Saturday, January 14, 2012

desinence \DES-uh-nuhns\, noun:

1. A termination or ending, as the final line of a verse.

2. Grammar. A termination, ending, or suffix of a word.

Like descent, desinence is related to the Latin word dēsinere which meant "to put down or leave."

Passenger assessment

• The tendency, especially while waiting for a plane, to scan one's fellow passengers for signs of violent intention. This tends to increase after an airline incident or near incident.

Jake surreptitiously looked up and down the many aisles of chairs as he waited for his plane to arrive at the gate. Passenger assessment is an essential part of flying these days. he rationalized.

Trivia

What percent of the weight of an average human adult is blood?

• From 7 to 8 percent.

History

• Marilyn Monroe: blonde bombshell wed legendary Yankee Joe DiMaggio; the marriage lasted less than a year, but DiMaggio remained devoted long after that (1954)
• Human Be-In: counterculture event took place in San Francisco, preceding the Summer of Love (1967)
• Margrethe II: ascended the throne of Denmark as its first reigning queen since the early 1400s, thanks to a constitutional amendment that allowed female succession (1972)
• Miami Dolphins: beat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII, becoming the first, and so far only, NFL team to have an undefeated season (1973)

Birthdays

• Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965): medical missionary and humanitarian
• Benedict Arnold (1741-1801): America's most famous Revolutionary War-period traitor
• John Dos Passos (1896-1970): journalist and novelist; plus, writers Hugh Lofting (1886-1947) and Yukio Mishima (1925-1970)
• Andy Rooney (1919-2011): CBS's curmudgeonly commentator; plus, broadcast journalists Nina Totenberg (68) and Shepard Smith (48)
• Allen Toussaint (74): R&B musician; also born today, Billie Jo Spears (75), Jack Jones (74), Slick Rick (47), LL Cool J (44), Dave Grohl (43) and Caleb Followill (30)
• Lawrence Kasdan (63): screenwriter and director, The Big Chill; also, director Steven Soderbergh (49)
• Maureen Dowd (60): Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist
• Jason Bateman (43): actor, Arrested Development, Juno; also, actors Faye Dunaway (71), Holland Taylor (69), Carl Weathers (64), Mark Addy (48), Dan Schneider (46), Tom Rhodes and Emily Watson (both 44) and Jordan Ladd (37)