Saturday, July 30, 2011
gazump \guh-ZUHMP\, verb:
- To cheat (a house buyer) by raising the price, at the time a contract is to be signed, over the amount originally agreed upon.
Gazump evolves from the earlier gazoomph, "to swindle," which is an argot (jargon among thieves) word of uncertain origin.
Facebook necrologist
- a person who never misses a chance to post a "R.I.P. insert name" status update in Facebook as soon as any celebrity dies.
My News Feed is full of fucking Facebook necrologists updating me on Amy Winehouse's death for 38th time in the last 2 hours.
Trivia
What is an ultracrepidarian?
- A person who voices opinions beyond his or her scope of knowledge.
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 Brontë (1818-1848): the author of Wuthering Heights- Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929): political economist who coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption" in his The Theory of the Leisure Class
- Henry Ford (1863-1947): inventor who popularized mass production with the Ford Motor Company
- Casey Stengel (1890-1975): manager of the NY Yankees who led them to five straight championships
- Henry Moore (1898-1986): sculptor of reclining figures
- Simon Baker (42): The Mentalist, Patrick Jane; also, actors Jean Reno (63), Ken Olin (57), Delta Burke (55), Laurence Fishburne (50), Lisa Kudrow (48), Vivica A. Fox (47), Terry Crews (43), Hilary Swank (37), Jaime Pressly (34) and Yvonne Strahovski (29)
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