Wednesday, October 27, 2010

onomancy (ON-uh-man-see)noun:

• Divination by the letters of a name.

Etymology: From Greek onoma- (name) + -mancy (divination). Earliest recorded use: 1603.

spot tease

A parking spot that appears to be open, but is actually taken by a small car or motorcycle. Also can refer to a car that takes up 90% of its own spot and 10% of the one next to it, leaving no room for another car to park.

Alright! Parking spot just two away from the mall! Wait...damn Smart Car's parked there! Stupid Spot Tease!!!

Trivia

What field ration did General John J. Pershing claim was needed “as much as bullets” to win World War I?

Tobacco. The U.S. distributed cigarettes free to GIs beginning in 1917. They were eliminated from C rations and K rations in 1975.

History

• Philadelphia: the City of Brotherly Love was founded (1682)
• Federalist Papers: the first of a series of essays was published, calling for the ratification of the US Constitution; the essays were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay (1787)
• IRT: New York City's first rapid transit subway opened (1904)
• nylon: chemical company DuPont announced the name of its new synthetic fiber (1938)
• Wall Street crash: trading was halted for a cooling-off period after the Dow fell more than 500 points (1997)

Birthdays

• Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919): 26th POTUS; he and first wife, Alice Lee, were married on this date in 1880
• Emily Post (1872-1960): etiquette authority
• Dylan Thomas (1914-1953): playwright and poet; plus, writers Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), Maxine Hong Kingston (70) and Fran Lebowitz (60)
• John Cleese (71): actor who played Basil Fawlty, Nearly Headless Nick and Q; also, actors Nanette Fabray (90), Ruby Dee (86), Peter Firth and Robert Picardo (both 57), and Sheeri Rappaport (33)
• Ivan Reitman (64): director/producer, Ghostbusters; plus, director/producer Roberto Benigni (58)
• Scott Weiland (43): rock singer and songwriter, Velvet Revolver; also, musicians Niccoló Paganini (1782-1840), Lee Greenwood (68), Garry Tallent (61), K.K. Downing (59), Simon LeBon (52) and Kelly Osbourne (26)