Monday, November 30, 2009

couture \koo-TOOR\, noun:

1. The business of designing, making, and selling highly fashionable, usually custom-made clothing for women.
2. Dressmakers and fashion designers considered as a group.
3. The high-fashion clothing created by designers.

adjective:

1. Created or produced by a fashion designer.
2. Being, having, or suggesting the style, quality, etc., of a fashion designer; very fashionable.

Couture is from French meaning sewing, from Old French cousture, from Vulgar Latin cōnsūtūra, from Latin cōnsuere, cōnsūt-, to sew together.

holiday pounds

• The extra little bit of weight you put on during a period of being on holiday or vacation.

Man, when I get back to work I'll have to start going to the gym again- I've put on some serious holiday pounds

Trivia

What professional football team got its name from the color of used jerseys purchased from a local college?

• The Arizona Cardinals. The team, which was founded in Chicago in 1898, adopted the Cardinals name in 1901 after its owner bought faded maroon uniforms from the University of Chicago. The name stuck even after team moves, first to St. Louis and then to Phoenix.

Today in History

• Russo-Finnish War: began; at its conclusion, Finland ceded part of its territory to Russia (1939)
• Lucille Ball: zany redheaded actress married Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, who became her costar in I Love Lucy (1940)
• Hodges meteorite: in the only known case of an extraterrestrial object hitting a human being, a woman in Sylacauga, Alabama was struck by a rock from space that crashed through her roof as she napped on her couch (1954)
• Barbados: West Indies island nation gained its independence from the UK (1966)
• Thriller: Michael Jackson's sixth album was released; it remains the best-selling album of all time (1982)

Today's Birthdays

• Winston Churchill (1874-1965): formidable British PM
• Dick Clark (80): host of American Bandstand; musicians born on this date include Allan Sherman (1924-1973), Roger Glover (64), Rob Grill (65), Matti Caspi (60), Danny Sanderson (59), Billy Idol (54) and Clay Aiken (31)
• Ridley Scott (72): filmmaker, Blade Runner, Body of Lies; also, filmmakers Terrence Malick(66) and Ben Stiller (44)
• David Mamet (62): playwright, Pulitzer Prize-winner for Glengarry Glen Ross; plus, writers Mark Twain (1835-1910), L. M. Montgomery (1874-1942), I.J. Singer (1893-1944), Donald Ogden Stewart (1894-1980) and Gordon Parks (1912-2006)
• Sandra Oh (38): Christina Yang on Grey's Anatomy; also, actors Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (91),Robert Guillaume (82), Mandy Patinkin (57), Colin Mochrie (52), Elisha Cuthbert (27) and Kaley Cuoco (24)