Word of the Week - 8-4-2008

Word of the Week
INVEIGLE
Pronunciation: \in-ˈvay-guhl sometimes -ˈvee-\
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Anglo-French enveegler, aveogler, avogler to blind, hoodwink, from avogle, enveugle blind, from Medieval Latin ab oculis, literally, lacking eyes
Date: 1539
1 : to win over by wiles : entice
2 : to acquire by ingenuity or flattery : wangle

Interesting Fact
Thomas P. Crapper (28 September 1836 - 27 January 1910) was a plumber who founded Thomas Crapper & Co. Ltd. in London. Despite the urban legend, Crapper did not invent the flush toilet. However, Crapper did much to increase its popularity and came up with some related inventions.

Crapper was born in Waterside, Yorkshire, in September. His father Charles was a steamboat captain. At the age of 14, Crapper was apprenticed to a master plumber in Chelsea, London. After his apprenticeship and three years as a journeyman plumber, in 1861 he founded his own company.

Thomas Crapper did not invent all of the flush toilet — some credit for that is usually given to Sir John Harington in 1596, with Alexander Cummings' 1775 toilet regarded as the first of the modern line and George Jennings installing the first public toilets at The Great Exhibition in 1851 — but he did help increase its popularity. He was a shrewd businessman, salesman and self-publicist. In a time when bathroom fixtures were barely spoken of, he heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the bathroom fittings showroom.

Crapper held nine patents, three of them for water closet improvements such as the floating ballcock, but none were for the flush toilet itself.

Trivial Pursuit
Here are this week’s questions:
Global View (Geography):
What was the only nation besides the U.S. with at least 59 active nuclear power reactors, in 2000?

Entertainment:
Who insisted: “I have no interest in producing a ‘B. Pitty’ clothing line”?

News:
What continent were Ranulph Fiennes and Mike Stroud the first two people to cross on foot without animals or machines, in 1993?

Written Word:
What staple is referred to as “Uncle Fred” in a Cockney slang translation of the Bible?

Life and Science:
What fairy-tale name do astronomers give to planetary orbits in “a region of space that is not too hot and not too cold” for life to evolve?

Games and Sports:
What ominous image, repeated three times on the 2001 Titanic slot machine, means a jackpot?


Here are last week’s answers:
Global View (Geography):
What Manhattan institution at Broadway and 80th street5 is hailed as the world’s best-stocked deli? Zabar’s

Entertainment:
What punk’s days gabbing “Gabba gabba hey” were silenced by cancer in 2001? Joey Ramone

News:
What Speaker of the House defined himself as “Teacher of the Rules of Civilization” in notes released by the Ethics Committee? Newt Gingrich

Written Word:
What singer titled a slim volume of essays, poetry and sketches Chasing Down the Dream? Jewel

Life and Science:
What animals puffed crack-laced cigarettes for R.J. Reynolds in 1989, as part of tests to develop a safer cigarette – baboons, cats, or rats? Baboons

Games and Sports:
What team’s announcer Rodger Brulotte coined the home run call: “Bonsoir, elle est partie”? The Montreal Expos