Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, January 4, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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dispassionate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Articles and Uncountable NounsThe indefinite articles "a" and "an" cannot be used with uncountable nouns, which are nouns that cannot be divided or counted as individual elements or separate parts. Can uncountable nouns take the definite article "the"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Thieves' CantDating to the early 16th century, thieves' cant was a secret language used in the criminal underworld of Great Britain by thieves, beggars, vagrants, and supposedly Gypsies. Beginning in the mid-1500s, numerous "canting dictionaries" were published, and the code words of the thieves' language came to be widely known. Though the argot is almost totally obsolete today, what small group of people was reported in 2009 to have revived thieves' cant for everyday use? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Topsy the Elephant is Executed by Electrocution (1903)Topsy was a circus elephant at Coney Island's Luna Park. After killing three people—at least one of whom was mistreating her at the time—in as many years, she was deemed a threat and scheduled to be put down. After hanging was ruled out after being deemed too cruel, Thomas Edison suggested electrocution in an attempt to further his campaign to portray alternating current electricity as dangerous. Electrocuted with 6,600 volts, Topsy died in seconds. How many people witnessed the execution? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jakob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785)More than just a compiler of fairy tales, Jacob Grimm was a German philologist who formulated the linguistic principle known as Grimm's law and who, along with his brother Wilhelm, began work on a vast historical dictionary of the German language that took over a century to complete. The Brothers Grimm are best known, however, for their compilation of some 200 German folk tales, known as Grimm's Fairy Tales, that helped establish the science of folklore. How did they collect the stories? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Quotation, n.: the act of repeating erroneously the words of another.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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look (someone) off— In sports, especially American football, to mislead an opponent with one's eyes as to one's intentions in a given play. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Carnival of Blacks and Whites (2025)The Carnival of Blacks and Whites, held each year in Pasto, Colombia, is one of the oldest Carnival celebrations in South America. The Carnival officially opens on January 4 with a parade commemorating the arrival in Pasto of the Castañeda family, who are presented as a zany group overburdened with luggage, mattresses, and cooking equipment. The following day is the Day of the Blacks. Using special paints and cosmetics, revelers paint themselves and their friends black. Festivities continue on January 6 with the Day of the Whites, in which white paints and cosmetics are used. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: trousersfob - A small pocket close to the waistband of trousers. More... galluses - Another name for suspenders for trousers. More... plus fours - Got their name (c. 1920) from the fact that such trousers were made four inches longer than standard knickerbockers or shorts, which came to just above the knee. More... trousers, trouse - The singular of trousers is trouse. More... | |