Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, October 9, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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bumpkin
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Gerunds as Objects of VerbsGerunds very frequently function as the direct objects of "true" verbs. What type of verb is very likely to take a gerund as an object? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Filk MusicFilk is a musical genre that grew out of the science-fiction and fantasy fan community. During the early days of science-fiction conventions, many participants would gather for late-night singing sessions. The phenomenon has since spread to include professional recordings and conventions devoted entirely to filk. Though filkers have been known to write songs about a variety of topics, most songs reference specific works of fiction or cultural aspects of fandom. How did the genre get its name? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Phantom of the Opera Premieres in London (1986)Based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1986. In 2010, it celebrated its 10,000th performance at the same venue. It opened in New York in 1988, and went on to become the longest-running musical on Broadway. It is also the most financially successful entertainment project of all time, having earned billions of dollars. What is the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ruth Ellis (1926)Ellis has the notorious distinction of being the last woman executed in the UK. In 1955, a jury took just 14 minutes to convict her of murdering her lover, racecar driver David Blakely. The two had had a volatile relationship, and Ellis had previously suffered a miscarriage as a result of a punch to the stomach from Blakely, but this mattered little after she admitted openly in court that she had shot him with the intention of killing him. In what film does Ellis have an uncredited cameo? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Life for most people compels the exercise of the lower gifts and wastes the precious ones, until it forces us to agree that there is little virtue, as well as little profit, in what once seemed to us the noblest part of our inheritance.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have the better of (someone or something)— To have or gain superiority, mastery, or an advantage over someone or something; to have control over someone or something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Denis's Day (2023)Also known as St. Dionysius, St. Denis is the patron saint of France. According to legend, Pope Clement sent him to what is now France to establish the Church there, during the reign of Emperor Decius (249-251), but the pagans who greeted him did not treat him well. The most widely repeated legend is that they beheaded him on Martyr's Hill—the place now known as Montmartre in Paris—but he miraculously picked up his head and carried it for two miles before expiring at the site where the Church of St. Denis was later built. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: ridingdavering - Riding or walking in a dazed condition. More... dressage - The art of riding and training horses, from French dresser, "to train." More... road - First meant "riding" or "hostile incursion on horseback"—a sense preserved in "inroads." More... jounce - To move roughly or violently up and down, as when one is riding a horse. More... | |