Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, June 6, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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cataplasm
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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ParticiplesParticiples are words formed from verbs that can function as adjectives or gerunds or can be used to form the continuous tenses and the perfect tenses of verbs. There are two participle forms—what are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Lotus EatersIn Greek mythology, the Lotophagi, or lotus-eaters, were a race of people from an island near North Africa. Lotus fruits and flowers were the dominant plant life on the island and the primary source of food for its inhabitants, a peaceful, apathetic people calmed by the plant's narcotic effects. The Lotophagi have long been a popular literary referent, appearing in such works as Homer's epic the Odyssey, Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotus-Eaters," and what landmark modernist novel? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Alexis St. Martin Becomes Medical Marvel (1822)In 1822, St. Martin, a Canadian fur trapper, was accidentally shot with a musket at close range, leaving a fist-sized hole in his stomach. Dr. William Beaumont, a US Army surgeon, saved his life. However, the wound never healed properly, and the small hole that remained enabled Beaumont to experiment on digestion by inserting and removing food to study the effects of gastric juices. Why, when St. Martin died at age 86, did his family wait to bury him until his body began to decompose? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William Thomas Cosgrave (1880)Cosgrave was the first prime minister of the Irish Free State, which was created following a 1921 treaty with Britain. Serving from 1922 to 1932, he was able to maintain a democratic government despite several crises and the tensions related to the Irish struggle for sovereignty. Cosgrave was elected to British Parliament in 1918 but protested British rule by refusing to take his seat. Two years earlier, his role in the Easter Rising of 1916 earned him a death sentence. How did he avoid it? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Trying to stop slanderers' tongues is like trying to put gates to the open plain.Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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let go and let God— To give up one's self-determination and yield to the teachings, designs, or instructions of God or the church. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 South Korea Memorial Day (2021)South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea) has designated June 6 as a national holiday to honor soldiers and civilians who sacrificed their lives for their country during the Korean War, 1950-1953. The main ceremony of remembrance is held at the National Cemetery in the capital city, Seoul. Throughout the country, officials and citizens pray and lay flowers at the graves of the war dead. Citizens display the flag of South Korea, which is called Tae-guk-gi, on the front doors of their homes to commemorate the civilians and soldiers who died in war. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: suggestionsuggest - To suggest something is, etymologically, to "carry it under," from Latin sub-, "under" and gerere, "bring, carry." More... addubitation - The suggestion of a doubt. More... lonely, lonesome, forlorn, desolate - Lonely adds to solitary a suggestion of longing for companionship, while lonesome heightens the suggestion of sadness; forlorn and desolate are even more isolated and sad. More... suggestion - Started out as "prompting to evil, temptation by the devil." More... | |