Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, May 1, 2022)Word of the Day | |||||||
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inspissate
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Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Mitigators vs. IntensifiersMitigators are the opposite of intensifiers, which are used to increase the intensity of the words they modify. "Very" is an example of an intensifier. What are some others? More... |
Article of the Day | |
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"Shibboleth"An easy way to get a sense of whether or not someone is a musical insider is to have him say the word "timbre." This is because musicians generally pronounce the first syllable of that word differently than non-musicians. "Timbre" is therefore a shibboleth—a word whose pronunciation can be used to distinguish between groups. The word has its origins in the Bible, which recounts the killing of 42,000 fugitive soldiers identified by their pronunciation of "shibboleth." How did they say it? More... |
This Day in History | |
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Penny Black Is Issued in the UK (1840)Before the issuance of the Penny Black—the first adhesive stamp to indicate prepayment of postage—letters were commonly paid for by their recipients. Part of an effort to reform the antiquated British postal system, the stamp featured a profile of Queen Victoria. Because its dark background made cancellation marks hard to see and made reusing stamps quite easy, it was soon redesigned. To this day, all British stamps bear a profile of the reigning monarch and are the only stamps not to list what? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852)Considered one of the founders of neuroscience, Ramón y Cajal was a Spanish histologist and Nobel laureate. He devised a method of staining nerve tissue that allowed him to study the structure of the nervous system and make many important discoveries. In 1906, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Camillo Golgi. Though he was a highly respected researcher in his adult years, he often got into trouble as a child and was imprisoned at the age of 11 for doing what? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves. Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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Up to (one's) neck in alligators— business adage The full expression is some variation of: "When you are up to your neck in alligators, it's easy to forget that the goal was to drain the swamp." It is easy to be so overcome or preoccupied by various tangential worries, problems, or tasks that one loses sight of the ultimate goal or objective. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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Vappu (2023)Vappu is a national holiday and celebration of the coming of spring in Finland. This traditional festival is also Labor Day, and factories that are said to "never close" do close on May 1 (and Christmas Day). For students, the "anything goes" celebration begins at midnight on the eve of May Day, called Vapunaatto, when they wear white student caps and indulge in anything not indecent or criminal. There are balloons, streamers, horns, and masks everywhere, and few get much sleep. On May Day itself, the students lead processions through the streets of Helsinki, and then enjoy carnivals and concerts. More... |
Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: riggingrig, rigging - A ship's rig is the arrangement of masts, sails, etc.; the rigging is the system of ropes or chains supporting these. More... spread-eagle - First described a navy man who was lashed to the rigging for flogging. More... furniture - The furniture of a ship is its apparel, including the sails, rigging, and anchor; to apparel, in early use, meant "make ready or fit." More... tight ship - Literally one in which ropes and rigging are tied and taut. More... |