Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, March 9, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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mercantile
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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HyphensA hyphen ( - ) is used primarily to join two or more words to form a new, compound word or to provide clarity when using certain affixes (such as prefixes). What is a hanging hyphen? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Gates of TashkentThe Gates of Tashkent were built around the town of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in the 10th century. The last of the gates was destroyed in 1890, but several of the city's districts still bear their names. The gates, which varied in number over time, served as fortifications for the original settlement located at the intersection of the Bozsuv canal and caravan routes from the Tien Shan Mountains. Who was in charge of protecting the wooden gates? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Edward R. Murrow's See It Now Airs McCarthyism Episode (1954)In the early 1950s, US Senator Joseph McCarthy persecuted scores of people he deemed subversive in a series of widely-publicized hearings that whipped the public into an anti-Communist frenzy. In 1954, journalist Edward R. Murrow produced an episode of his TV show See It Now that criticized the Red Scare and turned public opinion against McCarthy using the senator's own words. Murrow later invited McCarthy to respond. What happened when the senator accepted? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Vita Sackville-West (1892)Sackville-West was an aristocratic English writer and gardener who married the diplomat and author Harold Nicolson in 1913. Their complicated relationship is chronicled in Portrait of a Marriage, a biography inspired by her journals and written by their son Nigel. The gardens at Sissinghurst Castle, which she designed, are among the most visited in England. However, she is perhaps best remembered for her love affair with author Virginia Woolf, which inspired which of Woolf's novels? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 To me, fair friend, you never can be oldFor as you were when first your eye I eyed, Such seems your beauty still. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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toss (one's) hat in(to) the ring— To announce or make known one's intention to compete against others for something, especially in a political race. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Magha Puja (2020)This important Buddhist holy day is celebrated in India, Laos, and Thailand, where it is a national holiday. The day commemorates the occasion when 1,250 followers ordained by the Buddha arrived by coincidence at Veluvan Monastery in Rajagriha, Bihar, India, to hear him lay down monastic regulations and predict his own death and entry with Nirvana. On this day there are sermons in the temples throughout the day, and monks spend the day chanting. Each person carries flowers, glowing incense, and a lighted candle in homage to the Buddha. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mentionoojah, ooja-ka-piv, oojiboo - An oojah or ooja-ka-piv or oojiboo is "a thing whose name one forgets, does not know, or prefers not to mention." More... apophasis - Mentioning a subject by saying one is not going to mention it. More... infandous - Describing something too horrible to mention. More... mention - Its etymological notion is "reminding," from Latin mentio, "remembrance." More... | |