23 March 2014

trope

trope

[trohp]

noun

1. Rhetoric .
a. any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense.
b. an instance of this. Compare figure of speech.
2. a phrase, sentence, or verse formerly interpolated in a liturgical text to amplify or embellish.
3. (in the philosophy of Santayana) the principle of organization according to which matter moves to form an object during the various stages of its existence.

Origin:
1525–35; < Latin tropus figure in rhetoric < Greek trópos turn, turning, turn or figure of speech, akin to trépein to turn

-trope
a combining form meaning “one turned toward” that specified by the initial element ( heliotrope ); also occurring in concrete nouns that correspond to abstract nouns ending in -tropy, or -tropism:, allotrope.
Origin:
< Greek -tropos; see trope, tropo-

Anagram

or pet
per to

Today’s trope

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

– Groucho Marx

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.

23 March 1924 – birth of Bette Nesmith Graham in Dallas, Texas. Better is the inventor of Liquid Paper. Her son, Mike Nesmith, was a member of 1960s UK/American pop/rock band, The Monkees.

23 March 1956 – Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. Republic Day in Pakistan.

22 February 2014

toto

– entire, total (from Latin)

in toto

[in toh-toh]

Latin.

– in all; completely; entirely; wholly. ‘The speech was published in toto’.

toto caelo

[toh-toh kahy-loh; English toh-toh see-loh]

Latin.

– by the entire extent of the heavens; diametrically.

Example 1:’Her opinion differed toto caelo to the rest of her family’.

Example 2: ‘Between this and the religious view, the difference is toto caelo (heaven-wide), as also the point of departure and the ultimate aim differ from it toto caelo (diametrically, heaven-wide) … ‘ (from Kirkegaard’s Writings: Two Ages, Towards apocalypse: Kirkegaard’s Later Years‘, Soren Kirkegaard)

Not to be confused with dodgy 1980s new wave band and one-hit wonder, Toto Coelo (not to mention their questionable Latin spelling). Remember, ‘I Eat Cannibals‘? No? Ok … from high-brow Latin to low-brow British disco …

Across the Atlantic, Bobby Kimball was in Toto, then ex Toto, then in Toto … hmm, speaking of dodgy bands … ok, moving right along …

Anagram

toot
Otto

Today’s quote

Oh Lord, forgive the misprints!

– last words of Andrew Bradford, American book publisher.

On this day

22 March – World Water Day. Established by the UN in 1993 to encourage nations to implement UN initiatives and promote wise use of water resources. People are encouraged to not use their taps all 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.

22 March 1829 – Following the Greek War of Independence, the London Protocol (1829) is signed by Great Britain, Russia and France, establishing the borders of an internally autonomous Greece, although it remained under Ottoman Empire suzerainty. The Ottoman Empire was forced to accept the London Protocol following the Treaty of Adrianople. Greece achieved full independence from the Ottoman Empire with the signing of the London Protocol (1830) of 3 February 1830.

22 March 1916 – The last Emperor of China, Yuan Shikai, abdicates the throne and the Republic of China is restored.

22 March 1963 – the Beatles’ first album, Please, Please Me, is released in the UK.

21 March 2014

meticulous

[muh-tik-yuh-luhs]

adjective

1. taking or showing extreme care about minute details; precise; thorough: a meticulous craftsman; meticulous personal appearance.
2. finicky; fussy: meticulous adherence to technicalities.

Origin:
1525–35; < Latin metīculōsus full of fear, fearful, equivalent to metī- for metū- (stem of metus fear) + -culōsus, extracted from perīculōsus perilous

Related forms
me·tic·u·lous·ly, adverb
me·tic·u·lous·ness, me·tic·u·los·i·ty [muh-tik-yuh-los-i-tee] Show IPA , noun
un·me·tic·u·lous, adjective
un·me·tic·u·lous·ly, adverb
un·me·tic·u·lous·ness, noun

Synonyms
1. exact, strict, scrupulous. See painstaking.

Antonyms
1, 2. careless.

Anagram

emu oculist
I muscle out

Today’s aphorism

When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.

– John F. Kennedy

On this day

21 March – International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

21 March – National Harmony Day in which Australia celebrates its cultural diversity.

21 March – World Poetry Day. Declared by UNESCO in 1999 to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry.

21 March 1960 – Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa, when Afrikaner police opened fire on unarmed protestors in front of the police station, killing 69 people and wounding 180. In South Africa, every 21 March is a public holiday to celebrate human rights and commemorate the Sharpeville massacre.

21 March 1963 – President John F. Kennedy orders the closure of federal penitentiary, Alcatraz (The Rock).

20 March 2014

scrupulous

[skroo-pyuh-luhs]

adjective

1. having scruples; having or showing a strict regard for what one considers right; principled.
2. punctiliously or minutely careful, precise, or exact: a scrupulous performance.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin scrūpulōsus. See scruple, -ous

Related forms
scru·pu·los·i·ty [skroo-pyuh-los-i-tee]
scru·pu·lous·ness, noun
scru·pu·lous·ly, adverb
hy·per·scru·pu·los·i·ty, noun
hy·per·scru·pu·lous, adjective
hy·per·scru·pu·lous·ly, adverb

Synonyms
1. conscientious, cautious, careful, circumspect. 2. exacting, rigorous. Scrupulous, punctilious imply abiding exactly by rules. Scrupulous implies conscientious carefulness in attending to details: scrupulous attention to details. Punctilious suggests strictness, preciseness, and rigidity, especially in observance of social conventions.

Antonyms
2. careless.

Anagram

coup slur us
locus usurp

Today’s aphorism

Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you’ll start to see a big difference in your life.

– Yoko Ono

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 2014

punctilious

[puhngk-til-ee-uhs]

adjective

– extremely attentive to detail; strict or exact in the observance of the formalities, etiquette or amenities of conduct or actions.

Origin:
1625–35; punctili(o) + -ous

Related forms
punc·til·i·ous·ly, adverb
punc·til·i·ous·ness, noun
un·punc·til·i·ous, adjective
un·punc·til·i·ous·ly, adverb
un·punc·til·i·ous·ness, noun

Can be confused: punctual.

Synonyms
precise, demanding; careful, conscientious. See scrupulous.

Antonyms
careless.

Anagrams

tulip cousin
uncoil situp
oils up tunic

Today’s aphorism

I write to escape; to escape poverty.

– Edgar Rice Burroughs

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).

19 March 2003 – The Second Gulf War commences as the U.S. led ‘Coalition of the Willing’ invade Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

18 March 2014

flocculent

[flok-yuh-luhnt]

adjective
1. like a clump or tuft of wool, e.g. ‘the flocculent clouds’
2. covered with a soft, woolly substance, e.g. ‘he appeared more flocculent than hirsute’.
3. consisting of or containing loose woolly masses.
4. flocky.
5. Chemistry . consisting of flocs and floccules.

Anagram

collect fun

Today’s aphorism

The Marxist analysis has got nothing to do with what happened in Stalin’s Russia: it’s like blaming Jesus Christ for the Inquisition in Spain.

– Tony Benn

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 2014

skedaddle

[ski-dad-l]

Informal.

verb (used without object), ske·dad·dled, ske·dad·dling.

1. to run away hurriedly; flee.

noun
2. a hasty flight.
Origin:
1860–65, Americanism; compare dial. ( Scots, N England) skedaddle to spill, scatter, skiddle to move away quickly

Anagram

Added elks
desk addle

Today’s aphorism

Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it.

– Frances Wright

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.

16 March 2014

parlance

[pahr-luhns]

noun

1. a way or manner of speaking; vernacular; idiom: legal parlance.
2. speech, especially a formal discussion or debate.
3. talk; parley.

Origin:
1570–80; < Anglo-French; see parle, -ance

Anagram

clean rap
plan race
per canal

Today’s aphorism

Maybe if people stopped thinking of themselves, and started thinking of the other sides of things, people wouldn’t hurt each other.

– Rachel Corrie

On this day

16 March 1988 – Iraqi forces under the direction of Saddam Hussein, kill thousands of Kurds in Northern Iraq by unleashing a cocktail of gases, including mustard gas, sarin and cyanide.

16 March 1998 – Rwanda commences mass trials relating to the 1994 genocide of approximately 1,000,000 Tutsis and Hutus by Interahamwe militia which had been backed by the Rwandan government.

16 March 2003 – 23 year old, American peace activist, Rachel Corrie, is killed when run over by an Israeli bulldozer which she had tried to stop from demolishing a Palestinian house in Gaza.

15 March 2014

ides

[ahydz]
noun (used with a singular or plural verb)

– (in the ancient Roman calendar) the fifteenth day of March, May, July, or October, and the thirteenth day of the other months.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English < Old French < Latin īdūs (feminine plural); replacing Middle English idus < Latin

-ides
a Greek plural suffix appearing in scientific names: cantharides.
Origin:
< Greek, plural of -is, suffix of ‘source or origin’.

Anagram

dies
side

Today’s aphorism

Beware the Ides of March.

– William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act I Scene II, Soothsayer warning Caesar.

On this day

15 March 44BC – Roman dictator and self-declared Emperor of Rome, Julius Caesar, stabbed to death on the Ides of March by Marcus Junus Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and other Roman senators. Julius Caesar’s assassination was one of the events that marked the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

15 March 270 – birth of St Nikolaos of Myra. Greek bishop of Myra (in what is now Turkey). He would often secretly leave gifts for people. The most famous story of his gift-giving related to a father who couldn’t afford the dowry for his three daughters, which would mean they’d remain unmarried. Legend has it that St Nikolaos secretly threw three bags of gold coins through the window one night so that there would be enough dowry for each. He became the model on which Santa Claus was based. Died 6 December 343.

15 March 1892 – founding the English football club, Liverpool F.C.

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

15 March 1985 – the first internet domain name is registered, Symbolics.com.

15 March 1990 – Mikael Gorbachev elected as first president of the Soviet Union and held the office until 25 December 1991. He was the only person to occupy the office. He resigned as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991 following a coup by hard-line members of the CPSU. During the coup, Gorbachev’s Presidency was briefly usurped from 19 August to 21 August 1991 by the Vice-President, Gennady Yanayev. On 8 December 1991, in a legally questionable move, the Soviet Union was dissolved with the agreement of Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich, respective leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, creating the Commonwealth of Independent States (or Russian Commonwealth), whose leaders governed their own states.

14 March 2014

persnickety

[per-snik-i-tee]

adjective Informal.

1. overparticular; fussy.
2. snobbish or having the aloof attitude of a snob.
3. requiring painstaking care.

Also, pernickety.

Origin:
1885–90; orig. Scots, variant of pernickety

Related forms
per·snick·et·i·ness, noun

Synonyms
1. nitpicking, finicky.

Anagram

pry neckties
spiky centre
stinky creep
inky sceptre

Today’s aphorism

To have the truth in your possession you can be found guilty, sentenced to death.

– Peter Tosh

On this day

14 March – Pi Day – the date being 3/14 and of course, pi being 3.14.

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.

14 March 1983 – Reggae legend, Peter Tosh, plays the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, Australia, as part of the annual Moomba festival.