Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, May 7, 2021)Word of the Day | |||||||
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straggly
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Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Comparative Adverbs in Affirmative StatementsIn affirmative statements, we can use comparative adverbs to describe change or differences between two things within one sentence. What word is used after the comparative adverb in such a sentence? More... |
Article of the Day | |
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Hadaka MatsuriHadaka Matsuri—literally, "naked festival"—is a Shinto tradition observed all over Japan, usually not long after New Year's Day. Rituals related to its observance vary, but one custom that remains consistent is the dress code. For the most part, participants wear nothing more than a traditional white fundoshi, or loincloth. One particularly unusual ritual involves them chasing a fully naked man who has been specially selected for the event. What is this intended to accomplish? More... |
This Day in History | |
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Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Premieres in Vienna (1824)The Symphony No. 9 in D Minor is the last complete symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. One of the best known works of the Western repertoire, it is considered one of Beethoven's greatest masterpieces. Incorporating part of Johann Schiller's "Ode to Joy," sung by soloists and a chorus, it is the first symphony in which a major composer utilizes human voices on the same level as instruments. How many standing ovations reportedly followed its premiere performance in 1824? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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Olympe de Gouges (1748)Born Marie Gouze, de Gouges was a French author whose feminist writings during the French Revolution demanded the same rights for French women that French men were demanding. In 1791, alarmed that the new constitution did not address woman's suffrage, she wrote Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, challenging the practice of male authority and the notion of male-female inequality. Why was she executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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Birth, n.: The first and direst of all disasters. Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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gentleman's agreement— A legally non-binding arrangement that is guaranteed only by a verbal or mutually understood agreement by the parties involved. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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Birthday of Tagore (2023)This date commemorates the birth of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the great poet, philosopher, social reformer, dramatist, and musician of Calcutta, India. In 1913, he was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Tagore's birthday is celebrated with a festival of his poetry, plays, music, and dance dramas. There are discussions at schools and universities of his ideas on education and philosophy, and screenings of films based on Tagore's short stories and novels made by filmmaker and Calcutta native, Satyajit Ray. More... |
Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: rubberawareness band, awareness bracelet - An awareness band or awareness bracelet is made of rubber or fabric on which a slogan is written, usually sold to raise awareness for charitable causes. More... Macintosh - A raincoat, named for Charles Macintosh (Scottish inventor, 1766-1843), who discovered how to waterproof fabric with rubber. More... rubber - In the sense of the latex of the rubber plant, it is so called because you can rub out pencil marks with it, not the other way around. More... amorphous - Something amorphous has no real shape or is irregularly shaped—like pudding; an amorphous solid lacks the perfect ordered structure of crystals. Other examples are glass, polymers, and rubber. More... |