DS = Dark Shadows
This awesome gothic daytime soap was getting low ratings… until they added ghosts, a vampire, werewolves, zombies, a dismembered crawling hand, time travel, malevolent gypsys, werewolves, possessed children, and more. They retold Frankenstein, *Dr. Jeckyl and Mr Hyde *and even Rebecca. Though only on the air for five years (1966 to 1971) this show maintains a cult following to this day. Technical difficulties were common, but it didn’t matter. It worked.
DT = Delirium Tremens, a rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol. Nicknames include “the horrors”, “the shakes”, “the bottleache”, “quart mania”, “ork orks”, “gallon distemper”, “the zoots”, “barrel fever”, “the 750 itch”, “pint paralysis” and “seeing pink elephants”.
DU = Donetsk, Ukraine
Donetsk is a city of two million, which three years ago declared itself The Donetsk People’s Relpublic.
DV = Dick Van Dyke, comedic actor. In July 2016 Van Dyke said of Donald Trump, “He has been a magnet to all the racists and xenophobes in the country, I haven’t been this scared since the Cuban Missile Crisis. I think the human race is hanging in a delicate balance right now, and I’m just so afraid he will put us in a war. He scares me.”
DW = Douglas Wilder
To date, the only black man to be elected Governor of Virginia; he served from 1990-94.
DX = Discard Xylophone
What you should do with your Xylophone if someone drops an anvil on it.
DY = Daisy Mae Yokum, wife of Li’l Abner. Their wedding made the cover of Life magazine (March 31, 1952). She was born a Scragg, who were officially declared inhuman by an act of Congress (but only the evil ones).
DZ - Darryl Zanuck
Hollywood tycoon. Director John Ford, a longtime adversary, was horrified to discover himself drafted into Zanuck’s Africa film-production unit during WWII. “Can’t I ever get away from you?” he asked. “I bet if I die and go to heaven, you’ll be waiting for me under a sign reading ‘Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck’.”
EA = Electric Avenue, a 1982 song written and performed by Eddy Grant. The title is a reference to the first place electricity lit the streets in the area of Brixton, South of London. This is an area known in the modern times for its high population of Caribbean immigrants and high unemployment. As the 1980s were beginning, tensions grew in the area until the street violence now known as the 1981 Brixton riot erupted. Grant, horrified and enraged, wrote and composed the song in response; a year afterwards, the song was playing over the airwaves.
EB = Euler Brick
An Euler Brick, named after Leonhard Euler, is a rectangular cuboid whose edges and face diagonals all have integer lengths. The smallest Euler brick, has edges = (44, 117, 240) and face diagonals = (125, 244, 267).
The Edmonton NHL hockey team calls itself the Eulers. But since the Edmonton Eskimos of CFL football use the EE logo, the hockey team spells it “Oilers”.
EC = Entertaining Comics, more commonly EC Comics. They published Tales from the Crypt and other sundry horrifically gaudy ephemera until censorship pressure in the 1950’s caused them to retool and promote their satiric magazine, Mad.
ED = Eastern Diamondback
The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the largest venomous snake in North America, growing up to 8 feet long. It can be found from southern North Carolina south to Florida and west to Louisiana.
EE = Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Eskimos are considered to be the most successful major professionals sports franchise in North America, having won the Canadian Football Leagues Grey Cup 17 times, and holding the record of 34 consecutive years qualifying for the playoffs. Established in 1895, they were originalyl known as the Esquimaux, and are now being dragged annually through the Native American Mascot Controversy. Like the Green Bay Packers, they are a community-owned franchise, and Edmonton is the most northerly city with a major pro sports franchise, hence the logical mascot name.
EF- Edmund Fitzgerald was the chairman of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee. The company invested heavily in the steel business, and operated freight ships that carried ores from mines to factories throught the GReat Lakes region.
One of those freighters was named in honor of Fitzgerald. That ship sank in a storm on Lake Superior in 1975, as described in a hit song by Gordon Lightfoot.
EG = Elmer’s Glue
Elmer the bull is the cartoon husband of Elsie the cow. Borden was using Elsie in an advertising campaign to promote their pasteurized milk. In this advertising for the milk, a whole Elsie family had been created. They portrayed a home life for the cow that included a bull husband Elmer and some calf kids. Elmer was often portrayed as a Mr. Fix-it type. The advertising was popular. So in 1951, when Borden repackaged their Cascorez glue (with casein a major ingredient at the time), they chose the popular Elmer for the rebranding.
EH- From 1960-2002, native Georgian Ernie Harwell was the radio voice of the Detroit Tigers. He missed the 1992 season for reasons neither the Tigers nor radio station WJR has ever fully explained.
EI = Enhanced Interrogation, a euphemism for torture
EJ = Ernie Johnson, Jr. and Sr.
Ernie Johnson, the father and son, have been fixtures since 1962 as broadcasters of Atlanta Braves baseball. EJ Sr was a pitcher for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves,-and turned to broadcasting after his playing career. EJ Jr. became a familiar figure for all sports broadcasting on the Turner networks in Atlanta.
EK = Eartha Kitt, singer and actress. Orson Welles once called her “the most exciting woman in the world”. When asked by Lady Bird Johnson about the Vietnam War, she said: “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. No wonder the kids rebel and take pot.”
EL = Easter Lily
Originally from Japan, most all Easter lilies sold in the US come from northwest California and Southwest Oregon. The heavy pesticide use on Easter lilies in this area is controversial, because the Smith River, an important river for salmon, is considered to be in danger from the pesticide run off.