Today’s WOTD – 31 October 2012

histrionics

PRONUNCIATION:

(his-tree-ON-iks)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Melodramatic or hysterical behavior calculated for effect.
2. Theatrical performances.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin histrio (actor). Earliest documented use: 1824.

USAGE:

“The notion that men can face adversity with stoicism while women are more likely to respond with histrionics is just one example of the gender stereotypes that permeate our culture.”

Kayt Sukel; Pink Brains, Blue Brains, Purple People; New Scientist (London, UK); May 26, 2012.

Today’s aphorism

‘The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.’

On this day

31 October 1517 – Protestant Revolution starts when Martin Luther posts his 95 theses on the Wittenburg Church in Germany in protest against what he saw as corruption in the Catholic Church.

31 October 1876 – large cyclone strikes India, killing more than 200,000 people.

31 October 1941 – completion of Mt Rushmore sculptures near Keystone, South Dakota. It is a sculpture carved into the granite face of the mountain and ended because funding ran out. The sculpture features the faces of four U.S. presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Construction started on 4 October 1927. It was the brainchild of Doane Robinson. The carvings are 18m (60′) high and were carved by Gutzon Borglum and a team of 400 workers.

31 October 1984 – Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, assassinated by Sikh extremists.