Word of the Week - 8-25-2008

Word of the Week
BRUMMAGEM
Pronunciation: \ˈbruh-mih-juhm\
Function: adjective
Etymology: alteration of Birmingham, England, the source in the 17th century of counterfeit groats
Date: 1637
: spurious; also : cheaply showy : tawdry


Interesting Fact
In the winter of 1925, a diphtheria epidemic raged among Eskimos in the Nome, Alaska area. Fierce statewide blizzard conditions prevented delivery of a life-saving serum by airplane from Anchorage. A relay of dog sled teams was organized to deliver the serum. The annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race commemorates this historic event.

How the city of Nome Alaska got its name is still under debate.

The city's name may come from a point of land located twelve miles (19 km) from the city. Cape Nome received its name from an error, when a British mapmaker copied a map annotation made by a British officer on a voyage up the Bering Strait. The officer had written "? Name" next to the unnamed cape. The mapmaker misread the annotation as "C. Nome", or Cape Nome, and used that name on his map. Other sources have noted that "Nome" is a place name in one or more Scandinavian countries, long pre-dating the use on the map in question, and it is possible that the town was named after Nome, Norway by a navigator or cartographer familiar with that place.

In February 1899, some local miners and merchants voted to change the name from Nome to Anvil City, because of the confusion with Cape Nome, 12 miles south, and the Nome River, the mouth of which is four miles (6 km) south of Nome. The United States Post Office in Nome refused to accept the change. Fearing a move of the post office to Nome City, a mining camp on the Nome River, the merchants unhappily agreed to change the name of Anvil City back to Nome.


Trivial Pursuit
Here are this week’s questions:
Global View (Geography):
What city erected a life-sized statue of sitcom character Mary Richards tossing her hat, in 2001?

Entertainment:
What British superstar crooned a 45-minute set at Pete Sampras’ wedding?

News:
What outfit withdrew a line of basketball shoes after complaints that their logo resembled the word “Allah” in Arabic script?

Written Word:
What magazine made Capitalist Tool fortune cookies – Forbes, Fortune or Money?

Life and Science:
What nation’s paleontologists discovered the largest dinosaur footprint ever seen, next to massive deposits of dinosaur dung, in 2001?

Games and Sports:
What nickname did Jamil Blackmon claim he’d coined for a 76ers superstar, in a 2001 lawsuit?


Here are last week’s answers:
Global View (Geography):
What Montana park will need a name change as a result of global warming, according to some rangers? Glacier National Park

Entertainment:
What Boys Don’t Cry co-star did Jay McInerney christen the new “It Girl”? Chloe Sevigny

News:
What Arab leader sued Le Nuovel Observateur for libel in 1997, for calling him a “poor simpleton”, a “cretin” and a “monster”? Saddam Hussein

Written Word:
What author donned a white suit, white gloves and white homburg for a 1998 Time cover? Tom Wolfe

Life and Science:
What technological marvel did investor John Doerr credit with sparking “the greatest legal creation of wealth in the history of the planet”? the internet

Games and Sports:
What state hosted the first U.S. bullfights with matadors wielding velcro-tipped banderillas? California