23 August 2013

pauciloquent

[powh-sil-oh-kwent]

adjective.

– Uttering few words; brief in speech.

Example

For a politician, he was suprisingly pauciloquent.

Today’s metaphor

‘He’s an enigma wrapped in a whoopee cushion’.

– Will Self, describing Boris Johnson, Lord Mayor of London.

On this day

23 August 1305 – Sir William Wallace, leader of Scottish rebellion, executed for high treason in England.

23 August 1791 – St Domingue Slave Revolt – commencing 21 August, the slaves of St Domingue (now known as Haiti) revolted against the French colonial government, plunging the country into civil war. This revolt was the catalyst for the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

23 August 1946 – birth of Keith Moon, British musician, drummer for ‘The Who’.

23 August – International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The United Nations chose this date as it is the anniversary of the St Domingue Slave Revolt.