Thursday, November 26, 2009

echt (ekht) adjective

• Authentic; typical.

EtymologyFrom German echt (genuine, typical)
Trivia
What bird was pictured in Plate No. 1 in John James Audubon’s book The Birds of America?

• The wild turkey.

Today in History

• Kappa Alpha Society: Union College student society became the first college fraternity in the US (1825)
• Alice in Wonderland: pseudonymous author Lewis Carroll gave an illustrated manuscript of the tale to the eponymous Alice as an early Christmas gift (1864)
• King Tut's tomb: the burial site of King Tutankhamen was entered for the first time in over 3,000 years, by archeologist Howard Carter and George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (1922)
• Casablanca: film set in wartime Morocco premiered in New York City (1942)
• Diamant-A: rocket launched France's space program with the Astérix-1 satellite, which blasted off from Hammaguir, Algeria (1965)

Today's Birthdays

• John Harvard (1607-1638): founder of Harvard College
• Norbert Wiener (1894-1964): mathematician and educator
• Eugene Ionesco (1912-1994): playwright of theater of the absurd; plus, writers William Cowper(1731-1800) and Eric Sevareid (1912-1992)
• Charles Schulz (1922-2000): creator of Charlie Brown and Peanuts
• Rich Little (71): impressionist famous for his take-off on every US president from 1960 to 2002
• Tina Turner (70): rock singer, "What's Love Got to Do With It?"; other musicians born on this date include Robert Goulet (1933-2007), John McVie (64), Bernard Allison (44), Natasha Bedingfield (28) and Lil' Fizz (24)
• Peter Facinelli (36): Carlisle Cullen in Twilight

Today's Holiday:

• Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!