Monday, May 18, 2009

pernicious \pur-NISH-us\, adjective:

• Highly injurious; deadly; destructive; exceedingly harmful.

Pernicious comes from Latin perniciosus, "destructive, ruinous," from pernicies, "destruction, disaster, ruin," from per-, "through, thoroughly" + nex, nec-, "violent death."

Douchebaguette

• A female douchebag. A woman who exhibits characteristics of a douchebag.

Just look at her pompous gait... what a douchebaguette!
Trivia

Ads for what product popularized the phrase “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride”?

• Listerine mouthwash, in a highly successful, long-running ad campaign in the 1920s and 1930s.

Today in History:

• Napoleon Bonaparte: crowned himself emperor (1804)
• Plessy v. Ferguson: the concept of separate but equal racial segregation in public places was affirmed by the US Supreme Court (1896)
• Mount St. Helens eruption: Mount St. Helens, a stratovolcanic peak in Washington State, erupted, shooting a plume of gases 63,000 feet high and killing more than 50 people (1980)
• Les Misérables: closed after 16 years on Broadway (2003)

Today's Birthdays:

• Rick Wakeman (60): greatest rock keyboardist of all time, Yes.
• Omar Khayyam (1048-1131): poet/scientist; mathematician/philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was also born on this date
• Walter Gropius (1883-1969): architect who helped found the Bauhaus school
• Frank Capra (1897-1991): director of It's a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; plus, director Richard Brooks (1912-1992)
• John Paul II (1920-2005): 264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church
• Reggie Jackson (63): MLB hall-of-famer; baseball MVP Brooks Robinson (72) was also born on this date
• Tina Fey (39): writer/actor/comedian, Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock; also, actors Bill Macy (87), Pernell Roberts (81), Robert Morse (78), Dwayne Hickman (75), Chow Yun-Fat (54) and Matt Long (29)