Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, May 1, 2021)Word of the Day | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
peccadillo
|
Daily Grammar Lesson | |
---|---|
NounsNouns are words that indicate a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns can function as the subject or the object of a verb or preposition. Nouns can also follow linking verbs to rename or re-identify the subject of a sentence or clause. These are known as what? More... |
Article of the Day | |
---|---|
![]() CollageDerived from a French word meaning "to glue," collage is an art technique consisting of pasting materials to a surface. Long popular as a pastime for children and amateurs, it was first given serious attention as an art technique in 1912, when Pablo Picasso pasted a section of commercially printed oilcloth to his cubist painting Still Life with Chair Caning. It has been used by countless artists since. What are some examples of musical, literary, and architectural "collages"? More... |
This Day in History | |
---|---|
![]() Minamata Disease Officially Discovered in Japan (1956)Minamata disease is a degenerative neurological disorder characterized by a loss of coordination and peripheral vision, poor articulation of speech, and numbness of the extremities. It was first encountered in 1956, when numerous cases of the then-unknown disease were observed in Minamata, Japan. Investigations showed that the consumption of seafood contaminated by a local chemical factory's mercury-laden wastewater caused the disorder. What brought more attention to the disease in 1965? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
---|---|
![]() John Woo (1946)Woo is a Chinese film director known for the balletic violence of his movies. His films belong to a genre originating in Hong Kong called "heroic bloodshed" and have inspired American filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino. Woo first gained international recognition with his 1989 Hong Kong thriller The Killer. During the 1990s, he became one of the first Asian directors to achieve mainstream success in Hollywood. He has since directed several American films, including what 1997 blockbuster? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
---|---|
![]() Charles Dickens (1812-1870) |
Idiom of the Day | |
---|---|
a sore loser— Someone who complains, becomes upset, or otherwise reacts very negatively when he or she fails or loses at something competitive. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
---|---|
![]() The Game of St. Evermaire (2022)The Spel van Sint Evermarus, or the Game of St. Evermaire, is a dramatic reenactment of the slaying of eight pilgrims in Rousson (Rutten), Belgium, on their way to the Holy Land in 699. This event is portrayed by the townspeople of Rousson each year on the first day of May in the meadow near the Chapel of St. Evermaire. Following a procession around the casket believed to contain the saint's bones, costumed villagers representing St. Evermaire and his companions are attacked by 50 "brigands" led by Hacco, the legendary assailant. By the end of the drama, the saint and the seven pilgrims lie dead. More... |
Word Trivia | |
---|---|
Today's topic: notchcrenelation, crenelle - A crenelation (from Latin crena, "notch") is a series of indentations or loopholes around the top of a castle, battlement, or wall—with each indentation being a crenelle (or crenel). More... carf, kerf - A cut or notch in timber is a carf or kerf—which are also used to describe the width of such a cut. More... dent - As in "notch," it comes from the French word for tooth; its original meaning was "blow, stroke" in general. More... score - First a notch used to keep count, as on a stick. More... |