Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, December 14, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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harangue
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Prepositional PhrasesA prepositional phrase is made up of at least a preposition and its object, which can be a noun, pronoun, or a noun phrase. What is an adjectival prepositional phrase? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The KomosThe komos was a ritualistic drunken procession performed by revelers—called komasts—in ancient Greece at events like weddings and feasts. Though its precise nature can only be guessed from its depiction in vase paintings, scholars have determined that the komos is separate from two similar processions: the formal pompe and the scripted chorus, which, unlike the komos, had a leader. The komos featured music and dancing, and komasts might have carried torches and worn what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Group of Explorers Reaches South Pole (1911)Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had been planning for a trip to the North Pole until he heard that someone had beaten him to it. Instead, he and his team set sail for Antarctica. There, they spent nearly a year preparing for the final two-month trek that made them the first people to reach the South Pole. With good equipment and plenty of sled dogs, the team was extremely well prepared compared to other polar expeditions of the day, some of which ended badly. How was their clothing better? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Margaret Chase Smith (1897)Smith served as her husband's secretary following his election as a US representative. After he died in 1940, she was elected to finish his unexpired term, becoming Maine's first congresswoman. Noted for her integrity and independence, she joined the Senate in 1948 and continued to be reelected until 1972. In 1950, she gave her famed "Declaration of Conscience" speech opposing the actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy. The speech earned her what derisive nickname from McCarthy's staff? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The history of human conduct does not warrant that exalted opinion of human virtue which would make it wise in a nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous a kind, as those which concern its intercourse with the rest of the world, to the sole disposal of a magistrate.Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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throw (one's) toys out of the pram— To behave in a petulantly upset or angry manner; to act like an angry child. Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Christkindlesmarkt (2025)Christkindlesmarkt is the biggest and best known of the Christmas markets of Germany. The market in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, has been held since 1697 in the city's Hauptmarkt ("main market"). More than 100 booths are set up to offer only goods directly related to Christmas, and food booths sell Nuremberg's specialties—Lebkuchen, or gingerbread, and Zwetschgenmannlein, which are little people-shaped confections. The three-week festival is inaugurated with choral singing, the pealing of church bells, and illumination of a creche. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: helmetcrest - From Latin crista, "plume, tuft," it first referred to the erect feathers of a plume on a helmet or headdress. More... panache - Can be a tuft or plume of feathers on a headdress or helmet. More... coif, coiffure, coiffeur - Coif, coiffure, and coiffeur (hairdo, hairstyle) derive from Latin cofia, "helmet." More... galeated - Means "shaped like a helmet" or "wearing a helmet." More... | |