Tuesday, May 18, 2010

tipple \TIP-uhl\, verb:

1. To drink intoxicating liquor, esp. habitually or to some excess.
2. To drink (intoxicating liquor), esp. repeatedly, in small quantities.

noun:

1. Intoxicating liquor.
2. A device that tilts or overturns a freight car to dump its contents.

Tipple is a back formation from the Middle English tipeler, "to tap." Tipsy is also related.
Drunken Immunity

• Complete disregard on the part of a friend, girlfriend or ex-girlfriend for any minor stupid thing you said or did while drunk (i.e. drunk texting, drunk calling, drunken Facebook status updates, drunken confession, ETC).

Ex-girlfriend: "We broke up two days ago. Why did you call me at 3 A.M. for a booty-call?"
You: "I plead drunken immunity."
Trivia
How many U.S. states are officially known as commonwealths?

• Four—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

History

• Montreal: the French founded the Quebec city as Ville Marie de Montréal (1642)
• Napoleon Bonaparte: crowned himself emperor (1804)
• Plessy v. Ferguson: the concept of separate but equal racial segregation in public places was affirmed by the US Supreme Court (1896)
• Mount St. Helens eruption: Mount St. Helens, a stratovolcanic peak in Washington State, erupted, shooting a plume of gases 63,000 feet high and killing more than 50 people (1980)
• Les Misérables: closed after 16 years on Broadway (2003)

Birthdays

• Rick Wakeman (61): greatest rock keyboardist of all time, Yes.
• Omar Khayyam (1048-1131): poet/scientist; mathematician/philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was also born on this date
• Walter Gropius (1883-1969): architect who helped found the Bauhaus school
• Frank Capra (1897-1991): director of It's a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; plus, director Richard Brooks (1912-1992)
• John Paul II (1920-2005): 264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church

• Reggie Jackson (64): MLB hall-of-famer; baseball MVP Brooks Robinson (73) was also born on this date
• Chow Yun-Fat (55): award-winning actor, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; also, actors Bill Macy (88), Pernell Roberts (1930-2010), Robert Morse (79), Dwayne Hickman (76), Matt Long (30), and Tina Fey (40)