Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, November 12, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
borderland
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Defining Adverbs of PlaceAdverbs of place tell us about an aspect of location associated with the action of a verb, specifying the direction, distance, movement, or position involved in the action. Adverbs of place generally appear immediately after the main verb in a sentence if it is intransitive. Where do they appear if the verb is transitive? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Running the GauntletThe phrase "running the gauntlet" is used figuratively today to mean enduring a series of punishments or tests. It derives from the Roman form of military execution known as fustuarium, in which a soldier found guilty of laxity was cudgeled to death by his comrades. In some later traditions, the condemned was forced to pass between two rows of armed soldiers and pardoned if he managed to exit the other side. "The gauntlet" is also a type of athletic drill used in training for what sports? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 The Royal Air Force Sinks German Battleship Tirpitz (1944)The German Tirpitz, sister ship of the similarly ill-fated Bismarck, was the largest battleship ever built in Europe. Though she was sent to waters around German-occupied Norway and never really saw action in World War II, her mere presence threatened Allied convoys and tied up their naval resources. The Allies therefore launched numerous attacks on the Tirpitz in an effort to destroy her. After the Allies succeeded, her armor plates were supposedly repurposed for what use? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Jeanne Mance (1606)Mance was a member of a French association that planned a utopian colony at Montreal. With the support of the French queen, Anne of Austria, she sailed with the first settlers in 1641. Mance, who had cared for victims of the Thirty Years War and the plague while in France, opened Montreal's first hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu, in 1644. In 1650, she visited France and returned with a large donation meant to fund the hospital. Rather than use it for its intended purpose, Mance did what with the money? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
have (some/any) qualms about (something or someone)— To have some or certain hesitations, apprehensions, uneasiness, or pangs of conscience (about something or someone). (Also often used in the negative to mean the opposite.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Timor Santa Cruz Massacre Day (2021)The Santa Cruz Massacre Day remains among the most significant anniversaries for veterans of the Timorese independence movement, which was active during the Indonesian occupation between 1975 and 1999. In 1991, 271 protesters disappeared or were killed at the Santa Cruz cemetery in the Timor-Leste capital, Dili. That massacre sparked international outrage and kept the spotlight on the Indonesian occupation until it ended in 1999. The tone of the day remains mournful. During the occupation years, the Timorese often lit candles, and it was an occasion for public figures to rally the people. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: sledbobber - A person who rides a bobsled or bobsleigh (meaning "short sled"). More... pung - Once the name for a one-horse sled or wagon. More... skate, ski, sled - The word skate was originally plural and comes from Dutch schaats, which derived from an Old French word for "stilt," but the connection is unclear. Skate appeared in English in the mid-17th century. Ski, in English by 1755, was borrowed from Norwegian, and ultimately from Old Norse for "snowshoe." Sled came from Flemish and Germanic sledde, between 1325 and 1388, for a "vehicle for transporting heavy goods," and is related to sledge and sleigh. More... toboggan - Comes from Canadian French from Micmac tobakun or Abnaki udabagan, "sled, sleigh." More... | |