Friday, June 25, 2010

cakewalk \KEYK-wawk\, noun:

1. Something easily accomplished.

2. A 19th-century African-American tradition in which walkers performing the most accomplished or amusing steps won cakes as prizes.

3. The music that accompanies such a competition.

The origin of cakewalk lies in the 19th century African-American tradition where a cake was given as a prize for the fanciest steps in a procession. The phrases "piece of cake" and "take the cake" may derive from the cakewalk.

wallet threat

• is the reluctant act of pulling ones wallet out as a sign of willingness to pay for a meal you assumed was a treat.

"Mike, put that thing away, dinner is on me tonight."

"But it's so expensive."

"Dude, seriously, chill out with the wallet threat.

Trivia

What was the “21 tee-salute” offered at the 2000 U.S. Open in Pebble Beach, California?

• Twenty-one golfers lined up and simultaneously hit balls from the 18th fairway into the Pacific Ocean, in memory of defending champion Payne Stewart, who had died months earlier in an airplane accident.

History

• Battle of Little Bighorn: Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his men were killed by Indians in what became known as "Custer's Last Stand" (1876)
• Douglas Hyde: became the first president of Ireland (1938)
• Korean War: broke out when the communist North invaded the South (1950)
• Yugoslavia: former republics Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence (1991)
• Mir space station: was struck by an unmanned Progress spacecraft (1997)
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Teheran mayor was elected president of Iran (2005)

Birthdays

• George Abbott (1887-1995): writer/director who won 40 Tonys and a Pulitzer; also, filmmakers Sidney Lumet (86), Gary David Goldberg (66) and Michael Lembeck (62)

• Eric Carle (81): author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar; plus, writers Benito Lynch (1885-1951) and Aimé Césaire (1913-2008)
• Ricky Gervais (49): award-winning writer/actor/standup comedian, The Office, Extras: also, actors June Lockhart (85), Jimmie Walker (63), Michael Sabatino (55), Erica Gimpel (46), Angela Kinsey (39), Linda Cardellini (35) and Busy Philipps (31)
• George Michael (47): pop singer; singers Carly Simon (65), David Paich (56), Richie Rich (43), Candyman (42) and Mike Kroeger (38) share this birth date
• Carlos Delgado (38): Mets first-baseman; sports stars Willis Reed (68), Dikembe Mutombo (44) and Aramis Ramirez (32) were also born today