Thursday, September 10, 2009

noisome \NOY-sum\, adjective:

1. Noxious; harmful; unwholesome.
2. Offensive to the smell or other senses; disgusting.

Noisome is from Middle English noysome, from noy, "harm," short for anoy, from Old French, from anoier, "to annoy."
You lie!

• The classiest way to respond to anyone you disagree with.

Obama: There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This too is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

Joe Wilson: You lie!

Trivia
In how many films did Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dance together?

• Two—in Ziegfeld Follies (1946) and That’s Entertainment, Part II (1976).

Today in History:

• "We have met the enemy, and they are ours": message sent by Oliver Hazard Perry during the War of 1812 announcing US victory in the Battle of Lake Erie (1813)
• Elias Howe: American inventor received a patent for the sewing machine (1846)
• guillotine: was used for the last time as a tool of execution in France on Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of torturing and murdering his ex-girlfriend (1977)
• Switzerland: the famously neutral country joined the UN, becoming its 190th member (2002)

Today's Birthdays:

• Roger Maris (1934-1985): baseball great who broke Babe Ruth's single-season home run record; other athletes born today include Arnold Palmer (80), Bob Lanier (61), Randy Johnson (46) and Gustavo Kuerten (33)
• Roy Ayers (69): jazz vibraphonist; some other musicians with this birth date include Danny Hutton (67), Jose Feliciano (64), Joe Perry and Rosie Flores (both 59), David Lowery (49) and Big Daddy Kane (41)
• Chris Columbus (51): filmmaker, Home Alone and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; director Guy Ritchie (41) was also born on this date
• Ryan Phillippe (35): actor, Crash, Breach; also, actors Greg Mullavey (70), Judy Geeson (61), Amy Irving (56) and Kate Burton (52)