Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, April 9, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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inductee
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Focusing Adverbs that Add InformationFocusing adverbs are used to draw attention to a particular part of a clause. When we want to emphasize information that is being added to previous information, what three focusing adverbs can we use? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The LeathermanFor more than 30 years in the mid- and late 1800s, a figure known as the Leatherman regularly walked a 365-mile route through Connecticut and New York. He was famous for his handmade suit made entirely of leather, and townspeople would save food for him in anticipation of his arrival every 34 days. He lived in caves, which he heated by building fires. Very little is known about his background. Though he was said to speak French, he communicated mostly by gestures. What name graces his headstone? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Notre-Dame Affair (1950)The Notre-Dame Affair was an anti-Catholic intervention performed by radical members of the Lettrist movement on Easter Sunday 1950. During a quiet moment in the Easter High Mass, Michel Mourre, disguised as a Dominican monk, climbed to the rostrum and declaimed a blasphemous anti-sermon on the death of God. Not surprisingly, his statements enraged the thousands of faithful present at the mass, who went after Mourre and his co-conspirators and may well have lynched them had it not been for whom? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Tom Lehrer (1928)Despite being a mathematician who led a long career in academia, Lehrer is best known for the few dozen humorous songs he wrote in the 1950s and 60s. He largely tried to dodge the limelight, but his satirical treatment of serious subjects nevertheless gained him a significant cult following and influenced later performers of parody, like "Weird Al" Yankovic. According to an urban legend—one denied by the man himself—Lehrer gave up political satire after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to whom? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I have heard men talk of the blessings of freedom, ... but I wish any wise man would teach me what use to make of it now that I have it.Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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spoiled for choice— Having an abundance of suitable or ideal options from which to choose, such that it may be difficult to make a decision. Primarily heard in US. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Appomattox Day (2022)The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, when Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union army accepted the surrender of General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy. The most widespread celebration of Appomattox Day took place in 1965 during the Civil War centennial year. The day was noted across the country with costumed pageants, books and articles reflecting on the war, and concerts of martial music. Although the anniversary is not observed on a yearly basis, reenactments of the historic surrender are held periodically. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: perverseawkward - Comes from Old Norse awk, "perverse," and weard, "in the direction of," i.e. "turned back upon itself" or "turned backward." More... crabby, crabbed - Crabby and crabbed derive from a crab's sideways movement and habit of snapping (thought to suggest a perverse or irritable nature). More... peeve - A back-formation from peevish, "perverse, obstinate." More... queer - Comes from the German root quer, "across, oblique, perverse." More... | |