Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, April 7, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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cacography
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Generic "You"The second-person pronouns are also often used to indicate an unspecified person. This is sometimes referred to as "generic you," "impersonal you," or "indefinite you." This is less formal than its counterpart, the pronoun "one," but it is sometimes preferred. Why? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 MockumentariesA mockumentary is a fictional production filmed in the style of a documentary, often for comedic or dramatic effect. An early example of the genre is a 3-minute spoof report on the Swiss spaghetti harvest aired by the BBC as an April Fools' joke in 1957. Perhaps the most well-known mockumentary is 1984's This is Spinal Tap, which follows a fictional heavy-metal band. Other famous examples include The Blair Witch Project and Borat. What TV shows are considered mockumentaries? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Rwandan Genocide Begins (1994)In 1993, after years of conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups in Rwanda, a new accord was signed and a UN peacekeeping mission was established. However, when Rwanda's and Burundi's presidents were killed in a suspicious plane crash in April 1994, civil strife erupted on a massive scale. Rwandan soldiers and Hutu gangs slaughtered an estimated 500,000 to 1 million people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, in the 100 or so days before the Tutsis regained power. What has happened since? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Charles Fourier (1772)Fourier was a French social philosopher who developed a form of utopian socialism known as Fourierism. He proposed the idea that the natural passions of humans would, if properly channeled, result in social harmony. The social organization for such development was to be based on an economic unit composed of 1,620 people living in a single community building and dividing work according to their interests and desires. Why did he designate 1,620 as the ideal number of persons in a phalanx? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 A married man forms married habits and becomes dependent on marriage just as a sailor becomes dependent on the sea.George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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sounding board— A person or group with whom one discusses an idea, plan, or suggestion in order to evaluate its strengths, acceptability, feasibility, practicality, etc. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Armenia Motherhood and Beauty Day (2022)This is a national holiday in Armenia, celebrated each year on April 7. It comes not long after another national holiday, Women's Day, which is celebrated on March 8. Women's Day is meant to honor all women, but Motherhood and Beauty Day is dedicated especially to those who have become mothers. Children and adults alike show their affection for their mothers with special visits, cards, and gifts. Sending flowers to one's mother is an especially popular way to mark this holiday. Another tradition associated with the day is the gift of a twig that has fresh sprouts on it. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: treasurehamper - A food basket for a picnic, it is a phonetic reduction of the word hanaper, "plate basket," or "repository for treasure." More... garrison - At first, it meant "store, treasure." More... treasure - Based on Greek thesauros. More... treasure trove - From French, literally meaning "found treasure." More... | |