Today’s WOTD – 25 September 2012
stet
[stet]
verb, stetted, stetting.
verb (used without object)
1. let it stand (used imperatively as a direction on a printer’s proof, manuscript, or the like, to retain material previously cancelled, usually accompanied by a row of dots under or beside the material).
For example:
This text is superfluous. STET (the use of stet indicates the phrase is not to be deleted).
Today’s quote
Max: Oh, yes, I’m a big music lover. Would you believe that I once listened to three weeks of Beethoven? Would you believe it? Three weeks!
Villain: I find that quite hard to believe.
Max: Would you believe (thinks a while) Two weeks of Bach?
Villain: I don’t think so.
Max: Would you believe… one hour of Looney Tunes?
– Quote from the TV show ‘Get Smart’, starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86.
On this day
Before revealing events for 25 September, we are going to have a flashback to 12 September. Why? Well, because I’d like to reveal the true dates for the end of both World War I and II. Forget 1918 and 1945 respectively … in the style of Maxwell Smart, ‘would you believe World War I ended in 1957? …. no? well, then … would you believe World War II ended in 1990?‘
12 September 1990 – formal end of World War II. In 1945 there was no formal German state to accept the terms of surrender or the ongoing governing of Germany. The 1945 Potsdam Agreement set the provisional terms under which the Allies would govern Germany. The lack of a German government at the time, became known as ‘The German Question’ and was used by the U.S.A. as the reason for maintaining American bases in West Germany throughout the Cold War. It wasn’t until German re-unification in 1990, that the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) unified. To achieve full sovereignty the new unified state was required to accept the terms of the Potsdam Agreement. A settlement was then negotiated with the new German government between the new German state, the U.S.A, France, U.S.S.R and Britain, formally ending World War II.
Now to 25 September events and the end of World War I:
25 September 1785 – U.S. traitor, Benedict Arnold, joins the British during the American Revolution.
25 September 1958 – End of World War I in Andorra … Andorra was not invited to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, so diplomatic peace between Germany and Andorra, relating to World War I, was not settled until this date.
25 September 1980 – death of John Bonham, Led Zeppelin drummer. Born 31 May 1948.
25 September 2005 – death of Don Adams, American actor, most famous for his character Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the TV show ‘Get Smart’. Born 13 April 1923. Famous catchphrases include ‘missed it by that much‘, ‘would you believe …‘, ‘sorry about that Chief‘, ‘the old [something] trick‘, ‘that’s the second […..] I’ve ever seen‘.