Tuesday, June 16, 2009

salutary \SAL-yuh-ter-ee\, adjective:

1. Producing or contributing to a beneficial effect; beneficial; advantageous.
2. Wholesome; healthful; promoting health.

Salutary derives from Latin salutaris, from salus, salut-, "health."

air quote

• In conversation, the dual flexing of the index and middle finger of both hands, to signify the presence of scare quotes. Used ad nauseam by 'pretentious' and ostensibly 'intelligent' university students, to advertise their 'superior morals' and 'erudition'.

Using air quotes in this example is, like, so 'post-modern'.

Trivia

At the Olympic Games, what countries are represented by the abbreviations BAR, MAR, and PAR?

• Barbados, Morocco, and Paraguay, respectively.

Today in History:

• Battle of Stoke: marked the tail end of the Wars of the Roses (1487)
• House Divided speech: Abraham Lincoln, as a senatorial candidate, warned that the Union must become either all-slave or all-free (1858)
• Valentina Tereshkova: Soviet cosmonaut became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6 (1963)

Today's Birthdays:

• Geronimo (1829-1909): Apache leader
• Barbara McClintock (1902-1992): Nobel Prize winner for discoveries about genetic mobility; also, scientists Julius Plucker (1801-1868), Edward Davy (1806-1885) and Georg Wittig (1897-1987)
• Irving Penn (92): prolific fashion photographer
• Erich Segal (72): author, Love Story; writer Joyce Carol Oates (71) shares this birth date
• Laurie Metcalf (54): Emmy Award-winner for Roseanne; other actors born on this date include Stan Laurel (1890-1965), Joan Van Ark (66), Eddie Cibrian (36) and Missy Peregrym (27)
• Phil Mickelson (39): pro golfer; boxer Roberto Duran (58) shares this birth date
• Tupac Shakur (1971-1996): rapper, 2Pacalypse Now