ras·ci·bil·i·ty, i·ras·ci·ble·ness, noun
i·ras·ci·bly, adverb
un·i·ras·ci·bil·i·ty, noun
un·i·ras·ci·ble, adjective

Can be confused: erasable, irascible.

Synonyms
1, 2. testy, touchy, peppery, choleric, short-tempered. See irritable.

Antonyms
1, 2. calm, even-tempered.

Today’s aphorism

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.

– Paul McCartney

On this day

5 October 1902 – birth of Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds … and the Big Mac … Died 14 January 1984.

5 October 1945 – Hollywood Black Friday – following a 6 month strike by set decorators, a violent riot breaks out at the gates of Warner Brothers studio. 300 police are called and 40 people are injured.

5 October 1945 – birth of Brian Connolly, Scottish rocker, lead singer of Sweet (Fox on the Run, Ballroom Blitz, Teenage Rampage, Action). Died 9 February 1997.

5 October 1947 – birth of Brian Johnson, English rocker, lead singer of AC/DC, replacing Bon Scott.

5 October 1951 – birth of Bob Geldoff, Irish singer for the Boomtown Rats.

5 October 1962 – the Beatle’s first single is released, ‘Love Me Do’. While a Lennon-McCartney composition, it was primarily written by Paul in 1958-9 while he was wagging school. The song reached # 17 in the UK and was the # 1 hit in the U.S.A. in 1964.

5 October 1969 – Monty Python’s Flying Circus first broadcast on BBC-TV.

5 October 2011 – death of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. Born 24 February 1955.