Thursday, June 16, 2022

festoon \fe-STOON\, verb:

1. To adorn with hanging chains or strands of any material.

2. Dentistry. To reproduce natural gum patterns around the teeth or a denture.

noun:

1. A string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points.

2. A decorative representation of this, as in architectural work or on pottery.

3. A fabric suspended, draped, and bound at intervals to form graceful loops or scalloped folds.

4. Dentistry. The garlandlike area of the gums surrounding the necks of the teeth.

A festoon is "a string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points." Modern usage has expanded the definition of the verb form to mean "to fill or cover", but dictionaries tend to maintain the narrower scope. Festoon derives from the Italian feston, "decoration for a feast."

 

Texter's Thumb

• When an individual suffers repetitive strain injury (RSI) in the first digit of the hand (thumb) from excessive text messaging.

Bill: 'Dude I wasn't ignoring you'

Bob: 'How do you explain that then'

Bill: 'My texter's thumb preventing me from contacting you!'

 

History

• Battle of Stoke: marked the tail end of the Wars of the Roses (1487)

  
• House Divided speech: Abraham Lincoln, as a senatorial candidate, warned that the Union must become either all-slave or all-free (1858)
• Bloomsday: James Joyce's Ulysses follows Leopold Bloom through this one day of his life (1904)
• New Deal: FDR opened his recovery program, signing bank, rail and industry bills and initiating farm aid (1933)
• Valentina Tereshkova: Soviet cosmonaut became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6 (1963)

Birthdays

• Stan Laurel 1890
• Helen Traubel 1899
• Jack Albertson 1910
• Hank Lusetti 1916
• Katherine Graham 1917
• John Howard Griffin 1920
• Erich Segal 1937
• Joyce Carol Oates 1938 - Author
• Corin Redgrave 1939
• Billy 'Crash' Craddock 1939 - Country singer
• Lamont Dozier 1941 - Songwriter
• Eddie Levert 1942 - Musician (The O'Jays)
• Joan Van Ark 1943 - Actress ("Knot's Landing")
• Ian Matthews 1945 - Musician (Fairport Convention)
• Derek Sanderson 1946
• James Smith 1950 - Musician (The Stylistics)
• Roberto Duran 1951 - Boxer
• Gino Vannelli 1952 - Singer
• Laurie Metcalf 1955 - Actress ("Roseanne")

  
• Jenny Smimizu 1967
• Phil Mickelson 1970 - Golf player
• Tupac Shakur 1971 - Rapper
• Eddie Cibrian 1973
• Frederick Koehler 1975
• China Shavers 1977
• Kerry Wood 1977 - Baseball player
• Missy Peregrym 1982 - Actress
• Olivia Hack 1983