22 November 2014

droog

noun

“gang member, young ruffian,” a transliteration of the Russian word for “friend,” introduced by English novelist Anthony Burgess in “A Clockwork Orange” (1962). The Russian word comes from Old Church Slavonic drugu “companion, friend, other” (source of Bohemian drug “companion,” Serbo-Croatian drugi “other”), which belongs to a group of related Indo-European words (e.g. Lithuanian draugas “friend, traveling companion;” Gothic driugan “do military service,” ga-drauhts “soldier;” Old Norse drott, Old English dryht, Old High German truht “multitude, people, army”) apparently with an original sense of “companion.”

Example:

‘There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening’. (From ‘Clockwork Orange’, by Anthony Burgess).

Anagram

or god
go rod

Today’s aphorism

It’s always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you’re going.

– Anthony Burgess

On this day

22 November 1819 – birth of Mary Ann Evans. One of England’s greatest novelists, she published under the name ‘George Eliot’ in order to be taken seriously. Some of her novels include ‘Adam Bede’, ‘Mill on the Floss’, ‘Silas Marner’, and ‘Daniel Deronda’. Her novel, ‘Middlemarch’, was described as the greatest novel in the English language. Died 22 December 1880.

22 November 1906 – the use of the morse code signal ‘SOS’ is implemented as a global distress call. The SOS signal is three dots, three dashes and three dots

(· · · — — — · · ·)

22 November 1963 – assassination of John F. Kennedy. 35th president of the United States.

22 November 1963 – death of Aldous Huxley, English writer. Most famous for his vision of the future, ‘Brave New World’, as well as his work ‘The Doors of Perception’, based on his use of psychedelic drugs. Jim Morrison named his 60’s psychedelic rock band, ‘The Doors’ after Huxley’s book. Born 26 July 1894.

22 November 1963 – death of C.S. Lewis, Irish novelist, author of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘The Screwtape Letters’. Born 29 November 1898.

22 November 1990 – UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher forced to resign by her own Cabinet who refused to endorse her as leader. She had come to power in 1979 and had become known as the ‘Iron Lady’. She is the longest-serving UK Prime Minister and the only female to hold the post. She fought numerous battles with unions over her economic and deregulation reforms. She introduced a ‘Community Charge’ or ‘Poll Tax’, which replaced rates with a flat-tax rate on every adult. It was extremely unpopular even within her own Cabinet and was a crucial catalyst for her disendorsement and subsequent resignation.

22 November 1993 – death of Anthony Burgess, English writer. Most famous for his dystopian novel, ‘The Clockwork Orange’, which Stanley Kubrick made into a controversial movie. Born 25 February 1917.

21 November 2014

invocation

[in-vuh-key-shuh n]

noun
1. the act of invoking or calling upon a deity, spirit, etc., for aid, protection, inspiration, or the like; supplication.
2. any petitioning or supplication for help or aid.
3. a form of prayer invoking God’s presence, especially one said at the beginning of a religious service or public ceremony.
4. an entreaty for aid and guidance from a Muse, deity, etc., at the beginning of an epic or epiclike poem.
5. the act of calling upon a spirit by incantation.
6. the magic formula used to conjure up a spirit; incantation.
7. the act of calling upon or referring to something, as a concept or document, for support and justification in a particular circumstance.

Origin
Middle English, Latin
1325-13751325-75; Middle English invocacio (u) n < Latin invocātiōn- (stem of invocātiō). See invocate, -ion

Related forms
invocatory [in-vok-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], adjective
preinvocation, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for invocation
– Formerly there were many churches in that city dedicated under the invocation of these two holy martyrs.
– Genevieve persuaded the people to build a chapel under his invocation on the spot where the abbey was afterwards founded.
– By the following years, when such words were all too accurate, they had been somewhat debased by premature invocation.

Anagram

a tonic vino
to coin vain
can I vino to

Today’s aphorism

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

– Voltaire

On this day

21 November 164BC – Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.

21 November 1694 – birth of François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. French enlightment writer, historian and philosopher. A man of wit who advocated freedom of religion, freedom of expression and separation of church and state. Voltaire wrote more than 20,000 letters, 2,000 books and pamphlets. He criticised intolerance, religious dogma and social institutions. Died 30 May 1778.

21 November 1936 – birth of Victor Chang, a Chinese-Australian cardiac surgeon who pioneered heart transplants. Chang was shot dead on 4 July 1991, in a failed extortion attempt.

21 November 1965 – birth of Bjork (Björk Guðmundsdóttir), Icelandic singer-songwriter, producer and actress.

21 November 1986 – Oliver North, National Security Council staffer, begins shredding documents associated with the Iran-Contra debacle that could have implicated themselves and others within the Reagan administration in the illegal sale of arms to Iran in order to fund the rebel Nicaraguan Contras.

20 November 2014

chromatic

[kroh-mat-ik, kruh-]

adjective
1. pertaining to color or colors.
2. Music.
involving a modification of the normal scale by the use of accidentals.
progressing by semitones, especially to a tone having the same letter name, as in C to C sharp.

Origin
Greek
1590-1600; < Greek chrōmatikós, equivalent to chrōmat- (see chromato- ) + -ikos -ic

Related forms
chromatically, adverb
nonchromatic, adjective
nonchromatically, adverb
unchromatic, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for chromatic Expand
– Its principal motif is the chromatic scale, or half-steps that rise and fall.
– As he matured, his language became increasingly complex and chromatic.
– Thick, astringent chromatic harmonies come in tightly bound chords to create nervous sonorities.

Anagram

trim coach
circa moth
artic ohm

Today’s aphorism

It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.

– Leo Tolstoy

On this day

20 November 1900 – birth of Chester Gould, American creator of the cartoon strip, ‘Dick Tracy’. He drew the comic strip from 1931 to 1977. Died 11 May 1985.

20 November 1910 – death of Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer, (‘Anna Karenina‘, ‘War and Peace‘). Born 9 September 1828.

20 November 1947 – Princess Elizabeth, who is crowned Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, marries Phillip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey.

20 November 1985 – Microsoft launches Windows 1.01, a graphical user interface for personal computers. The program required MS-DOS to operate.

19 November 2014

sonorous

[suh-nawr-uh s, -nohr-, son-er-uh s]

adjective
1. giving out or capable of giving out a sound, especially a deep, resonant sound, as a thing or place:
a sonorous cavern.
2. loud, deep, or resonant, as a sound.
3. rich and full in sound, as language or verse.
4. high-flown; grandiloquent:
a sonorous speech.

Origin
Latin

1605-1615; < Latin sonōrus noisy, sounding, equivalent to sonōr-, stem of sonor sound ( son (āre) to sound1+ -or -or1) + -us -ous

Related forms
sonorously, adverb
sonorousness, noun
multisonorous, adjective
multisonorously, adverb
multisonorousness, noun

Synonyms
4. eloquent, florid, grandiose, orotund.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for sonorous
– The pipa is a sonorous, four-stringed, pear-shaped instrument held upright on the lap.
– However wrapped up in sonorous stuff about synergy, plenty of mergers begin with sheer executive boredom.
– And the wind plays on those great sonorous harps, the shrouds and masts of ships.

Anagram

soon ours
our son so

Today’s aphorism

I think life is far too short to concentrate on your past. I rather look into the future.

– Lou Reed

On this day

19 November 1863 – President Lincoln delivers the ‘Gettysburg Address’ during the American Civil War, while dedicating the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The speech commenced with the now-famous words, ‘Four score and seven years ago …’, which was referring to the Declaration of Independence in 1777. The speech addressed equality, freedom and democracy being representative of all people.

19 November 2007 – share markets across the globe crashed, as the world entered the Global Financial Crisis.

18 November 2014

lief

[leef]

adverb
1. gladly; willingly:
I would as lief go south as not.

adjective, Archaic.
2. willing; desirous.
3. dear; beloved; treasured.

Origin
Middle English, Old English
900, before 900; Middle English leef, Old English lēof; cognate with Dutch lief, German lieb, Old Norse ljufr, Gothic liufs; akin to love

Related forms
liefly, adverb

Dictionary.com

Anagram

file
life

Today’s quote

I trust no one, not even myself.

– Joseph Stalin

On this day

18 November 1922 – Benito Mussolini becomes the leader of Italy. Mussolini, was head of the National Fascist Party and one of the founders of fascism. As dictator he named himself ‘Il Duce’ (The Leader). Initially a socialist, Mussolini felt that socialism had failed and he opposed egalitarianism. He was an ardent supporter of Adolf Hitler. Mussolini was forced to stand down in 1943 by his opponents. He went into hiding and in 1945 was captured and executed.

18 November 1928 – Mickey Mouse makes his screen debut, in ‘Steamboat Willy’.

18 November 1978 – Jim Jones, leader of the cult ‘People’s Temple’ located in Jonestown, Guyana, instructs followers to drink a deadly brew of Kool-Aid, cyanide and sedatives. 914 people died in the mass suicide, including Jones. 303 children were among the victims. It is likely that some of the deaths were murder as a result of some people being forced to drink the concoction. Jones claimed that the cult was under surveillance of intelligence organisations who were preparing to raid Jonestown and either kill or capture the members. He claimed that survivors would be forced to convert to fascism.

18 November 2002 – death of James Coburn, actor (‘The Great Escape‘, ‘The Magnificent Seven‘).

17 November 2014

cacophony

[kuh-kof-uh-nee]

noun, plural cacophonies.
1. harsh discordance of sound; dissonance:
a cacophony of hoots, cackles, and wails.
2. a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds:
the cacophony produced by city traffic at midday.
3. Music. frequent use of discords of a harshness and relationship difficult to understand.

Origin
Greek
1650-1660; < Neo-Latin cacophonia < Greek kakophōnía. See caco-, -phony

Related forms
cacophonic [kak-uh-fon-ik], adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for cacophony
– The resulting cacophony is exhausting for the user, who must concentrate to isolate relevant input.
– On such networks, conventional wiretaps will yield a cacophony of useless electronic noise.
– When I blog on politics, on the other hand, there’s a cacophony of voices.

Anagram

nacho copy
cyan pooch

Today’s aphorism

Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.

– Plato

On this day

17 November 1950 – 15 year-old, Tenzin Gyatso becomes the 14th Dalai Lama in Tibet, a position he holds to this day.

17 November 1973 – U.S. President Richard Nixon televises a speech in which he states, ‘I am not a crook’. This was in relation to allegations of his involvement in the Watergate Scandal, in which documents were stolen from the offices of the Democratic National Convention at the Watergate Hotel in Washington on 17 June 1972. Nixon was implicated in the break-in when recordings of conversations held in the Oval Office showed his involvement. Impeachment proceedings were commenced, however, Nixon resigned on 8 August 1974 and avoided being impeached, although he faced possible criminal proceedings. Vice-President Gerald Ford became President immediately following Nixon’s resignations, and on 8 September 1974, Ford pardoned Nixon of any wrong-doing.

16 November 2014

sophisticated

[suh-fis-ti-key-tid]

adjective
1. (of a person, ideas, tastes, manners, etc.) altered by education, experience, etc., so as to be worldly-wise; not naive:
a sophisticated young socialite; the sophisticated eye of a journalist.
2. pleasing or satisfactory to the tastes of sophisticates :
sophisticated music.
3. deceptive; misleading.
4. complex or intricate, as a system, process, piece of machinery, or the like:
a sophisticated electronic control system.
5. of, for, or reflecting educated taste, knowledgeable use, etc.:
Many Americans are drinking more sophisticated wines now.

Also, sophisticate.

Origin
Medieval Latin
1595-1605; < Medieval Latin sophisticāt (us) sophisticate + -ed2

Related forms
sophisticatedly, adverb
hypersophisticated, adjective
hypersophisticatedly, adverb
oversophisticated, adjective
supersophisticated, adjective

Synonyms
1. worldly, cosmopolitan, experienced, cultivated.
Antonyms Expand
1. naive.

sophisticate

[n., adj. suh-fis-ti-kit, -keyt; v. suh-fis-ti-keyt]

noun
1. a sophisticated person.
adjective
2. sophisticated.
verb (used with object), sophisticated, sophisticating.
3. to make less natural, simple, or ingenuous; make worldly-wise.
4. to alter; pervert:
to sophisticate a meaning beyond recognition.

verb (used without object), sophisticated, sophisticating.
5. to use sophistry; quibble.

Origin
1350-1400; Middle English (adj. and v.) < Medieval Latin sophisticātus (past participle of sophisticāre to tamper with, disguise, trick with words), equivalent to Latin sophistic (us) (see sophistic ) + -ātus -ate1

Related forms
outsophisticate, verb (used with object), outsophisticated, outsophisticating.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for sophisticated

– He expected odious solitary scavengers but instead found sophisticated hunters living in complex clans.
– Psychology often takes simple behavioral data and tries to make it more complicated and sophisticated.
– They’re growing ever more complex, subtle, and sophisticated.

Anagram (sophisticated)

chastities pod
idiots patches
a despotic hits

Today’s aphorism

Study me as much as you like, you will not know me, for I differ in a hundred ways from what you see me to be. Put yourself behind my eyes and see me as I see myself, for I have chosen to dwell in a place you cannot see.

– Rumi

On this day

16 November 1793 – During the French Revolution, 90 Catholic priests who were opposed to the Republic, are executed by drowning at Nantes.

16 November 1938 – Swiss scientist, Dr Albert Hofmann, creates the synthetic drug, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland.

16 November 1945 – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is founded in order ‘to contribute to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication in order to further universal respect for justice and the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion’.

16 November 1988 – 35 year old, Benazir Bhutto elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state. She was a member of the democratic-socialist Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

14 November 2014

concomitant

[kon-kom-i-tuh nt, kuh n-]

adjective
1. existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way; accompanying; concurrent:
an event and its concomitant circumstances.
noun
2. a concomitant quality, circumstance, or thing.

Origin

Latin
1595-1605; < Latin concomitant- (stem of concomitāns, present participle of concomitārī), equivalent to con- con- + comit- (stem of comes) comes + -ant- -ant

Related forms
concomitantly, adverb

Synonyms
1. associated.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for concomitant
– And there are powerful reasons for seeking to avoid the destruction of wilderness and the concomitant extinction of species.
– Short-term pain is an inevitable concomitant of structural reform: it is not an excuse for not doing it.
– Within the redevelopment area, many businesses are struggling with falling sales concomitant with a district in decline.

Anagram

manic cotton
Tonic Tom can

Today’s quote

Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts
Hot ashes for trees
Hot air for a cool breeze
Cold comfort for change
Did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage

– Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here

On this day

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

14 November 2012 – Total solar eclipse visible from Cairns, North Queensland, Australia. Other areas saw a partial eclipse. The last total eclipse for Cairns was in 710AD, with the next one not expected for another 225 years.

13 November 2014

titivate

[tit-uh-veyt]

verb (used with object), titivated, titivating.
1. to make smart or spruce:
She titivated her old dress with a new belt.

verb (used without object), titivated, titivating.
2. to make oneself smart or spruce.

Also, tittivate.

Origin
1795-1805; earlier tidivate (tidy + (ele)vate; i.e., tidy up)

Related forms
titivation, noun
titivator, noun

Dictionary.com

Anagram

tie it vat

Today’s aphorism

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

On this day

13 November 1940 – the prototype of the Jeep was submitted to U.S. Army for approval by car-maker Willys-Overland. Following the U.S. declaration of war 12 months later, production of the Jeep began. By the end of the war in 1945, there had been 600,000 produced.

13 November 1940 – Walt Disney releases his animated movie, Fantasia, which eventually became a cult-classic. At time of release though, the movie was not a commercial success.

13 November 1956 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that laws which segregated buses were illegal.

13 November 1970 – the worst natural disaster of the 20th century occurs when a devastating cyclone strikes Bangladesh, killing over 500,000 people. The cyclone with 160km/h winds, caused tidal waves and storm surges which swept over the densely-populated, low-lying regions of the Ganges Delta and nearby islands.

13 November 1971 – Space voyager Mariner 9, reaches Mars and becomes the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.

13 November 2009 – NASA announces that a significant resource of water has been located on the moon by the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter.