Tuesday, December 22, 2009

collude \kuh-LOOD\, intransitive verb:

• To act in concert; to conspire; to plot.

Collude derives from Latin colludere, from con-, "together" + ludere, "to play."
santaclaustrophobia

• fear of too many santa clauses

He felt a bout of santaclaustrophobia coming upon him as the holiday season approached.
Trivia

What rock and roll group auditioned for Decca Records in London in 1962 on the same day as the Beatles—and won the contract the Fab Four were seeking?

• Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.

Today in History

• Embargo Act: the US banned trade with foreign countries in response to interference with neutral American ships by France and Britain, which were at war with each other (1807)
• Dreyfus Affair: French Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of treason in a trial that raised cries of anti-Semitism; he was later exonerated (1894)
• United States Golf Association: was founded to oversee the rules of golf and administer the game's championships (1894)
• Colo: the first gorilla bred in captivity was born in the Columbus Zoo; she is now a great-great-grandmother (1956)
• shoe bomb: American Airlines passenger Richard Reid attempted to blow up a plane with a plastic explosive hidden in his shoes; he is serving a life sentence for that plot (2001)

Today's Birthdays

• James Oglethorpe (1696-1785): founder of the colony of Georgia
• Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924): composer of La Bohème and Madame Butterfly
• Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944): writer who founded the Futuristic artistic movement; plus, poet Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)
• Lady Bird Johnson (1913-2007): wife of President Lyndon Johnson
• Diane Sawyer (64): TV journalist, former co-host of Good Morning America who took over as anchor of ABC World News
• Robin Gibb (60): singer/songwriter, the Bee Gees; also, singer Jordin Sparks (20)
• Ralph Fiennes (47): Oscar-winning actor, Schindler's List, The English Patient; other actors born on this date include Peggy Ashcroft (1907-1991), Barbara Billingsley (95), Hector Elizondo (73), Lauralee Bell (41) and Chris Carmack (29)