Monday, February 21, 2011

inkhorn \INK-horn\, adjective:

• Affectedly or ostentatiously learned; pedantic.

noun:

• A small bottle of horn or other material formerly used for holding ink

Inkhorn derives from the name for the container formerly used (beginning in the 14th century) for holding ink, originally made from a real horn. Hence it came to refer to words that were being used by learned writers and scholars but which were unknown or rare in ordinary speech.

president please

• Reaction of something that is unbelievable. Usually used as a more politically correct substitute of n***a please.

"Yo dawg, i had success with this fine ass asian dime last night. She was real receptive with my game that I spat."

"President please"

Trivia

Which U.S. president’s Secret Service code name was General?

• Harry S Truman’s. He was the first president assigned a code name by the Secret Service. His successor in the White House, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the only general elected president in the 20th century, was known by the code name Providence.

History

• The Communist Manifesto: was published by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848)
• Battle of Verdun: WWI's longest and one of its bloodiest battles began (1916)
• DNA: scientists Watson and Crick discovered the elusive double helix (1953)
• peace symbol: was designed by Gerald Holtom as a nuclear disarmament logo; it combines the letters "n" and "d" in the flag semaphore alphabet (1958)
• Steve Fossett: became the first to cross the Pacific in a balloon upon traveling from South Korea to Canada; 12 years later, he disappeared while flying a plane in Nevada and later was declared dead (1995)

Birthdays

• Anais Nin (1903-1977): writer best known for her diaries and erotica; author W.H. Auden (1907-1973) and Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) were also born on this date
• Robert Mugabe (87): first elected black prime minister and president of Zimbabwe
• Hubert de Givenchy (84): designer of classically elegant fashions
• Jennifer Love Hewitt (32): TV and film actor, Ghost Whisperer; also, actors Rue McClanahan (1934-2010), Richard Beymer (73), Peter McEnery (71), Tyne Daly, Anthony Daniels and Alan Rickman (all 65), Christine Ebersole and William Petersen (both 58), Kelsey Grammer (56), Jack Coleman (53), William Baldwin (48), Ellen Page and Ashley Greene (both 24) and Corbin Bleu (22)
• Charlotte Church (25): opera-pop singer, Voice of an Angel; plus, musicians Andrés Segovia (1893-1987), Nina Simone (1933-2003) and Mary Chapin Carpenter (53)