summing up Re: MDDM hist. refs re non-Intervention, W & G &Martha

[Doug Millison]

Terrance wrote:
>Wack!
>
>I can see
 feet nailed together


Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 00:03:08 -0400
From: Wordsmith <wsmith at wordsmith.org>
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--roman holiday


Roman holiday (RO-muhn HOL-i-day) noun

   An entertainment event where pleasure is derived from watching gore
   and barbarism.

[From the gladiatorial contests held in ancient Rome.]

   "There were his young barbarians all at play;
   There was their Dacian mother: he, their sire,
   Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday!"
   Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto iv. Stanza 141.

   "Perry Ryan: I think maybe the press was a bit sensational because
   they were disappointed that the female sheriff they thought was
   going to perform the execution didn't actually do it, and as a
   consequence, the story became what a Roman holiday that this was
   in Owensboro."
   Laurie Howell, Last Public Execution That Was Held in Owensboro,
   Kentucky, in 1936, Weekly Edition, National Public Radio, May 5, 2001.

This week's theme: terms employing various nationalities.


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(1894-1963)

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/roman_holiday.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/roman_holiday.ram