Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, January 27, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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odious
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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The Modal VerbsA modal auxiliary verb is used to change the meaning of other verbs (commonly known as main verbs) by expressing modality—that is, asserting (or denying) possibility, likelihood, ability, permission, obligation, or future intention. What are the nine "true" modal auxiliary verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Judith and HolofernesIn the Book of Judith, the eponymous heroine—a Jewish widow of great beauty and piety—enters the Assyrian camp as their army besieges her city of Bethulia. General Holofernes tries to seduce her, but she beheads him while he is drunk. Judith brings his head back to Bethulia, and the Jews rout the Assyrians. Judith's story is likely fictional and is not part of the Hebrew Bible, though her erotically-charged, violent tale has made her a popular artistic subject. How did early Christians view her? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Auschwitz Is Liberated (1945)During the implementation of Nazi Germany's Final Solution, between 1.1 million and 1.5 million people, more than 90% of them Jews, were tortured, starved, and murdered at Auschwitz in southern Poland. The Third Reich's largest death camp network, it consisted of three main camps and dozens of satellite camps. Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, a day that is now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. How had the Nazis tried to cover up their crimes there? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jerome Kern (1885)Kern was one of the major US creators of the musical. With lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, he wrote his most important work in 1927—Show Boat—in which he integrated lyrical text with the dramatic demands of plot and character to create the first American musical play. He became one of the most influential songwriters in American musical theater and is credited with more than 1,000 songs, including the standards "Ol' Man River" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." How did he cheat death in 1915? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.James Madison (1751-1836) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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help (someone) out of a fix— To help someone avoid or escape from some troublesome, difficult, or dangerous position or situation. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Mozart Week (Mozartwoche) (2022)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756. Every January since 1956, his birthday has been celebrated by the people of Salzburg, Austria, where he was born, with a music festival devoted entirely to his works. The festival also prides itself on presenting many of his lesser known works, which are seldom performed elsewhere. Concerts are given in a number of sites associated with Mozart's life, including the Mozarteum Building, St. Peter's Church, the Salzburg Cathedral, and even Mozart's home. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: refugeasylum - Comes from Greek asulon, "refuge," from asulos, "inviolable." More... bast - A word for an asylum, refuge, or sanctuary. More... harbor - First meant "shelter" and "lodging," and that is how the word first entered English place-names, as a "place of shelter; refuge" for a crowd of people. A port is a haven for vessels and it is equipped for loading and unloading ships, while a harbor is a haven for vessels but does not necessarily have onshore facilities. More... redoubt - Has no connection to "doubt," but comes from French redoute and Latin reductus, "hidden place, refuge, stronghold." More... | |