Sunday, October 23, 2011

ferly \FER-lee\, noun:

1. Something unusual, strange, or causing wonder or terror.

2. Astonishment; wonder.

adjective:

• 1. Unexpected; strange; unusual.

Ferly is derived from Old English fǣrlīc meaning fǣr (fear) and -līc (-ly). It was related to the German gefährlich meaning dangerous.

Groutfiti

• A form of graffiti. It involves writing in the tiny space of grout in between tiles in public toilets. The phrases always are made up of some pun using the word grout. Other examples include movie titles, like "The grout, the bad, and the ugly" or simple words, like "groutrageous." This type of graffiti has no deep meaning, but it is a great example of intellectual fun. It makes sense that it exists primarily around Universities where people are intelligent, yet very young and therefore still trying to amuse themselves and others by doing things like writing on walls. It all starts when one person makes one of these grout puns and it is seen by another student who, while urinating, who then thinks of another pun and writes it on another section of grout. Soon the "groutfiti" spreads and people spontaneously think of puns while pissing.

"Threre stikes and you're grout"

"The Grout Gatsby"

"The Grout Barrier Reef"

"The Groutain of Youth"

Trivia

Which two automakers besides Cadillac are mentioned in Bruce Springsteen’s song Pink Cadillac?

• Honda and Subaru.

History

• Brutus: committed suicide after losing to Mark Anthony and Octavian in the Second Battle of Philippi, a war fought to avenge the assassination of Julius Caesar (42 BCE)
• War of Jenkins' Ear: British PM Robert Walpole reluctantly declared war on Spain after a ship's captain brought in his ear, pickled, and told the House of Commons it had been severed by the Spanish coast guard (1739)
• suffragists: some 25,000 women marched in NYC, demanding the right to vote (1915)
• Hungarian Revolution: spontaneous protest began, marking the first anti-Soviet revolt; many thousands were killed or fled; the Hungarian Republic was declared exactly 33 years later (1956)
• iPod: digital music player was launched by Apple (2001)
• Moscow Theater Crisis: Chechen terrorists took 700 hostages; many died during a Russian raid the next day (2002)

Birthdays

• John Heisman (1869-1936): football coach after whom the Heisman Trophy is named
• Johnny Carson (1925-2005): host of The Tonight Show
• Jim Bunning (80): pitcher-turned-politician; also, pitchers Al Leiter (46) and John Lackey (33)
• Pelé (71): Brazil's most famous soccer star; plus, swimmer Gertrude Ederle (1905-2003)
• Michael Crichton (1942-2008): author of Jurassic Park
• Ang Lee (57): Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain; filmmakers Philip Kaufman (75) and Sam Raimi (52) share this birth date
• 'Weird Al' Yankovic (52): pop parodist; also, country star Dwight Yoakam (55)
• Ryan Reynolds (35): actor, The Proposal; actors Michael Rupert (60), Masiela Lusha (26) and Jessica Stroup (25) also celebrate birthdays today