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Daily News Feed 5.25.2009/Vocab: fillip

Monday May 25, 2009 – By Clutch

dailyphoto090525 Ceremony Honors Blacks in the Military
Among several hundred people who gathered to celebrate African-American veterans in Roxbury’s General Edward O. Gourdin Park yesterday was the grand-nephew of the famed judge, general, and athlete for whom the park is named. Randall Tatum he wanted to celebrate his grand-uncle’s legacy. “There were just so many parts to him,” he said. The sixth annual African American Military Heritage Day, which was organized by the Organization of Afro-American Veterans, celebrated black military history from Crispus Attucks, who died in the Boston Massacre to service members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today. (Continue Reading…)

Fantasia Cleans House, Shoots for Timeless CD
American Idol winning singer Fantasia has a lot on her plate this year, one of the things she admits she’s focused on is her next album. While the effort is currently untitled, Fantasia says “I want to reach back to the audience I had from Idol. What I want is a timeless record”. Does that sound like a shift back to “Free Yourself,” her 2004 debut ? If so Fantasia may be headed back to performing songs like “Truth Is,” “Ain’t Gon Beg You” and the soul-stirring “Free Yourself” instead of venturing out on songs like “Hood Boy” (the lead single from her 2006 effort). (Continue Reading…)

Powell Fires Back in Debate Over GOP’s Future
Moderate Republicans to conservative Republicans: Turn down the volume — especially on Rush Limbaugh — and open your minds. The party’s future might be at stake. Such warnings about the GOP’s right wing, along with finger wagging about a “shrill” and “judgmental” tone, marked the moderate response in the latest back-and-forth within the Republican Party. Colin Powell and Tom Ridge argued on television’s Sunday talk shows that conservatives are steering the GOP too far to the right and not listening to other views within the party. Newt Gingrich, seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2012, agreed about broadening the base while political guru Karl Rove challenged Powell to lay out his vision and “back it up” by helping elect Republicans. (Continue Reading…)

fillip \FIL-uhp\, noun:

1. A snap of the finger forced suddenly from the thumb; a smart blow.
2. Something serving to rouse or excite; a stimulus.
3. A trivial addition; an embellishment.

transitive verb:
1. To strike with the nail of the finger, first placed against the ball of the thumb, and forced from that position with a sudden spring; to snap with the finger.
2. To snap; to project quickly.
3. To urge on; to provide a stimulus, by or as if by a fillip.

If any one in Mirgorod gives him a neckerchief or underclothes, he returns thanks; if any one gives him a fillip on the nose–he returns thanks then also. — Nikolai Gogol, “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich”

Resource: Dictionary.com