6 May 2017

flannel

[flan-l]

noun

1. nonsense, humbug, empty talk (The convention was more flannel than substance).
2. flattery, insincere or overdone praise. (His incessant flannel was wearing thin on her).
3. a soft, slightly napped fabric of wool or wool and another fiber, used for trousers, jackets, shirts, etc.
4. a soft, warm, light fabric of cotton or cotton and another fiber, thickly napped on one side and used for sleepwear, undergarments, sheets, etc.
5. flannels.
an outer garment, especially trousers, made of flannel.
woolen undergarments.
6. British.
a washcloth.
7. to cover or clothe with flannel.

Origin of flannel

Middle English Welsh
1300-1350; Middle English flaunneol, perhaps dissimilated variant of flanyn sackcloth < Welsh; compare Welsh gwlanen woolen article, equivalent to gwlân wool (akin to Latin lāna) + -en suffix denoting a single item (as a piece of a mass noun or singular of a collective plural)

Dictionary.com

Today’s quote

Life is too short to not have fun; we are only here for a short time compared to the sun and the moon and all that.

– Coolio

On this day

6 May – Following ‘May the Fourth be with you’, and Cinco de Mayo yesterday, does this make today ‘Revenge of the Sixth?’

6 May 1937 – the German passenger dirigible (Zeppelin), The Hindenburg, crashes bursts into flames, falling 200 feet to the ground, killing 37 people. The Hindenburg was the world’s largest hydrogen airship and the disaster marked the end of the airship era. The disaster was captured on camera and a newsreel released, which can be viewed on Youtube.

6 May 1945 – Hermann Göring, Hitler’s second in command and the most powerful Nazi alive, surrenders to US forces, effectively marking the end of the Second World War. The official surrender was announced by German officers on 8 May 1945.

6 May 1954 – Roger Bannister becomes the first man break the 4 minute mile on foot. He ran the mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds at the Iffley Road Track, Oxford, England.