Tuesday, November 30, 2010

lilliputian \lil-i-PYOO-shuhn\, adjective:

1. Extremely small; tiny; diminutive.

2. Trivial.

Lilliputian pertaining to Lilliput, the fabulous island whose inhabitants were six inches high, coined by Swift in "Gulliver's Travels" (1726).

Hiberdating, verb:

• Someone who ignores all their other friends when they are dating a boyfriend/girlfriend

I haven't seen or heard from Jennifer since she started hiberdating Teddy four months ago.

Trivia

What did Yippie leaders Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin “nominate” for president at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968?

• A hog named Pigasus. The Yippie nickname was an acronym of their radical antiwar political organization, the Youth International Party.

History

• Russo-Finnish War: began; at its conclusion, Finland ceded part of its territory to Russia (1939)
• Lucille Ball: zany redheaded comedienne married Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, who became her costar in I Love Lucy (1940)
• Barbados: gained its independence from Great Britain (1966)

Birthdays

• Sandra Oh (39): Christina Yang on Grey's Anatomy; also, actors Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (92), Robert Guillaume (83), Mandy Patinkin (58), Colin Mochrie (53), Amy Ryan (41), Elisha Cuthbert (28) and Kaley Cuoco (25)
• Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): author of Gulliver's Travels; also, writers Mark Twain (1835-1910), L. M. Montgomery (1874-1942), I.J. Singer (1893-1944) and David Mamet (63)
• Winston Churchill (1874-1965): British PM
• Ridley Scott (73): filmmaker, Blade Runner, Body of Lies; filmmakers Gordon Parks (1912-2006), Terrence Malick (67) and Ben Stiller (45), and CTW founder Joan Ganz Cooney (81) share this birth date
• Dick Clark (81): host of American Bandstand; musicians born on this date include Paul Stookey (73), Roger Glover (65), Rob Grill (66), Matti Caspi (61), Danny Sanderson (60), Billy Idol (55) and Clay Aiken (32)