Monday, January 10, 2011

lickerish \LIK-er-ish\, adjective:

1. Fond of and eager for choice food.

2. Greedy; longing.

3. Lustful; lecherous.

Likerish shares a common ancestor with the less positive term lecherous. The Old French licherous,"pleasing to the palate," evolved into both English words.

when the economy picks up

Common beginning or ending to a sentence. It can serve to:

1. provide an excuse for why one has not yet done something.

2. suggest a vague intention of doing something later (similar to how Spanish speakers use the word "mañana.")

3. add minimal credibility to an idea that is a pipe dream.

1. There's no point in looking for a job until the economy picks up.

2. I'll start my business when the economy picks up.

3. Unemployment levels will go back down to the levels they were in the late 1990s when the economy picks up.

Trivia

Who was pictured in the very first Apple Computer logo?

• Sir Isaac Newton, in 1976. The logo, showing Newton sitting beneath an apple tree, was used only for the Apple I computer. It was almost immediately replaced with a rainbow-colored apple with a bite taken out of it.

History

• Julius Caesar: crossed the Rubicon with his army (49 BCE)
• Common Sense: Thomas Paine published (anonymously) his influential pamphlet calling for American independence from Britain via revolution (1776)
• London Underground: the Metropolitan Line, the first section of the tube, opened, running between Paddington and Farringdon streets (1863)
• gusher: oil was discovered near Beaumont, Texas (1901)
• League of Nations: precursor to the United Nations held its first meeting; though it was proposed by a US president, the US never did join (1920)
• Vatican City: the US reestablished full diplomatic relations with the Holy See after having been out of touch for over a century (1984)
• Where's the beef?: Wendy's ad campaign began; it quickly morphed into a political slogan (1984)

Birthdays

• Ray Bolger (1904-1987): The Wizard of Oz's Scarecrow; plus, actors Paul Henreid (1905?-1992), Sal Mineo (1939-1976), William Sanderson (62), Evan Handler (50) and Trini Alvarado (44)
• Max Roach (1924-2007): jazz percussionist and composer; also, musicians Sherrill Milnes and Eddy Clearwater (both 77), Frank Sinatra, Jr. (67), Rod Stewart (66), Donald Fagen (63), Scott Thurston (59), Pat Benatar (58) and Shawn Colvin (55)
• Tintin (82): fictional Belgian reporter in Hergé's comic book series The Adventures of Tintin
• Donald Knuth (73): computer science pioneer, developer of TeX
• George Foreman (62): boxer who promotes the popular indoor grill