Friday, January 6, 2012

sprat \sprat\, noun:

1. A small or inconsequential person or thing.

2. A species of herring, Clupea sprattus, of the eastern North Atlantic.

Sprat is a variation of the Old English word sprot which meant "a sprout or twig." Its most common usage is in the nursery rhyme "Jack Sprat."

hippocampus

• Virtually any college or university campus in Mississippi, Alabama or Tennessee, where over 30% of the student body is significantly obese.

"Dude, it was like an entire university campus of sumo wrestlers! I couldn't believe the amount of morbidly obese 20-year olds cruising the hippocampus on mobility scooters."

Trivia

What three letters appear on the pull tabs of most zippers?

• YKK—for the Japanese-based company that manufactures zippers sold worldwide. The initials come from the company’s original name, Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha. Its largest zipper factory, the largest in the world, is in Macon, Georgia.

Holiday

• Armenian Christmas
• Twelfth Day (Christian)

History

• George Washington: wed wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis (1759)
• Maria Montessori: Italian educator, known for the Montessori method, opened her first school in a Rome housing project (1907)
• Four Freedoms: in his State of the Union message to Congress, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt described his goals for all humanity: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear (1941)
• George H.W. Bush: WWII Navy pilot married Barbara Pierce, who had dropped out of college to solidify the union (1945)
• Wheel of Fortune: TV's longest-running syndicated game show first aired (1975)
• President Bush: a defeated Al Gore presided as Congress certified George W. Bush the winner of the close and bitterly contested 2000 presidential election (2001)

Birthdays

• Jakob Bernoulli (1654-1705): Swiss mathematician responsible for the law of large numbers
• Khalil Gibran (1883-1931): philosopher and poet, The Prophet; other writers born on this date include Joseph Medill Patterson (1879-1946), Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), Morris Wright (1910-1998) and E.L. Doctorow (81)
• Rowan Atkinson (57): comedian and actor, Mr. Bean; also, actors Loretta Young (1913-2000), Danny Thomas (1914-1991), Bonnie Franklin (68) and Rinko Kikuchi (31)
• Nancy Lopez (55): LPGA hall-of-famer; plus, professional athletes Howie Long (52), Gabrielle Reece (42), Assante Samuel (31) and Gilbert Arenas (30)
• Kathy Sledge (53): R&B singer, Sister Sledge; bluegrass musician Earl Scruggs (88) also celebrates his birthday today
• Nigella Lawson (52): TV chef