31 October 2013

pecksniffian

[pek-snif-ee-uhn]

adjective (often lowercase)

– hypocritically and unctuously affecting benevolence or high moral principles, e.g. His response to the questions showed how pecksniffian he really was.

Also, Peck·sniff·ish.

Origin:
1850–55; named after Seth Pecksniff, character in Martin Chuzzlewit, a novel (1843) by Dickens; see -ian

Related forms
Peck·sniff·er·y, Peck·sniff·i·an·ism, Peck·sniff·ism, noun

Today’s aphorism

As a child my family’s menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.

– Buddy Hackett

On this day

31 October – Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve), celebrated in a number of countries on the eve of the Christian festival, All Hallows’ Day (or All Saints’ 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.