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Wowserism
"Wowser" is an Australian and New Zealand term that refers to a person who seeks to deprive others of behaviour deemed to be immoral or sinful. History The term originated in Australia, at first carrying a similar meaning to "lout" (an annoying or disruptive person, or even a prostitute). Around 1900 it shifted to its present meaning: one whose sense of morality drives them to deprive others of their sinful pleasures, especially liquor. The term was particularly applied to members of temperance groups such as the antipodean branches of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. John Norton, editor of the Australian scandal newspaper, ''Truth'', claimed he first used the word in 1899, a claim supported by the OED. However some authors claim that the present meaning originated from an Australian temperance slogan, "We Only Want Social Evils Remedied." This apparent backronym is considered a "less credible provenance" by the ANU. The Australian writer C. J. Dennis defined it thu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Encyclopedia Of New Zealand
''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' is an online encyclopedia established in 2001 by the New Zealand Government's Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The web-based content was developed in stages over the next several years; the first sections were published in 2005, and the last in 2014 marking its completion. ''Te Ara'' means "the pathway" in the Māori language, and contains over three million words in articles from over 450 authors. Over 30,000 images and video clips are included from thousands of contributors. History New Zealand's first recognisable encyclopedia was '' The Cyclopedia of New Zealand'', a commercial venture compiled and published between 1897 and 1908 in which businesses or people usually paid to be covered. In 1966 the New Zealand Government published '' An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'', its first official encyclopedia, in three volumes. Although now superseded by ''Te Ara'', its historical importance led to its inclusion as a separate digital re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pericles
Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens".Thucydides, 2.65 Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", but the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars or as late as the following century. Pericles promoted the arts and literature, and it is principally through his efforts that Athens acquired the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious project that generated most of the surviving stru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Terminology In Australia
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science. It may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and nonviolent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but also often carries a negative connotation.. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or limitedly, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it. A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising internal and external force, including war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pejorative Terms For People
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a term is regarded as pejorative in some social or ethnic groups but not in others, or may be originally pejorative but later adopt a non-pejorative sense (or vice versa) in some or all contexts. Etymology The word ''pejorative'' is derived from a Late Latin past participle stem of ''peiorare'', meaning "to make worse", from ''peior'' "worse". Pejoration and melioration In historical linguistics, the process of an inoffensive word becoming pejorative is a form of semantic drift known as pejoration. An example of pejoration is the shift in meaning of the word ''silly'' from meaning that a person was happy and fortunate to meaning that they are foolish and unsophisticated. The process of pejoration can repeat itself around a single concept, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Slang
Australian English is a major variety of the English language spoken throughout Australia. Most of the vocabulary of Australian English is shared with British English, though there are notable differences. The vocabulary of Australia is drawn from many sources, including various dialects of British English as well as Gaelic languages, some Indigenous Australian languages, and Polynesian languages. One of the first dictionaries of Australian slang was Karl Lentzner's ''Dictionary of the Slang-English of Australia and of Some Mixed Languages'' in 1892. The first dictionary based on historical principles that covered Australian English was E. E. Morris's ''Austral English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases and Usages'' (1898). In 1981, the more comprehensive ''Macquarie Dictionary of Australian English'' was published. Oxford University Press published the ''Australian Oxford Dictionary'' in 1999, in concert with the Australian National University. Oxford University P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larrikinism
Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning "a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good hearted person", or "a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions". In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the term generally meant "a lout, a hoodlum" or "a young urban rough, a hooligan", meanings which became obsolete. Etymology The word ''larrikin'' was a dialect term meaning "mischievous or frolicsome youth" originating from the West Midlands region of England (particularly the counties of Worcestershire and Warwickshire). It was also related to the verb ''to larrack'' in the Yorkshire dialect, meaning 'to lark about'. While ''larrikin'' eventually fell into disuse in its place of origin, the word started to become widely used in the streets of Melbourne from the late 1860s. The term ''larrikin'' was reported in an English dialect dictionary in 1905, referring to 'a mischievous or frolicsome youth'. The word ''lupikin'', from Sco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teetotaller
Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is simply said to be teetotal. Globally, almost half of adults do not drink alcohol (excluding those who used to drink but have stopped). Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the ''tee-'' in ''teetotal'' is the letter T, so it is actually ''t-total'', though it was never spelled that way. The word is first recorded in 1832 in a general sense in an American source, and in 1833 in England in the context of abstinence. Since at first it was used in other contexts as an emphasised form of ''total'', the ''tee-'' is presumably a reduplication of the first letter of ''total'', much as contemporary idiom today might say "total with a capital T". The teetotalism movement was first started in Preston, England, in the early 19th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North American box office, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received various awards and nominations, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards and seven Primetime Emmy Awards. Damon began his acting career in the film '' Mystic Pizza'' (1988). He continued acting in ''Courage Under Fire'' (1996) and '' The Rainmaker'' (1997). He gained prominence in 1997 when he and Ben Affleck wrote and starred in ''Good Will Hunting'', which won them the Academy and Golden Globe awards for Best Screenplay. He established himself as a leading man by starring as Tom Ripley in ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (1999), Jason Bourne in the ''Bourne'' franchise (200 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including two Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also earned nominations for an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards and 11 Primetime Emmy Awards. His Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony nominations make him one of few black individuals to be nominated for the four major American entertainment awards (EGOT). Following early roles in ''Hamburger Hill'' (1987), and as the gangster "Rocket" in the film ''Colors'' (1988), Cheadle built his career in the 1990s with roles in ''Devil in a Blue Dress'' (1995), '' Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault'' (1996), ''Rosewood'' (1997), and '' Boogie Nights'' (1997). His collaboration with director Steven Soderbergh resulted in the films ''Out of Sight'' (1998), ''Traffic'' (2000), ''The Ocean's Trilogy'' (2001–2007), and ''No Sudden Move'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ocean's Thirteen
''Ocean's Thirteen'' (stylized as ''Ocean's 13'') is a 2007 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. It is the final installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy and the sequel to ''Ocean's Twelve'' (2004). The film features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy García, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Ellen Barkin, Al Pacino, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner, and Elliott Gould. Filming began in July 2006 in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The film was screened as an Out of Competition presentation at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival on May 24, 2007, and was released theatrically in the United States on June 8, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $311.7 million worldwide. Plot Reuben Tishkoff builds a hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip; against advice from his friend and erstwhile criminal partner, D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Mercury
''The American Mercury'' was an American magazine published from 1924Staff (Dec. 31, 1923)"Bichloride of Mercury."''Time''. to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured writing by some of the most important writers in the United States through the 1920s and 1930s. After a change in ownership in the 1940s, the magazine attracted conservative writers, including William F. Buckley. A second change in ownership in the 1950s turned the magazine into a far-right and virulently anti-Semitic publication. It was published monthly in New York City. The magazine went out of business in 1981, having spent the last 25 years of its existence in decline and controversy. History H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan had previously edited ''The Smart Set'' literary magazine, when not producing their own books and, in Mencken's case, regular journalism for ''The Baltimore Sun''. With their mutual book publisher Alfred A. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athenian Coup Of 411 BC
The Athenian coup of 411 BC was the result of a revolution that took place during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. The coup overthrew the democratic government of ancient Athens and replaced it with a short-lived oligarchy known as the Four Hundred. In the wake of the financial crisis caused by the failed Sicilian Expedition of the Athenian military in 413 BC, some high-status Athenian men, who had disliked the broad-based democracy of the city-state for a long time, sought to establish an oligarchy of the elite. They believed that they could manage foreign, fiscal, and war policies better than the existing government. The movement toward oligarchy was led by a number of prominent and wealthy Athenians, who held positions of power in the Athenian army at Samos in coordination with Alcibiades. Background By the time of the Peloponnesian War, the democracy in Athens was approximately 100 years old. Most of the upper class accepted this form of government, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
