DAILY BRIEFING

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

BACHELOR
   
Unmarried man.    
When this term first appeared in the 13th century it denoted a man    
on the lowest rung of knighthood, a squire who was still under the    
banner of someone more senior and thus not ready to take on the    
cost of marriage. The ultimate source of the word is uncertain but it    
might derive from the Latin baculum, "staff," referring to the staff    
with which the squire trained.    
By the 14thcentury, the term had passed from its original military    
meaning into general speech, still with overtones of lowly status.    
It was adopted by rural communities to describe a man without    
his own land and therefore bonded to an agreement to work for    
a richer man as tenure for his house and land. As a "house-bond"    
(husband), a bachelor was a good prospect for a girl seeking security    
and stability. The term has continued to mean a man suitable for    
marriage ever since.    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

THAT'LL BE THE DAY
    
Never.    
The Prussian officer corps of World War I believed in the imminence    
of Der Tag, "The Day" when the German military elite would defeat    
the British and rise to its rightful prominence in Europe. It became    
the standard toast of German officers and the theme of so many    
newspaper articles and books that the British military countered with    
"that'll be the day," which was first heard as a cat-call across no-man's    
land before becoming the title of so many songs, books, and films    
that its popularity still endures.    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

BAFFLE
   
To confuse.    
"Baffle" has its roots in terms such as the early French baffer, the    
Italian beffare, and the Iberian bafa, all meaning "mockery." It first    
appeared in English in the 16th century to describe the public    
humiliation of a disgraced knight who was hung upside down from    
a tree for the local peasantry to ill-treat. After being swung about    
and battered, the butt of the joke was more than a little disoriented    
when let down, so by the opening of the 17th century "baffle" was    
employed much as it is today.    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

ROSTRUM
    
Platform for public speakers.    
"Rostrum" was first used for the Speakers' Platform in Rome after it was decorated with the prows (rostra)of enemy ships captured in 338 BC at Antium. Antium, now known as Anzio, was the scene of the 1944 Allied landings in Italy.   
.    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

BOOMERANG
   
Primitive weapon; any person or object that keeps returning.    
Before the first Europeans had even heard of Australia, natives of    
that country had been using wo-mur-rang for a type of club and wo-   
mer-ra for an extension stick they used to whip-throw a bumarin, a    
short spear. Eighteenth-century whites seem to have conflated all    
these terms to produce "boomerang" in reference to the wooden,    
angled blade, a term until then unheard anywhere on the continent.    
No boomerang can be thrown at an enemy to deliver a fatal blow    
and return to its owner; any boomerang striking its target stays with    
the victim. The returning boomerang is virtually unknown in much    
of Australia, where only the hunting variety is used; this travels in a    
straight line, is thrown in a completely different way, and is absolutely    
lethal. In the areas where the returning boomerang is known, it is    
mainly used for fun or sometimes in hunting when it is thrown above    
a raft of ducks, which, mistaking it for a hovering bird of prey, take    
off in panic and fly into netting-traps.    
Although the links between the weapon and Australia are    
indissoluble in the general mind, the device is far from unique to that    
continent. The Ancient Egyptians used boomerangs in war and leisure,    
as did peoples of India, Africa, and Native Americans. More recently,    
"boomerang surfaced in American military jargon as the name of a    
sniper-detection device that uses multidirectional acoustics to pinpoint    
a shooter's position by homing straight back down the soundwaves    
from the muzzle blast. In general use, the term describes anyone or    
anything that, like a bad penny, just keeps coming home to roost.    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

RIVALS
    
Contenders.    
First noted in the late 1500s, "rivals" is a simple derivation from "river," since such geographical features have long formed natural boundaries between warring factions and nations.    

[urleft]

Did you Know?

Gangnam is a territory in Seoul, Korea, it is the wealthy district kind of like Beverly Hills. 

So Gangman Style is all about the wealthly sexy ladies of that area and PSY wanting to get in their pants.  BTW Oppa means big brother.


The Song translated: 

Oppa is Gangnam style
Gangnam style

A girl who is warm and humanly during the day
A classy girl who know how to enjoy the freedom of a cup of coffee
A girl whose heart gets hotter when night comes
A girl with that kind of twist

I’m a guy
A guy who is as warm as you during the day
A guy who one-shots his coffee before it even cools down
A guy whose heart bursts when night comes
That kind of guy

Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let’s go until the end

Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh

A girl who looks quiet but plays when she plays
A girl who puts her hair down when the right time comes
A girl who covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who bares it all
A sensable girl like that

I’m a guy
A guy who seems calm but plays when he plays
A guy who goes completely crazy when the right time comes
A guy who has bulging ideas rather than muscles
That kind of guy

Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let’s go until the end

Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh

On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby
I’m a man who knows a thing or two
On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby
I’m a man who knows a thing or two

You know what I’m saying
Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh

http://www.businessinsider.com/gangnam-style-translation-2012-9

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

OVER THE TOP    
    
Flamboyant theatricals.    
This is British Army slang from World War I, when it meant to go    
over the top of the trench and attack, an activity usually marked    
by a great deal of shouting and yelling. By extension. anyone over-    
reacting to a minor annoyance was told that there was no need to    
go "over the top " about it. The expression began to be widely used in    
England in the 1980s, and is now often abbreviated to "OTT."    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

JERRY, JERRYCAN
    
German or fuel can.    
Used in World War I but not popular until World War 11,"Jerry" was    
a British dig at the shape of the pudding-bowl style of helmet that was    
standard issue in the German Army, and which was similar in profile    
to a chamber pot, then nicknamed a "jerry." That in turn was based on    
the biblical Jeroboam, the "mighty man of valor," whose name is still    
used for any large bowl or wine bottle. As for the fuel can, it refers to    
the 5-gallon fuel cans carried by Rommel's long-range desert patrols,    
and the nickname has stuck to this day. BOCHE and HUN    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

JANITOR
   
Caretaker of a building.    
Always portrayed as two-faced so he could look both ways, the    
ancient Roman god Janus was the god of doorways and thus of    
opportunity, especially in warfare. The Romans saw him as    
responsible for what they termed "the magic of war," by which    
sudden and inexplicable events could suddenly turn the tide in a    
battle. During times of war his temple doors were left open to allow    
him to intervene as and when he saw fit, and kept closed in times    
of peace in case he decided to start something. Naturally, it was his    
association with doorways which gave his name to a building's    
janitor, who has keys to all the doors, and to the month of January,    
the doorway between any two years. Those of a less-than-trustful    
nature are still called "Janus-faced." TROPHY    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?
 
OSTRACIZE
    
Shun from society.    
Excessive popularity was a double-edged sword for public figures    
in Ancient Greece. Citizens could vote each year to exile a prominent    
figure who threatened the state's stability. Often these men were    
powerful generals, such as Themistocles and Aristides. Each year    
the Athenian assembly organized a ballot to see if anyone attracted    
sufficient votes to warrant their temporary banishment. The votes were    
cast on a piece of bone or seashell, known in Greek as ostrakon. Anyone    
who found too many ostraka in their ballot-box had to take themselves    
off into exile for a stipulated number of years under pain of death for    
early return. Although the term is noted in English as early as the mid-    
1600s, it was not popular until the opening of the 19th century, by    
which time it was used more broadly of those shunned by polite society.    
   

[rufusredtail]

BRIGAND

bandit.   
   
Ultimately deriving from the Italian brigare,"to fight or quarrel," this    
word first appeared in medieval Italy as brigata, any group of bandits    
extracting blackmail from rural towns and settlements. Through    
mercenary affiliations, these irregulars gradually morphed into    
formal military units, hence "brigade" and "brigadier."    
The French Army under King Louis XIV seems to have been the    
first to formalize the rank, applying it to regimental commanders,    
and the British followed suit soon after. A royal warrant of 1699 states    
that: "The Major General of Our Ordinance within Our Kingdom    
for the time being shall have the rank and precedency as Brigadier."    
Even a corporal in the Life Guards of the 1670s was a commissioned    
officer referred to as a brigadier, while up until the 1960s in the    
French Army "brigadier" denoted a corporal, so the term has enjoyed    
a varied career to say the least.    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

BREAD AND CIRCUSES
   
Cynical gimmicks to distract attention from real issues.    
The expression dates from the writings of the Roman poet Juvenal (AD    
60-140), specifically his Satire X, lines 77-81, in which he laments    
the wane of Roman military power and grandeur, which he says is    
occasioned by the apathy of the people who now only hanker after two    
things: free grain and increasingly violent spectacles in the arena.    
The cost of grain had long been subsidized in Rome but in 123 BC    
Gaius Sempronius Gracchus lowered it to a ridiculous figure.    
In 58 BC, in a blatant move to buy favor with the people, Publius    
Clodius Pulcher initiated a free monthly grain ration. By the    
time of Augustus in 27 BC more than 250,000 Romans were on    
the grain-dole to keep them contented. Putting on spectacles in    
the arena to keep the people happy was a crucial part of a Roman    
magistrate's job, and helped ensure his popularity and thus votes in    
future elections.    
The expression has been modified by various cultures but    
always encompasses the same i4ea of nostalgia for former glories.    
Nineteenth-century Cuban journals such as El Figaro and El Esquife    
both chided their readers for being placated with bread and dancing,    
while Spanish newspapers accused their readership of selling out for    
bread and bullfights.    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

RESTAURANT
    
Public dining facility.    
Although there were rooms in 1860s Paris that could be hired for    
private functions, it was not until the French Revolution (1789-99)    
that a restaurant came to mean a walk-in establishment that catered    
to the ordinary people.    
As the nobility were killed at the guillotine, Paris was left teeming    
with unemployed chefs, wine experts, butlers, and assorted servants    
who, knowing no other trade, set up shop cooking and serving food.    
The establishments were called restaurants, from the French for "to    
restore" or "to restock (oneself)," restaurer.    

[wombatballs]

I really enjoy rufisredtail's daily briefing. Have you noticed his post numbers never go up from 362, why is this so.