Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, May 11, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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mnemonic
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Object ComplementsAn object complement is a word or group of words that describes, renames, or completes the direct object of the verb. Which parts of speech can be object complements? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Zimmermann TelegramThis secret note, sent by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador to the US, said that in the event of war, Mexico should be asked to join as a German ally in return for Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. British intelligence intercepted and deciphered the note and sent it to President Wilson. This helped turn US public opinion against Germany during WWI and strengthened advocates of US entry into the war. What was the British dilemma in disclosing the note to the US? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Siam Is Renamed Thailand (1949)Thailand's origin is traditionally tied to the short-lived kingdom of Sukhothai founded in 1238. After contact with the west in the 16th century, adroit diplomacy enabled Siam to remain independent of European colonization, the only country in Southeast Asia able to do so. A mostly bloodless revolution established a constitutional monarchy in Siam in 1932. Seven years later, under Pibul Songgram's military dictatorship, the name Thailand was adopted. What does the word thai mean? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Münchhausen (1720)Münchhausen was a German baron who became legendary for his fantastic stories about his adventures as a hunter, sportsman, and soldier. Sent in his youth to serve as a page, he later joined the Russian military and served until 1750, taking part in two campaigns against the Ottoman Turks. Returning home, Münchhausen acquired a reputation as an honest businessman but also as a teller of tall tales. He claimed to have ridden cannonballs, travelled to the moon, and escaped a swamp by doing what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Most successes are unhappy. That's why they are successes—they have to reassure themselves about themselves by achieving something that the world will notice.Agatha Christie (1890-1976) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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fire in the belly— Passion and determination. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 International Bar-B-Q Festival (2019)This is a two-day, mouth-watering event in Owensboro, Kentucky, which calls itself the Bar-B-Q Capital of the World. In the course of the weekend, 10 tons of mutton, 5,000 chickens, and 1,500 gallons of burgoo are cooked and served. The barbecue-pit fires are lit on the banks of the Ohio River, and the chicken and meat—always mutton, not beef—is barbecued when the coals are red. Other events include arts and crafts exhibits, bluegrass and country music, street dancing, and contests of pie eating, keg throwing, and horseshoe throwing. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: hirefreelance - Comes from the knights whose lances were free for hire and who were not pledged to one master; originally, a freelance was a free companion or a person free of occupational or political party obligation or allegiance. More... hire - As a noun, it originally meant the payment for the use of something. More... claque - A group of people hired to applaud an act or performer. More... dry lease, wet lease - To rent an aircraft without a crew is a dry lease; a wet lease is to hire an aircraft with a crew. More... | |