Word of the Day for Monday, October 20, 2008

malfeasance \mal-FEE-zuhn(t)s\, noun:

• Wrongdoing, misconduct, or misbehavior, especially by a public official.

Malfeasance is derived from Old French malfaisant, present participle of malfaire, "to do evil," from Latin malefacere, from male, "badly" + facere, "to do."

designated texter

• a passenger who reads and replies to any and all text messages recieved on the drivers phone, thus alowing the driver to focus on the road and not hit anything or get pulled over for reckless driving.

Guy 1: "Whoa, i almost hit that telephone pole back there, Dude you should be my designated texter "
Guy 2: "Yeah no problem bro"
Trivia

Who coined the term "Bible Belt"?

• H. L. Mencken, in the mid 1920s.

Today in History

• Louisiana Purchase: acquisition that doubled the territory of the United States was ratified by the Senate (1803)
• "I shall return": General Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his 1942 promise when he led an Allied army in freeing the Philippines from Japanese control in WWII (1944)
• Saturday Night Massacre: special prosecutor Archibald Cox and others lost their jobs during the Watergate scandal (1973)

Today's Birthdays

• Christopher Wren (1632-1723): architect who designed St. Paul's Cathedral
• John Dewey (1859-1952): philosopher, educator
• Mickey Mantle (1931-1995): NY Yankees slugger
• Jerry Orbach (1935-2004): Law & Order's Lennie Briscoe; also, actors Bela Lugosi (1882-1956), William Christopher (76), Viggo Mortensen (50) and Jennifer Nicole Freeman (23)
• Elfriede Jelinek (62): Nobel-winning writer
• Tom Petty (58): Heartbreakers' frontman; other musicians born on this date include Charles Ives (1874-1954), Jim Sonefeld (44), Dannii Minogue (37) and Snoop Dogg (36)