Wednesday, May 14, 2014

unctuous \UNGK-choo-us\, adjective:

1. Of the nature or quality of an unguent or ointment; fatty; oily; greasy.
2. Having a smooth, greasy feel, as certain minerals.
3. Insincerely or excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech; marked by a false or smug earnestness or agreeableness.

Unctuous is from Medieval Latin unctuosus, from Latin unctus, "anointed, besmeared, greasy," past participle of unguere, "to anoint, to besmear."

 

cobra yawn

• The involuntary spraying of saliva while yawning. Much like the venom spray from a cobra. In most cases the yawner doesn't realized it has happened only finding the aftermath once the yawn is over.

I just cobra yawned all over my keyboard five minutes prior to writing this definition.

History

• Jamestown: America's first permanent English colony was established in Virginia (1607)
• Louis XIV: became king of France at age 4 (1643)
• smallpox: Edward Jenner administered the first vaccine against the highly contagious disease to an eight-year-old boy (1796)
• Lewis and Clark expedition: began its exploratory journey to the Pacific Ocean (1804)
• Olympic Games: were held in the US for the first time, in St. Louis, Missouri (1904)
• Israel: the Jewish state was proclaimed independent; Egypt, Transjordan (later Jordan), Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq declared war on it almost immediately (1948)
• Skylab: America's first space station was launched into orbit (1973)
• Seinfeld: the final episode aired, with 76 million viewers watching (1998)

Birthdays

• Thomas Gainsborough 1727 - Painter
• Billie Dove 1903 - Actress
• Skip Martin (Lloyd "Skip" Martin) 1916 - Musician
• Norman Luboff 1917 - Music arranger, publisher
• Richard Deacon 1921 - Actor
• Al Porcino 1925 - Trumpet player
• Patrice Munsel 1925 - Singer
• Gump Worsley (Lorne John "Gump" Worsley) 1929 - Hockey goaltender
• Laszlo Kovacs 1933 - Sprint canoer
• Bobby Darin 1936 - Singer, actor
• Dick Howser 1936 - Baseball player
• Charlie Gracie (Charles Anthony Graci) 1936 - Musician, singer
• Tony Perez (Atanasio Pérez Rigal) 1942 - Baseball player
• Jack Bruce 1943 - Musician (Cream)

  
• Derek Leckenby 1943 - Musician (Herman's Hermits)
• George Lucas 1944 - Film producer, screenwriter, director ("Star Wars" movie series)
• Troy Shondell 1944 - Singer
• Francesca Annis 1944 - Actress
• Gener Cornish 1945 - Musician (The Young Rascals)
• Meg Foster (Megan Foster) 1948 - Actress
• Season Hubley (Susan Hubley) 1951 - Actress
• Robert Zemeckis 1952 - Film director, producer, screenwriter
• David Byrne 1952 - Musician (Talking Heads)
• Tom Cochrane 1953 - Musician
• Tim Roth 1961 - Actor ("Resovoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction")
• Ian Astbury 1962 - Musician (Cult)
• C.C. DeVille 1962 - Musician (Poison)
• Mike Inez 1966 - Musician (Alice in Chains)
• Fabrice Morvan 1966 - Singer (Milli Vanilli)
• Cate Blanchett (Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett) 1969 - Actress, theatre director
• Danny Wood 1969 - Singer (New Kids on the Block)
• Freaky Tah 1971 - Musician (Lost Boyz)
• Sophia Coppola 1971 - Director
• Shanice (Shanice Lorraine Wilson-Knox) 1973 - Singer
• Natalie Appleton 1973 - Musician (All Saints)
• Roy Halladay 1977 - Baseball player
• Amber Tamblyn 1983 - Actress ("General Hospital")
• Frank Gore 1983 - Football player
• Mark Zuckerberg 1984 - Founder of Facebook
• Miranda Cosgrove 1993 - Actress ("iCarly," "Drake and Josh")