Wednesday, January 26, 2011

gung-ho \GUHNG-HO\, adjective:

1. Wholeheartedly enthusiastic and loyal; eager; zealous.

2. In a successful manner.

Gung ho introduced as a training slogan in 1942 by U.S. Marine officer Evans F. Carlson (1896-1947) from the Chinese chin gōng hé, the abbreviated name of the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society, literally "work together."

boregasm - noun, verb:

• the result of or act of reaching the apex or climax of boredom; Filling one's capacity for boredom to the extreme boundary

Dude, this class is so boring that I just boregasmed

Oh yeah? Well I had three classes today...triple boregasm.

Trivia

What infamous historic figure, as governor of New South Wales, was overthrown by mutinous soldiers in an 1808 coup that Australians refer to as the Rum Rebellion?

• William Bligh, victim of the 1789 mutiny aboard HMS Bounty. The coup in New South Wales came after the tyrannical Bligh banned the use of rum and other spirits as legal tender in the tiny convict colony.

History

• Rum Rebellion: armed takeover of New South Wales, Australia (1808)
• Cullinan Diamond: was discovered in the Premier Mine, South Africa; it is the largest gem-quality diamond ever found and the stones that were cut and polished from it are now part of the British crown jewels (1905)
• Republic Day of India: India's constitution took effect two and a half years after independence (1950)
• Lotus 1-2-3: the popular spreadsheet software for the IBM PC was released (1983)
• Phantom of the Opera: opened on Broadway; it is now the longest-running Broadway musical (1988)

Birthdays

• Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714-1785): 18th-century sculptor
• Charles XIV (1763-1844): king of Sweden and Norway
• Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964): WWII general who said "I shall return"
• Paul Newman (1925-2008): charitable movie star, creator of Newman's Own; also, Scott Glenn (70), David Strathairn (62), Ellen Degeneres (53), Paul Johansson (47) and Sara Rue (33)
• Jules Feiffer (82): Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and playwright, Little Murders; also, film critic Gene Siskel (1946-1999)
• Bob Uecker (76): sportscaster; athletes Jack Youngblood (61), Vince Carter (34) and Emily Hughes (22) share this birth date
• Eddie Van Halen (56): lead guitarist, founder of Van Halen; plus, songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen (1913-1990) and R&B singer Anita Baker (53)