Tuesday, August 18, 2009

propitious \pruh-PISH-uhs\, adjective:

1. Presenting favorable circumstances or conditions.
2. Favorably inclined; gracious; benevolent.

Propitious derives from Latin propitius, "favorable."

good hang

• someone who is fun to hang out with

yo dude what do you think of dustin?
o yeah hes a good hang
Trivia
What nursery rhyme characters “sailed off in a wooden shoe . . . into a sea of dew”?

• Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, in the poem of the same name by Eugene Field.

Today in History:

• Phobos: Martian moon named for the Greek god of fear was discovered by Asaph Hall (1877)
• 19th Amendment: was ratified when Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it; this gave US women the right to vote (1920)
• Lolita: controversial Vladimir Nabokov novel, about a middle-aged man who becomes obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, was published (1955)

Today's Birthdays:

• Virginia Dare (1587-?): first child born to English parents on American soil; she disappeared along with entire colony from Roanoke Island, North Carolina
• Antonio Salieri (1750-1825): composer and music teacher of students such as Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt
• Roman Polanski (76): Oscar-winning director, The Pianist and child rapist hiding out from his US convictions in France, possible zombie
• Patrick Swayze (57): dancer and actor who starred in Dirty Dancing and Ghost; actors Robert Redford (72), Martin Mull (65), Denis Leary (52), Madeleine Stowe (51), Craig Bierko (45), and Christian Slater and Edward Norton (both 40) were also born on this date
• Bob Woodruff (48): broadcast journalist