Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, November 6, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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odoriferous
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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"Will" and Interrogative SentencesAs a modal auxiliary verb, "will" is particularly versatile, having several different functions and meanings. If we want to make a question, what do we do to "will"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Mayday, Mayday!"Mayday" is a code word used internationally as a radio distress signal for a life-threatening emergency. It is derived from the French phrase venez m'aider, meaning "come help me." "Mayday" should be repeated three times, followed by the vessel's call sign, also repeated three times. "Mayday" and the call sign should then be stated again, followed by details about the emergency and position of the craft. What code word can be used for situations that are urgent but not life-threatening? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederate States of America (1861)As a US senator, Davis advocated states' rights but tried to discourage secession. Still, when Mississippi seceded, he resigned from the Senate, was appointed major general of the Mississippi militia, and soon was chosen to be president of the Confederacy. After Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered without Davis's approval in 1865, Davis fled Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, hoping to continue the fight until he could secure better terms from the North. What happened to him? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Charles Dow (1851)In the early 1880s, Charles Dow and Edward Davis Jones established the Dow Jones Average as a stock price indicator consisting mostly of railroad stocks. In 1889, Dow Jones & Co. began publication of the Wall Street Journal, and the well-known Dow Jones Industrial Average was created in 1896. Today, there are four different Dow Jones averages—industrial stocks, transportation stocks, utility stocks, and a composite average of all three. What were Dow's "Leadville Letters"? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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feed (someone) to the wolves— To sacrifice someone to ruin, destruction, or hostility from others, especially for one's own benefit or survival. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Leonhardiritt (St. Leonard's Ride) (2019)This is a celebration of Ash St. Leonhard, the patron saint of horses and cattle, observed in various towns of Bavaria, Germany. Traditionally, processions of elaborately harnessed horses draw decorated wagons to the local church. Some people also bring their cattle to be blessed. A contest of whip-cracking often follows the procession. Among the towns where Leonard's Ride is held are Bad Tölz, Rottenbuch, Bad Füssing, Waldkirchen, and Murnau. November 6 is the name-day of the saint and the traditional day of the procession, but some towns now hold their rides on a weekend near that date. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: hatchbooby hatch - First a kind of wooden hood over a hatch, readily removable. More... covey - Comes from French couver for the act of sitting on eggs ("covering" them) to hatch them. More... down the hatch - A drinking toast of nautical origin. More... | |