Tuesday, July 27, 2004 | 10:28 a.m.
Celebrities of every ilk -- from Ben Affleck to Bill Clinton -- are in Boston this week for the Democratic National Convention.
So today we thought we'd use that flimsy tie-in to muse on the connection between politics and the coining of the word "gossip."
Where exactly did the word come from? The world of politics, according to one oft-repeated tale.
Politicians need feedback to determine what is considered important to the people -- to the voters.
But in the Revolutionary War era, there were no telephones, televisions, radios, Internet or Gallup polls.
So early political types such as Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams sent their minions to local taverns.
Their mission was to "go sip" some ale and listen to people's conversations and political concerns.
Many assistants were dispatched at different times to different watering holes. "You -- go sip here" and "You -- go sip there."
The two words -- "go" and "sip" melded together over the years were eventually combined to form the word "gossip" -- "talk of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature," as one dictionary on our desk terms it.
We did check some etymology Web sites, and also came up with another possibility, that the word comes from the old English word "godsibb," meaning a godparent or baptismal sponsor. That term dates to at least 1014, according to one Web site.
Frankly, we prefer the story about going to all the bars.
Meaty proposition
Aramark Executive Chef Carlos Vargas didn't even flinch when the call came in.
Can we make a dinner reservation for 12,406, please?
Well, maybe he flinched a little.
But he took the reservation.
So on Wednesday night Vargas and his team of 450 waiters and 320 chefs, stewards and managers will be hard at work.
They will serve shrimp Caesar salad, prime rib and Grand Marnier chocolate cake to 12,406 Delta Sigma Theta sorority sisters at the closing banquet of their 47th annual national conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Vargas is touting it as the world's largest sit-down dinner.
Ace match
Two of Las Vegas' most high-profile tennis players, Andre Agassi and Caesars headliner Elton John, will play in the 12th annual World Team Tennis All-Star Smash Hits to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the National AIDS Fund.
The Oct. 11 event will be held at the University of California, Irvine.
John will play celebrity doubles with his longtime pal Billie Jean King -- for whom he reportedly wrote the song "Philadelphia Freedom" when she played on that World Team Tennis entry in the 1970s.
Agassi will square off in an exhibition against Andy Roddick.
Cirque on track
A rumor is making the rounds that the new Cirque du Soleil show at MGM Grand is going to be delayed into 2005 because of a crane accident that destroyed part of the set.
The rumor is 1,000 percent false, Cirque spokeswoman Reggie Lyons tells us.
"There are no cranes anywhere near here," Lyons said. "Yes, there have been some technical difficulties that have pushed back the opening date, but it is nothing at all like you are saying."
She said an October opening for the new show was the current goal.
Moving in
N9NE Group boss Michael Morton has left his native Chicago and has bought a house in Summerlin, and he is moving his family here.
He'll supervise the new N9NE eateries and clubs in the new Palms tower, and will jet often to Dallas. The N9NE Group is doing the restaurants and clubs at the new W Hotel that is being built in Dallas, on land owned by Ross Perot.
This fall the N9NE Group has several bars, clubs and eateries opening in the new $250 million, 44-acre Morongo Casino, Resort and Spa just west of Palm Springs.
VegasBits
Relax: Former NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman was at Rehab, the Hard Rock Hotel's Sunday afternoon pool party. He ended his afternoon by firing up some stogies at the hotel's Cuba Libre store and cigar bar ..
Old school: Look for Oakland rapper Too Short, a hip-hop legend, to be the surprise DJ tonight at the 30th birthday bash for ghostbar VIP host Marko Greisen at the Skin Pool Lounge at the Palms. The party will also feature the return of DJ Curious George (aka George Maloof). Greisen has a deserved reputation as one of the nicest guys in his business ...
Gush: Arte Lange spent chunks of airtime Monday on Howard Stern's radio show positively gushing praise for his Vegas weekend. He especially praised the high-end Hard Rock Hotel eatery Nobu and the club Body English. Lange performed at the Joint at the Hard Rock ...
Film: This week Celine Dion is filming the video for "You and I," the first single from her new CD, "A New Day... Live In Las Vegas." The video will be helmed by award-winning director Andrew McNaughtan ...
Namesake: The fancy Japanese restaurant slated to open at Wynn Las Vegas will be named Okada, after Kazuo Okada, Steve Wynn's billionaire business partner in the resort. Okada owns Aruze, Japan's largest manufacturer of Pachislot, a kind of slot machine ...
Show go: Ian Ziering of "Beverly Hills 90210" and Dallas Cowboys CEO Stephen Jones (son of owner Jerry Jones) took in Danny Gans' show at The Mirage on Saturday night ...
Oops: The other paper in town reported that Ashton Kutcher was at Rehab, the Hard Rock's Sunday afternoon party. He wasn't. "Ashton was in Los Angeles, all weekend, where he is filming a movie called 'Dinner Guest' with Bernie Mac," Kutcher's spokeswoman Leslie Sloan told us. "Ashton was definitely not in Las Vegas."
From Sun wires
Roy won't return: The Siegfried & Roy show will never return to the stage after Roy Horn was mauled on stage by a tiger last year, a German-based spokeswoman for the duo was quoted as saying today.
Horn "has good and bad days," the German weekly Neue Post quoted spokeswoman Claudia Dressler, as saying. "Nobody knows if he'll ever the be the same old Roy again. But one thing is for sure: Siegfried & Roy will never return to the stage with their show."
Horn is still using a wheelchair, the Neue Post reported. He is having twice-weekly physical therapy to strengthen muscles in his left leg and is able to walk several hundred steps with a walker, it added.
'Fahrenheit 9/11' in Bush's back yard: Filmmaker Michael Moore is bringing his blockbuster documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" to President Bush's adopted hometown, Crawford, Texas.
Organizers expect about 1,000 people to attend the show Wednesday at a football stadium parking lot.
Actor accused: He was a Hollywood gunslinger who appeared on such TV shows and movie Westerns as "Gunsmoke," "Bonanza" and "Death of a Gunfighter."
But police accuse self-professed yogi and cowboy Robert Sorrells, 74, of being a real-life killer who shot two men in the back with a semiautomatic last weekend in a Simi Valley, Calif., saloon. One man died; the other was seriously wounded.
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