Monday, April 2, 2012

grouse \grous\, verb:

1. To grumble; complain.

 noun:

1. A complaint.

Grouse originally referred to a type of bird. It is uncertain why it began to mean "to complain," though it bears a resemblance to the word grouch.

zing

• An interjection commonly used after making a witty joke at someone else's expense while they are present.

Person 1: Your room smells like ass.

Person 2: That's because you're in it. ZING!

Trivia

A three-inch-high bronze bust of what Hollywood figure fetched $316,000—more than any other item—at a 2004 auction of actress Katharine Hepburn’s estate?

• Actor Spencer Tracy, Hepburn’s long-time companion and favorite costar. The preauction estimate for the bust, sculpted by Hepburn and used as a prop in their film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), was $3,000 to $5,000.

History

• Florida: Juan Ponce de León discovered this state's flowery coast, naming it for Pascua florida ("flowery Easter"); he was searching for the Fountain of Youth; the event is commemorated as Pascua Florida Day (1513)
• Turin: the first Italian Parliament convened in the first capital of the new Kingdom of Italy (1860)
• "The world must be made safe for democracy": with these words, US President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to enter WWI (1917)
• Falkland Islands War: Argentina invaded British-occupied Falkland Islands; Argentina's defeat within a few months discredited its military government, and civilian rule was restored the following year (1982)

Birthdays

• Giovanni Casanova 1725 - Writer, philanderer
• Hans Christian Andersen 1805 - Author ("The Ugly Duckling")
• Frederic Bartholdi 1834
• Emile Zola 1840 - Novelist
• Walter Chrysler 1875 - Auto manufacturer (Chrysler Corporation)
• Max Ernst 1891 - Sculptor and painter
• Buddy Ebsen 1908 - Actor ("The Beverly Hillbillies", "Barnaby Jones")
• Herbert Mills 1912 - Singer (The Mills Brothers)
• Sir Alec Guinness (Alec Guinness de Cuffe) 1914 - Actor ("Bridge Over River Kwai", "A Passage to India", "The Empire Strikes Back", "Star Wars")
• Lou Monte 1917 - Singer
• Dabbs Greer 1917
• Charles White 1918 - Artist
• Jack Webb (John Randolf) 1920 - Director, actor
• Sir Jack Brabham - Auto racer
• Bobby (Roberto Francisco Gonzales) Avila 1924 - Baseball player
• Carmen Basilio 1927 - Boxer
• Rita Gam 1928 - Actress ("The Thief", "Midnight")
• Sharon Acker 1935
• Warner Mack 1938 - Country singer
• Marvin Gaye, Jr. 1939 - Singer ("I Heard It Through The Grapevine")
• Leon Russel 1942 - Singer, songwriter
• Larry Coryell 1943
• Glen Dale 1943 - Musician (The Fortunes)
• Marlene Floyd 1944 - Golfer, golf commentator
• Linda Hunt 1945 - Actress ("Kindergarten Cop")
• Reggie (Carl Reginald) Smith 1945 - Baseball player
• Don Sutton 1945 - Baseball pitcher
• Emmylou Harris 1947 - Singer
• Leon Wilkerson 1952 - Musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
• Pamela Reed 1953 - Actress
• Debralee Scott 1953 - Actress ("Police Academy")
• Ron "Horshack" Palillo 1954
• Christopher Meloni 1961 - Actor ("Law and Order: Special Victims Unit")
• Keren Woodward 1961 - Singer (Bananarama)
• Clark Gregg 1962 - Actor
• Billy Dean 1962
• Bill Romanowski 1966 - Football player
• Roselyn Sanchez 1973 - Actress ("Without a Trace")
• Jeremy Garrett 1976
• Jesse Plemons 1988 - Actor ("Friday Night Lights")