Wednesday, June 16, 2010

festoon \fe-STOON\, verb:

1. To adorn with hanging chains or strands of any material.

2. Dentistry. To reproduce natural gum patterns around the teeth or a denture.

noun:

1. A string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points.

2. A decorative representation of this, as in architectural work or on pottery.

3. A fabric suspended, draped, and bound at intervals to form graceful loops or scalloped folds.

4. Dentistry. The garlandlike area of the gums surrounding the necks of the teeth.

A festoon is "a string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points." Modern usage has expanded the definition of the verb form to mean "to fill or cover", but dictionaries tend to maintain the narrower scope. Festoon derives from the Italian feston, "decoration for a feast."

Texter's Thumb

• When an individual suffers repetitive strain injury (RSI) in the first digit of the hand (thumb) from excessive text messaging.

Bill: 'Dude I wasn't ignoring you'

Bob: 'How do you explain that then'

Bill: 'My texter's thumb preventing me from contacting you!'

Trivia

Which U.S. president was lassoed by a rodeo stuntman while reviewing his inaugural parade?

• Texas-born Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1953. It was a gag that Eisenhower had okayed in advance. Rodeo stuntman Owen Harlan Mickel—known professionally as Montie Montana—appeared in a number of John Wayne films, including The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

History

• Battle of Stoke: marked the tail end of the Wars of the Roses (1487)
• House Divided speech: Abraham Lincoln, as a senatorial candidate, warned that the Union must become either all-slave or all-free (1858)
• Bloomsday: James Joyce's Ulysses follows Leopold Bloom through this one day of his life (1904)
• New Deal: FDR opened his recovery program, signing bank, rail and industry bills and initiating farm aid (1933)
• Valentina Tereshkova: Soviet cosmonaut became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6 (1963)

Birthday

• Geronimo (1829-1909): Apache leader
• Barbara McClintock (1902-1992): Nobel Prize winner for discoveries about genetic mobility; also, scientists Julius Plucker (1801-1868), Edward Davy (1806-1885) and Georg Wittig (1897-1987)
• Irving Penn (1917-2009): prolific fashion photographer
• Erich Segal (1937-2010): author, Love Story; writers John Howard Griffin (1920-1980) and Joyce Carol Oates (72) share this birth date
• Laurie Metcalf (55): Emmy Award-winner for Roseanne; other actors born on this date include Stan Laurel (1890-1965), Joan Van Ark (67), Eddie Cibrian (37) and Missy Peregrym (28)
• Phil Mickelson (40): pro golfer; boxer Roberto Duran (59) shares this birth date
• Tupac Shakur (1971-1996): rapper, 2Pacalypse Now