Thursday, July 30, 2026

beget \ bih-GET \ , verb; 

1. (especially of a male parent) to procreate or generate (offspring). 
2. to cause; produce as an effect: a belief that power begets power . 

Origin: The term beget has been around in English since before 1000s. It is a cognate with the Old High German bigezzan.  

 

brush the horse

• When you are walking past someone in close proximity and your body parts touch theirs. Thus, making you feel uncomfortable.

Dude, that guy so just brushed the horse up on me.

Did that guy just brush the horse? I swear I felt his fupa on my back when he passed by me.

 

History

• Baltimore: port town and industrial center was founded (1729)
• "La Marseillaise": the French national anthem was first sung in Paris (1792)
• In God We Trust: became the official motto of the US (1956)
• Kim Philby: the Soviet news service announced that the British intelligence officer and double agent had defected to the USSR (1963)
• Medicare: insurance program for senior citizens was signed into US law (1965)
• Jimmy Hoffa: the former Teamsters president disappeared in suburban Detroit; he has never been found, but he is presumed dead (1975)
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act: "Corporate Responsibility Act" — that tightened control of financial reporting and reduced the potential for fraud — was signed into law by President George Bush (2002)

Birthdays

• Emily Bronte 1818
• Thornstein Velben 1857
• Henry Ford 1863
• Vladimir Kosmo Zworykin 1889 - Invented the iconoscope, called the "Father of Television"
• Casey Stengel 1890
• Henry Moore 1898
• Dick Wilson 1916
• Richard Johnson 1927
• Christine McGuire (The McGuire Sisters) 1929
• Thomas Sowell 1930
  
• Edd "Kookie" Byrnes 1933
• Ben Piazza 1934
• Buddy Guy 1936
• Joe Nuxhall 1938
• Eleanor Smeal 1939
• Peter Bogdanovich 1939
• Paul Anka 1941
• David Sanborn 1945
• William Atherton 1947
• Arnold Schwarzenegger 1947
• Jean Reno 1948
  
• Frank Stallone 1950
• Ken Olin 1954
• Anita Hill 1956
• Delta Burke 1956
• Rat Scabies (Damned) 1957
• Kate Bush 1958
• Richard Burgi 1958
  
• Neal McCoy 1961
• Laurence Fishburne 1961
• Lisa Kudrow 1963 - Actress ("Friends")
• Vivica A. Fox 1964
• Dwayne O'Brien (Little Texas) 1964
• Christine Taylor 1971
• Hillary Swank 1974
• Jaime Pressly 1977
• April Bowlby 1980 
  
  

   

 

   

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

 

  

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

ambulant \ AM-byuh-luhnt \ , adjective;

1. moving from place to place; itinerant; shifting. 
2. Medicine/Medical . a. not confined to bed; able or strong enough to walk. b. serving patients who are able to walk. 

Origin: Ambulant comes from the Latin ambulāre meaning "to walk." It entered English in the mid-1600s. 

bats in the cave

• visible clumps of nose goblins, often found clinging to nasal hair.

"you need to blow your nose, you got some serious bats in the cave!!"

 

History

• Spanish Armada: was defeated by the English, led by Sir Francis Drake (1588)
  
• NASA: President Eisenhower signed a bill creating the space agency (1958)
• Lady Di: married Prince Charles at St. Paul's Cathedral in London (1981)
• switch hitter: Red Sox batter Bill Mueller became the first Major League Baseball player to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a single game (2003)
• Eris, a heavenly body slightly larger than Pluto, was discovered and called it the 10th planet. (2005)

Birthdays

• Booth Tarkington 1869
  
• Benito Mussolini 1883
• Sigmund Romberg 1887
• Theda Bara 1890
• Clara Bow 1894
• Melvin Belli 1907
• Stephen McNally 1913
• Richard Egan 1923
• Lloyd Bochner 1924
• Robert Horton 1924
• Ted Lindsay 1925
• Don Carter 1926
• Paul Taylor 1930
• Randy Sparks (New Christy Minstrels) 1933
• Robert Fuller 1934
• Peter Jennings 1938
• David Warner 1941
• Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon) 1946
• Simon Kirk (Bad Company) 1949
• Ken Burns 1953
• Geddy Lee (Rush) 1953
• Michael Biehn 1956
• Patti Scialia (E Street Band) 1956
• Alexandra Paul 1963
• Martina McBride 1966
• Chris Gorman (Belly) 1967
• Wil Wheaton 1972
• Stephen Dorff 1973
• Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) 1973

  

 

  

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

foray \ FAWR-ey, FOR-ey \ , noun; 

1. a quick raid, usually for the purpose of taking plunder: Vikings made a foray on the port . 
2. a quick, sudden attack: The defenders made a foray outside the walls. 
3. an initial venture: a successful foray into politics. 

verb:

1. to make a raid; pillage; maraud. 
2. to invade or make one's way, as for profit or adventure: foreign industries foraying into U.S. markets. 
3. to ravage in search of plunder; pillage. 

Origin: Foray entered English in the late 14th century. It shares its roots with the term forage.
  

piss in the wind

• Doing something that is a complete waste of effort and time for which you can expect no results and may even backfire on you.

Telling the president that invading other countries is unpopular with many voters is like pissing in the wind.

History 

• Maximilien Robespierre: Reign of Terror leader was guillotined in Paris during the French Revolution (1794)
• Peru: declared independence from Spain (1821)
• 14th Amendment: granted full citizenship to former US slaves; introduced new civil rights safeguards, due process, equal protection (1868)
• Austria-Hungary: declared war on Serbia, precipitating World War I (1914)
• Kennewick Man: prehistoric remains were discovered on the banks of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, sparking a debate between scientists and Native Americans (1996)
• IRA: ended its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland in favor of "exclusively peaceful means" (2005)

Birthdays

• Beatrix Potter 1866
• Joe E. Brown 1891
• Rudy Vallee 1901
• Richard Rogers 1902
• Cameron Dragon 1914
• Charles Hard Townes 1915
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis 1929
• Darryl Hickman 1931
• Jacques d'Amboise 1934
  
• Peter Duchin 1937
• George Cummings 1938 - Musician (Dr. Hook)
• Phil Proctor 1940
• Mike Bloomfield 1944
• Jim Davis 1945
• Richard Wright 1945 - Musician (Pink Floyd)
• Jonathan Edwards 1946 - Singer


• Linda Kelsey 1946
• Barbara Ferrell 1947
• Sally Struthers 1948
• Georgia Bright Engel 1948
• Peter Doyle 1949 - Musician (The New Seekers)
• Simon Kirke 1949 - Musician (Bad Company, Free)
• Terry Fox 1958
• Lori Loughlin 1964
• Elizabeth Berkley 1972
• Afroman 1974

  

 

  

 

  

Saturday, July 25, 2026

strident \ STRAHYD-nt \ , adjective; 

1. making or having a harsh sound; grating; creaking: strident insects; strident hinges . 
2. having a shrill, irritating quality or character: a strident tone in his writings . 
3. Linguistics . (in distinctive feature analysis) characterized acoustically by noise of relatively high intensity, as sibilants, labiodental and uvular fricatives, and most affricates.

Origin: Strident entered English in the mid-1600s from the Latin strīdēre meaning "to make a harsh noise."

Fwerking

• The act of fapping and twerking simultaneously. Some see as a dance move, others a sign of the devil.

"Dude check out this fwerking! 

"THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU"

History

• Caracas: Captain Diego de Losada founded Venezuela's capital, then known as Santiago de Leon de Caracas (1567)
• Henry IV of France: embraced Roman Catholicism for the second time; he had abandoned Protestantism in order to win Paris (1593)
• General of the Army: Ulysses S. Grant became the first officer to hold the US army's highest rank (1866)
• Bikini Atoll: America tested the first underwater atomic bomb (1946)
• Rock band YES released their debut album (1969) 
  test-tube baby: Louise Joy Brown, the first baby conceived by in vitro fertilization, was born in Oldham, England (1978)
• Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace: at the White House, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein agreed to end their official state of war (1994)

  

Birthdays

• Thomas Eakins 1844
  
• Morris Raphel Cohen 1880
• Walter Brennan 1894
• Eric Hoffer 1902
• Jack Gilford 1907
• Estelle Getty 1924
• Stanley Dancer 1927
• Don Ellis 1934
• Barbara Harris 1935
• John Pennel 1940
• Manuel Charlton (Nazareth) 1941
• Janet Margolin 1943
• Jim McCarty (Yardbirds) 1943
• Donna Theodore 1945
• Verdine White (Earth, Wind & Fire) 1951
• Walter Payton (NFL) 1954
• Iman 1955
• Ray Billingsley 1957
• Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) 1958
• Marty Brown 1965
• Illeana Douglas 1965
• Matt LeBlanc 1967 - Actor ("Friends")
• Brad Renfro 1982

  

 

  

Friday, July 24, 2026

prate \ preyt \ , verb; 

1. to talk excessively and pointlessly; babble: They prated on until I was ready to scream . 
2. to utter in empty or foolish talk: to prate absurdities with the greatest seriousness . 

noun: 

1. act of prating. 
2. empty or foolish talk. 

Origin: Prate finds its roots in the Middle Dutch praeten meaning "to speak." It came to English during the time when Middle English was spoken.

 

critical ass, adj. 

• The stage in fat accumulation when fabric can no longer contain the enormity of one's buttocks.

Jesus, I can't zip up these jeans anymore - I've reached critical ass!

lbd 

• LBD: Little Black Dress. A knee-length or shorter black dress, suitable for cocktail parties, etc.

The hunt for the perfect LBD has ended--I've got it!

 

Trivia

What futuristic 1948 car had a center headlight that turned with the steering wheel?

• The Tucker sedan, built by Preston Tucker. The swiveling “Cyclops eye” center beam enabled the motorist to see what lay ahead in the direction the car would be traveling.

History

• Detroit: La Ville d'Etroit, or "city of the strait," was founded by Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, a French fur trader (1701)
• Brigham Young: seeking a safe haven, the Mormon leader and his followers arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, in what is now Utah (1847)
• kitchen debate: US vice president Richard Nixon and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev debated the merits of capitalism vs. communism in a replica of an American kitchen, set up at the American National Exhibition in Moscow (1959)
• Watergate: the US Supreme Court ordered President Richard Nixon to turn over incriminating subpoenaed White House recordings (1974)

Birthdays

• Simon Bolivar 1783
• Alexander Dumas 1802
• Amelia Earhart 1898
• Chief Dan George 1899
• Cootie Williams 1908
• Vera (Salaff) 1910
• Frank Silvera 1914
• Bob Eberly 1915
• Bella Abzug 1920
• Alexander H. Cohen 1920
• Billy Taylor (Billy Taylor Trio) 1921
• Jaqueline Brookes 1930
• Doug Sanders 1933
• Rudy Collins (Dizzy Gillespie Quintet) 1934
• Pat Oliphant 1935
• Ruth Buzzi 1936
• Mark Goddard 1936
• Dan Hedaya 1940
• Barbara Jean Love (Friends of Distinction) 1941
  
• Cris Sarandon 1942
• Roger Lafreniere 1942
• Heinze Burt (The Tornadoes) 1942
• Robert Hayes 1947
• Michael Richards 1949
• Lynda Carter 1951
• Lynval Golding 1951
• Pam Tillis 1957
• Robbie Grey (Modern English) 1957
• Kadeem Hardison 1965
• Laura Leighton 1968
• John P. Navin Jr. 1968
• Jennifer Lopez 1970 - Singer, actress
• Summer Glau 1981
• Anna Paquin 1982
• Mara Wilson 1987