Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, April 1, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
chatterbox
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Defining the Question MarkQuestion marks ( ? ) are used to identify sentences that ask a question (technically known as "interrogative sentences"). Where do question marks almost always appear in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 The GourdThough the gourd family technically includes cucumbers and watermelons, the name "gourd" is usually applied to fruits with hard, durable shells, such as squash and pumpkins. Colorful and oddly shaped gourds are picked for ornamental use, while others are hollowed out for use as instruments, cooking utensils, lamps, containers, and countless other purposes. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as "nature's pottery." In ancient surgery, gourds had what unusual and important use? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 BBC Report: Spaghetti Grows on Trees (1957)An estimated 8 million unsuspecting viewers were watching the BBC's trusted current affairs program Panorama when it aired one of the first televised hoaxes in history, a 3-minute report on the Swiss spaghetti harvest. Afterwards, the station received calls from hundreds of curious viewers, including some who wanted information on cultivating their own spaghetti plants. In the report, the year's abundant spaghetti crop was attributed to a mild winter and the near-elimination of what pest? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 William Manchester (1922)Manchester, an American historian, biographer, and bestselling author, published 18 books during his lifetime, including three popular volumes on US president John F. Kennedy. His writings have been translated into multiple languages. He served as a Marine during World War II, and his wartime experiences formed the basis for Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War. Why did Jacqueline Kennedy file a lawsuit to prevent the publication of Manchester's The Death of a President? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Danger lies in the writer becoming the victim of his own exaggeration ... and in the end coming to despise truth itself as something too cold, too blunt for his purpose—as, in fact, not good enough for his insistent emotion. From laughter and tears the descent is easy to sniveling and giggles.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
slanging match— A bitter argument or dispute in which each side hurls numerous insults, accusations, or verbal abuse at one another. Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 April Fools' Day (2022)There are many names for this day, just as there are many practical jokes to play on the unsuspecting. The simplest pranks usually involve children who, for example, tell each other that their shoelaces are undone and then cry "April Fool!" when the victims glance at their feet. Sometimes the media broadcast fictitious news items. British television, for example, once showed Italian farmers "harvesting" spaghetti from trees. The French call it Fooling the April Fish Day (the fool being the poisson d'avril) and try to pin a paper fish on someone's back without getting caught. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: scrapmammock - A scrap, shred, or piece that is torn or broken off. More... riffraff - Rif/riff, "spoil, strip," and raf, "carry off," combined as rif et raf in French, then went to English as riff and raff, "everything, every scrap," and then riffraff. More... scrip - Can be a scrap of paper with writing on it. More... tatter - A scrap of cloth, from Old Norse totrar, "rags"; often used as tatters. More... | |