Vol.
1 No. 1
December 6, 2004
|
|
 |
WHAT
THE?
Ever one for amassing a vast knowledge of meaningless facts,
I decided one day that it would be fun to amass them in a
central location and share them with others. Each week, I
plan on sending out whatever knowledge I’ve gained that
week, so people have something fun to read every Monday morning.
The goal of this little publication is to make you go “ahh,”
and hopefully it will succeed. After a few weeks, you too
will know more than you ever wanted to.
QUOTE
OF THE WEEK
“Speak
when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will
ever regret.”
—Ambrose Bierce
THIS
WEEK IN HISTORY
DEC.
20, 1860: South Carolina officially leaves the United
States when a convention ratifies an article of secession.
South Carolina, the first state to secede, was followed within
a few weeks by six other states, which collectively formed
the Confederate States of America. When hostilities erupted
in April 1861, four more states joined the Confederacy.
DEC. 21, 1945: General George S. Patton, commander
of the U.S. 3rd Army, dies in Germany from injuries suffered
not in battle but as a result of a blood clot caused by a
freak car accident. He was 60 years old.
Source: historychannel.com. |
 |
3
WORDS
Memorize these by week's end and you shall
quickly develop an enviable lexicon.
| scabrous (SKAB-rus) adjective |
| 1. |
|
difficult
(We found ourselves in a scabrous situation) |
| 2. |
|
rough to the touch; having small, raised dots or patches (The dragon's scabrous skin was rough to the touch) |
| 3. |
|
dealing with indecent or scandalous themes (The film was far too scabrous for my taste) |
cloying adjective |
| 1. |
|
something originally pleasing that is made disgusting or distasteful by excess (The air was full of the cloying smell of sweet perfume) |
| 2. |
|
excessively sweet or sentimental (We just finished watching a cloying romantic comedy) |
surfeit (SUR-fit) noun |
| 1. |
|
an overabundant supply (There appears to be a surfeit of unqualified applicants this year) |
| 2. |
|
excessive indulgence in something (My friend's surfeit in liquor is a source of constant amazement for me) |
| 3. |
|
disgust caused by excess (Try using it in a sentence in this way) |
|
ETYMOLOGY 101 |
The
littlest discoveries can also be the coolest. I was flipping
through a thesaurus (I know.who does that?) and came across
synonyms for “morning” and “evening.”
How many of us know what “AM” and “PM”
stand for anyways? A common misconception is that it stands
for “Post Meridian,” in the sense that it refers
to the Prime Meridian, that imaginary line that passes through
Greenwich, England. Naturally, once the sun passes its zenith
over that point, it's afternoon in England.
Actually, PM is Latin for post
meridiem, which
means, quite literally, “after midday.” (from
post “after” + meri “mid” + diem “day”)
Meridian and meridiem
are basically the same word, but the distinction between the
imaginary line and midday is an important one.
Similarly, AM is shorthand for ante
meridiem, or
“before midday.” It’s interesting to note that in poker, the
bet placed before the cards are dealt is
called the “ante.” Next time you're playing cards with friends
who care about this kind of thing, you can bust out this wad
of newfound knowledge. |
|
