31 January 2014

quango

[kwang-goh]

noun, plural quan·gos.

(especially in Great Britain) a semi-public advisory and administrative body supported by the government and having most of its members appointed by the government.

Origin:
1975–80; qu(asi)-a(utonomous) n(on-)g(overnmental) o(rganisation) or qu(asi)-a(utonomous) n(ational) g(overnmental) o(rganisation)

Anagram

quo nag

Today’s quote

Mr. Robinson and his quango
Drinks with the general and the county wives
Yes the family business is doing all right
They are doing tangos down in the quangos
He makes them tick and he makes them tock
And if he doesn’t like you he’ll put you in the dock

– Blur, from the song, Mr Robinson’s quango

On this day

31 January 1961 – Ham the Astrochimp, returns safely to Earth after completing a NASA mission into outer space. HAM is an acronym for Holloman Aerospace Medical Centre, which was located at the Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.

31 January 1991 – McDonald’s opens its first restaurant in Moscow.

30 January 2014

rambunctious

[ram-buhngk-shuhs]

adjective

1. difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
2. turbulently active and noisy: a social gathering that became rambunctious and out of hand.

Origin:
1820–30, Americanism; origin uncertain

Related forms
ram·bunc·tious·ly, adverb
ram·bunc·tious·ness, noun

Anagram

subatomic urn
barium counts
rum bacon suit

Today’s aphorism

When you’re drowning, you don’t say ‘I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,’ you just scream.

– John Lennon

On this day

30 January 1648 – signing of the Peace of Munster, between the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Spain and was officially ratified on the 15 May 1648. This treaty was the first in a series of peace treaties known as the Peace of Westphalia which paved the way for the modern sovereign state. The second being the Treaty of Munster and the Treaty of Osnabrück, both signed on 24 October 1648.

30 January 1882 – birth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), who was a member of the Democratic Party and became the 32nd President of the USA. He is the only president to serve four consecutive terms. FDR served from 4 March 1933 until his death on 12 April 1945. In 1921, FDR contracted polio, which left him paralysed from the waist down.

30 January 1948 – assassination of Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi.

30 January 1972 – ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Derry, Northern Ireland when 26 unarmed protesters were shot by British soldiers, killing 13 instantly, with a 14th dying some months later from his injuries. Seventeen were injured. John Lennon recorded a song about the incident, entitled ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday‘, which appeared on his ‘Sometime in New York City‘ album.

29 January 2014

diffident

Diffident

[dif-i-duhnt]

adjective

1. lacking confidence in one’s own ability, worth, or fitness; timid; shy, e.g. a diffident young man.
2. restrained or reserved in manner, conduct, etc, not diffident about speaking up.
3. Archaic. distrustful.

Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English < Latin diffīdent- (stem of diffīdēns mistrusting, despairing present participle of diffīdere ), equivalent to dif- dif- + fīd- trust + -ent- -ent
Related forms
dif·fi·dent·ly, adverb
dif·fi·dent·ness, noun
non·dif·fi·dent, adjective
non·dif·fi·dent·ly, adverb
un·dif·fi·dent, adjective
un·dif·fi·dent·ly, adverb
Synonyms
1. self-conscious, self-effacing, abashed, embarrassed, modest, unassuming, unconfident. See shy

Anagram

fetid find
Fed find it

Today’s aphorism

If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.

– Nora Roberts

On this day

29 January 1979 – 16 year old, Brenda Spencer shoots two men dead and wounds nine children at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. She allegedly claimed that she did it because it was a Monday and she didn’t like Mondays. She was sentenced to 25 years jail. The Boomtown Rats released a song about the incident, entitled ‘I Don’t Like Mondays‘.

28 January 2014

forbear

[fawr-bair]

verb (used with object), for·bore, for·borne, for·bear·ing.

1. to refrain or abstain from; desist from.
2. to keep back; withhold.
3. Obsolete . to endure.

verb (used without object), for·bore, for·borne, for·bear·ing.

4. to refrain; hold back.
5. to be patient or self-controlled when subject to annoyance or provocation.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English forberen, Old English forberan. See for-, bear1

Related forms
for·bear·er, noun
for·bear·ing·ly, adverb
non·for·bear·ing, adjective
non·for·bear·ing·ly, adverb
un·for·bear·ing, adjective

Synonyms
1. forgo, sacrifice, renounce.

Example:

Have patience and forbear acting in anger.

Anagram

or be far
fear rob
fare orb

Today’s aphorism

Forbear to mention what thou canst not praise.

– Matthew Prior

On this day

28 January 1968 – 4 hydrogen bombs are lost when the B-52 bomber that was carrying them, crashes near Thule, Greenland. The bombs are eventually located, but it took nine months to clear the area of radiation.

28 January 1986 – the space shuttle, Challenger, explodes moments after lift-off, killing all seven astronauts on board, including Christa MacAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire, who was scheduled to deliver a lesson from outer-space as part of the ‘Teacher in Space’ project.

27 January 2014

beleaguer

[bih-lee-ger]

verb (used with object)

1. to surround with military forces.
2. to surround or beset, as with troubles.

Origin:

1580–90; be- + leaguer

Related forms
be·lea·guer·er, noun

Synonyms
2. harass, pester, badger, bother, vex, annoy, plague, hector.

Anagram

eagle rube
eager blue
ear bug eel
a beer glue

Today’s aphorism

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.

– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

On this day

27 January – International Holocaust Memorial Day in remembrance of the 11 million victims of the Nazi holocaust before and during the Second World War. Victims included 6 million Jews (3 million of whom were Polish), 3 million Polish Christians, 2 million gypsies, and millions of others, including Africans, Asians, people with mental or physical disabilities, Communists, Socialist, Unionists, intellectuals, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Slavs, Freemasons, political activists and anyone else either opposed to Nazi ideology, or living in land Hitler wanted (particularly Poland) or who didn’t fit his idea of a perfect master race. The date was chosen because 27 January 1945 was the date that Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birchenau, the largest of the Nazi death camps.

27 January 1756 – birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer.

27 January 1926 – In London, John Logie Baird publicly demonstrates a revolutionary new invention, the television system.

27 January 1945 – The Soviet Army liberates survivors of the largest Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland, where it is estimated more than 1,000,000 Jews and tens of thousands of others were executed.

27 January 1967 – Outer Space Treaty was signed by 60 countries, including the USA and USSR, prohibiting the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space.

27 January 1973 – the Vietnam War formally ends with a treaty signed between the USA, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

27 January 1984 – Michael Jackson’s hair catches on fire while he is singing ‘Billy Jean’ during filming of a Pepsi commercial.

26 January 2014

burl

[burl]

1. noun

Australianism, Ockerism, strine

– to have a go at something, as in, ‘give it a burl’.

Origin

It’s first known usage in Australian slang was in 1917. ‘Burl’ originally meant to spin, whirl, twirl. This was transferred to usage in the game of two-up in which coins are flipped in the air. For someone about to flip or spin the coin in two-up, others would say to them to ‘give it a burl’. The expression entered broader usage for giving something a go. Clive James used the term in one of his 1981 poems to Prince Charles.

2. noun

i. a small knot or lump in wool, thread, or cloth.
ii. a dome-shaped growth on the trunk of a tree; a wartlike structure sometimes 2 feet (0.6 meters) across and 1 foot (0.3 meters) or more in height, sliced to make veneer.
verb (used with object)
iii. to remove burls from (cloth) in finishing.
Origin:

1400–50; late Middle English burle ≪ Old French; akin to Medieval Latin burla bunch, sheaf, Late Latin burra wool, fluff

Related forms
burl·er, noun

Anagram

blur

Today’s quote

In 1905 Albert discovered Relativity, in 1906 he invented Rock and Roll.

– Yahoo Serious (Greg Pead), Australian comedian, from his 1988 movie ‘Young Einstein’, in which Einstein, the son of a Tasmanian apple farmer, discovers the secret of splitting the beer atom which enables him to put bubbles into beer.

On this day

26 January 1788 – Australia Day – the day that Captain Arthur Phillip landed at Botany Bay and took possession of Australia in the name of King George III of Britain.

26 January 1939 – During the Spanish Civil War, Nationalist forces loyal to General Francisco Franco enter Barcelona, overthrowing the Republican forces headquartered there.

26 January 1945 – Soviet troops liberate 7,000 survivors of the Auschwitz network of concentration camps in Poland.

26 January 1950 – India becomes a republic, freed from British rule. The new President, Dr Rajenda Prasad had campaigned with Mahatma Gandhi for Indian self-rule. Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the country’s first Prime Minister on 10 February 1952.

26 January 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.

26 January 1988 – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’ opens on Broadway for its first performance. The musical becomes a world-wide smash and is the longest running show on Broadway.

24 January 2014

farrago

[fuh-rah-goh, -rey-]

noun, plural far·ra·goes.

– a confused mixture; hodgepodge; medley: ‘a farrago of doubts, fears, hopes, and wishes’, ‘There was not one reasonable balanced statement in the whole farrago’, ‘Farrago of lies in one of the unpublished letters.

Origin:
1625–35; < Latin: literally, mixed crop of feed grains, equivalent to farr- (stem of far ) emmer + -āgō suffix noting kind or nature

Anagram

for a rag
fag roar

Today’s aphorism

People inspire you, or they drain you – pick them wisely.

– Hans F. Hansen

On this day

24 January 41AD – death of Caligula, also known as Gaius Caesar, 3rd Roman Emperor from 37 – 41AD. Died 24 January 41AD. First Roman Emperor to be assassinated following a conspiracy to restore the Roman Republic. While the plot to kill Caligula succeeds, the restoration of the Republic fails when the Praetorian Guard appoint Caligula’s uncle, Claudius, as Emperor.

24 January 1965 – death of U.K. Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Born 30 November 1874.

24 January 1974 – Cyclone Wanda makes land-fall at Maryborough, bringing the worst flooding to Queensland in decades, including the infamous Brisbane floods.

23 January 2014

misoneism

[mis-oh-nee-iz-uhm, mahy-soh-]

noun

– hatred or dislike of what is new or represents change.

Origin:
1885–90; < Italian misoneismo. See miso-, neo-, -ism

Related forms
mis·o·ne·ist, noun
mis·o·ne·is·tic, adjective

Anagram

me mission

Today’s aphorism

A man who lives, not by what he loves but what he hates, is a sick man.

– Archibald MacLeish

On this day

23 January 1803 – death of Sir Arthur Guiness, Irish brewer and founder of the Guinness brewery. Born 24 September 1725.

23 January 1989 – death of Salvador Dali, Spanish surrealist painter. Born 11 May 1904.