~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
October 16,2011

★~ Today’s Quote: Life is never fair…And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not. — Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband (1895)

★~ Dictionary Day: 

Don’t just google it!  Look it up. Why? WHY! Because danglexicographerdarnit it is Noah Webster’s birthday! Show the, Father of the modern dictionary, a little respect! Look it UP!  Here are a few useful words you may not know: Battology, Fustian, Hebetate, Jargogle,Nugacity,Vecordious, Thrasonical,Schadenfreude . . .you don’t own a dictionary? Well, then just use the Webster on-line dictionary!

★~ Liqueur Day:

A liqueur is a 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. Try one of the more unusual flower liqueurs, nut liqueurs, or herbal liqueurs to celebrate National Liqueur Day!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 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 the Will 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

★~ Did You Know:  The meaning of these words? 

♥~ Battology n. The continual reiteration of the same words or phrases in speech or writing. A battologer is one who battologizes.

♥~ Fustian n. or a. Ridiculously pompous, bombastic, or inflated language. The essence of fustian is not the use of big or exotic words but the adoption of a declamatory style that is unsuited, by virtue of its high-flown and flowery imagery, or its grandiose delivery, to the purposes for which it is being employed.

♥~ Hebetate v. To grow dull or stupid. The verb can also be transitive, meaning to make someone else grow dull or stupid — The noun is hebetude.

♥~ Jargogle v. To befuddle or mess up.

♥~ Nugacity n. Triviality, futility

♥~ Thrasonical a. Bragging and boasting

♥~ Vecordious a. Crazy, senseless, lunatic.

♥~ Schadenfreude pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others

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Have a most wonderful Sunday! May your cup runneth over with kind words and sweet liqueurs.

♥

Kb