20 December 2015

tachyphagia

[tak-uh-fey-gee-uh]

Noun

– Excessively rapid eating or bolting of food.

Example

Meal time at the high school camp was an exercise in tachyphagia.

Anagram

a yacht hag pi

Today’s quote

How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ’tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.

– Benjamin Franklin

On this day

20 December – International Human Solidarity Day – celebrating unity in diversity, as well as reminding people of the importance of solidarity in working towards eradicating poverty.

20 December 1973 – Basque Nationalists kill Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco in a car-bombing in Madrid.

20 December 1989 – Operation ‘Just Cause’ in which President George Bush orders 27,684 U.S. troops into Panama in an effort to oust Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Noriega surrendered on 3 January 1990.

19 December 2015

sphallolalia

[sfel-oh-lah-lee-ya]

noun

– flirtatious talk that leads nowhere.

Origin

From the Ancient Greek σφάλλω ‎(sphállō, “to stumble”) and λαλιά ‎(laliá, “talking”).

Example

The sphallolalia between him and her was driving their friends crazy with frustration, wondering whether or not the relationship would develop further.

Anagram

aloha alls lip

Today’s quote

A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad and a bad one will turn the bonniest into something worse than ugly.

– Emily Bronte

On this day

19 December 1847 – death of Emily Bronte, author of the novel, ‘Wuthering Heights‘. Born 30 July 1818.

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

18 December 2015

recumbentibus

[rek-uhm-ben-tuh-bus]

noun

– a knockdown blow (verbal or physical)

The advantage of inflicting upon an assailant a recumbentibus — J. R. Newman

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Anagram

bribe scum tune
bisect emu burn

Today’s quote

Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.

– Joseph Stalin

On this day

18 December 1655 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there was no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.

18 December 1878 – Joseph Stalin, Georgian-Russian marshal and politician, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union, died from suspected poisoning 5 March 1953.

18 December 1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

18 December 1942 – U.S. B24 Liberator bomber crashes into Mt Straloch on Hinchinbrook Island, North Queensland. All 29 persons on board were killed. Because of the rugged terrain and monsoonal ‘wet’ season, the bodies were not recovered for some months. The plane had flown from Amberley air base, near Brisbane, to Garbutt air base in Townsville to pick up passengers. The plane crashed during a violent storm, shortly after departure from Garbutt. It was on its way to Iron Range air base, near Lockhardt River, North Queensland.

18 December 1963 – birth of Brad Pitt, American actor.

17 December 2015

qualtagh

[kwal-tak]

Noun

1. The first person one encounters, either after leaving one’s home or (sometimes) outside one’s home, especially on New Year’s Day.

Origin

Manx (Isle of Man)

Today’s quote

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

– Ludwig van Beethoven

On this day

17 December 1770 – baptism of Ludwig von Beethoven, German composer. One of the world’s most influential composers. He composed 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatos and 16 string quartets. Died 26 March 1827.

17 December 1903 – Orville and Wilbur Wright makes the world’s first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight.

15 December 2015

oculoplania

[ok-yoo-loh-plan-ee-uh]

noun

– Letting one’s eyes wander while assessing someone’s charms.

Example

Maintaining eye contact with his attractive manager was an exercise in futility for the young man who seemed perpetually afflicted with oculoplania whenever he was in her presence.

Anagram

up a colonial

Today’s quote

In order to change history, you have to step out of the crowd.

– Kris Vallotton

On this day

15 December 533 – Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.

15 December 1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and architect, co-designed the Eiffel Tower. Died 27 December 1923.

15 December 1890 – death of Sitting Bull, Native American tribal chief. Born as ‘Jumping Badger’ in 1831.

15 December 1917 – World War I: An armistice between Russia and the Central Powers is signed.

15 December 1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution officially becomes effective, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol.

15 December 1945 – Occupation of Japan: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan.

15 December 1946 – U.S.-backed Iranian troops evict the leadership of the breakaway Republic of Mahabad, putting an end to the Iran crisis of 1946.

15 December 1954 – The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands is signed.

15 December 1970 – Russia’s Venera 7 spacecraft lands on Venus, the first man-made object to land on the planet. It was launched on 15 August 1970.

15 December 1973 – The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the DSM-II.

15 December 1974 – birth of Pooh, Filipino actor and comedian, star of Banana Split, famous for his impersonations, including that of Filipino boxer, Manny Pacquiao. Pooh’s real name is Reynold Garcia.

15 December 1981 – A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.

15 December 2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.

15 December 2010 – A boat carrying 90 asylum seekers crashes into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia, killing 48 people.

14 December 2015

nelipot

[nel-ee-pot]

noun

– one who walks barefoot

Origin:

Greek: nelipous (nelipodos): unshod

The Barefoot in the Park concert attracted nelipots from all walks of life.

Anagram

top line
tin pole

Today’s quote

I find the best way to love someone, is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.

– Dr Steve Maraboli

On this day

14 December 1972 – The last men to walk on the moon are Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan during the Apollo 17 mission. In all, 12 men walked on the moon between 1969 and 1972.

14 December 2008 – Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, throws his shoes at US President George W. Bush who was in a press-conference in Iraq.

13 December 2015

maledicent

[mal-eh-dee-sent]

Adjective

(archaic) one who enjoys using slanderous language or is addicted to abusive speech
(archaic) reproachful in speech
(archaic) slanderous

(comparative more maledicent, superlative most maledicent)

Origin

Latin: maledicere

Usage

The debate resulted only in proving which politician was more maledicent.

Anagram

menaced lit
citadel men
climate end
candle emit

Today’s quote

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

– Aristotle

On this day

13 December 1937 – Nanking, China, is captured by Japanese forces. The Japanese General Matsui orders the destruction of the city, resulting in the massacre of more than 200,000 people, and rape and mutilation of around 20,000 women and girls.

13 December 1939 – Premier of the classic movie, Gone With The Wind, starring Clark Gable and Vivienne Leigh.

13 December 1995 – Thousands of people riot in Brixton, England, ransacking shops and attacking police.

13 December 2003 – US forces capture Saddam Hussein at a compound near Tikrit. He was executed by hanging on 30 December 2006 after being found guilty of the 1982 murder of 148 Iraqi Shi’ites.

13 December 2006 – Belgians react angrily to the news that their country is to be divided in two, with the Dutch speaking component of the country declaring their independence. The news was a joke propagated by Belgian public television station, R.T.B.F.

13 December 2007 – Pakistani President, Pervez Musharaff, moves responsibility for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal from the Prime Minister to the President amid fears of it falling into the hands of Islamic extremists.

12 December 2015

lalochezia

lal·o·che·zi·a (lāl’ō-kē’zē-ə)

noun.

Emotional relief gained by using indecent or vulgar language.

(The American Heritage® Stedman’s Medical Dictionary)

Anagram

hi cola zeal
ha localize

Example

After a frustrating day in which he sold nothing, the salesman found a good bout of lalochezia to be very therapeutic.

Today’s quote

A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.

– Plato

On this day

12 December 1901 – Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi sends the world’s first wireless transmission over 2,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Poldhu, Cornwall, England to Newfoundland, Canada. The message he sent was the letter ‘s’ in morse code, represented by three dots …

12 December 1913 – the Mona Lisa is recovered in Florence, two years after being stolen from the Louvre in Paris.

12 December 1925 – the world’s first motel, the Milestone Mo-Tel, opens in San Luis Obispo, California. The motorists-hotel enabled visitors to park their cars outside their rooms.

12 December 1946 – John D. Rockefeller donates six blocks of Manhattan to the United Nations, which is now the site of UN Headquarters.

12 December 2003 – Keiko, the killer whale from the movie, ‘Free Willy’, dies in Norway.

12 December 2007 – International Chess Grand-Master, Garry Kasparov announces that he is withdrawing from running for the presidential election. Kasparov’s party, Other Russia, had faced difficulty in meeting the electoral requirements for supporters to meet in Moscow.

11 December 2015

knismesis

[niz-muh-sis]

Noun

knismesis

– Light tickling often accompanied by an itching sensation.

Coordinate term

gargalesis

– heavy tickling often leading to laughter

Example

1999 Christine R. Harris & Nicholas Christenfeld, “Can a machine tickle?,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,6(3) pp. 504-510
One can readily elicit knismesis in oneself (this is easily demonstrated by dragging a fingernail lightly over one’s skin). However, one cannot produce gargalesis in oneself; the present investigation focuses on this peculiar fact.

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miss skein

Today’s quote

The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.

– Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

On this day

11 December 1941 – Hitler and Mussolini declare war on the United States. The USA responds in kind.

11 December 1946 – establishment of UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) to provide food and healthcare to children in countries devastated by World War II.

11 December 1918 – birthday of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian dissident writer, ‘The Gulag Archipelago‘, ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich‘, ‘The First Circle‘.

11 December 1961 – America’s first direct involvement in the Vietnam civil war, when a US aircraft carrier arrives in Saigon.

11 December 1975 – The Cod War in Iceland continues when an Iceland gun boat fires on unarmed British fishing vessels. Iceland had expanded its fishing zone from 50nm to 200nm from its coast.

11 December 1979 – The Rhodesian government returns power of the country to Great Britain until democratic elections are held. Following the elections, Rhodesia is renamed Zimbabwe.

11 December 1997 – The Kyoto Protocol is agreed to by 150 countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat anthropogenic global warming.