Today’s WOTD – 5 November 2012

bunbury

(BUN-buh-ree)

noun

– An imaginary person whose name is used as an excuse to some purpose, especially to visit a place.
– verb intr.: To use the name of a fictitious person as an excuse.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Oscar Wilde’s play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, where the character Algernon invents an imaginary person named Bunbury as an alibi to escape from relatives. He explains to his friend, ‘I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Bunbury is perfectly invaluable. If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health, for instance, I wouldn’t be able to dine with you at Willis’s to-night.’ Earliest documented use: 1899.

USAGE:

‘There are birds who bunbury. One of them is the blackbird.’

– Jesko Partecke; The Birds Who Bunbury; Deutsche Welle (Germany); May 22, 2007.

Today’s aphorism

‘Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.’

– Oscar Wilde

On this day

5 November 1605 – Guy Fawkes Day. Celebrates King James I survived an attempt on his life when Guy Fawkes and others from the Gunpowder Plot placed gunpowder around the House of Lords in a failed attempt to blow up parliament.

5 November 1996 – Bill Clinton secures a second term as U.S. President, with a land-slide victory. Clinton is the first Democrat in 50 years to win consecutive terms of government.