28 December 2013

besot

[bih-sot]

verb (used with object), be·sot·ted, be·sot·ting.

1. to intoxicate or stupefy with drink.
2. to make stupid or foolish: The stories had besotted her mind with fear and superstition.
3. to infatuate; obsess: Youth and beauty have a tendency to besot middle-aged men; charm and tenderness does it for women of all ages.

Origin:
1575–85; be + sot

Related forms
be·sot·ting·ly, adverb

Anagram

bet so

Today’s aphorism

‘One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back’.

– Carl Sagan

On this day

28 December 1945 – the United States Congress officially recognises the pledge of allegiance to the flag, which states, ‘I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all’.

28 December 1981 – the world’s first test-tube baby is born after being conceived in a lab dish. Her name is Elizabeth Jordan Carr and she weighed 5lb 12oz.