7 December 2013

hoick

[hoik]

verb (informal)

1. to rise or raise abruptly and sharply: She hoicked her dress above her knees
2. to clear the throat and spit
3. throw something: He hoicked the cricket ball back to the bowler.

[C20: perhaps a variant of hike ]

Anagram

hock I

Today’s aphorism

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

– Nelson Mandela

On this day

7 December 1941 – bombing of Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

7 December 1987 – USSR President Mikael Gorbachev arrives in the USA for an arms control summit with US President Ronald Reagan. The summit resulted in the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty (INF) which called for elimination of all cruise and ballistic missiles and launchers in Europe that had a range of 320 to 3,400 miles. This was one of the most significant arms treaties of the Cold War.

7 December 1988 – An earthquake registering 7.2 on the richter scale, completely destroys the Armenian city of Spitak, in the Soviet Union, killing 50,000.

7 December 2001 – the Taliban regime surrenders 61 days after commencement of US-led war in Afghanistan.