Friday, September 11, 2009

puissant \PWISS-uhnt; PYOO-uh-suhnt; pyoo-ISS-uhnt\ , adjective:

• Powerful; strong; mighty; as, a puissant prince or empire.

Origin: Puissant is from Old French puissant, "powerful," ultimately from (assumed) Vulgar Latin potere, alteration of Latin posse, "to be able." The noun form is puissance.

half-your-age-plus-seven

• The rule to define the youngest that a romantic interest can be before the relationship is indecent.

26-year-old Barbara waited patiently until Jack turned 20, fulfilling the half-your-age-plus-seven rule, before pursuing him romantically.

Trivia
What was poet Robert Browning’s pet nickname for his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning?

• My little Portuguese. The endearment, inspired by her dark complexion, is widely believed to be the reason she called her love poems to her husband Sonnets from the Portuguese.

Today in History:

• World Wide Fund for Nature: conservation and environmental group was formed, in Switzerland (1961)
• Scottish Parliament: a referendum of the Scottish electorate approved a separate parliament, breaking from England after 290 years of union (1997)
• 9/11 attacks: suicide hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing

Today's Birthdays:

• D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930): author of Lady Chatterly's Lover; plus, writers O. Henry (1862-1910) and Jessica Mitford (1917-1996)
• Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989): Philippine president forced into exile after executing opposition leader Benigno Aquino
• Tom Landry (1924-2000): football player and coach of the Dallas Cowboys; University of Alabama coach Paul (Bear) Bryant (1913-1983) shares this birth date
• Robert Crippen (72): space shuttle astronaut
• Mickey Hart (66): drummer, Grateful Dead; also, musicians Tommy Shaw (56), Moby (44), Harry Connick, Jr. (42) and Ludacris and Jon Buckland (both 32)
• Scott Patterson (51): Luke on Gilmore Girls; also, actors Betsy Drake (86), Earl Holliman (81), Amy Madigan (59), Roxann Dawson (51), Virginia Madsen (48), Kristy McNichol (47), Ryan Slattery (27) and Tyler Hoechlin (22)