Tuesday, December 13, 2011

cortege \kawr-TEZH\, noun:

1. A procession, especially a ceremonial one.

2. A line or train of attendants; retinue.

Cortege is related to the Old French word curt meaning “an enclosed yard.” By the 1600s, it referred to “a train of attendants.”

Reply All Rage

• The rage one feels when people reply all to emails instead of replying directly to the relevant parties.

Jeremy was struck by Reply All Rage when the 3rd person he didn't know hit "Reply All" and spammed him with pointless and stupid comments in response to a group invite to a friends party.

Trivia

When it comes to Italian sauces, Bolognese means prepared in the style of Bologna. What does marinara mean?

• Prepared sailor-style. The simple meatless sauce was once a staple aboard Italian sailing ships.

History

• Francis Drake: British explorer set out on a three-year circumnavigation of the globe, looting Spanish ships as he sailed (1577)
• New Zealand: was sighted for the first time by a European, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (1642)
• Susan B. Anthony dollar: the US Mint began stamping out the first US coin to honor a woman, suffragist Susan B. Anthony (1978)
• United States presidential election of 2000: Democratic candidate Al Gore conceded the race to President Bush 36 days after Election Day
• Saddam Hussein: Iraqi dictator was captured hiding in a spider hole near Tikrit (2003)

Birthdays

• Heinrich Heine (1797-1856): lyric poet, essayist
• Carlos Montoya (1903-1993): flamenco guitarist
• Ross Macdonald (1915-1983): crime fiction novelist, creator of Lew Archer
• Christopher Plummer (82): stage and screen actor; also, actors Dick Van Dyke (86), Robert Prosky (1930-2008), John Davidson (70), Wendie Malick (61), Steve Buscemi (54), Jamie Foxx (44), Christie Clark (38) and James Kyson Lee (36)
• Richard Zanuck (77): film producer; plus, music producer Lou Adler (78)
• Taylor Swift (22): award-winning country/pop singer; other musicians born today include Jeff Baxter and Ted Nugent (both 62), Thomas Delonge (36) and Amy Lee (30)
• Sergei Fedorov (42): hockey forward; MLB hall-of-famer Ferguson Jenkins (68) has a birthday today, too

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