Tuesday, October 27, 2009

punctilious \puhnk-TIL-ee-uhs\ , adjective:

• Strictly attentive to the details of form in action or conduct; precise; exact in the smallest particulars..

Origin: Punctilious derives from Late Latin punctillum, "a little point," from Latin punctum, "a point," from pungere, "to prick."

cocktail weenie

• A person obsessed with the minutiae of bartending practices and traditions, especially regarding the preparation of mixed drinks.

"Their cold gin flip was fairly authentic, but it really should be made with cubed ice, not crushed."

"You are such a cocktail weenie."
Trivia

What were the names of the grandchildren mentioned in the hit Beatles song “When I’m Sixty-Four”? Hint: There are three of them.

• Vera, Chuck, and Dave.

Today in History

• Philadelphia: the City of Brotherly Love was founded (1682)
• Federalist Papers: the first of a series of essays was published, calling for the ratification of the US Constitution; the essays were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madisonand John Jay (1787)
• nylon: chemical company DuPont announced the name of its new synthetic fiber (1938)
• Wall Street crash: trading was halted for a cooling-off period after the Dow fell more than 500 points (1997)

Today's Birthdays

• Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919): 26th POTUS; he and first wife, Alice Lee, were married on this date in 1880
• Dylan Thomas (1914-1953): playwright and poet; plus, writers Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), Maxine Hong Kingston (69) and Fran Lebowitz (59)
• John Cleese (70): actor who played Basil Fawlty, Nearly Headless Nick and Q; also, actors Nanette Fabray (89), Ruby Dee (85) and Peter Firth and Robert Picardo (both 56)
• Ivan Reitman (63): director/producer, Ghostbusters; plus, director/producer Roberto Benigni(57)
• Scott Weiland (42): rock singer and songwriter, Velvet Revolver; also, musicians Niccoló Paganini (1782-1840), Lee Greenwood (67), Garry Tallent (60), K.K. Downing (58), Simon LeBon (51) and Kelly Osbourne (25)