Tuesday, June 9, 2009

paragon \PAIR-uh-gon; -guhn\, noun:

• A model of excellence or perfection; as, "a paragon of beauty; a paragon of eloquence."

Paragon comes from Middle French, from Old Italian paragone, literally, "touchstone," from paragonare, "to test on a touchstone," from Greek parakonan, "to rub against, to sharpen," from para-, "beside" + akone, "a whetstone."
DWT

• Driving While Texting. Operating a motor vehicle while texting friends on your cell.

"Gina almost killed us driving over here, she was DWT. I finally grabbed the phone out of her hand before we wrecked."
Trivia
What foreign language was created by American linguist Marc Okrand?

• Klingon, the language of the ridge-faced alien warriors featured in the Star Trek movies and TV series.

Today in History:

• President and Fellows of Harvard College: aka, the Harvard Corporation, was established; it is the oldest corporation in the continent of America (1650)
• Hong Kong: was signed over to the British for 99 years (1898)
• Alice Huyler Ramsey: 22-year-old housewife set out, mapless, on a road trip that made her the first woman to drive across the US — from Manhattan to San Francisco; the trip took 59 days (1909)
• Donald Duck: debuted in The Wise Little Hen; for more than 50 years, his voice was provided by Clarence "Ducky" Nash (1934)
• Bhumibol Adulyadej: became king of Thailand; in a largely ceremonial role, he is currently the world's longest-reigning head of state (1946)
• Millennium Bridge: pedestrian suspension bridge over the River Thames opened; found to be wobbly, it closed for repairs almost immediately (2000)

Today's Birthdays:

• Peter the Great (1672-1725): Russian czar who developed imperial Russia
• Bertha Suttner (1843-1914): pacifist author and the first woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize
• Les Paul (94): guitarist and inventor of the solid-body electric guitar; also, musicians Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), Cole Porter (1891-1964) and Wayman Tisdale (45)
• Aaron Sorkin (48): writer/producer, The West Wing, Charlie Wilson's War; writers S. N. Behrman (1893-1973) and Patricia Cornwell (53) share this birth date
• Johnny Depp (46): Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean; actors Gloria Reuben (45), Michaela Conlin (31) and Natalie Portman (28) were also born on this date