Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, December 6, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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cutoff
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Reflexive PronounsAlthough not technically considered personal pronouns, reflexive pronouns are very similar in form and use. When are reflexive pronouns used? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Muay ThaiMuay Thai is a martial art that originated in 16th-century Thailand. Once used as military training, it gained international fame in the 20th century when its practitioners defeated those of other martial arts. Today's “sport” version of Muay Thai takes place in a ring and features gloves like those used in boxing. It is called "The Art of Eight Limbs" because the hands, feet, elbows, and knees are all involved—giving each combatant eight points of contact. Who was Nai Khanomtom? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US Federal Judge Rules James Joyce's Ulysses Not Obscene (1933)For more than a decade after its debut, James Joyce's masterpiece, Ulysses, was banned in the US. A literary magazine had attempted to publish it in serial form, but the series was cut short after the publishers ran a rather suggestive passage and were convicted of obscenity. When the implicit ban on the book was finally challenged in 1933, Judge John M. Woolsey praised the work for its literary merits and ruled that it was not obscene. How did a publisher force the issue to court? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Joyce Kilmer (1886)Kilmer was a prolific poet who celebrated nature and faith in short, sentimental verse. His works, now mostly forgotten, have been dismissed by modern scholars as overly simplistic. Today, his reputation largely rests on the wide popularity of a single 1913 poem, "Trees." It begins, "I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree," and many specific trees have been proposed as Kilmer's inspiration. His career was cut short when what killed him at age 31? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in the thick of things— Very busy; in the middle of or preoccupied with something or several things. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Nicholas's Day (Greece) (2025)As the patron saint of ships and seamen, St. Nicholas is very important to the Greeks, so many of whom have traditionally made their living at sea. Many Greek ships, from the smallest fishing boat to the largest commercial vessel, carry an icon of the saint on board. Seamen honor St. Nicholas on his feast day, which falls at a time of year when storms grow more frequent, by burning a light before his icon and saying prayers for the safety of their boat or ship. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pityalms - Goes back to Greek eleemosune, "compassion, pity," and eleos, "mercy." More... bemoan, lament - Bemoaning is motivated when pity or grief is over an event that is joined to a consequence, whereas lamenting is motivated when the grief is over the event itself. More... pity, piety - Pity and piety shared the meanings "compassion" and "dutifulness, reverence" for a while. More... ruth, ruthless, ruthful - Ruth, meaning "compassion, pity," is part of ruthless and ruthful. More... | |