Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, April 11, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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ill-fated
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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"There" as a Dummy Pronoun"There" is primarily used as a dummy pronoun in circumstances where the sentence is explaining that a person, place, or thing exists. When the word "there" is being used in this manner, it is often referred to as what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 "Jumping the Shark""Jumping the shark" is a colloquialism used by TV critics and fans to denote the point in a TV series at which the characters or plot veer into a ridiculous, out-of-the-ordinary storyline. Shows that have "jumped the shark" are typically deemed to have passed their peak and undergone too many changes to retain their original appeal. The term is an allusion to a scene in a 1977 episode of the TV series Happy Days, when the popular character Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli does what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Brixton Riot (1981)In the early 1980s, south London's Brixton neighborhood was plagued by severe social and economic problems, including high rates of unemployment and crime and poor housing conditions. In 1981, in an effort to reduce street crime, police began stopping and searching anyone they deemed suspicious—a policy that many residents of the predominantly black community found discriminatory and heavy-handed. Eventually, the angry residents rioted. How many people were injured during the clash? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Christopher Smart (1722)A Cambridge graduate, Smart settled in London and pursued a literary career—writing poetry, editing a humorous magazine, and producing plays. His two best known works are A Song to David, an inspirational piece rife with superb imagery, and Jubilate Agno, an idiosyncratic and often anthologized paean to his cat, Jeoffry, that only survives in fragments. Both were written while he was confined in an asylum for a religious mania. What unconventional pseudonym did he sometimes use? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If there is one person I do despise more than another, it is the man who does not think exactly the same on all topics as I do.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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don't go there— Don't get into that topic of conversation; I don't want to talk about that. Used humorously, the phrase usually implies that the speaker has a potentially scandalous, sensitive, or otherwise complicated association with the topic. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Galveston Island FeatherFest (2023)Begun in 2002, the Galveston Island FeatherFest is intended to celebrate the "birds and natural heritage of the Upper Texas Coastal area." Some 300 species of birds are found on Galveston Island in the springtime as they stop off during their migration north. The FeatherFest allows bird enthusiasts the chance to go on field trips to photograph and watch the birds. Prominent environmental writers, naturalists, and artists are the leaders of these field trips. Seminars, workshops, and lectures on the wildlife in the community are also available, and a FeatherFest Photo Contest is held. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: recentAmazonian epoch - The Amazonian epoch is the most recent of the Martian geologic epochs, from 1,800 years ago to the present. More... grey, gray - The distinction in spelling between British grey and American gray is recent, popping up in the 20th century. More... Pleistocene, Pliocene, Miocene, Oligocene - Epochs indicating periods in the Earth's geology; Pleistocene means "most recent," Pliocene means "more recent," Miocene means "moderately recent," and Oligocence means "but a little recent." More... neoteric - Used to describe a person, especially an author, it means one belongs to modern/recent times—but it might also refer to a person having a modern outlook or new ideas; when used of things, it indicates that they are modern, new, or recent. More... | |