6 August 2014

foible

[foi-buhl]

noun

1. a minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect: an all-too-human foible.
2. the weaker part of a sword blade, between the middle and the point (opposed to forte ).

Origin:
1640–50; < French, obsolete form of faible feeble

Synonyms
1. frailty, quirk, crotchet, eccentricity, peculiarity. See fault.

Antonyms
1. strength.

Anagram

of bile
be foil

Today’s aphorism

Fantasy love is much better than reality love.

– Andy Warhol

On this day

6 August 1661 – Holland sells Brazil to Portugal for 8 million guilders.

6 August 1806 – The Holy Roman Empire comes to an inglorious end at the hands of Napoleon.

6 August 1927 – birthday of Andy Warhol, American pop artist. American writer, Gore Vidal, once said, ‘Andy Warhol is the only genius I’ve ever known with an IQ of 60‘.

6 August 1945 – USA drops an atomic bomb, called ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima, Japan. It is estimated that between 70,000 to 140,000 people died within the four months of the bombing, with half that number dying on the day of the bombing.

6 August 1965 – President Lydon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act which removed discriminatory voting practices against African Americans. Essentially it meant African Americans could vote freely, without having to meet qualifications that white Americans didn’t need to meet, such as literacy tests.