December 29, 2008

sacrilege \SAK-ruh-lij\, noun:

• an intentional injury to anything held sacred; disrespectful treatment of something sacred

c 1300, from Old French sacrilege, from Latin sacrilegium and sacrilegus "one who steals sacred things," from sacer "sacred" + legere "take, pick up." Transferred sense of "profanation of anything held sacred" is attested from 1390.

humble pie

• To be forced to apologize or to admit a fault.

I caught Pierson in another lie, so he has to eat some humble pie.
Trivia

What were the e-mail addresses of the characters played by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in the 1998 romantic comedy You've Got Mail?

• Hanks, as Joe Fox, used “NY152” because his address in the film was 152 Riverside Drive in New York City; Ryan, as Kathleen Kelly, used “Shopgirl” because she ran a bookstore.

Today in History:

• YMCA: the first such men's club in the US was founded, based on the London model that was started in the previous decade by George Williams (1851)
• Wounded Knee Massacre: last major confrontation between the Sioux and the US Army ended with hundreds of Indians killed (1890)

Today's Birthdays:

• Andrew Johnson (1808-1875): 17th POTUS and first to be impeached; England's four-time prime minister William Gladstone (1809-1898) shared this birth date
• Pablo Casals (1876-1973): virtuoso cellist; musicians Ray Thomas (67), Marianne Faithfull (62), Yvonne Elliman (57) and Glen Phillips (38) were also born on this date
• Tom Jarriel (74): broadcast journalist
• Jon Voight (70): actor, currently in theaters in Four Christmases and coming to TV as Jason Hodges in 24; also, actors Mary Tyler Moore (72), Ted Danson (61), Patricia Clarkson (49), Jennifer Ehle (39), Kevin Weisman (38), Jude Law (36), Mekhi Phifer (34), Shawn Hatosy (33) and Diego Luna (29)