29 November 2012

motza / motser

[mot-zuh, mot-ser]

noun, Australian Slang.

– a large amount of money, especially a sum won in gambling.

Example:

‘It wasn’t until he started selling the mangoes to tourists, instead of giving them away to friends and neighbours, that he realised he could make a motza from the tree in his backyard’.

Today’s aphorism

‘Ah, beware of snobbery; it is the unwelcome recognition of one’s own past failings’.

– Cary Grant

On this day

29 November 1898 – birth of C.S. Lewis, Irish novellist, author of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘The Screwtape Letters’. Died 22 November 1963.

29 November 1922 – Federal authorities are engaged to assist in the enforcement of prohibition laws in the United States.

29 November 1947 – the United Nations votes in favour of Resolution 181 for the partitioning of the land of Palestine in order to create both a Jewish state, named Israel, and an Arab state named Palestine. Arab nations refused to accept the resolution and the state of Palestine was not created, while the state of Israel was.

29 November 1948 – the first Holden car is manufactured in Australia by General Motors Holden Automotive (GMH). The first model is a Holden FX.

29 November 1963 – The Warren Commission is established to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. After 10 months, the Chief Justice Earl Warren hands down his findings that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in the assassination.

29 November 1986 – death of Cary Grant, born Archibald Alexander Leach, actor (‘North by Northwest‘, ‘To Catch a Thief‘, ‘An Affair to Remember‘, ‘Gunga Din‘).