Thursday, April 30, 2009

mellifluous \muh-LIF-loo-us\, adjective:

• Flowing as with honey; smooth; flowing sweetly or smoothly; as, a mellifluous voice.

Mellifluous comes from Latin mellifluus, from mel.
Aisle Salmon

• The act of moving in the opposite direction of everyone else using the aisle. While they can be spotted in any type of aisle, they are frequently seen on airlines during loading and deplaning.

Did you see the 'aisle salmon' trying to work his way back five rows to get a roller bag out of the overhead while everyone was trying to get off the plane?

Trivia
What were the names of the ghosts in the original Pac-Man video game?

• Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde.

Today in History:

• George Washington: took the oath of office to become the first POTUS (1789)
• Louisiana Purchase: France agreed to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States for $15 million, thereby doubling the size of the US (1803); eight years later on the same date, Louisiana became the 18th state
• Vietnam War: officially ended when Saigon (now called Ho Chi Minh City) fell and South Vietnam surrendered (1975)

Today's Birthdays:

• Johann Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855): one of world's greatest mathematicians, proved the fundamental theorem of algebra
• Cloris Leachman (83): the actress with the most prime-time Emmy Awards; other actors born today include Jill Clayburgh (65), Perry King (61), Adrian Pasdar (44) and Kirsten Dunst (27)
• Willie Nelson (76): "outlaw country" singer/songwriter
• Stephen Harper (50): Canadian prime minister; another world leader born on this date was Mary II (1662-1694)
• Isiah Thomas (48): former Detroit Pistons point guard