24 December 2013

brusque

[bruhsk; especially British broosk]

adjective

– abrupt in manner; blunt; rough: A brusque welcome greeted his unexpected return.

Also, brusk.

Origin:
1595–1605; < Middle French < Italian brusco rough, tart, special use of brusco (noun) butcher’s broom < Late Latin brūscum, for Latin rūscus, rūscum, perhaps conflated with Vulgar Latin *brūcus heather (see brier2 )

Related forms
brusque·ly, adverb
brusque·ness, noun

Synonyms
unceremonious, short, curt. See blunt.

Anagram

rubs que

Today’s aphorism

And crawling on the planet’s face, some insects called the human race. Lost in time, and lost in space, and meaning.

– The Narrator, Rocky Horror Picture Show.

On this day

24 December 1865 – Ku Klux Klan formed by a group of confederate veterans who are opposed to civil rights for African-Americans.

24 December 1979 – The Soviet Army, comprised of 100,000 troops, invades Afghanistan in response to Afghan insurgents (armed by the United States) who had been attacking Soviet troops. The occupation lasts for 10 years and results in the deaths of between 600,000 and 2,000,000 Afghan civilians, as well as 6,000,000 refugees who fled to Pakistan and Iran. The Soviets withdrew in 1989. The cost of the Afghan occupation is a significant factor that led to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet occupation, the United States funded Afghan resistance in the form of the Mujahideen and other militant Islamic groups, out of whom emerged Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The real victims in this war were the Afghan people, who continue to suffer and to comprise a significant portion of global refugee numbers because of the involvement of the USSR and the USA during this period.