Thursday, January 5, 2012

gasconade \gas-kuh-NEYD\, noun:

1. Extravagant boasting; boastful talk.

verb:

1. To boast extravagantly; bluster.

Gasconade originally referred to people who were from the Gascony region of southwest France, bordering Spain. Gascons reputedly boast and exaggerate their success, and their toponym took on a life of its own. It became common in English in the early 1700s.

free coochin'

1. the act of a female not wearing underwear

2. the female equivalent of free ballin'

(see commando)

Sally: Hey Beth, i didn't pack enough underwear. Can i wear some of yours?

Beth: Hell naw, i don't share panties. I guess you're just gonna have to go commando!

Sally: Yeah, i'll be free coochin' it for the rest of our trip!

Trivia

What is par on the longest golf hole in the world—the 964-yard-long seventh hole at Japan’s Sano Golf Course?

• Seven. The Sano course is at the Satsuki Golf Club in Sano, Japan.

History

• x-rays: discovery by Wilhelm Roentgen was announced; though their exact nature was unknown to him (hence the name), the achievement won him the first Nobel Prize in Physics (1896)
• minimum wage: Henry Ford instituted the first minimum wage; he paid his employees at least $5 a day (1914)
• Fair Deal: newly reelected president Harry S. Truman coined the phrase to refer to a 21-point program he sent to Congress in 1945, focusing on civil rights and social welfare (1949)
• Prague Spring: a brief period of reform began in Czechoslovakia; it ended later in the year with a Soviet invasion (1968)
• Eris: largest dwarf planet was discovered (2005)

Birthdays

• Alvin Ailey (1931-1989): dancer/choreographer
• Umberto Eco (80): semiotician who wrote The Name of the Rose
• Chuck Noll (80): former NFL player and coach who won more Super Bowls than any head coach in NFL history; other hall-of-famers born on this date are Lou Carnesecca (87) and Alex English (58)
• King Juan Carlos (74): Spanish king; other world leaders born on this date include Shah Jahan (1592-1666), Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967), Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1928-1979) and Walter Mondale (84)
• Charlie Rose (70): broadcast journalist
• Bradley Cooper (37): ferret-faced actor, The Hangover; also, actors Constantin Stanislavsky (1863 NS -1938), Robert Duvall (81), Diane Keaton (66), Pamela Sue Martin (59), Clancy Brown (53) and January Jones (34)
• Marilyn Manson (43): musician