Word of the Day for Saturday, September 13, 2008

auspicious \aw-SPISH-uhs\, adjective:

1. Giving promise of success, prosperity, or happiness; predicting good; as, "an auspicious beginning."
2. Prosperous; fortunate; as, "auspicious years."

Auspicious derives from Latin auspicium, "an omen, a sign," from auspex, "one who observes or looks at the habits of birds for purposes of divination," from avis, "bird" + specere, "to look, to look at."

bush doctrine

• A policy of preemptive strike, as proposed by President George W. Bush.

"My pants weren't dirty yet, but I Bush Doctrined them and washed them anyway."

"I'm going to Bush Doctrine this test, because I can't study at the last minute."

"If that asshat so much as looks at me again, I'm going to Bush Doctrine his face into the ground."

Trivia

Who was the first singer to have an album sell over a million copies?

• Silky-voiced Harry Belafonte, in 1956. The album, Calypso, featured “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O),” “Jamaica Farewell,” “Come Back Liza,” and “Brown Skin Girl.”

Today in History

• Henry Bliss: became the first automobile accident fatality in the United States (1899)
• Super Mario Bros.: best-selling video game of all time was first released, in Japan, by Nintendo (1985)
• Law & Order: long-running TV police drama series first aired, on NBC (1990)

Today's Birthdays

• Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-1896): pianist and composer; composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) shares this birth date
• Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941): author of short stories and novels, Winesburg, Ohio; writer J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) was also born on this date
• David Clayton-Thomas (67): singer, Blood, Sweat & Tears; other musicians born on this date include Bill Monroe (1911-1996), Peter Cetera (64), Randy Jones (56), Stephen Perkins (41) and Fiona Apple (31)
• Louise Lombard (38): CSI's Sofia Curtis; also, actors Claudette Colbert (1903-1996), Eileen Fulton (75), Richard Kiel (69), Jacqueline Bisset (64) and Geri Jewell (52)