Wednesday, August 31, 2011

metaphrastic \met-uh-FRAST-ik\, adjective:

• Having the quality of a literary work that has been translated or changed from one form to another, as prose into verse.

Metaphrastic comes into English from the medieval Greek metaphrastes, "one who translates."

Eater's Remorse

• The deep feeling of regret one feels after eating a large some of food, eating something unhealthy, or just eating in general.

I always suffer eater's remorse after thanksgiving, thinking of the pounds I'll have gained when I return to school.

Trivia

How did country music superstar Conway Twitty—who was named Harold Lloyd Jenkins at birth—come up with his quirky stage name?

• He combined the names of two cities—Conway, Arkansas, and Twitty, Texas.

History

• Malaya: became independent of the United Kingdom (1957); a few years later this federation of states became Malaysia
• Trinidad and Tobago: island nation of the southern Caribbean, birthplace of limbo, became independent of the United Kingdom (1962)
• Jack the Ripper: first victim was found with her throat cut in London's East End (1888)
• Princess Diana: was killed in a car crash along with her companion, Dodi Fayed, and her driver as they attempted to evade paparazzi (1997)
• Baghdad bridge stampede: 1,000 pilgrims were killed when panic over a supposed suicide bomber caused a crush of people on the Al-Aaimmah bridge over the Tigris River (2005)

Birthdays

• William Saroyan (1908-1981): novelist/playwright, The Time of Your Life; other writers born on this date are DuBose Heyward (1885-1940), Dore Schary (1905-1980), William Shawn (1907-1992), Daniel Schorr (95) and Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986)
• Frank Robinson (76): baseball hall-of-famer; NFL coach Tom Coughlin (65) also has a birthday today
• Itzhak Perlman (66): world-class violinist and promoter of disabled rights; musician Van Morrison (66) shares this birth date
• Richard Gere (62): recently on the screen in Nights in Rodanthe and Brooklyn's Finest; also, actors Warren Berlinger (74), Deborah Gibson (41), Chris Tucker (39) and Sara Ramirez (36)
• Queen Rania (41): Jordan's queen, wife of Abdullah II

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