Friday, October 19, 2012

litotes \LAHY-tuh-teez\, noun:

• Understatement, especially that in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary, as in “not bad at all.”

Litotes comes from the Greek word lītótēs which meant "plainness, simplicity."
Illegal Gymigrant

• A term describing a person who sneaks into the gym without paying, or someone who uses another's gym pass in order to work out.

Brad always worked out three times a week, but, being an illegal gymigrant, he never actually paid to use the gym facilities - he just snuck past the front desk.

Trivia

What members of the Girl Scouts are known as Juliettes?

• Those who belong as individuals rather than through a troop or group. They’re named for Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low.

History

• Yorktown campaign: British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending the land war of the American Revolution (1781)
• Black Monday: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 508 points — over 22% — setting a record for percentage decline that still stands (1987)
• Guildford Four: men wrongly convicted for a deadly IRA bombing were cleared after 15 years in jail (1989)

Birthdays

• Thomas Browne 1605
• Annie Peck 1850
• Charles Merrill 1885
• Robert Beatty 1909
• George Cates 1911
• Lawanda Page 1920
• Bern Bennett 1921
• George Nader 1921
• Jack Anderson 1922
• John le Carre 1931
• Robert Reed 1932
• Peter Max 1937
• Michael Gambon 1940
• Simon Ward 1941
• Peter Tosh 1944
• Divine 1945

• John Lithgow 1945
• Patricia Ireland 1945
• Jeannie C. Riley 1945
• Patrick Simmons (Doobie Brothers) 1948
• Lynn Dickey (NFL) 1949
• Charlie Chase 1952
• Nino DeFranco (The DeFranco Family) 1956
• Karl Wallinger (Waterboys, World Party) 1957
• Jennifer Holliday 1960
• Evander Holyfield 1962
• Todd Park Mohr (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) 1965
• Jon Favreau 1966
• Trey Parker 1969
• Chris Kattan 1970
• Pras Michel (The Fugees) 1972
• Omar Gooding 1976
• Cyndi Thompson 1976
• Benjamin Salisbury 1980