Friday, February 4, 2011

effluvium \ih-FLOO-vee-uhm\, noun:

• A slight or invisible exhalation or vapor, esp. one that is disagreeable

Effluvium comes into English from the Latin effluere, "to flow out."

Mansplain

• to delighting in condescending, inaccurate explanations delivered with rock solid confidence of rightness and that slimy certainty that of course he is right, because he is the man in this conversation

Even though he knew she had an advanced degree in neuroscience, he felt the need to mansplain "there are molecules in the brain called neurotransmitters"

Trivia

What American cartoonist’s illustrations did French artist Vincent van Gogh collect and use for reference?

• Thomas Nast’s. Van Gogh clipped a number of them from Harper’s Weekly and kept them in a special album.

History

• electoral college: George Washington and John Adams were elected the first President and Vice President of the United States (1789)
• Confederate States of America: a new union broke away from the United States; it was formed by southern slave states (1861)
• Yalta Conference: the "Big Three" — Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin — met in the Crimea (1945)
• Yugoslavia: was formally replaced by Serbia and Montenegro; the two declared independence three years later (2003)
• Facebook: social networking site that redefined "friend" was founded by Mark Zuckerberg (2004)

Birthdays

• Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746-1817): Polish patriot who became a Revolutionary War general
• Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974): the first aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic; plus, flight pioneer Clement Ader (1841-1926) and father of aerodynamics Ludwig Prandtl (1875-1953)
• Clyde William Tombaugh (1906-1997): astronomer who discovered Pluto
• Betty Friedan (1921-2006): founder of NOW
• Dan Quayle (64): VP under George Bush
• Alice Cooper (63): rocker; also, musicians John Steel (70), Florence LaRue (67) and Clint Black (49), Natalie Imbruglia (36)
• Oscar De La Hoya (38): middleweight boxing champ who is also a singer