Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, April 24, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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scurry
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Independent ClausesAn independent clause (also known as a main clause) is a clause that forms a complete, independent thought. What is a simple sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Cellar DoorsOnce a common feature of rural American homes, the cellar door is a slanted trapdoor set outside a house to cover a flight of stairs to the basement. Cellar doors are generally unremarkable. The term "cellar door" itself, however, is often proposed as one of the most beautiful phrases in English. It is said to have been a favorite of Edgar Allen Poe, and its beauty has been invoked by H.L. Mencken, Dorothy Parker, and J.R.R. Tolkien. What is supposedly so special about it? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Triple Six Fix (1980)The Triple Six Fix was a plot to rig the Pennsylvania Lottery. Masterminded by Nick Perry, the lottery's television announcer, the scheme focused on the Daily Number game, in which players pay to select a three-digit number in hopes of matching theirs to the one drawn from a container of numbered ping-pong balls. The balls are selected by a vacuum, so Perry planned to cheat the game by weighting all but two of the balls—numbers four and six—and buying combinations of those numbers. Did it work? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Anthony Trollope (1815)One of the great English novelists, Trollope spent seven unhappy years in London as a postal clerk before transferring to Ireland in 1841. Soon after, while still working for the postal service, he began writing. Working mainly before breakfast and at a fixed rate of 1,000 words an hour, he produced 47 novels, including the six interconnected Barsetshire novels and the highly regarded, satirical The Way We Live Now. What did he describe as "the most wretched fortnight of my manhood"? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 "Always suspect everybody." That's the maxim to go through life with!Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hit a brick wall— To come up against an immovable or insurmountable difficulty or obstacle. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Armenian Martyrs' Day (2021)Armenian Martyrs' Day is a day of remembrance for the one million Armenians who died in the Turkish massacre of 1915-16. On April 24, 1915, Turks arrested Armenian political and intellectual leaders in Istanbul, killing 250 of them. That was the start of deportations, forced marches in the desert, rapes, and imprisonments that killed half the Armenian population in Turkey. Armenian communities throughout the world observe this day. In the United States, many state governors issue proclamations of remembrance; there are also special services in Armenian churches. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: wastewastrel - Pronounced WAYS-trul, it is either a wasteful or worthless person, derived from the verb "waste," from Latin vastus, "desert, waste." More... bratwurst - From German Brat, "meat without waste," and Wurst, "sausage." More... eat your heart out - Goes back as far as Diogenes Laertius, who credited Pythagoras with saying "Do not eat your heart"—meaning "Don't waste your life worrying about something"—2,500 years ago. More... sullage - Waste from household sinks, showers, and baths—but not toilets; it also figuratively means filth or refuse. More... | |