Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, October 1, 2020)Word of the Day | |||||||
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poltroon
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Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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PluralsPlurals of nouns are used to indicate when there is more than one person, place, animal, or thing. The normal method for making nouns plural is to add an "-s." What are some irregular plurals? More... |
Article of the Day | |
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![]() False FriendsFalse friends are words that look or sound the same in different languages but have different meanings. Unlike false cognates, which are completely unrelated, false friends may have a shared origin. For example, gift has a far more sinister German meaning—poison—than it does in English, though both languages derive the word from the same Germanic root. How might a new Spanish speaker worsen her situation by mistakenly using the word embarazada to indicate that she is embarrassed? More... |
This Day in History | |
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![]() Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company Is Founded (1847)Siemens AG is Europe's largest engineering conglomerate. It was originally founded to build telegraph installations, but under Werner Siemens and his three brothers, it expanded to produce cables, telephones, electric power, and electric lighting. The company built the first long-distance telegraph line in Europe, followed by the monumental Indo-European telegraph line that stretched from Calcutta, India, to London, England. What scandal tainted the company's reputation in the 1940s? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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![]() Bonnie Parker (1910)Bonnie Parker was the female half of the notorious Depression-era criminal duo "Bonnie and Clyde." She met Clyde Barrow in 1930 and soon became his lover as well as his partner in crime. In 1932, the pair began a 21-month crime spree—ended when they were killed in a police ambush—that involved robberies, shootouts, and murders. Their activities were widely publicized, and they soon became America's most famous and romanticized outlaws. Why did Clyde never make an honest woman of Bonnie? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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![]() Edith Wharton (1862-1937) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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the meat of the matter— The most important, basic, or fundamental essence or element(s) of an issue, problem, or matter at hand. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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![]() Tuvalu Independence Day (2021)Independence Day is the only national celebration in Tuvalu, which consists of nine islands in the South Pacific with a total surface area of 10 square miles. The day is marked in the capital city of Funafuti with an official government flag-raising ceremony followed by a parade of policemen and schoolchildren; similar events are held in smaller communities throughout the country. Also held in addition to several days of feasting and dance is the Independence Day Sports Festival, in which citizens enjoy a number of sporting competitions. More... |
Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: trousersfob - A small pocket close to the waistband of trousers. More... galluses - Another name for suspenders for trousers. More... plus fours - Got their name (c. 1920) from the fact that such trousers were made four inches longer than standard knickerbockers or shorts, which came to just above the knee. More... trousers, trouse - The singular of trousers is trouse. More... |