Today in History (April 26th):
1607: The first British colonists to establish a permanent settlement in America landed at Cape Henry, Va.
1711: Birthdays: Scottish philosopher David Hume.
1785: Birthdays: Naturalist John James Audubon.
1812: Birthdays: German industrialist Alfred Krupp.
1822: Birthdays: Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
1856: John Wilkes Booth was shot in a barn in Virginia by Boston Corbett.
1893: Birthdays: Author Anita Loos.
1894: Birthdays: Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s deputy.
1900: Birthdays: Inventor Charles Richter, responsible for the Richter scale of earthquake measurement; Baseball Hall of Fame member Hack Wilson.
1912: Birthdays: Writer A.E. van Vogt.
1914: Birthdays: Writer Bernard Malamud.
1917: Birthdays: Architect I.M. Pei.
1933: Birthdays: Actor/comedian Carol Burnett.
1937: During the Spanish Civil War, German-made planes destroyed the Basque town of Guernica, Spain.
1938: Birthdays: Pop guitarist Duane Eddy.
1942: Birthdays: Pop singer Bobby Rydell.
1958: Birthdays: Actor Giancarlo Esposito.
1961: Birthdays: Actor Joan Chen.
1964: Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged, forming the country of Tanzania.
1965: Birthdays: Actor Kevin James.
1986: A fire at the Soviet Union’s Chernobyl nuclear reactor north of Kiev resulted in the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
1993: Gunmen seized the Costa Rica Supreme Court, holding 17 judges and five other people hostage. The assailants freed their hostages three days later and were captured en route to the airport.
1994: South Africans began going to the polls in the country’s first election that was open to all. Four days of voting would elect Nelson Mandela president.
2002: A German youth who had been expelled from the Gutenberg school in Erfurt, Germany, returned to the school and shot 16 people to death.
2005: The last of Syria’s troops left Lebanon, ending a 29-year military presence.
2006: Solemn commemorative events in Ukraine and Russia marked the 20th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. The United Nations said about 9,000 people died from the accident but environmental groups contend the real toll is at least 10 times higher.
2007: New Hampshire lawmakers approved a measure legalizing civil unions between gay and lesbian couples.
2008: Officials in Morocco said at least 55 people were killed and 12 injured in a fire that swept through a Casablanca mattress factory.
2010: A Gulf of Mexico oil slick created by a drilling rig blast had covered 1,800 square miles in less than one week while officials sought to cap a leak estimated at 42,000 gallons a day. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, sought by the International Criminal Court in connection with reputed crimes against humanity in the Darfur section of western Sudan, was re-elected in a controversial vote.
2011: Mexican authorities announced the discovery of mass graves containing nearly 300 bodies. The dead were believed to be victims of drug wars that had claimed close to 35,000 lives since 2006.
2012: a U.N.-backed court convicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor of war crimes, including murder, acts of terrorism, rape, sexual slavery and use of child soldiers, for aiding rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Quotes
“The best proof of love is trust.” – Joyce Brothers
“Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” – Pablo Picasso, painter, and sculptor (1881-1973)
“Life is something that happens when you can’t get to sleep.” – Fran Leibowitz, author (b. 1950)
“The soundest argument will produce no more conviction in an empty head than the most superficial declamation; as a feather and a guinea fall with equal velocity in a vacuum.” – Charles Caleb Colton, author and clergyman (1780-1832)
Artemus Ward (1834-1867) American writer:
“I have already given two cousins to the war and I stand ready to sacrifice my wife’s brother.”
“I’m not a politician and my other habits are good.”
“Let us all be happy, and live within our means, even if we have to borrow the money to do it with.”
“Why is this thus? What is the reason for this thusness?”
“Draw your salary before spending it.”
“My pollertics, like my religion, being of an exceedin’ accomodatin’ character.”
shirty
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http://wordsmith.org/words/shirty.mp3
MEANING: (adjective), Bad-tempered, irritable.
ETYMOLOGY: From the expression “to get someone’s shirt out” to annoy or to lose one’s temper. Earliest documented use: 1846.
USAGE: “We can appreciate why Lukie Muhlemann is a little agitated and shirty, but he should remember that CSFB is essentially a law unto itself.” – Ian Kerr; A Week in the Markets; Euroweek (London); Jan 26, 2001.
Explore “shirty” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=shirty
touché
PRONUNCIATION: (too-SHAY)
http://wordsmith.org/words/touche.mp3
MEANING: (interjection)
1. Used as an acknowledgment of a valid or clever point made by another.
2. In fencing, an acknowledgment of a hit by an opponent.
ETYMOLOGY: From French touché (touched), past participle of toucher (to touch), from Latin toccare (to touch). Earliest documented use: 1904.
USAGE: “A New Jersey teacher wrote: ‘I am tired of people who have never taught a roomful of 34 high school students telling me I am doing it wrong.’Touché.” – Thomas Massaro; Beyond Doubt; America (New York); Feb 13, 2012.
sass
PRONUNCIATION: (sas)
http://wordsmith.org/words/sass.mp3
MEANING:
(noun), Impudent talk; back talk.
(verb tr.), To talk disrespectfully, especially to someone older or in authority.
ETYMOLOGY: Back-formation from sassy, alteration of saucy, from sauce, from Latin salsa, from sallere (to salt), from sal (salt). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sal- (salt) that is also the source of silt, sausage, salad, salami, salary, and salmagundi.
USAGE:
“Madea ran to the edge of the stage with a gun after thinking someone in the audience was sassing her.” – Kevin C. Johnson; Love Him or Hate Him, Tyler Perry is All Over the Place; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Apr 18, 2010.
“I raised you so you wouldn’t talk back to me or sass me.” – Lawanda Randall; Telling Tales: The Tree of Love; The World & I (Washington, DC); Feb 1995.
Explore “sass” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=sass
maritorious
PRONUNCIATION: (ma-ri-TOR-ee-uhs)
http://wordsmith.org/words/maritorious.mp3
MEANING: (adjective), Excessively fond of one’s husband.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin maritus (married, husband).
NOTES: The word to describe a husband who is excessively fond of a wife is uxorious. The word maritorious is rare, while uxorious is fairly well known. What does that say about the relative fondness of husbands and wives to each other?
USAGE: “Dames maritorious ne’er were meritorious.” – George Chapman; The Tragedy of Bussy D’Ambois; 1607.
Plurality Presents a ‘Pair’adox
Q: What is the plural of “pair”? I always thought it was “two pairs,” but I often see “two pair of socks.” –Geri Chmil via email
A: If you’ve seen two pair of socks, you’re doing better than I am. I have enough trouble finding one pair of socks that match!
Appropriately enough, I’ll give you a pair of opinions. Linguistic purists prefer “pairs” as the plural of “pair,” e.g., “two pairs of socks.” But more permissive commentators see nothing wrong with the plural “pair,” e.g., “two pair of socks.”
For some reason, we seem to use “pair” most often when referring to clothing; that is, we’re more likely to say “two pair of shoes,” than we are “two pair of oars” or “two pair of tires.” Call it the a-“pair”-el factor.
This topic raises a related “pair” question: Should you say “a pair is” or “a pair are”?
As with other collective nouns, such as “couple,” “faculty” and “team,” you should use a singular verb when thinking of the pair as a unit and use a plural verb when thinking of the pair as two individuals. So you’d say, “this pair of trees is blocking my view,” but “this pair of trees are crowding each other.”
Q: One of my favorite bugaboos is the common response to “thank you” — “no problem.” Where was the implication that there was a problem? –Bob Richter, Los Angeles
A: Your use of the wonderful term “bugaboos” suggests that you’re probably not a 20-something — just guessing! In fact, “no problem” has become something of a generational marker. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone over 30 use it, while I’ve rarely heard anyone under 30 say, “You’re welcome.”
It’s funny, but I’m less bothered by “no problem” than I was when it first emerged during the 1980s. The logic behind the term is that the person being thanked had no problem or difficulty accomplishing the appreciated service or task. So this would imply that the person performed it willingly and cheerfully.
If you think about it, “no problem” is really no less logical than “You’re welcome,” which implies that the person being thanked renders the kindness gladly and heartily, as in “You’re welcome to use the pool.”
“You’re welcome” certainly does seem to be fading. When TV anchors thank interviewees, for instance, the response is almost always, “Thank YOU.”
Give me a hearty “You’re welcome!” any day.
Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
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