Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, September 14, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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asperity
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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PhrasesGrammatical phrases are groups of two or more words that work together to perform a single grammatical function in a sentence. What is an appositive phrase? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Moon RabbitWhile the Man in the Moon is a popular European myth, many other cultures tell the tale of the Moon Rabbit, whose contours they trace on the orb's surface. In East Asian folklore, the Moon Rabbit mixes the elixir of immortality. In Aztec legends, the god Quetzalcoatl elevated a rabbit to the Moon as a show of gratitude after the rabbit offered himself up as food. Native Americans tell of a rabbit riding the Moon. Who famously agreed in 1969 to look out for the Chinese "bunny girl" on the Moon? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Man-Made Object Reaches the Moon (1959)In the early years of space exploration, the US and USSR launched numerous probes in their race to explore outer space and the Moon in particular. The first probes were intended either to pass very close to the Moon—performing a flyby—or crash directly into it—a maneuver known as a hard landing. The Soviets were the first to succeed in the latter objective. Luna 2 impacted the lunar surface on September 14, 1959. What did Premier Nikita Khrushchev present to the US president the next day? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jan Masaryk (1886)Masaryk, a diplomat and politician in newly independent Czechoslovakia, was named ambassador to Britain in 1925. Following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, he became foreign minister of the Czech government in exile in London. He supported cooperation with the Soviet Union and maintained his post after the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948. Two weeks later, Masaryk was found dead outside his window in the Foreign Ministry. What are the conflicting explanations for his death? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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catch (the) headlines— To be featured on the headlines of news articles, as due to being particularly important, popular, fashionable, etc. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Día de los Charros (2021)Today's Mexican charros are more sportsmen than cowboys or ranchers. On September 14, the day before the Mexico Festival of Independence, many of the charro associations organize parades and rodeos. The jaripeo, or rodeo, generally consists of 10 or more events involving special horse-handling skills and exhibitions of various tricks. Perhaps the most difficult trick is the paso de la muerte (death's pass), in which the charro pursues a wild horse, switching from his own horse's saddle to the back of the wild horse at full gallop. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pursuitdachshund - German for "badger hound," from its original breeding purpose to pursue a badger (etc.) that has taken refuge in a burrow. More... invite - Comes from Latin invitare, from an Indo-European root meaning "to go after something, pursue with vigor, desire." More... logology - The pursuit of word puzzles; also the science of words. More... sue - From Latin sequi, "follow," it first meant "follow, go in pursuit of." More... | |