Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, December 23, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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impracticable
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Intensifiers vs. MitigatorsIntensifiers are the opposite of mitigators, which are used to decrease the intensity of the words they modify. What is the mitigator in the following sentence? "After eating dinner, everyone in the room was a little bit full." More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Capture of the HodagIn 1893, newspapers reported the discovery of a monstrous creature in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Called the "Hodag," it had the head of a frog, the face of an elephant, the back of a dinosaur, huge claws, and a long tail with spears on the end, according to townsman Eugene Shepard, who reported killing the beast with dynamite and later claimed to have captured one alive. Thousands came to see the creature, which he put on display at his home. What forced him to finally admit it had all been a hoax? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Festivus (1997)The holiday of Festivus, celebrated on December 23, was popularized by an episode of the 1990s TV show Seinfeld. Unfulfilled by the year-end holidays, character Frank Costanza invents Festivus "for the rest of us." The centerpiece of Festivus is a plain, unadorned aluminum pole placed in a bucket of cement. One by one, attendees grab the pole and air their grievances, detailing how other people have disappointed them in the past year. What happens after this gripe session? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Madam C.J. Walker (1867)Thought to be America's first black female millionaire, this daughter of ex-slaves was orphaned at 7, working at 10, married at 14, and a widow with an infant at 20. She worked as a domestic and laundress and in her scant spare time developed a treatment system to stop hair loss in African-American women and create smooth, shiny coiffures. She soon expanded her product line, and by 1917, her cosmetics empire was the largest black-owned business in the US. What did she do with her riches? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Virtue never has been as respectable as money.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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moral compass— That which serves or guides a person's knowledge, sense, or intuition of correct virtues, morals, or ethics. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Thorlak's Day (2021)Thorlak Thorhalli (1133-1193) was born in Iceland and, after being educated abroad, returned there to become bishop of Skalholt in 1177 or 1178. He was canonized by the Icelandic parliament five years after his death. His day traditionally marks the climax of Christmas preparations for Icelanders. It is associated with housecleaning, as well as the preparation of special foods. The hangiket, or smoked mutton, for Christmas was usually cooked on this day, and, in the western fjords, the smell of skate hash cooked on St. Thorlak's Day is still considered a harbinger of the holiday season. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: messengerapostle - Comes from Greek apostolos, "messenger." More... bode - Boda is messenger in Germanic, hence "bode"; at first, a bode was a command—then an omen or premonition. More... enunciate - Derives from Latin nuntius, "messenger." More... angel - The word angel was one of the earliest Germanic adoptions from Latin; originally from Greek aggelos, "messenger," it first meant "hireling" or "messenger." More... | |