Tuesday, December 15, 2009

appellation \ap-uh-LAY-shun\, noun:

1. The word by which a particular person or thing is called and known; name; title; designation.
2. The act of naming.

Appellation comes from Latin appellatio, from appellare, "to name."
pornament noun:

• a pornographic Christmas ornament.

Somehow, Rodney's Christmas tree, decked out in garish purple lights and Mrs. Santa pornaments, failed to convey the solemnity and dignity of this holiest of days.

Trivia
Which two bodies of water are connected by the Straits of Mackinac?

• Lakes Huron and Michigan, in Michigan.

Today in History

• Bill of Rights: freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly and more became United States law when the states ratified Amendments I-X of the US Constitution (1791)
• Sitting Bull: Lakota Sioux military and spiritual leader who defeated Gen. Custer at Little Bighorn was killed (1890)
• Adolf Eichmann: an Israeli court sentenced to death the former Nazi official who had zealously supported the use of gas chambers to exterminate the Jews in WWII (1961)
• Romanian Revolution: popular uprising began, leading to the downfall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (1989)

Today's Birthdays

• Nero (37-68): emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned"
• Joseph Moses Levy (1812-1888): founder of London's Daily Telegraph; journalist Franklin Sanborn (1831-1917) shared this birth date
• Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923): designer of the eponymous tower in Paris
• Tim Conway (76): actor/comedian, described as the "world's greatest second banana"; also, actors Don Johnson (60), Helen Slater (46), Molly Price (43) and Adam Brody (30)
• Nick Buoniconti (69): NFL hall-of-famer; Chariots of Fire gold medalist Harold Abrahams (1899-1978) shared this birth date
• Dave Clark (67): singer, The Dave Clark Five; singer Cindy Birdsong (70) of The Supremes also celebrates her birthday today