CX = Crushed Xylophone
What happens when you drop an anvil on a xylophone.
CY - Charlotte Yonge, a prolific 19th-century novelist.
CZ: Catherine Zeta-Jones. She was born Catherine Zeta Jones, without the hyphen; Zeta was her grandmother’s given name. Her breakout role was in The Mask of Zorro.
DA - District attorney. DAs are either federal or state officials, representing the US or the state in criminal proceedings. They are so called because they cover a district, which is not necessarily a single state (in the case of federal DAs) or a single county (in the case of state DAs).
DB- Frontiersmen Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett were both played on popular TV shows by Fess Parker, who later Left show biz and became a successful winery operator.
DC = Davey Crocket . See previous entry.
DD = Dizzy Dean and Dan Dailey.
Dizzy Dean was Hall of Fame baseball pitcher, whose part was played by Dan Dailey in the biographical film “Spirit of St. Louis”.
DE = Duke Ellington, composer and bandleader, who, in addition to being a jazz great, created and conducted a series of Sacred Concerts in the 1960’s. He conducted from his piano.
DF- Dick Fosbury, Olympic gold medalist, popularized the “flopping” technique now used by almost all high jumpers in the world of track and field.
DG = Dorian Gray syndrome
A psychiatric form of Narcissism, in which a patent cannot accept the maturation and aging of his body, because an an extreme pride in his physical fitness and personal appearance. It is based on a character described in an 1890 novel by Oscar Wilde.
DH - Designated Hitter
The common name for Major League Baseball Rule 5.11, adopted by the American League in 1973. The rule allows teams to have one player, known as the designated hitter (abbreviated DH), to bat in place of the pitcher.
DI = Dry Ice
Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. It was first sold commercially in the United States by The DryIce Corporation of America in 1925, thus giving dry ice its common name.
DJ - Davy Jones, former jockey and child actor from Manchester, England, became a teen idol with the Monkees. His fame convinced a young, up and coming London rocker who shared the birth name “David Jones” to adopt a stage name to avoid confusion (he picked “David Bowie,” and it worked out fairly well for him).
DK = Dorling Kindersley, better known as DK Press, is a publisher of numerous series of high quality, well designed and highly illustrated books on a great many topics.
DL - Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a monk of the Gelug or “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa. The Dalai Lama title was created by Altan Khan (Shunyi Wang of China)in 1578. The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso
DM = Dijon Mustard
Brown mustard seeds and white wine or wine vinegar. Dijon, France was once the mustard center of the world. Grey Poupon originated in Dijon in 1866.
DN = Dr. No
Dr.No was the first James Bond film. Shot in Jamaica on a low budget of barely a million dollars in 1962, the picture grossed $60-million. A total of 24 James Bond films have now grossed over $7-billion.
DO = Doc Ock, or more fully, Dr. Octopus or Dr. Otto Octavius. A classic Spider-Man villain, in recent years he died, but only after he transferred his mind into Spider-Man’s body, and had a run for over a year controlling that body as The Superior Spider-Man. He relinquished his control (and vestigial life) to save Anna, a woman he had fallen in love with.
DP = Duck-billed Platypus
The duck- billed platypus and the spiny anteater are the only mammals that lay eggs. Platypi or platypusses? According to Wiki there is no generally agreed plural form of Platypus. The duck-billed Platypus resides in Eastern Australia. The male platypus is also venomous. It has a spur on its foot that delivers the poison. This is one odd creature.
DQ = Dorval, Quebec
Dorvel is one of the oldest communities in North American, having been established in the 1660s, but it did not gain prominence until the establishment of Montreal’s international airport there in 1940. Dorval Airport is now known as Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport.
DR = Death Rate. Lesotho: 1.49% of the population annually. Afghanistan: 1.37%. Russia: 1.36%. Germany: 1.16%. Italy: 1.03%. Japan: 0.96%. U.K.: 0.94%. North Korea: 0.93%. Spain: 0.91%. Canada: 0.85%. USA: 0.82%. Ethiopia: 0.79%. China: 0.77%. India: 0.73%. South Korea: 0.57%. Saudi Arabia: 0.33%. Qatar: 0.15%. Source: CIA’s World Factbook