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George Berkeley

George Berkeley

George Berkeley (British English://; Irish English: //) (March 12, 1685 – January 14, 1753), also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an influential Irish philosopher whose primary philosophical achievement is the advancement of what has come to be called subjective idealism, summed up in his dictum, "Esse est percipi" ("To be is to be perceived"). Basically, the theory is that we can only directly know sensations and ideas of objects, not abstractions such as "matter". He wrote a number of works, the most widely-read of which are his Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713) (Philonous, the "lover of the mind", representing Berkeley himself). In 1734 he published The Analyst, a critique of the foundations of science, which was very influential in the subsequent development of mathematics. The city of Berkeley, California is named after him, but the pronunciation of its name has evolved to suit American English. A residential college in Yale University also bears his name.

Life

George Berkeley was born in Dysert Castle, near Thomastown, Ireland, the eldest son of William Berkeley, a cadet of the noble family of Berkeley. He was educated at Kilkenny College and attended Trinity College, Dublin completing a masters degree in 1707. He remained at Trinity College after completion of his degree as a tutor and Greek lecturer. His earliest publication was a mathematical one; but the first which brought him into notice was his Essay towards a New Theory of Vision, published in 1709. Though giving rise to much controversy at the time, its conclusions are now accepted as an established part of the theory of optics. There next appeared in 1710 the Treatise concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, which was followed in 1713 by Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, in which he propounded his system of philosophy, the leading principle of which is that the world as represented to our senses depends for its existence, as such, on being perceived. Of this theory the Principles gives the exposition and the Dialogues the defence. One of his main objects was to combat the prevailing materialism of the time. The theory was largely received with ridicule, though some, such as Dr. S. Clarke, considered him a genius. Shortly afterwards he visited England, and was received into the circle of Addison, Pope, and Steele. In the period between 1714 and 1720 he interspersed his academic endeavours with periods of extensive travel in Europe. In 1721, he took Holy Orders, earning his doctorate in divinity, and once again chose to remain at Trinity College Dublin lecturing this time in Divinity and in Hebrew. In 1724 he was made Dean of Derry. In 1725 he formed the project of founding a college in Bermuda for training ministers for the colonies, and missionaries to the Indians, in pursuit of which he gave up his deanery with its income of £1100, and went to America on a salary of £100. He landed near Newport, Rhode Island where he bought a plantation - the famous "Whitehall." On October 4, 1730, Berkeley purchased "a Negro man named Philip aged Fourteen years or thereabout." A few days later he purchased "a negro man named Edward aged twenty years or thereabouts." On June 11, 1731, "Dean Berkeley baptized three of his negroes, 'Philip, Anthony, and Agnes Berkeley' " (The bills of slave can be found in the British Museum (Ms. 39316). George C. Mason, Annals of Trinity Church, 1698-1821, 51). Berkeley's sermons explained to the colonists why Christianity supported slavery, and hence slaves should become baptized Christians: "It would be of advantage to their [slave masters'] affairs to have slaves who should 'obey in all things their masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, as fearing God;' that gospel liberty consists with temporal servitude; and that their slaves would only become better slaves by being Christian" (Berkeley, Proposal, 347. See his sermon in Newport, preached October, 1729). He lived at the plantation while he waited for funds for his college to arrive. The funds, however, were not forthcoming and in 1732 he returned to London. In 1734, he was appointed Bishop of Cloyne. Soon afterwards he published Alciphron, or The Minute Philosopher, directed against Shaftesbury, and in 1734-37 The Querist. His last publications were Siris, a treatise on the medicinal virtues of tar-water, and Further Thoughts on Tar-water. He remained at Cloyne until 1752, when he retired and went to Oxford to live with his son. His affectionate disposition and genial manners made him much beloved.

Contributions to Philosophy

Berkeley's theorizing was Empiricism at its most extreme. As a young man, Berkeley theorized that we cannot know if an object is, we can only know if an object is perceived by a mind. We can't think or talk about an object's being. We can only think or talk about an object's being perceived by someone. We can't know any "real" object (matter) "behind" the object as we perceive it, which "causes" our perceptions. All that we know about an object is our perception of it. The object we perceive is the only object that we know and experience. If we need to speak at all of the "real" or "material" object (the latter in particular being a confused term which Berkeley sought to dispose of), it is this perceived object to which all such names should exclusively refer. This arouses the question whether this perceived object is "objective" in the sense of being "the same" for our fellow humans, in fact if even the concept of other human beings (beyond our perception of them) is valid. Berkeley argues that since we experience other humans in the way they speak to us—something which is not originating from any activity of our own—and since we learn that their view of the world is consistent with ours, we can believe in their existence and in the world being identical (similar) for everyone. It follows that: # Any knowledge of the empirical world is to be obtained only through direct perception. # Error comes about through thinking about what we perceive. # Knowledge of the empirical world of people and things and actions around us may be purified and perfected merely by stripping away all thought (and with it language) from our pure perceptions. From this it follows that: # The ideal form of scientific knowledge is to be obtained by pursuing pure de-intellectualized perceptions. # If we would pursue these, we would be able to obtain the deepest insights into the natural world and the world of human thought and action which is available to man. # The goal of all science, therefore, is to de-intellectualize or de-conceptualize, and thereby purify, our perceptions. Theologically, one consequence of Berkeley's views is that they require God to be present as an immediate cause of all our experiences. God is not the distant engineer of Newtonian machinery that in the fullness of time led to the growth of a tree in the university's quadrangle. Rather, my perception of the tree is an idea that God's mind has produced in mine, and the tree continues to exist in the Quad when "nobody" is there simply because God is always there. The philosophy of David Hume concerning causality and objectivity is an elaboration of another aspect of Berkeley's philosophy. As Berkeley's thought progressed, he may have almost entirely assimilated his theories to those of Plato, though this is far from certain. Luce, the most eminent Berkeley scholar of the twentieth century, constantly stressed the continuity of Berkeley's mature philosophy. This suggests a continuity between the Principles, Alciphron and the rest of Berkeley's philosophical works. Furthermore, Berkeley’s unwavering panentheism is evidence that counts against a complete assimilation with Platonism, and Alciphron is a development rather than a revision of anything in the earlier works. The fact that the main works were re-issued just a few years before Berkeley's death without major changes also counts against any theory which attributes to him a volte face. Over a century later Berkeley's thought experiment was summarised in a limerick and reply by Ronald Knox; :There was a young man who said "God :Must think it exceedingly odd ::If he finds that this tree ::Continues to be :When there's no one about in the Quad." :"Dear Sir, your astonishment's odd; :I am always about in the Quad ::And that's why this tree ::Will continue to be :Since observed by Yours faithfully, God." In reference to Berkeley, Dr. Samuel Johnson kicked a heavy stone and exclaimed, "Thus I refute him." But, Johnson only exhibited the commonplace misunderstanding of Berkeley. The only thing that Dr. Johnson knew about the stone was what he saw with his eyes, felt with his foot, and heard with his ears. That is, the existence of the stone consisted exclusively of Dr. Johnson's perceptions. Other than that, the stone could possibly be anything imaginable: atoms, quarks, electrical impulses, etc.. Whatever the stone was, apart from the sensations that he felt and the ideas or mental pictures that he perceived, was completely unknown to him and, therefore, was nothing to him. The kicked stone existed as an idea in his mind. Otherwise, it was nothing. Berkeley's A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge was published three years before the publication of Arthur Collier's Clavis Universalis, which made assertions similar to those of Berkeley. However, there seemed to have been no influence between the two writers. Schopenhauer wrote: "Berkeley was, therefore, the first to treat the subjective starting-point really seriously and to demonstrate irrefutably its absolute necessity. He is the father of idealism...." (Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol.I, "Fragments for the History of Philosophy," § 12)

The Analyst Controversy

In addition to his contributions to philosophy, Bishop Berkeley was also very influential in the development of mathematics, although in a rather negative sense. In 1734 he published The Analyst, subtitled A DISCOURSE Addressed to an Infidel Mathematician. The infidel mathematician in question is believed to have been either Edmond Halley, or Isaac Newton himself, although the discourse would then have been posthumously addressed as Newton died in 1727. The Analyst represented a direct attack on the foundations and principles of calculus, and in particular the notion of fluxion or infinitesimal change which Newton and Leibniz had used to develop the calculus. Berkeley regarded his criticism of calculus as part of his broader campaign against the religious implications of Newtonian mechanics – as a defence of traditional Christianity against deism, which tends to distance God from His worshippers. As a consequence of the resulting controversy, the foundations of calculus were rewritten in a much more formal and rigorous form using limits. It was not until 1966, with the publication of Abraham Robinson's book Non-standard Analysis, that the concept of the infinitesimal was made rigorous, thus giving an alternative way of overcoming the difficulties which Berkeley discovered in Newton's original approach.

References

External links

- [http://www.georgeberkeley.org.uk A list of the published works by and about Berkeley as well as online links]
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- [http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/b/berkeley.htm Page in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3472986 Another perspective on how Berkeley framed his immaterialism]
- [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Berkeley/Analyst/ Original texts and discussion concerning The Analyst controversy]
- [http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Berkeley.html Biography at the University of St Andrews]
- [http://home.iitk.ac.in/~cat/berkeleybiblio A bibliography on George Berkeley]
- [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/berkeley/ Entry on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
- [http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/ READABLE versions of Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues] Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George Berkeley, George ko:조지 버클리 ja:ジョージ・バークリー th:จอร์จ บาร์กลีย์

British English

British English (BrE) is a term used to differentiate the form of the written English language in the United Kingdom from other forms of the English language. It is also used by some, particularly Americans, to describe the spoken versions of English used within England. The term is rarely heard within the United Kingdom. British people say that they speak English - but never British - and that others speak English with an accent, such as a 'South African accent'. When speaking, they will often drop the word "accent" and simply say Canadian, American, Jamaican and so on. A less ambiguous term is English English. Although British English can describe the formal written English used in the United Kingdom, the forms of spoken English used in the United Kingdom vary considerably more than in most other areas of the world where English is spoken. Dialects and accents vary not only within regions of the UK, for example in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, but also within England. The written form of the language, as taught in schools, is universally Commonwealth English with a slight emphasis on a few words that might be more common in some areas than in others. For example, although the words "wee" and "small" are interchangeable, one is more likely to see "wee" written by a Scot than by a Londoner. For historical reasons dating back to the rise of London in the 9th century, the variety of language spoken in London and the East Midlands became the standard English within the Court and thus the form of language generally accepted for use in the law, government, literature and education of the British Isles. Like other forms of languages, the English used in Britain changes over time. Although British English is often used in the United States to denote the English spelling and lexicon used outside the US, the term Commonwealth English is more accurate for this purpose. The British spellings were most famously recorded in Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Historically, the widespread usage of English across the world is attributed to the power once held by the British Empire, and hence the most common form of English used by the British ruling class was the English used in south-east England (in the area around the capital city London, and the main English university towns of Oxford and Cambridge). This form of the language is associated with Received Pronunciation (RP), which is still regarded by many people outside the UK (especially in the United States) as "the British accent". From the second half of the 20th century to the present day, the preeminence of the English language has largely been linked to the economic, military and political dominance of the United States in world affairs, and American English is often regarded as the most prominent form of English in the world today, especially with the large amount of U.S. cultural products (such as films, books, and music) around the world, which is not matched in volume by those from other English-speaking nations. The form of English spoken and particularly written in the United Kingdom still has a major cultural influence on the English used in many Commonwealth countries, including Australia, South Africa, and India, as well as in the European Union. Although British English is taught and used in the former British colonies of Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, American English is often taught in Chinese and Japanese schools, and in other schools throughout Asia.

-ise versus -ize

Words of the sort organize/organise and their derivatives can be spelt with either s or z in British English. The -ize forms are promoted by the Oxford English Dictionary. British English with -ize is sometimes known as OED spelling, and may be marked by the registered IANA language tag 'en-GB-oed'. It is the spelling used by the Encyclopaedia Britannica, by the United Nations, and by many international organizations and academic publications. The -ize forms were used by the London Times until the mid-1980s. The -ise forms are now generally used by the British government, by the European Union and mostly taught in the British school system. They are far more prevalent in common usage. Pam Peters (2004, -ize/-ise) relates that British National Corpus data indicates the ratio of popularity for -ise forms to -ize forms in Britain is 3:2.

Irish English

Hiberno-English is the form of the English language used in Ireland. Hiberno-English is also called Irish English and rarely Anglo-Irish. The type of English spoken in Ireland is founded in the types of English and Scots that were brought to Ireland during the English and Scottish colonisation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and their change due to the influence of the Irish language on these forms of English. The linguistic interference of the Irish language on the English spoken in Ireland is most clearly seen in those areas where Irish is still spoken as a mother tongue or where it has survived until recently. The standard spelling and grammar are the same as UK English, but especially in the spoken language, there are some unique characteristics, due to the influence of Irish on pronunciation.

Pronunciation

Hiberno-English retains many phonemic differentiations merged in other accents of English. Phonetic transcriptions are given using IPA.
- 'r' is pronounced wherever it occurs in the word, making Irish English a rhotic dialect.
- 't' is rarely pronounced as a plosive when not at the beginning of a word, instead being a fricative between 's' and 'sh'
- The distinction of w and wh , as in wine vs whine is preserved.
- In some varieties, Merger of the vowels in father and bother in Southern Irish English; and .
- In some varieties and [t], and and [d] merge, making thin and tin and then and den homonyms; and .
- The distinction between and in horse and hoarse is preserved.
- The distinction between -- in herd-bird-curd is preserved.
- "l" is clear wherever it occurs in a word, as in French
- 'Pure' vowels: "boat", in a traditional accent, is pronounced , and cane is pronunced
- The "i" in "night" may be pronounced .
- The "u" in Dublin may be pronounced .
- In County Cork, some vowel sounds are often altered. An "e" sound becomes an "i" ("well" becomes "will"). Also "Cork" is locally pronounced as .
- An accent unique to Dublin known as the Dublin 4 intonation (referring to the local postal district) is an urban/suburban middle class feature. This is an oft derided posh dialect that renders words such as 'car' as 'core' and 'far' as 'fore'. Dublin 4 speakers often end a sentence with the rising question 'Do you know what I mean?' contracted and pronounced rapidly as 'Dja kneww whad I min?'
- Similarly the working-class Dublin accent is a unique urban feature resembling the blue-collar accents of Manchester and Liverpool in England. This dialect includes phrases such as 'What's the story, Bud?' meaning 'How are you, friend?' pronounced 'Wats de stary bud?' and 'Mad out of it!' pronounced 'Mad ou vih!' meaning drunk or intoxicated by drugs. 'Giddup de yaard' or 'gerrup de yaard' means 'Get lost!' or 'I disagree.'
- In some old-fashioned varieties, words spelled with ea and pronounced with in RP are pronounced with , for example meat, beat.

Grammar derived from Irish

The Irish language has no words which directly translate as "yes" or "no", instead the verb in a question is repeated in an answer. People in Ireland have a tendency to repeat the verb, positively or negatively, instead of using "yes" or "no."
- "Are you finished debugging that software?" "I am."
- "Is your mobile charged?" "It isn't." Alternatively, it is common for Irish English-speakers to use the word "aye" as a weak form of "yes" (somewhat akin to "sure" or "yeah").
- "It's getting late, is it?" "Aye, it is." or " It is, aye. " in Donegal.
- "Is that okay with you?" "Aye." Irish verbs have two present tenses, one indicating what is occurring at this instant and another used for continuous actions. For example, 'you are now' is tá tú anois (literally 'are you now'), but 'you are every day' is bíonn tú gach lá (literally 'be you each day'; or, 'you do be every day'). Irish speakers of English, especially in rural areas, especially north Mayo/Sligo, use the verb "to be" in English similarly to how they would in Irish, using a "does be/do be" (or "bes", although less frequently) construction to indicate this latter continuous present:
- "He do(es) be coding every day."
- "They do be talking on their mobiles a lot."
- "They bes doing a lot of work at school." (rare)
- "It's him I do be thinking of." Irish has no pluperfect tense: instead, "after" is added to the present continuous (a verb ending in "-ing"). The idiom for "I had done X when I did Y" is "I was after doing X when I did Y", modelled on the Irish usage of the compound prepositions i ndiaidh, tar éis, and in éis: bhí mé tar éis/i ndiaidh/in éis X a dhéanamh, nuair a rinne mé Y. This can most commonly be heard used by Dubliners.
- "Why did you hit him?" "He was after insulting me." A similar construction is seen with the 'hot news perfect', used to express extreme excitement at something which has happened recently:
- "Jaysus, I'm after hitting him with de car!"
- "Would ya look at yer one — she's after losing five stone in five weeks!" Less explosively, using what might be termed the 'warm news perfect', the Irish perfect can indicate a recent action of less stellar importance:
- "I have the computer rebooted." Tá an ríomhaire atosaithe agam.
- "I have me breakfast eaten." Tá an bricfeasta ite agam. Mirroring the Irish language and almost every other European language, the plural 'you' is distinguished from the singular, normally by use of the otherwise archaic English word 'ye' (the word 'yous' (sometimes written as 'youse') also occurs, but primarily only in Dublin and north Ulster, from Co. Donegal across to Co. Antrim):
- "Did ye/youse all go to see it?" Also, in some areas in Leinster, and also north Mayo/Sligo, the hybrid word 'ye-s', pronounced 'yis', may be used.
- "Are yis not finished yet?" In rural areas the reflexive version of pronouns is often used for emphasis or to refer indirectly to a particular person, etc., according to context:
- "Was it all of ye or just yourself?"
- "'Tis herself that's coming now." Is sí féin atá ag teacht anois. - where 'herself' might, for example, be the boss or the woman of the house. Use of 'herself' or 'himself' in this way often indicates that the speaker attributes some degree of arrogance or selfishness to the person in question. Note also the indirectness of this construction relative to, for example, 'She's coming now' and the use of "'Tis" rather than the more standard contraction "It's". It is also common to end sentences with 'no?' or 'yeah?'
- "He's not coming today, no?" Níl sé ag teacht inniú, nach bhfuil?
- "The bank's closed now, yeah?" Tá an banc dúnta anois, an bhfuil? Though because of the particularly insubstantive yes and no in Irish, (the nach bhfuil? and an bhfuil? being the interogative positive and negative of the verb 'to be') the above may also find expression as
- "He's not coming today, sure he isn't?" Níl sé ag teacht inniú, nach bhfuil?
- "The bank's closed now, isn't it?" Tá an banc dúnta anois, nach bhfuil? Irish English also always uses the "light l" sound, and the naming of the letter 'h' as 'haitch' is standard. A is often pronounce "Ah" and Z as "Ezed" When describing something, rural Hiberno-English speakers may describe this as something that is 'in it', which can also be translated into English as 'so it is', or for comical effect 'that it be'.
- The day that is in it. An lá atá ann.
- That's John, so it is. Is Seán é, atá ann. It ought to be noted that this construction is generally limited to the northern half of the country. This isn't limited only to the verb 'to be': it's also used with 'to have' when used as an auxiliary; and, with other verbs, the verb 'to do' is used. This is most commonly used for intensification.
- This Wintel box sucks, so it does.
- I've finished debugging, so I have.
- He's a right geek, so he is. There are some language forms that stem from the fact that there is no verb 'to have' in Irish. Instead, possession is indicated in Irish by using the preposition 'at,' (in Irish, ag.). To be more precise, Irish uses a prepositional pronoun that combines ag "at" and me "me" to create agam. In English, the verb "to have" is used, along with a "with me" that derives from Tá ....agam. This gives rise to the frequent
- The book, I have it with me.
- Do you have the book? I have it with me. Somebody who can speak a language 'has' a language, in which Hiberno-English has borrowed the grammatical form used in Irish.
- She doesn't have Irish. Níl Gaeilge aici. literally 'There is no Irish at her'. Another idiom is this thing or that thing described as 'this man here' or 'that man there', which also features in Newfoundland English in Canada.
- This man here. An fear seo.
- That man there. An fear sin. The reported clause is also often preserved in its direct form, for example 'John asked me to buy a loaf of bread' becomes 'John asked me would I buy a loaf of bread'. Bring and take: Irish use of these words differs from that of English, because it follows the Gaelic grammar for beir and tóg. English usage is determined by direction; Irish usage is determined by person. So, in English, one takes "from here to there", and brings it "to here from there". But, in Irish, a person takes only when accepting a transfer of possession of the object from someone else — and a person brings at all other times, irrespective of direction (to or from). Thus someone might say "Don't forget to bring your umbrella with you when you go" or, to a child, "Hold my hand: I don't want someone to take you."

Preservation of older English usage

In old-fashioned usage, "it is" can be freely abbreviated "'tis", even as a standalone sentence. This also allows the double contraction "'tisn't", for "it is not". The word "ye" or "yous", otherwise archaic, is still used in place of "you" for the second-person plural. The verb "mitch" is common in Ireland, indicating being truant from school. This word appears in Shakespeare, but is seldom heard these days in British English, although pockets of usage persist in some areas (notably South Wales, Devon, and Cornwall). For influence from Scotland see Ulster Scots.

Turns of phrase

"Am not" is abbreviated amn't by analogy with "isn't" and "aren't". This can be used as a tag question:
- I'm making a mistake, amn't I? or as an alternative to "I'm not":
- I amn't joking. and the double negative is also used:
- I'm not late, amn't I not? "Arra" is used also. Arra tends to be used after something bad has happened, when someone is looking on the bright side.
- Arra, we'll go next week.
- Arra, 'tis not the end of the world. "Come here to me now" or "Come here and I'll tell ya something" is used to mean "Listen to this" or "I have something to tell you" and can be used as "Come here and tell me". The phrase "Tell me this", short for "Tell me this and tell me no more", is also common. These phrases tend to imply a secretiveness or revelatory importance to the upcoming bit of information. Various insults have been transferred directly from Irish and have a very mild meaning in english. Eg.Lúdramán, Amadán, pleidhce, rogue, eejit (idiot), all (loosely) meaning "fool" or "messer" (messer is also a Hiberno-Irish turn of phrase). "Langer" is a variant used especially in Cork. The devil is used in Irish as an expletive, eg. Cén áit sa diabhal a bhfuil sé? "Where the devil is he?" (the Irish version is literally "What place in the devil is he?"). This has been translated into Irish as a mild expletive, used in the song "Whiskey in the Jar" in the line "But the devil take the women, for they never can be easy". Diabhal is also used for negation in Irish, and this usage might be carried over to Hiberno-English: diabhal fear "devil a man", for "not a soul". Reduplication is not an especially common feature of Irish; nevertheless in rendering Irish phrases into English it is occasionally used:
- ar bith corresponds to English at all, so the stronger ar chor ar bith gives rise to the form at all at all
- I've no money at all at all.
- ar eagla go... (lit. on fear that) means in case .... The variant ar eagla na heagla, (lit on fear of fear) implies the circumstances are more unlikely. The corresponding Hiberno-English phrases are to be sure and to be sure to be sure. In this context, these are not, as might be thought, disjuncts meaning 'certainly'; they could better be translated in case and just in case. Nowadays normally spoken with conscious levity.
- I brought some cash in case I saw a bargain, and my credit card 'to be sure to be sure'. "Sure" is also often used as a tag word, emphasising the obviousness of the statement. Can be used as "to be sure", the famous Irish stereotype phrase.
- Sure, I can just go on wednesday.
- I will not, to be sure. "Sure Jayzus" is often used as a very mild expletive to express dismay. Casual conversation in many parts of Ireland includes a variety of colourful turns of phrase. Some examples:
- Yer man (your man) and Yer wan (your one) are used in referring to an individual known by the party being addressed, but not being referred to by name. The phrases are an unusual sort of half-translation of a parallel Irish-language phrase, "mo dhuine" (literally 'my person'). The nearest equivalents in colloquial English usage would be "whatsisname" and "whatsername". Note also "wan" for female person may be a direct usage of the Irish 'bean' (woman). In Newfoundland the same form exists as 'buddy,' who is a generic nameless person. They use the word not always in the sense of 'my friend' but more in the sense of 'what's his name'. 'I went inside to ask for directions and buddy said to go left at the lights'.
- a soft day – referring to a rainy day with that particular soft drizzle, and an overcast sky, but yet relatively bright. This is a translation of the Irish "lá bog".
- Fecking is a mild abusive equivalent in force to "bleeding" or "darned." It is not a parallel of the English word "fucking", despite their similarity, and is generally less offensive. "Feck" is the corresponding expletive. The noun "fecker" is slightly stronger but not vulgar. These terms were lately introduced to Britain by Father Ted. In old Dubliner slang, "to feck' is also slang for "to steal", as in the phrase, "We went to the orchard and fecked some apples." It can also mean "to throw", especially if something is being thrown where it shouldn't, as in "We fecked his schoolbag into the river." Some areas of South Yorkshire use the word "fetch" to mean bring, "fetch me a glass of water, I'm gagged." throw " I fetched it up the tree and now its stuck" or arrive "We fetched up in Barnsley before 4 o'clock"
- Yoke is typically used in place of the word "thing", for instance "gimme that yoke there". It's also used as an insult: "you're some yoke".
- Now is often used at the end of sentences or phrases as a semantically empty word, completing an utterance without contributing any apparent meaning. Examples include "Bye now" (= "goodbye"), "There you go now" (= when giving someone something), "Ah now!" (= expressing dismay), "Hold on now" (= "wait a minute"), "Now then" as a mild attention-getter, etc. This usage is universal among English dialects, but occurs more frequently in Hiberno-English.
- To is often omitted from sentences where it would exist in British English. For example, "I am not allowed go out tonight", instead of "I am not allowed to go out tonight". There are many terms for having consumed a drop too much drink, many are used elsewhere, but the Irish tendency is to attempt to find the most descriptive adjective yet on each occasion. Some examples: "scuttered", "stocious/stotious", "locked", "langered", "mouldy" (pron. mowldy as in "fowl"), "polluted", "flootered", "plastered", "bolloxed", "well out of it", "wankered", "fucked", "fuckered", "binned", "gee-eyed", "buckled", "steaming", "messy", "sloppy", "wasted", "paralytic", "full as a boot", "legless", "hammered" , "blootered", "squooshed", "banjoed", "bingoed" . (Phrases in italics are more "colourful") Some turns of phrase are more localised and their meaning may not be widespread throughout the country, while others are more transient and fall out of use after a number of years.

Lexicon

Hiberno-English vocabulary is largely the same as British English, though there are variances, especially with reference to certain goods, services and institutions. Examples that would come into everyday conversation include:
- To banjax something is to break it, ruin it, or render it incapable of use. As in "My mobile's been banjaxed since I dropped it in the toilet."
- Bold describes someone (usually a child) who is impudent or badly-behaved.
- Crack or craic is a good time, good company, good atmosphere and conversation. If you are enjoying yourself, it is good craic. [http://globalgateway.monster.ie/nationaltour_culture_culture.asp] The word may also be used to refer to events, news, or gossip, as in the phrases what's the craic? and how's the craic?.
- College, more like American English than British English, would usually be referring to any sort of third level education, be it college, university or Institute of Technology. This is because the Leaving Certificate Examinations (the rough equivalent of A-levels or NVQs in the UK) are taken in secondary school in Ireland, so there is no intermediary college like sixth-form colleges in Britain. (The probable origin of this usage is that, until the 1970s, the only tertiary education available was at university level, through the Colleges (Dublin, Cork, Galway, Maynooth) of the National University of Ireland or Trinity College, Dublin University).
- Delph meaning Dishware, occasionally meaning Artificial teeth. From the name of the original source of supply, Delft in the Netherlands. See Delftware.
- Dinner can often still mean the meal eaten in the middle of the day, especially in rural Ireland.
- ESB (Electricity Supply Board), being the only national electricity supplier in Ireland, is regularly used in reference to this type of service. Whereas in other countries one would use the term "mains supply" or "power supply" when referring to the electricity supply that comes to their house/business, in Ireland a lot of people would say "ESB supply".
- Flag can mean the conventional Flag it can also be a Flagstone
- Footpath is used in Ireland where "pavement" is in British English and "sidewalk" in American English.
- Guards refers to the Garda Síochana, the Republic's police force, the equivalent in Irish Gardaí being used more formally, usually in the media. The singular Garda is widely used, the female equivalent, Bangharda less so. The word "police" generally refers to police in other countries.
- Hiace (as in Toyota Hiace) is used by many to refer to any light commercial van, much like "Transit" or "Transit van" (as in Ford Transit) in the UK.
- Jacks : toilet, usually in a pub or similar. As in "mind my handbag while I go to the jacks". From 16th century English "Jakes". (mind means "look after") the words Bog and Loo are also used.
- Jeep, much like "Hiace", is used by many to refer to any sort of off road vehicle, be it a small 4x4 like a Suzuki Jimny or large SUV like a long wheelbase Mitsubishi Pajero. This is quite odd, especially as actual Chrysler Jeeps were never officially sold in Ireland until the 1990s, and the word was just as common before then.
- Messages means Groceries She's gone to the shop to get the messages.
- Minerals means Soft drinks
- Oxter means Armpit He had a book under his oxter. (sounds similar to the german Achsel (axel))
- Press is almost invariably used instead of Cupboard. The hot press is the airing cupboard.
- Rubber means an eraser (not a condom!)
- Runners or tackies, or in the north gutties, refers to "trainers" (British English) or "sneakers" (American English).
- Spancil a rope tied to a grazing animal's leg or legs to limit movement. To limit the animal wandering, spancil a front leg to the corresponding rear leg. To prevent cow from kicking while being milked spancil the leg.
- Tayto (an Irish brand of potato crisps) has become synonymous with any sort of crisps, regardless of brand. In Dublin, especially in working class areas, the alternative crips is commonly used (as in "Get us a packet o' crips will ye?")
- Tin means "can", especially a drinks can. Give us a tin of Coke.
- Topper, pointer and parer are often used to refer to a "pencil sharpener".

References

- Dolan, Terence Patrick (Ed.) (1998). A Dictionary of Hiberno-English. Gill & Macmillan (Dublin). ISBN 0-7171-2942-X
- Sammon, Paddy (2002). Greenspeak - Ireland in her own Words. TownHouse (Dublin) ISBN 1-86059-144-2; (N. Am.): ISBN 0-684-02015-7. See also corresponding website: [http://www.greenspeak.info www.greenspeak.info].
- Irish literature is full of examples, see in particular: Ulysses by James Joyce and The Commitments by Roddy Doyle Category:English dialects Category:Ireland Category:Languages of Ireland Category:Languages of the United Kingdom

March 12

March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). There are 294 days remaining.

Events

- 515 BC - Construction is completed on the Temple in Jerusalem.
- 1664 - New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain.
- 1803 - Port Gibson, MS is chartered
- 1868 - Henry James O'Farrell attempts to assassinate Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
- 1894 - Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time
- 1912 - The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts in the US) are founded in the US.
- 1913 - Canberra becomes the capital of Australia.
- 1928 - In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing 400 people.
- 1930 - Mahatma Gandhi leads a 200-mile march known as Dandi March to the sea in defiance of British opposition, to protest the British monopoly on salt.
- 1933 - Great Depression: Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his "Fireside Chats."
- 1938 - Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
- 1940 - Winter War: Finland signs a harsh peace treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and remaining population are immediately evacuated.
- 1947 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
- 1951 - The Dennis the Menace comic strip appears in newspapers across the USA for the first time.
- 1956 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time (500.24)
- 1958 - In Hilversum, Netherlands, André Claveau wins the third Eurovision Song Contest for France singing "Dors, mon amour" (Sleep, my love).
- 1960 - A fire at a chemical plant in Pusan, Korea kills 68.
- 1967 - Suharto takes over from Sukarno to become President of Indonesia.
- 1968 - Mauritius achieves independence.
- 1987 - Les Misérables opens on Broadway.
- 1992 - Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the British Commonwealth.
- 1992 - 13 are killed and several injured when a tram-car crashes into a crowd of people at the tram-station at Vasaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden.
- 1993 - Several bombs explode in Bombay (Mumbai), India, killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.
- 1993 - North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.
- 1994 - A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell, previously touted as 'proof' of the Loch Ness monster, is confirmed to be a hoax.
- 1994 - The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
- 1997 - Mikail Markhasev is arrested in Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis Cosby.
- 1999 - Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
- 2002 - In Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
- 2003 - Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, assassinated in Belgrade.
- 2004 - Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.
- 2005 - Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, steps down from his post after his resignation is approved by the Chinese central government.

Births

- 1270 - Charles of Valois, son of Philip III of France (d. 1325)
- 1386 - Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shogun (d. 1428)
- 1478 - Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (d. 1516)
- 1607 - Paul Gerhardt, German hymnist (d. 1676)
- 1613 - André Le Nôtre, French landscape architect (d. 1700)
- 1620 - Johann Heinrich Hottinger, Swiss philologist and theologian (d. 1667)
- 1626 - John Aubrey, English antiquary and writer (d. 1697)
- 1637 - Anne Hyde, wife of James II of England (d. 1671)
- 1647 - Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (d. 1727)
- 1685 - George Berkeley, Irish theologian (d. 1753)
- 1718 - Joseph Damer, English politician (d. 1798)
- 1806 - Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States (d. 1863)
- 1831 - Clement Studebaker, American automobile pioneer (d. 1901)
- 1824 - Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (d. 1887)
- 1863 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer, war hero, and politician (d. 1938)
- 1863 - Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian mineralogist (d. 1945)
- 1888 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish-born ballet dancer (d. 1950)
- 1895 - William C. Lee, U.S. Army general (d. 1948)
- 1896 - Sir John Abbott, third Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1893)
- 1908 - Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (d. 1970)
- 1912 - Irving Layton, Canadian poet
- 1918 - Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d. 1989)
- 1921 - Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
- 1921 - Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
- 1922 - Jack Kerouac, American writer (d. 1969)
- 1922 - Lane Kirkland, American labor leader (d. 1999)
- 1923 - Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater
- 1923 - Wally Schirra, astronaut
- 1923 - Norbert Brainin, Austrian violinist (d. 2005)
- 1925 - Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1925 - Harry Harrison, American author
- 1928 - Edward Albee, American dramatist
- 1932 - Barbara Feldon, American actress
- 1932 - Andrew Young, American civil rights activist, politician, and ambassador to the United Nations
- 1940 - Al Jarreau, American singer
- 1941 - Barbara Feldon, American actress and model
- 1942 - Ratko Mladić, Republika Srpska leader
- 1945 - Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, American gangster
- 1946 - Liza Minnelli, American singer and actress
- 1947 - Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist (d. 1987)
- 1948 - James Taylor, American musician
- 1953 - Carl Hiaasen, American journalist and author
- 1953 - Ron Jeremy, American actor
- 1957 - Steve Harris, English musician (Iron Maiden)
- 1957 - Marlon Jackson, American singer (The Jackson 5)
- 1962 - Darryl Strawberry, baseball player
- 1963 - Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
- 1965 - Steve Finley, baseball player
- 1968 - Aaron Eckhart, American Actor (Erin Brockavich)
- 1969 - Graham Coxon, English musician
- 1970 - Roy Khan, Norwegian singer (Kamelot)
- 1976 - Simon Young, music journalist
- 1985 - Bradley Wright-Phillips, English footballer
- 1986 - Danny Jones, British singer (McFly)

Deaths

- 604 - Pope Gregory I
- 1289 - King Demetre II of Georgia (b. 1259)
- 1374 - Emperor Go-Kogon of Japan (b. 1336)
- 1447 - Shah Rukh, ruler of Persia and Transoxonia (b. 1377)
- 1507 - Cesare Borgia, Italian general and statesman (b. 1475)
- 1608 - Koriki Kiyonaga, Japanese warlord (b. 1530)
- 1628 - John Bull, English composer
- 1648 - Tirso de Molina, Spanish writer
- 1681 - Frans van Mieris, Sr., Dutch painter (b. 1635)
- 1699 - Peder Griffenfeld, Danish statesman (b. 1635)
- 1790 - Andreas Hadik, Austro-Hungarian general (b. 1710)
- 1872 - Zeng Guofan, Chinese politician and general (b. 1811)
- 1889 - Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia
- 1898 - Zacharias Topelius, Finnish-Swedish writer (b. 1818)
- 1925 - Sun Yat Sen, Chinese revolutionary, politician (b. 1866)
- 1937 - Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (b. 1844)
- 1943 - Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)
- 1944 - Artur Gavazzi, Croatian geographer (b. 1861)
- 1945 - Anne Frank, German-born diarist (b. 1929)
- 1947 - Winston Churchill, American novelist (b. 1871)
- 1955 - Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
- 1978 - John Cazale, American actor (b. 1935)
- 1979 - Pete Doherty, Musician- the libertines and babyshambles
- 1984 - Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (b. 1896)
- 1985 - Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
- 1987 - Woody Hayes, American football coach (b. 1913)
- 1989 - Maurice Evans, British actor (b. 1901)
- 1990 - Wallace Breem, British author (b. 1926)
- 1991 - Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)
- 1995 - Juanin Clay, American actress (b. 1949)
- 1998 - Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramist (b. 1893)
- 1999 - Sir Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (b. 1916)
- 2001 - Morton Downey, Jr., American television talk show host (b. 1933)
- 2001 - Robert Ludlum, author (b. 1927)
- 2002 - Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician (b. 1932)
- 2003 - Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1952)
- 2003 - Howard Fast, American author (b. 1914)
- 2003 - Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b. 1948)
- 2005 - Bill Cameron, Canadian journalist (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

- Roman Catholic Church - Feast day of St Theophanes
- Mauritius - National Day
- Sweden - Namesday of Crown Princess Victoria, an Official Flag Day
- Flag Day in Venezuela
- Ancient Latvia - Gregoru Diena observed

Fiction

- In Stephen King's Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the character Andy Dufresne escapes from Shawshank Prison on March 12, 1975.

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/12 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/12 Today in History: March 12] ---- March 11 - March 13 - February 12 - April 12 -- listing of all days ko:3월 12일 ja:3月12日 simple:March 12 th:12 มีนาคม

January 14

January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 351 days remaining (352 in leap years). It is celebrated as New Year's Day by those still following the Julian calendar.

Events

- 1301 - Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Arpad dynasty in Hungary.
- 1501 - Martin Luther, 17, enters the University of Erfurt.
- 1514 - Pope Leo X issues a papal bull against slavery.
- 1539 - Spain annexes Cuba.
- 1639 - The "Fundamental Orders", the first written constitution that created a government, was adopted in Connecticut.
- 1690 - The clarinet is invented in Nuremberg, Germany.
- 1724 - King Philip V of Spain abdicates the throne.
- 1784 - American Revolutionary War: The United States ratifies a peace treaty with England.
- 1814 - Treaty of Kiel: Frederick VI of Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden in return for Pomerania.
- 1858 - Napoleon III of France escapes an assassination attempt.
- 1900 - Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca premieres in Rome.
- 1907 - An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than 1,000.
- 1939 - Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.
- 1943 - Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to travel via airplane while in office (Miami, Florida to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill to discuss World War II).
- 1951 - The National Football League has its first Pro Bowl Game (Los Angeles, California).
- 1952 - The Today show premieres on NBC.
- 1954 - Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio.
- The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator forming the American Motors Corporation.
- 1963 - George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama.
- 1969 - An explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 25 people.
- 1970 - Sato Eisaku is elected to his third term as Prime Minister of Japan.
- 1972 - Queen Margrethe II of Denmark accends the throne, the first Queen of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederick or Christian since 1513.
- Sanford & Son premieres on NBC.
- 1973 - Super Bowl VII: The Miami Dolphins defeat the Washington Redskins. The Dolphins become the first NFL team to go undefeated in a season.
- 1975 - Teenage heiress Lesley Whittle is kidnapped by the Black Panther.
- 1978 - Johnny Rotten quits the Sex Pistols after the final show of their American tour, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
- 1984 - Ray Mancini defeats Bobby Chacon by a knockout in three to retain his WBA boxing world Lightweight title in Reno.
- 1985 - Martina Navratilova wins her 100th tennis tournament.
- 1993 - David Letterman announces he is moving his television talk show from NBC to CBS.
- 1994 - President of the United States Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin accords which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles to targets and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine.
- 1996 - Jorge Sampaio is elected president of Portugal.
- 1998 - Researchers in Dallas, Texas present findings about an enzyme that slows aging and cell death (apoptosis).
- An Afghan cargo plane crashes into a mountain in southwest Pakistan killing more than 50 people.
- 2000 - A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years for the 1993 killing of over 100 Muslims in a Bosnian village.
- Sport Club Corinthians Paulista wins Vasco da Gama, on the final match for the FIFA Club World Championship.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record high of 11,722.98.
- David Letterman undergoes quintuple heart bypass surgery.
- 2004 - Goatse.cx is suspended by the Christmas Island Technology Corporation following a massive grassroots movement to close the site forever.
- Amartya Sen steps down as Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.
- The national flag of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", was restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.
- 2005 - Landing of the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan.

Births

1451 to 1899

- 1451 - Franchinus Gaffurius, Italian composer (d. 1522)
- 1477 - Hermann of Wied, German Catholic archbishop (d. 1552)
- 1551 - Alberico Gentili, Italian jurist (d. 1608)
- 1615 - John Biddle, English theologian (d. 1662)
- 1684 - Jean-Baptiste van Loo, French painter (d. 1745)
- 1702 - Nakamikado Emperor of Japan (d. 1737)
- 1705 - Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, French governor of the Mascarene Islands (d. 1786)
- 1741 - Benedict Arnold, American general and traitor (d. 1801)
- 1792 - Christian Julius De Meza, Danish general (d. 1865)
- 1798 - Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Dutch politician (d. 1872)
- 1800 - Ludwig Alois Ferdinand Köchel, Austrian researcher on music (d. 1877)
- 1818 - Zacharias Topelius, Finnish-Swedish writer (d. 1898)
- 1836 - Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter (d. 1904)
- 1841 - Berthe Morisot, French painter (d. 1895)
- 1850 - Pierre Loti, French writer (d. 1923)
- 1861 - Mehmed VI, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1926)
- 1875 - Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician, missionary, and musician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1965)
- 1886 - Hugh Lofting, English author (d. 1947)
- 1889 - Ema Puksec, Croatian singer (b. 1834)
- 1892 - Hal Roach, American film producer (d. 1992)
- 1896 - John Dos Passos, American author (d. 1970)
- 1896 - Martin Niemöller, German theologian and pacifist (d. 1984)

1900 to 1999

- 1904 - Emily Hahn, American writer (d. 1997)
- 1905 - Cecil Beaton, English photographer (d. 1980)
- 1906 - William Bendix, American actor (d. 1964)
- 1908 - Russ Columbo, American singer, bandleader, and composer (d. 1934)
- 1914 - Harold Russell, Canadian-born actor (d. 2002)
- 1915 - Mark Goodson, American game show producer (d. 1992)
- 1919 - Giulio Andreotti, Italian politician
- 1919 - Andy Rooney, American journalist
- 1924 - Guy Williams, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1925 - Yukio Mishima, Japanese writer (d. 1970)
- 1926 - Tom Tryon, American actor and novelist (d. 1991)
- 1932 - Don Garlits, American race car driver
- 1933 - Stan Brakhage, American filmmaker (d. 2003)
- 1934 - Richard Briers, English actor
- 1937 - Ken Higgs, English cricketer
- 1938 - Jack Jones, American singer and actor
- 1938 - Allen Toussaint, American singer
- 1940 - Julian Bond, American civil rights activist
- 1941 - Faye Dunaway, American actress
- 1941 - Milan Kučan, Slovenian statesman
- 1943 - Shannon Lucid, American astronaut
- 1944 - Marjoe Gortner, American evangelist and actor
- 1944 - Nina Totenberg, American journalist
- 1946 - Harold Shipman, British serial killer (d. 2004)
- 1947 - Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (d. 2003)
- 1948 - T-Bone Burnett, American producer and musician
- 1948 - Carl Weathers, American actor
- 1949 - Lawrence Kasdan, American director and screenwriter
- 1952 - Sydney Biddle Barrows, American author
- 1956 - Ben Heppner, Canadian tenor
- 1957 - Suzanne Danielle, English actress
- 1959 - Geoff Tate, American musician (Queensr%C3%BFche)
- 1962 - Michael McCaul, American politician
- 1963 - Steven Soderbergh, American director
- 1964 - Shepard Smith, American news anchor
- 1965 - Marc Delissen, Dutch field hockey player
- 1967 - Kerri Green, American actress
- 1967 - Emily Watson, English actress
- 1967 - Zakk Wylde, American musician (Black Label Society)
- 1968 - LL Cool J, American rapper and actor
- 1969 - Jason Bateman, American actor
- 1969 - David Grohl, American drummer and composer
- 1971 - Lasse Kjus, Norwegian skier
- 1972 - Predrag Gosta, Yugoslav-born conductor, musicologist, and harpsichordist
- 1972 - Kyle Brady, National Football League tight end
- 1973 - Giancarlo Fisichella, Italian race car driver
- 1980 - Cory Gibbs, American soccer player
- 1980 - Byron Leftwich, American football player
- 1981 - Rosa López, Spanish singer
- 1988 - Mikalah Gordon, American singer

Deaths

1331 to 1899

- 1331 - Odoric, Italian explorer
- 1640 - Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry, English lawyer and judge (b. 1578)
- 1676 - Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (b. 1602)
- 1701 - Tokugawa Mitsukuni, Japanese warlord (b. 1628)
- 1742 - Edmond Halley, English scientist (b. 1656)
- 1753 - George Berkeley, Irish theologian (b. 1685)
- 1786 - Meshech Weare, Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1713)
- 1788 - François Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasetilly, comte de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722)
- 1825 - George Dance the Younger, English architect (b. 1741)
- 1876 - Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, French painter (b. 1780)
- 1898 - Lewis Carroll, English writer and mathematician (b. 1832)

1900 to 1999

- 1905 - Ernst Abbe, German physicist (b. 1840)
- 1942 - Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian writer (b. 1883)
- 1949 - Joaquín Turina, Spanish composer (b. 1882)
- 1957 - Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)
- 1965 - Jeanette MacDonald, American actress and singer (b. 1903)
- 1966 - Bill Carr, American athlete (b. 1909)
- 1966 - Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (b. 1888)
- 1966 - Sergei Korolev, Russian rocket scientist (b. 1906)
- 1970 - William Feller, Croatian mathematician (b. 1906)
- 1972 - King Frederick IX of Denmark (b. 1899)
- 1977 - Anthony Eden, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1897)
- 1977 - Peter Finch, English-born actor (b. 1916)
- 1977 - Anaïs Nin, French author (b. 1903)
- 1978 - Harold Abrahams, British athlete (b. 1899)
- 1978 - Kurt Gödel, Austrian mathematician (b. 1906)
- 1978 - Blossom Rock, American actress
- 1980 - Robert Ardrey, American author (b. 1908)
- 1984 - Ray Kroc, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1902)
- 1986 - Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
- 1988 - Georgi Malenkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party (b. 1902)
- 1999 - Bryn Jones, British musician (b. 1961)

2000 onwards

- 2001 - Burkhard Heim, German physicist (b. 1925)
- 2004 - Uta Hagen, American actress (b. 1919)
- 2004 - Ron O'Neal, American actor (b. 1937)
- 2004 - Valfar, Norwegian musician (Windir)
- 2005 - Charlotte MacLeod, American writer (b. 1922)
- 2005 - Conroy Maddox, English painter (b. 1912)
- 2005 - Rudolph Moshammer, German fashion designer (b. 1940)
- 2005 - Jesús-Rafael Soto, Venezuelan kinetic artist (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

- New Year's Day in Eastern Orthodoxy, see Julian Calendar.
- Makar Sankranti in India. The event is marked by flying kites. Also Pongal in South India.
- Day of St. Basil the Great in Eastern Orthodoxy, January 1 on the Julian Calendar.
- Festum Asinorum, medieval burlesque festival celebrating the Flight into Egypt. No longer observed.

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/14 BBC: On This Day] ---- January 13 - January 15 - December 14 - February 14 — listing of all days ko:1월 14일 ms:14 Januari ja:1月14日 simple:January 14 th:14 มกราคม

1753

1753 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 1 - Britain and its colonies adopt the idea that 1st January should be New Year's Day, following adoption of the Gregorian calendar in September 1752. The concept was first conceived in 1582, but suffered from slow public adoption.
- January 13 - Sentenced conspirators of the Tavora affair are executed
- January 29 - After a month's absence, Elizabeth Canning returns to her mother's home in London and claims that she was abducted. Following criminal trial causes uproar.
- April 5 – Founding charter of the British Museum
- Sweden adopts Gregorian calendar
- British parliament extends citizenship to Jews
- Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus on 1st May, adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature as the formal start date of the scientific classification of plants
- James Lind writes A Treatise of the Scurvy
- Tobias Smollett writes Ferdinand Count Fathom
- Robert Wallace writes On the Numbers of Man

Births

- February 12 - François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, French admiral (d. 1798)
- February 20 - Louis Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (d. 1815)
- March 8 - William Roscoe, English writer (d. 1831)
- March 9 - Jean-Baptiste Kleber, French general (d. 1800)
- March 26 - Benjamin Thompson, American physicist and inventor (d. 1814)
- May 8 - Miguel Hidalgo, Mexican Catholic priest and revolutionary (d. 1811)
- May 13 - Lazare Nicholas Marguerite Carnot, French general, politician, and mathematician (d. 1823)
- July 9 - William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1825)
- August 10 - Edmund Randolph, American politician (d. 1813)
- August 12 - Thomas Bewick, English wood engraver (d. 1828)
- September 10 - John Soane, British architect (d. 1837)
- December 3 - Samuel Crompton, English inventor (d. 1827)
- Phillis Wheatley, African-born poet (d. 1784)

Deaths

- January 11 - Sir Hans Sloane, Irish physician (b. 1660)
- January 14 - George Berkeley, Irish philosopher (b. 1685)
- August 6 - Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Russian physicist (struck by lightning) (b. 1711)
- August 19 - Balthasar Neumann, German architect and military engineer (b. 1687)
- December 15 - Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (b. 1694) Category:1753 ko:1753년

Ireland

:This page is about the island of Ireland. For the state also called Ireland, see Republic of Ireland. :For an explanation of terms like Ulster, Northern Ireland, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom