Wednesday, May 25, 2011

sojourn \SOH-juhrn; so-JURN\, intransitive verb:

1. To stay as a temporary resident; to dwell for a time.

noun:

• 1. A temporary stay.

Sojourn comes from Old French sojorner, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin subdiurnare, from Latin sub-, "under, a little over" + Late Latin diurnus, "lasting for a day," from Latin dies, "day."

Thought wad

• a sudden burst and outpouring of ideas, thoughts, creativeness, or conversation topics, often followed by a severe lack thereof.

"Why'd you dump him?"

"He was boring. He blew his whole thought wad on our first date, then had nothing."

"Lame."

Trivia

What rocker wrote an autobiographical song called “Bruce.” about being mistaken for Bruce Springsteen?

• Aussie Rick Springfield, in 1985.

Holiday

• Independence Day (Jordan)
• Towel Day: (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Today's History

• Constitutional Convention: convened in Philadelphia; George Washington presided (1787)
• Monkey Trial: John T. Scopes was indicted in Tennessee for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution (1925)
• Babe Ruth: hit his 714th home run, setting a record that held until 1974, when Hank Aaron broke it (1935)
• track and field: at the Big Ten Track and Field Championships, Jesse Owens tied one world record and broke three others, all within 45 minutes (1935)
• OAU: was founded at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with the goals of encouraging African unity, promoting development and fighting neocolonialism (1963)
• Hands Across America: more than five million people joined hands in a line that stretched for 4,000 mi/6,400 km from New York City to Long Beach, CA; participants raised money for the fight against hunger and homelessness (1986)
• Erik Weihenmayer: became the first blind man to climb Mt. Everest (2001)

Today's Birthdays

• Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882): poet, founder of transcendentalism; plus, writers Robert Ludlum (1927-2001), Raymond Carver (1938-1988) and Jamaica Kincaid (62)
• Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972): aerospace engineer who developed the helicopter
• Anne Heche (42): actor, Men in Trees; also, entertainers Ian McKellen (72), Dixie Carter (1939-2010), Frank Oz (67), Patti D'Arbanville (60), Connie Sellecca (56), Mike Myers (48), Molly Sims (38) and Ethan Suplee and Cillian Murphy (both 35)
• Lauryn Hill (36): R&B singer; and, musicians Hal David (90), Beverly Sills (1929-2007), Tom T. Hall (75), Leslie Uggams and Jessi Colter (both 68)

Read more: http://www.answers.com/