3 March 2014

wastrel

[wey-struhl]

noun

1. a wasteful person; spendthrift.
2. Chiefly British .
a. refuse; waste.
b. a waif; abandoned child.
c. an idler or good-for-nothing.

Example:

For a wastrel, he has been surprisingly successful.

Origin:
1580–90; waste + -rel

Anagram

let wars
law rest

Today’s aphorism

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.

– Thomas Jefferson

On this day

3 March 1923 – the first edition of Time magazine is published featuring Joseph Gurney Cannon, a U.S. congressman.

3 March 1931 – the Star Spangled Banner becomes the United States national anthem. The song was written by Francis Scott Key on 14 September 1814.

3 March 1991 – In Los Angeles, three white police officers are filmed viciously bashing African American, Rodney King. The video of police brutality is shown publicly. Four police officers are charged in relation to the bashing, but are later acquitted. News of the acquittal led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.