Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, December 20, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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neophyte
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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InterjectionsAn interjection, also known as an exclamation, is a word, phrase, or sound used to convey an emotion such as surprise, excitement, happiness, or anger. What are primary interjections? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Alice in Wonderland SyndromeMicropsia, also named Alice in Wonderland Syndrome after Lewis Carroll's fictional children's book, is a disorienting visual disorder in which humans, animals, and inanimate objects are perceived as significantly smaller than they actually are. The condition affects the brain's interpretation of signals sent from the eyes and not the mechanical functioning of the eyes themselves. What painful neurological condition may, in part, be the cause of micropsia? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco Is Assassinated (1973)When Spanish leader Francisco Franco appointed Carrero Blanco to the office of prime minister in 1973, the new premier was expected to uphold Franco's regime—including a plan to eventually restore the Spanish monarchy. Months later, Carrero Blanco was killed by a bomb that exploded under his car as he was leaving mass in Madrid. Though Spain may have moved closer to democracy after Carrero Blanco's death, that was not necessarily the intended goal of the bombing. Who was responsible for it? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Edwin Abbott (1838)Abbott was an English theologian, schoolmaster, and author. He wrote educational textbooks, theological works, and a biography of Francis Bacon, and his 1870 Shakespearian Grammar became a permanent fixture of English philology. However, his most famous work is a playfully inventive 1884 novella best described as "mathematical fiction." The humorous and satirical tale has enjoyed an enduring popularity, particularly among mathematicians and students. What is the name of the novella? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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to a turn— For exactly the right amount of time necessary or desired (used almost exclusively in reference to how well meat is cooked). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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.jpg) Halcyon Days (2025)The ancient Greeks called the seven days preceding and the seven days following the Winter Solstice the "Halcyon Days." Greek mythology has it that Halcyone (or Alcyone), Ceyx's wife and one of Aeolus's daughters, drowned herself when she learned her husband had drowned. The gods took pity on her and transformed them both into kingfishers. Zeus commanded the seas to be still during these days, and it was considered a period when sailors could navigate in safety. Today, the expression "halcyon days" has come to mean a period of tranquillity, often used as a nostalgic reference to times past. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: shockingchurch key - Started out as slang for bottle opener in the early 1950s and was considered mildly shocking, even sacrilegious. More... flagrant, blatant - Flagrant implies shocking and reprehensible, while blatant is obvious, contrived, and usually obnoxious; flagrant is a stronger term than blatant. More... forbysen, bysen - Forbysen is an "example or parable"; bysen is a "shocking thing." More... tingle - From Middle English, possibly a variant of tinkle, its original meaning was "response to a loud noise" and "response to hearing something shocking." More... | |