December 15, 2008

ecclesiastical \i-klee-zee-AS-ti-kuhl\, adjective:

• of or having to do with the church or clergy

by 1538 from ecclesiastic, which comes from Late Latin ecclesiasticus, from Greek ekklesiastikos "of the (ancient Athenian) assembly," later, "of the church," from ekklesiastes "speaker in an assembly or church, preacher," from ekkalein "to call out"

bar laugh

1. The insipid laugh emitted by half drunk people at a singles bar when they are responding to the wit, wisdom and humor of other half drunk people hoping to score. sounds like - ha, ha, (slight pause) ha, ha, ha (intonation on the middle ha)
2. everyday use of a flirtatious laugh indicating possible interest in a member of the opposite sex, most frequently used by young women

I can't believe all the bar laughs I heard at that party. Were all the women drunk, or were they coming on to President Clinton?

lucubrate (v)

1. To work diligently by artificial light, to study at night.
2. To work or write like a scholar.

Trivia

What was the name of Spock's insane older half-brother, who hijacks the U.S.S. Enterprise in the 1989 film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier?

• Sybok.

Today in History:

• Bill of Rights: Amendments I-X of the US Constitution, granting substantial individual liberties, became law (1791)
• Sitting Bull: Lakota Sioux military and spiritual leader who defeated Gen. Custer at Little Bighorn was killed (1890)
• Gone With the Wind: epic Civil War-era film starring Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable premiered in Atlanta (1939)

Today's Birthdays:

• Nero (37-68): emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned"
• Joseph Moses Levy (1812-1888): founder of London's Daily Telegraph; journalist Franklin Sanborn (1831-1917) shared this birth date
• Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923): designer of the eponymous tower in Paris
• Tim Conway (75): actor/comedian, described as the "world's greatest second banana"; also, actors Don Johnson (59), Helen Slater (45), Molly Price (42) and Adam Brody (29)
• Dave Clark (66): singer, The Dave Clark Five; singer Cindy Birdsong (69) of The Supremes also celebrates her birthday today

Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is not the right angle that attracts me,
Nor the hard, inflexible straight line, man-made.
What attracts me are free and sensual curves.
The curves in my country's mountains,
In the sinuous flow of its rivers,
In the beloved woman's body.

--Oscar Niemeyer
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oscar_Niemeyer)