Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, April 16, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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hibernal
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adverbs of Manner and AdjectivesAdverbs of manner can also be used to describe adjectives, giving them an extra depth or dimension of character. Where must an adverb of manner be positioned in relation to the adjective it modifies? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Imperial Camel CorpsThe Imperial Camel Corps was a brigade-sized military formation that fought for the Allies in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. After being evacuated to Egypt following the failure of the Gallipoli Campaign, Allied troops looking to suppress a tribal rebellion in the west formed four companies of camel-mounted infantry. The units were so successful that 14 more camel companies were eventually formed. What advantages did the camel companies have over horse-mounted cavalry units? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Chinese Submarine Suffers Mysterious Accident that Kills 70 (2003)A week and a half after a mysterious event left the entire 70-man crew of the Chinese, Ming-class submarine No. 361 dead at their posts, the stricken vessel was discovered and towed to shore. The official explanation for the disaster, that the crew suffocated when diesel engines failed to shut down while the vessel was submerged, leaves many questions unanswered. For example, if the vessel was submerged, how was it recovered? What else is strange about the circumstances surrounding the tragedy? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sir John Franklin (1786)Franklin was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer who also served as governor of Tasmania. He is best remembered for presiding over a doomed expedition in the 1840s to chart the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic. He and his crew fell prey to a host of ills, including starvation, disease, and lead poisoning. Of the entire expedition of nearly 130 men, not one is known to have survived. What evidence suggests that some of the crew members may have resorted to cannibalism? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 All violence, all that is dreary and repels, is not power, but the absence of power.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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clutch (one's)/the pearls— To react in a scandalized or mortified manner to once-salacious but now relatively common things, events, situations, etc. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Sechseläuten (2018)This colorful springtime festival in Zurich, Switzerland, ushers in spring by exploding the Böögg ("snowman"), the symbol of winter. Sechseläuten means the "six-o'clock ringing." On Monday, members of the guilds parade through the city in medieval costumes, accompanied by bands. Everyone converges at six that evening; the bells ring, groups on horseback gallop around the Böögg (which is stuffed with cotton wadding and firecrackers) to the music of a hunting march, and then the Böögg explodes and burns. Torchlight parades go on into the night, and feasts are held at guild halls. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: raisincurrant - Developed from Middle English raison of Corauntz, "a raisin of Corinth," from where the fruit came. More... figgy pudding - From the dialect term fig, which meant "raisin." More... frail - Fifty pounds of raisins. More... passulate - To dry grapes to make raisins, from Latin passula, "raisins." More... | |