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From the old French word for knighthood, "chevalerie", the art of being a chevalier (a knight or horseman).
This was originally a system by which mounted warriors were to act, but while service to their people is touched upon the general goal of medieval knights was not saving many a damsel in distress, devotion to God, or enforcing justice; most knights defined chivalry as warfare and obtaining fame and fortune in the name of their king(s) and without any display of cowardice in battle. In a sense, it's hardly different from joining the military for the benefits that it offers, including the money that pours in from the business of war. Chivalry was basically a boy's culture: fighting other men, riding horses, power and profit and the ability to exploit that power.
The modern notion of chivalry as courtesy to women has tenuous links to chivalry as it was originally conceived. Perhaps courtly love (coined in 1883 to describe the worship of a married noblewoman by a lowly troubadour or knight and his vow to do great deeds in her honor) influenced this notion, but courtly love is, for all intents and purposes, adultery (very dangerous to both participants) and to what extent that courtly love was ever practiced remains unknown.
Chivalry, for the most part, was the opposite of the Geneva Convention; it was all about making a profit on war. The image of an honorable knight saving a fair maiden from a dragon is not much more than sheer fantasy, and most of it seems to stem from the Victorian era; the Victorians, in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, looked at the Middle Ages through rose colored glasses as an idyllic place of pre-industrial innocence, projecting their own ideals of men and women onto the knight and the damsel in distress. A real knight in shining armor was actually more like a trained assassin and the local rapist rolled into one and the damsel in distress, a helpless shrinking violet, never really existed.
520π 183π
A female rapper. Known largely for swearing like a sailor, in her singing and otherwise: it mostly involves bragging about sexual exploits.
Why just "lil kim"? Why not fit in more discriptions of her, like obsc'ne, logom'niac'l, perv'rse, or k'nky?
234π 202π
Also see procreation, sexual intercourse, breeding.
The infamous name of a village in Austria. Visitors from other countries (and especially the English speakers) are known to get into trouble for stealing the signs (why they try it, I don't know.). The name comes from the name of it's alleged founder, "Focko", and the Germanic suffix "ing" (meaning "people of"). The word has no visible links to the English word, but the locals know by now exactly what it means in English, and are quite embarrassed by it.
Under the town's name is the phrase "Please - Not So Fast!"
Fucking, Austria, conveniently located an hour from the German town of Petting. I recommend going there first.
Other fun places to go to:
* Gropecunt Lane (London, England)
* Bastard (Norway)
* Beaver (Oklahoma, USA)
* Beaver Head (Idaho, USA)
* Bell End near Lickey End (Wales, UK) *
* Bird-in-Hand (Pennsylvania, USA)
* Big Knob (Kentucky, USA)
* Big Ugly (West Virginia)
* Black Charlie's Opening (Australia)
* Blue Ball, near Intercourse (Pennsylvania, USA)
* Brown Willy (Cornwall,UK)
* Chinaman's Knob (Australia)
* Climax (Colorado, USA)
* Cockburn (Australia)
* Cooter (Missouri, USA)
* Cunt (Spain)
* Lickey End (West Midlands, UK)
* Knob Lick (Missouri, USA)
* Muff (Northern Ireland) (famous for "Muff Diving")
* Twatt (Orkney, Scotland)
* Pis Pis River (Nicaragua)
* Phuket (Thailand)
* Prickwillow (England)
* Pussy Creak (Ireland)
* Seaman (Ohio, USA)
* Pound and Beaver (5 miles apart in NE Wisconsin, USA)
* Sexmoan (Luzon, Philippines)
* Shag Island (Indian Ocean)
* Titting (Germany)
* Tittybong (Australia)
* Titty Ho (England)
* Wank (Germany)
* Wanker's Corner (Oregon USA)
* Wankie (Zimbabwe)
* Wet Beaver Creek (Australia)
* Wetwang (East Yorkshire, UK)
* Wideopen (Newcastle UK)
* Willey (Herefordshire, UK)
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A doll by another name, differing from a doll by being designed for tough, aggressive, "masculine" situations. Used by males to disguise their insecurity with being associated with traditionally "feminine" things. Just like a kilt is not caled a "skirt".
"Action figure"? What does that mean anyway? Is it an active thing? What does it mean? Call it what you like it, but any way that you look at it, an "action figure" is a doll by another name; "That which we call a rose/By any other word would smell as sweet."-Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
172π 115π
(1907-1915) A ship contemporary with the Titanic. One of the biggest and fastest ocean liners of her time, this four-funneled luxury liner was carrying a secret cargo of military supplies for the British in WWI; Germany, blockaded by the British, newly-equipped with U-boats (which Churchill ordered rammed on site), and aware of this smuggling on the part of the British, warned that any British or American ship thought to be carrying war supplies would be liable to attack, regardless of the safety of passengers or crew. The 1259 passengers and 701 crew who boarded the Lusitania on May 1, 1915, paid little attention, largely unaware of the contraband bullets and shrapnel that the ship carried.
On May 7, as lunchtime ended within sight of Ireland's south coast, the Lusitania was hit by a torpedo from a German u-boat, followed by a much bigger secondary explosion (likely a steam-pipe explosion). Listing sharply toward the wound in her starboard side, she sank in only 18 minutes, taking 1195 men, women, and children with her.
123 of the 159 Americans on board were killed, plus 94 of the 129 children on board (including 35 of 39 infants), indirectly goading the United States to enter the war on Britain's side.
The passengers of the Lusitania naively refused to believe that a submarine would attack a passenger ship, let alone one as fast as the Lusitania.
May 7, just 11.5 miles from the Irish coast, a torpedo rocked the ship. Listing sharply to starboard and continuing at full speed for two miles, she had lost control. Panic ensued as she plunged under the surface, head-first.
Power was soon lost, trapping many below-decks and a number in the first-class elevators.
The starboard lifeboats swung away from the ship, while the port boats swung inward; although the ship had 48 lifeboats, only six starboard boats would be safely lowered while many others tipped or were lowered on top of each other. The port boats had to slide down the hull, splintering as they snagged on rivets, while one broke loose and careened down the boat deck, crushing passengers who were not already injured on the sloping decks. The maimed littered the deck and a sea that was choked with floating debris.
While parents tried to find their children in the frenzy, children squealed for their parents. Many put on their life-jackets upside-down and backwards in the panic.
In less than twenty minutes, the Lusitania was gone, taking the trapped to the bottom and leaving several hundred more at the surface to die of hypothermia.
The Lusitania casualties were tiny compared to the soldiers who died daily at the front, but they got an immediate reaction; not even civilians were safe.
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The high male singing voice in opera, choir, and music in general, with a singing range from C3 (an octave below middle C) to C5 (a man's high C) an octave above.
Situated between the contralto and baritone, the tenor usually plays the male lead in opera and musical theater, usually a young romantic hero.
Many pop singers are tenors, although the vocal subcategories used in opera are not applied to them. Examples include Justin Timberlake, Clay Aiken, Adam Lambert, Matthew Morrison, Darren Criss, Chord Overstreet, Freddy Mercury, Steven Tyler, and Adam Pascal.
According to vocal weight/voice type and range, tenors are usually divided into five different categories:
countertenor: has the same singing as speaking voice as a regular tenor, but his natural range is in the alto (or even soprano) register.
Leggiero ("light") tenor: flexible voice with a very high range, he's a vocal acrobat.
Lyric tenor: A strong, sweet, lightweight voice usually reserved for the boy next door and other vulnerable, naive charcters. Examples include Roberto Alagna and Luciano Pavarotti.
Spinto tenor: A lyric voice with a strong dramatic edge, a bridge between lyric and dramatic. Examples include Placido Domingo and Mario Lanza.
Dramatic tenor: A powerful, emotive, edgy voice which is suited to bold, tragic heroes. Examples include Mario del Monaco and Jose Cura
93π 21π
Somebody who plays the piano...
It's starting to sound like another word: a word for part of the male reproductive anatomy. A favorite among men (nudge nudge, wink wink)
The pianist walked onto the stage, carrying a candleabra.
The boy happily hugged his pianist, eager to start with playing the organ.
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