Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, May 10, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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malediction
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Indefinite PronounsAn indefinite pronoun is used in place of a noun without specifying a particular person or thing that is being represented. Why are many pronouns that refer to more than one—e.g., everything, everyone, much, etc.— considered singular? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Wedding DressA wedding dress is the traditional article of clothing worn by a bride during the marriage ceremony. The color, style, and ceremonial importance of the gown vary in accordance with the religious and cultural traditions of the wedding participants. In Western countries, brides traditionally wear ornate white gowns symbolizing purity. China's brides generally wear red, a color of good luck. Why was it considered inauspicious that Mary, Queen of Scots, wore a white gown to her 16th century wedding? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US Supreme Court Classifies Tomatoes as Vegetables, Not Fruit (1893)To most of us, a fruit is a sweet plant part eaten as a dessert or snack, but to a botanist, a fruit is a mature ovary of a plant. All species of flowering plants produce fruits that contain seeds. A vegetable, on the other hand, is simply part of a plant that is grown primarily for food. The tomato—one of the newer additions to world cuisine—can be said to meet both criteria but is technically a fruit. Why was the Supreme Court tasked with classifying the tomato in the first place? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gustav Stresemann (1878)A German statesman, Stresemann entered the Reichstag in 1907 as a deputy of the National Liberal party. During World War I, he supported the monarchy and an annexationist policy, but after the proclamation of a German republic in 1918, he founded the conservative German People's party and turned to a conciliatory policy. As chancellor and foreign minister of the Weimar Republic from 1923, he worked to reconcile former enemy nations to Germany. With whom did he share the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The world in general doesn't know what to make of originality; it is startled out of its comfortable habits of thought, and its first reaction is one of anger.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be in for a treat— To be guaranteed to receive or experience something unexpectedly pleasant or beneficial. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Golden Spike Anniversary (2021)This reenactment of the completion of America's transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, has been held since 1952. Reproductions of the Central Pacific's "Jupiter" and Union Pacific's "119" meet at the site of the ceremony. Then, the Golden Spike and three other spikes are tapped into a special railroad tie; at 12:47 PM, an ordinary iron "last spike" is driven into the last tie, and the message "D-O-N-E" is sent by ham radio to the California State Railway Museum in Sacramento. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: spendscabbage pounder - An inept golfer who spends a lot of time in the rough. More... carpet knight - A knight who spends his time in luxury and idleness—knighted on the carpet at court rather than on the field of battle. More... mouse potato - A person who spends too much time on the computer, patterned on couch potato. More... spendthrift - One who spends the "thrift" or earnings/wealth of another. More... | |