Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, January 15, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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balderdash
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Concrete Uncountable NounsConcrete nouns that are uncountable tend to be substances (such as "air," "wood," and "water") or collective categories of things (such as "furniture," "homework," and "luggage"). Concrete uncountable nouns cannot take numbers or plural forms. Why not? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 BeelzebubIn the Old Testament, Beelzebub is a fertility god worshipped by the Philistines of Ekron and other Semitic groups. In the New Testament, he is the leader of the devils, sometimes identified with Satan and sometimes with his chief assistant. One of the fallen angels of John Milton's 17th-century epic Paradise Lost, Beelzebub is described by the author as being next to Satan in power. His name, Beelzebub, ultimately derives from the Hebrew words bá'al zebub, meaning "lord of" what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Otho Begins His 3-Month Reign as Roman Emperor (69 CE)Otho and Roman Emperor Nero were once friends. Then, Otho's wife became Nero's mistress, and Nero dispatched Otho to the remote province of Lusitania. After patiently governing the province for a decade, Otho joined a revolt against the emperor in 68 CE. Nero committed suicide, and Otho took over. However, a rival soon challenged him for the throne. Just three months into his reign, Otho killed himself, presumably to avoid a civil war in his empire. How did he bid farewell to his friends? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809)Believed to have been the first person to call himself an anarchist, Proudhon was a French journalist and social theorist best known for his radical assertion that "property is theft." Originally a printer, he joined the socialist movement after moving to Paris in 1838. There, he published radical newspapers and was imprisoned. His writings were deeply influential within the anarchist movement. In his famous essay "What is Government?" how does Proudhon define what it means to be governed? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance.Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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jump in (one's) skin— To start or recoil, as from shock, surprise, or fear. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Suminuri Matsuri (2021)Suminuri Matsuri is a New Year tradition observed for more than half a millennium in a district of Matsunoyama, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. People adorn their homes and streets for Oshogatsu (New Year's Day) with decorations made of paper, tree branches and bamboo. After the holiday, they take down the decorations and burn them, keeping the ashes for the Suminuri Festival. People take the ashes outside and mix them with snow, then rub the concoction on each other's faces for luck in the new year. 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... | |