Saturday, January 9, 2010

nebbish \NEB-ish\, noun:

• A weak-willed, timid, or ineffectual person.

Nebbish is from Yiddish nebekh, "poor, unfortunate," of Slavic origin.

Today in History

• daguerreotype: L. J. M. Daguerre announced the first practical photographic process to the French Academy of Sciences (1839)
• autogiro: aeronautical engineer Juan de la Cierva made the first successful flight in the helicopter-like aircraft he had invented, in Madrid (1923)
• Martyr's Day of Panama: the tearing of a Panamanian flag during protests regarding US sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone led to several days of deadly fighting (1964)

Today's Birthdays

• Joseph Strauss (1870-1938): engineer who designed the Golden Gate Bridge
• Richard Nixon (1913-1994): 37th POTUS, who was forced to resign because of the Watergate scandal
• Judith Krantz (82): pop novelist; also, authors Hayyim Nahman Bialik (1873-1934), Giovanni Papini (1881-1956), Karel Čapek (1890-1938), Richard Halliburton (1900-1939) and Simone de Beauvoir(1908-1986)
• Bart Starr (76): NFL hall-of-famer; plus, sports broadcaster Dick Enberg (75)
• Joan Baez (69): folk rock singer; also, singers Crystal Gayle (59), Steve Harwell and Dave Matthews (both 43) and A.J. Mclean (32)
• Jimmy Page (66): lead guitarist, Led Zeppelin; and, guitarists Eric Erlandson (47) and Carl Bell (43)
• J.K. Simmons (55): big- and small-screen actor, Law and Order, Juno; also, actors Lee Van Cleef (1925-1989), Bob Denver (1935-2005), Susannah York (68), and Joely Richardson (45)