★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
October 16, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote:  I want my food dead. Not sick, Not dying, Dead. Oscar Wilde

 ★~ Dictionary Day (Favorite Word Day) 

“It is widely believed that every word has a correct indisputable meaning and that teachers and books are the supreme authority in matters of meaning and usage. Few people ask by what authority the writers of dictionaries and grammars say what they say.

The task of writing a dictionary begins with reading vast amounts of the literature of the period or subject that the dictionary is to cover. As the editors read, they copy on cards every interesting or rare word, every unusual or peculiar occurrence of a common word, a large number of common words in their ordinary uses, and also the sentences in which each of these words appears.

That is to say, the context of each word is collected, along with the word itself. For a really big job of dictionary-writing, such as the Oxford English Dictionary (usually bound in about twenty-five volumes), millions of such cards are collected, and the task of editing occupies decades. As the cards are collected, they are alphabetized and sorted. When the sorting is completed, there will be anywhere from two or three to several hundred illustrative quotations for each word, each on its card…

The editor reads the cards carefully, discards some, re-reads the rest, and divides the stack according to what seem to be the several senses of the word. The editor cannot be influenced by an idea of what a given word ought to mean, but must work according to what the collected quotations reveal about the word.

The writing of a dictionary, therefore, is not a task of setting up authoritative statements about the “true meanings” of words, but a task of recording, to the best of one’s ability, what various words have meant to authors in the distant or immediate past. The writer of a dictionary is a historian, not a lawgiver. “– S.I. Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action

Do you have a favorite word?

★~ Boss’s Day:

Boss’s Day dates back to 1958 when State Farm Insurance employee Patricia Bays Haroski registered the date with the government. Haroski wanted to honor her father (who was also her boss!) for all the advice he gave to her and her siblings throughout their careers. She chose his birthday as the date for this special holiday!

Interesting side note – Americans Still Prefer a Male Boss to a Female Boss

★~ Liqueur Day:

A liqueur is a strong alcoholic beverage that has been sweetened with herbs, fruits, nuts, cream, or spices. Liqueurs are traditionally served as after-dinner drinks or mixed with coffee.

The word “liqueur” comes from the Latin word “liquifacere,” which means “to dissolve or melt.” As early as 400 BC, the Egyptians and Greeks distilled wine to produce fortified spirits. They sweetened this concoction with cinnamon and honey—a combination that we still use today to create mead. In the thirteenth century, European monks and alchemists perfected the distillation process used to create liqueur. The liquid was primarily used for medicinal purposes.

Today, there are countless types and flavors of liqueur. Some of the most famous include Kahlúa, Bailey’s Irish Cream, Limoncello, Sambuca, and Jägermeister. Below are a few homemade liqueur recipes.

Triple sec (with oranges and sugar)

Drambuie (with fennel, honey and angelica root)

Sambuca (with anise and honey)

Grand Marnier (with cognac and orange zest)

Frangelico (with angelica root, vanilla and hazelnuts)

Kumquat liqueur

Cointreau (with brandy and oranges)

★~ Today in History:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/nOwPr6kGHRE[/youtube]

♥~ 1793 – Queen Marie Antoinette lost her head in a guillotine incident (she had been found guilty of treason) on this day. On the scaffold she accidentally stepped on the executioner’s foot, and her last words were, “Monsieur, I ask your pardon. I did not do it on purpose.”

♥~ 1941– Fry Me Cookie, with a Can of Lard was recorded by theWill Bradley Orchestra on Columbia. Ray McKinley, co-leader of the band, was featured.

♥~ 1955 – Mrs. Jules Lederer made news. She replaced Ruth Crowley as a columnist in 26 newspapers. Mrs. Crowley, a writer of advice to the lovelorn, had died in July of 1955 and was replaced by the woman whose advice column was seen in hundreds of newspapers. She wrote under the famous pen name, Ann Landers.‘Eppie’ Lederer, who died June 22, 2002, was also the twin sister of another advice columnist, Abigail Van Buren.

♥~ 1972 – John C. Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival called it a career … and the group disbanded. Fogerty would continue in a solo career with big hits including, Centerfield and The Old Man Down the Road.

♥~ 2010 – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while immigrants are welcome in Germany, they must learn the language and accept the country’s cultural norms. “This multicultural approach, saying that we simply live side by side and live happily with each other has failed.Utterly failed.”

♥~ Born Today:

♥~ 1758 – Noah Webster author, lexicographer: Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language; died May 28, 1843

♥~ 1854 –  Oscar Wilde Irish wit, poet and playwright Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born at Dublin, Ireland. At the height of his career he was imprisoned for two years on a morals offense, during which time he wrote “A Ballad of Reading Gaol.” Best known of his plays is The Importance of Being Earnest. “We are all in the gutter,” he wrote in Lady Windermere’s Fan, “but some of us are looking at the stars.” Wilde died at Paris, France, Nov 30, 1900.

♥~ 1925 –  Angela Lansbury Tony Award-winning actress: Mame [1966], Dear World [1969], Gypsy [1975], Sweeney Todd [1979]; Murder, She Wrote, Death on the Nile,Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Harlow, Blue Hawaii, The Manchurian Candidate, The Long Hot Summer, The World of Henry Orient, The Harvey Girls, Picture of Dorian Gray, National Velvet; voice: teapot: Beauty and the Beast

♥~ 1946 – Suzanne Somers (Mahoney) actress: Three’s Company, She’s the Sheriff, Step by Step, American Graffiti, Seduced by Evil

♥~ 1947 – Bob (Robert Hall) Weir (Hall) musician: guitar, singer: group: The Grateful Dead: Touch of Grey, Truckin’; solo: LP: Ace, Heaven Help the Fool

♥~ 1958 – Tim Robbins Academy Award-winning actor: Mystic River [2003]; The Shawshank Redemption, Bull Durham, Short Cuts, Hudsucker Proxy; director: Dead Man Walking, Cradle Will Rock, Queens Supreme

♥~ 1977 –  John Mayer musician: guitar; songwriter, singer: Bigger Than My Body, Your Body Is a Wonderland, Love Song for No One, Back To You, No Such Thing,Comfortable, New Deep, Only Heart

★~Oscar Wilde Gallimaufry:

♥~ His  full name is Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde and he was born in Dublin, Ireland.

♥~ His mother, Jane Francesca Elgee, was a celebrated writer who went by the pen-name of ‘Speranza’. She is said to have mastered 12 languages and frequently translated many works into English from Italian, French, German, Russian, Turkish and Spanish.

♥~ His father, William Robert Wills Wilde, was a physician who specialised as an ear-eye surgeon.  He was knighted for his work as an assistant commissioner to the censuses of Ireland.

♥~ Oscar Wilde had photographic memory. While studying at Magdalen College in Oxford, he was famous for his ability to recall long passages of writing. He was also an  impressive linguist. Home schooled, he was taught French and German and also had working knowledge of Italian and Ancient Greek.

♥~ Wilde married Constance Lloyd on May 29, 1884 and had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan. Cyril fought and died in World War I in the Battle of Festubert in France where he is buried. Vyvyan and Cyril changed their last name to Holland, like his mother, after their father’s imprisonment. Vyvyan went on to become a translator for the BBC and author of the autobiography ‘Son of Oscar Wilde’ (1954). Vyvyan’s son and Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland, published the Oscar Wilde biography ‘A Portrait of Oscar Wilde’ (2008).

♥~ His only published novel is ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’. All his other works are either plays, poems or short children’s stories.

♥~ His most controversial play is ‘Salome’, which was refused permission to be staged because of biblical content. Acclaimed actress Sarah Bernhardt would have played the lead role.

♥~ He was accused of, tried and sent to prison to Holloway for two years on account of gross indecency.

♥~ ‘De Profundis’ was written while in prison and recounts his thoughts and feelings on his incarceration. It was partially published in 1905, then fully in 1962 in ‘The Letters of Oscar Wilde’. You can read ‘De Profundis’ it in it’s entirety here.

♥~ Before his death due to cerebral meningitis he was conditionally baptized in the Catholic Church.

♥~ Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on 30th November 1900 in Paris. Reginald Turner, close friend and fellow writer was with him when he passed away.  He is buried at Pere Lachaise Cemetery and his tomb was designed and built by Sir Jacob Epstein in the form of a stylised angel.

♥~ Oscar Wilde’s last words were “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has got to go.”

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I’m off and running.  My teen is picking campers up downtown and I’m going along for the donut to keep him company. We found an amazing donut place downtown called the Doughnut Vault. This picture is of yesterday’s glazed donut. It’s big, but light and fluffy and mmmmm good.

Do you have a favorite word? I really liked gobsmacked and gallimaufry, of-course.  I also really like the word DONE.

Have a terrific Thursday!

Odd Loves Company!