Thursday, October 31, 2024

HALLOWEEN

*10*31*

ombudsman \OM-buhdz-muhn\, noun:

• 
  A government official who hears and investigates complaints by private citizens against other officials or government agencies.

Ombudsman comes from the Swedish word ombud which means "agent, attorney." It entered English in the 1910s.

 

nyctophobia \nik-tuh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun:

• An abnormal fear of night or darkness.

Nyctophobia stems from the Greek nyktos- meaning night and phobia meaning fear.

 

vamp \vamp\, verb:

1. To patch up; repair.

2. To give (something) a new appearance by adding a patch or piece.

3. To concoct or invent (often followed by up): He vamped up a few ugly rumors to discredit his enemies.

4. To furnish with a vamp, especially to repair (a shoe or boot) with a new vamp.

noun:

1. The portion of a shoe or boot upper that covers the instep and toes.

2. Something patched up or pieced together.

Vamp is a shortening of the Middle French word avant-pie literally meaning "fore-foot." This sense of the word is embedded in the more common word revamp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deja boo

• Wearing the same old Halloween costume to parties, year after year.

Oh, hell, there's Amelia in that same slutty witches costume she wore 5 years ago when she was still skinny and hot!
It's deja boo all over again.

Halloween

• An annual excuse for girls to dress like sluts and get away with it.

Girl 1: I'm going to be a ______ for Halloween.
Girl 2: What's your costume look like?
Girl 1: I'm wearing my ______ underwear and _____ bra and heels.

Trivia

What were the first jack-o'-lanterns carved from?

• Usually turnips—but sometimes beets, rutabagas, or potatoes. The custom of carving turnip lanterns for Halloween originated in Ireland. When the Irish began immigrating to the U.S., they switched to pumpkins, which were more readily available, bigger, and easier to carve.

Holiday

• Halloween: Holiday observed on October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day. Its pagan origins can be traced to the Celtic festival of Samhain, celebrated in ancient England and Ireland to mark the beginning of the Celtic new year. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on Samhain eve, and witches, goblins, black cats, and ghosts were said to roam abroad. The night was also thought to be the most favorable time for divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. The pagan observances influenced the Christian festival of All Hallows' Eve, celebrated on the same date. The holiday was gradually secularized and was introduced into the U.S. by the late 19th century. Still associated with evil spirits and the supernatural, it is celebrated by children in costume who gather candy by ringing doorbells and calling out "trick or treat," "trick" referring to the pranks and vandalism that are also part of the Halloween tradition.

History

• 95 Theses: Martin Luther launched the Protestant reformation when he posted his written opposition to indulgences to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany (1517)
• Harry Houdini: master magician/escape artist died of peritonitis resulting from a punch to the stomach that ruptured his appendix (1926)
• Mount Rushmore: drilling and sculpting work on the four presidents' heads near Keystone, South Dakota, was finished (1941)
• Indira Gandhi: the prime minister of India was assassinated outside her residence by her Sikh bodyguards (1984)

Birthdays

• Jan Vermeer 1632
• John Keats 1795
• Juliette Lowe 1860
• Chiang Kai-Shek 1887
• Ethel Waters 1896
• Cal Hubbard 1900
• Dale Evans 1912
• Dick Francis 1920
• Illinois Jacquet 1922
• Norodom Sihanouk 1922
• Barbara Bel Geddes 1922
• Anita Kerr 1927
• Lee Grant 1930
• Michael Collins 1930
  
• Dan Rather 1931
• Phil Goyette 1933
• Michael Landon 1936
• Tom Paxton 1937
• Ron Rifkin 1939
• Otis Williams (The Temptations) 1941
• David Ogden Stiers 1942
• Sally Kirkland 1944
• Kinky (Richard) Friedman 1944
• Russ Ballard 1947
• Frank Shorter 1947
• Deidre Hall 1948
• John Candy 1950
• Jane Pauley 1950
• Lynda Goodfriend 1950
• Dan Spring 1951
• Bernard Edwards (Chic) 1952
• Johnny Cleg (Savuka) 1953
• Peter Jackson 1961 (LOTR)
• Larry Mullen Jr. (U2) 1961
• Dermont Mulroney 1963
• Mikkey Dee (Motorhead) 1963
• Johnny Marr (Smiths, Electronic, The The) 1963
• Rob Schneider 1964
• Darryl Worley 1964
• Annabella Lwin (Bow Wow Wow) 1965
• Adam Horovitz (King Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys) 1966
• Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne) 1967
• Vanilla Ice (Robert Van Winkle) 1967
• Fred McGriff 1968
• Linn Berggren (Ace of Base) 1970
• Erica Cerra 1979 (Eureka)
  
• Eddie Kaye Thomas 1980