Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, January 6, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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feral
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Past Perfect Continuous TenseThe past perfect continuous tense (also called the "past perfect progressive tense") is used to describe an action that began and was still in progress in the past before another past action started. What do we usually use the present perfect continuous tense to emphasize? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Checkpoint CharlieFrom 1961 until 1990, Checkpoint Charlie served as the main crossing point for Western personnel leaving West Berlin to enter the Soviet East. Necessitated by the building of the Berlin Wall in an effort to stop an exodus of defectors, the checkpoint became a symbol of a divided Berlin. The Allied side consisted of little more than a temporary hut and a now-iconic sign that read, in four languages, "You are leaving the American sector." What chilling 1962 incident sparked protests there? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Figure Skater Nancy Kerrigan Is Attacked (1994)Shortly before the 1994 Winter Olympics, Kerrigan was clubbed in the knee in an attack that had been planned by the ex-husband of Tonya Harding, one of Kerrigan's rivals for a place on the US Olympic team. Footage of Kerrigan's reaction to the attack was replayed heavily on television, and the story became a media sensation. Despite the injury, Kerrigan won an Olympic silver medal. Harding also performed, but poorly. Kerrigan's image suffered after she made what remarks about the gold medalist? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Heinrich Schliemann (1822)As a boy, Schliemann loved Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. After making his fortune, he devoted himself at the age of 36 to searching for the ruins of the ancient city of Troy, which played a prominent role in Homer's account of the Trojan War but was believed to be fictional. In 1873, Schliemann not only found the remains of Troy—verifying the Trojan War's place in history—but also uncovered the ruins of several other cities that had been built on the same site. Where did he find Troy? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged. She is satisfied with herself. Her cares are over, and she feels that she may exert all her powers of pleasing without suspicion. All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can be done.Jane Austen (1775-1817) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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the jet set— A group of wealthy individuals who travel globally, especially by private jet, to frequent fashionable resorts, social events, and the like. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Perchtenlauf (2021)The Perchtenlauf in Austria is usually held on Epiphany. The Perchten are old masks, usually of witches and fearsome animals, that have been handed down for generations. People wearing the masks run through the village beating drums, ringing bells, singing, shouting, and making as much noise as possible to scare winter away—an ancient custom that can be traced back to pre-Christian times. The procession of masked figures stops in the main square of the village and everyone begins to dance wildly, making even more noise than before. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: squeezeanguish, anxious, anxiety - Anguish, anxious, and anxiety come from Latin angere, "to choke, squeeze, strangle." More... kvetch - To complain chronically or habitually, from Yiddish kvetshn, "pinch, squeeze; complain." More... squash - As a verb, it is an alteration of quash, and means, generally, to "crush, squeeze, or suppress." More... tapioca - Comes from Tupi-Guarani tipi, "residue," and ok/og, "squeeze out." More... | |