Sunday, July 10, 2011

skylark \SKAHY-lahrk\, verb:

1. To frolic; sport.

noun:

1. A brown-speckled European lark, Alauda arvensis, famed for its melodious song.

Skylark as a verb is nautical in origin, recorded from 1809, in reference to "wanton play about the rigging, and tops."
Whack it Off

• An appropriate response when conversing with sexually frustrated individuals who have no future mating prospects. Similar to "Walk it off."

James: "Dayum! I'm horny and no girl will sleep with me. Not even Gretta, the unibrow girl."
Morty: "Whack it off, James... Just whack it off."
biological footprint

• The amount of offspring you bring into this world.

Dude, keep it wrapped, your biological footprint is already too big.
Trivia
In the world of finance, what’s a Goldilocks economy?

• One that is not too hot, not too cold, but just right. The reference, of course, is to the perfect bowl of porridge Goldilocks eats in the children’s fairy tale. The term was used to describe the U.S. economy in the mid to late 1990s.

History

• Monkey Trial: proceedings began against John Scopes, who broke Tennessee state law by teaching evolution to high school students (1925)
• Meher Baba: Indian spiritual master began a silence "to save mankind from monumental ignorance," which ended up lasting 44 years till his death (1925)
• Battle of Britain: German began to attack Britain by air (1940)
• Telstar: the first communications satellite was launched into orbit (1962)
• Coca-Cola Classic: the Coca-Cola Co. announced it would bring back its original formula after customers reacted negatively to New Coke (1985)

Birthdays

• Camille Pissarro (1830-1903): Impressionist painter
• Marcel Proust (1871-1922): novelist, Remembrance of Things Past; other authors born on this date include Robert Chambers (1802-1871), Jorge Icaza (1906-1978), Saul Bellow (1915-2005) and Alice Munro (80)
• Carl Orff (1895-1982): composer of Carmina Burana; composers Jerry Herman (79?) and Arlo Guthrie (64) were also born on this date
• Joe Shuster (1914-1992): co-creator of Superman
• Jake LaMotta (90): boxing great portrayed by Robert De Niro in Raging Bull; tennis champ Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) was also born on this date
• Jessica Simpson (31): singer/actress, Dukes of Hazzard; also, actor Adrian Grenier (35)