Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, May 3, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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undergird
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining InfinitivesAn infinitive is the most basic form of a verb. It is "unmarked" (which means that it is not conjugated for tense or person), and it is preceded by what particle? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 FastiIn ancient Rome, the fasti was a calendar-like list of days that kept track of holy days, festivals, and notable events. Most importantly, it indicated the days when public business could take place without impiety, its original purpose. The first fasti was published in 304 BCE, in the form of engraved stone tablets placed in the Forum, the center of Roman public life. The list served as the origin of the Roman calendar, according to which each week had how many days? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Old Man of the Mountain Collapses (2003)The Old Man of the Mountain was an iconic rock formation in the Franconia Notch mountain pass of New Hampshire. Protruding from the side of a cliff, about 1,200 feet (366 m) above a lake, it looked like a craggy, 40-ft (12-m) human face. Years of freezing weather and the feature's already precarious position caused the beloved local symbol and tourist destination to collapse in 2003. American statesman Daniel Webster once said that the Old Man was God's way of saying what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William Motter Inge (1913)Inge worked as a teacher and newspaper critic before winning recognition as a dramatist. His plays sympathetically portray the aspirations and frustrations of Midwestern small-town life. He first earned notice in 1950 with Come Back, Little Sheba, and he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for Picnic. Several of his works were made into films. By the 1960s, his reputation as a dramatist declined, and he turned to writing novels. Plagued by alcoholism and illness, he died in what way? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 In matters of thought and conduct, to be independent is to be abnormal, to be abnormal is to be detested.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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chafe at the bit— To be impatient and/or eager for something to happen or over some delay. Used to liken someone to an overexcited horse straining against its bit (the metal piece of the harness that fits between its jaws). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Queima das Fitas (Burning of the Ribbons) (2020)The Burning of the Ribbons is centered around a tradition, dating from the 19th century, that is perpetuated by students at the University of Coimbra. At the end of the second semester in May, the students ceremoniously burn the ribbons (one per day) that represent each of the eight faculties at the institution. Numerous concerts and performances take place, as does a traditional nighttime serenade at the Old Cathedral of Coimbra. Another high point is the cortejo, an elaborate parade featuring floats bearing the respective colors of each faculty. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: smokingstogie, stogy - A stogie (or stogy) is named for the Conestoga wagon—as drivers of the wagons rolled tobacco into thin ropes for smoking on long trips; stogies are now long, thin cigars. More... cigar - Comes from Spanish cigarro, from the Mayan verb sik'ar, "to smoke" or "smoking." More... dottle - Any tobacco left in a pipe after smoking. More... pipe dream - Originated with opium smoking. More... | |