Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, February 4, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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farsightedness
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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"Long" Adjectives and Degrees of Comparison"Long" adjectives are adjectives that have three or more syllables, or adjectives that have two syllables and do not end in "-y." We do not change the ending of long adjectives. Instead, we add what words to the adjective? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Poison AffairDuring the trial of Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers, who stood accused of conspiring to poison her relatives to secure the family fortune, it was revealed that such poisons, or "inheritance powders," could be readily bought from Parisian fortune-tellers and alchemists. The news terrified high society, especially the king's court. An investigation was launched, and a hysterical period ensued during which how many people were executed for poison conspiracies? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Confederate States of America Established (1861)Although Abraham Lincoln had stated his willingness to tolerate slavery where it currently existed, his election as US president precipitated the secession of several Southern states. South Carolina, the first to secede, was soon followed out of the Union by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. On February 4, 1861, delegates from the seceding states met in Alabama to organize a provisional government. Who was elected president of the Confederate States of America? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Oscar De La Hoya (1973)At age 19, De La Hoya made his professional debut in the world of boxing, following in the footsteps of his pugilist grandfather and father. It came hot on the heels of an impressive Olympic performance, where he earned gold for the US Boxing Team, and he quickly made a name for himself as an international superstar. When De La Hoya defeated Felix Sturm in 2004, he became the first boxer in history to win world titles in six different weight divisions. How many punches did he throw in the fight? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 With Women, we speak of "love", "duty", "right", "wrong", "pity", "hope", and other irrational and emotional conceptions, which have no existence, and the fiction of which has no object except to control feminine exuberances.Edwin Abbott (1838-1926) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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air rage— Sudden, unruly, and often violently aggressive behavior of a passenger aboard an airplane, generally while in the air, which puts the safety of other passengers, the crew, or the airplane at risk. The term is modeled on "road rage," which is the equivalent behavior in relation to driving. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Li Ch'un (2023)Li Ch'un is Chinese for "spring is here." This is one of 24 days in the Chinese calendar marking a change of season. The celebration of spring in some places has involved a procession of local dignitaries, dancers, singers, and musicians. Some of these carried a platform holding an ox and his driver made of paper. Each year the Chinese almanac, the T'ung Shu, gives specific instructions about the most auspicious colors to use in creating the ox and driver. People also traditionally mount a post with feathers outside their homes, which means that spring has officially arrived. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: stoppagearmistice - Comes from Latin armistitium—from arma, "arms," and -stitium, "stoppage"—and means a temporary cessation from fighting or the use of arms, or a short truce. More... solstice - Derived from Latin sol, "Sun," and stitium, as the Sun appears to stand still on the first day of winter. More... epoch - Pronounced EH-puhk, it is from Greek epokhe, "fixed point in time, stoppage," and it was first the initial point in a chronology from which succeeding years were numbered. More... stasis - A period of inactivity or equilibrium, from Greek histanai, "stoppage." More... | |