Word of the Day for Saturday, August 9, 2008

tittle-tattle \TIT-uhl TAT-uhl\, noun:

1. Idle, trifling talk; empty prattle.
2. An idle, trifling talker; a gossip.
3. to talk idly; to prate.

Tittle-tattle is a varied reduplication of tattle, which derives from Medieval Dutch tatelen, to babble.

social plagiarism

• When one uses a story/saying/information/anecdote that they recieved or overheard from another individual they know and they do not cite the source. In turn, implying that they themselves are the original source of information.

Maegan tells Leann that she talked to the band about their performance date change in Santa Cruz. Later that evening, Leann tells a group of mutual friends that the performance date has been changed, without citing/acknowledging where she originally obtained this information. In turn, implying she spoke to the band herself, which could be construed to some as lying. Thus, Leann commited social plagiarism.

Trivia
What breed was Seaman, the dog that Meriwether Lewis took with him on his historic expedition to the Pacific Ocean with William Clark?

• Newfoundland. For years, because of difficulty deciphering the writing of Lewis and Clark in their journals, Seaman’s name was mistakenly believed to be Scannon.

Today in History

• Sistine Chapel: was consecrated and its first mass was celebrated (1483)
• Smokey Bear: fictional poster boy star of the US campaign to prevent forest fires was "born" (1944)
• Nagasaki: atom bomb called the Fat Man, dropped by the Bockscar, devastated a second Japanese city (1945)
• Singapore: became independent of Malaysia (1965)

Today's Birthdays

• John Dryden (1631 [O.S.]-1700): poet, critic; poet Philip Larkin (1922-1985) shares the birth date
• Jean Piaget (1896-1980): specialist in developmental psychology
• P.L. Travers (1899-1996): author, the Mary Poppins books
• Chamique Holdsclaw (31): WNBA star; athletes Ralph Houk (89), Bob Cousy (80), Rod Laver (70), Brett Hull (44) and Deion Sanders (41) were also born on this date
  Audrey Tatou (30): actor, Amélie, The Da Vinci Code; also, actors Sam Elliott (64), Melanie Griffith (51), Amanda Bearse (50), Whitney Houston (45), Gillian Anderson and Eric Bana (both 40)