Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, February 13, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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deprecatory
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Superlative AdverbsSuperlative adverbs, like superlative adjectives, are used to describe differences among three or more people or things. What ending is added to the base adverb to form a superlative adverb? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 TextingText messages are brief written messages exchanged between mobile phones or other mobile communications devices. Texting originated in the 1990s with the Short Message Service (SMS), a system that supports messages of up to 160 characters, and has since become a global phenomenon. With billions of texters around the world, texting has created new forms of interaction and has had a wide social impact that extends to language, crime, and politics. What was the first text message ever sent? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Thomas Edison Observes the Edison Effect (1880)Known as "the Edison Effect," thermionic emission is the emission of electrons or ions by substances that are highly heated. The charged particles that are emitted are called thermions, and their number rapidly increases with the temperature of the substance. If the heated substance that emits thermions carries a charge, the thermions will carry the same charge. The effect was observed by Edison in 1883 when he was working on what invention? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sir Joseph Banks (1743)Banks was a British naturalist, botanist, and patron of the sciences. After inheriting a large fortune in his early 20s, he began traveling extensively, collecting plant and natural history specimens. He outfitted and accompanied James Cook's voyage around the world, during which time he collected many biological specimens that had never before been classified. His herbarium, one of the most important in existence, and library are now at the British Museum. What plant genus was named after him? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I made up my mind long ago that life was too short to do anything for myself that I could pay others to do for me.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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with no frills— With no extraneous details or embellishments. Not fancy, decorous, or elaborate. Simple. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Lim Festival (2019)The Lim Festival is an alternating-song contest, held in the commune of Lung Giang, about 18 miles from Hanoi, in the Bac Ninh Province of Vietnam. This is a courtship event, in which girls and boys of different villages carry on a singing courtship dialogue. The singers take part in what is a vocal contest with set rules; one melody, for example, can only be used for two verses of the song. The storylines of the songs tell of daily events. Other Lim Festivals takes place in other villages in the province with processions and games such as human chess and wrestling. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: meltingfondue - Comes from French fondre, "to melt." More... relent, resolve - Relent and resolve originally meant "melt, dissolve" in literal (under the influence of heat) and figurative senses. More... eliquate - To melt or liquefy. More... clarify - To make clear by removing impurities or solid matter, as by heating gently; to purify butter by melting. More... | |