Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, May 31, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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"Could" and Rhetorical Questions"Could" is sometimes used informally in sarcastic or rhetorical questions that highlight a behavior someone finds irritating, unacceptable, or inappropriate. In these situations, "could" is often (but not always) used with what as a main verb? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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| This Day in History | |
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 Copyright Act of 1790 Signed into US Law (1790)After the US Constitution was ratified in 1788, one of the first issues that the fledgling government faced was the lack of a copyright law. Without it, Congress would be swamped with individual petitions for protection from piracy. Modeled on Britain's Statute of Anne, the Copyright Act of 1790 was soon signed into law by President Washington. Instituted to encourage learning by securing US authors the sole rights to their work for 14-year periods, it drew what complaint from Charles Dickens? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Marie-René-Auguste-Aléxis, Saint-Léger Léger (1887)Known in literary circles by his nom de plume, Saint-John Perse, Léger was a French poet and diplomat. He was one of Europe's foremost diplomats prior to World War II, but he opposed appeasement of the Nazis and was dismissed by the collaborationist Vichy government in 1940. He then fled to the US, where he remained for nearly two decades. During that time, his reputation as a poet grew, and in 1960, "the soaring flight and evocative imagery of his poetry" earned him what literary award? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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| Idiom of the Day | |
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miss the mark— To be slightly or somewhat mistaken, incorrect, or inaccurate. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of the Visitation (2019)On this day Christian churches in the West commemorate the Virgin Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth. After learning that she was to be the mother of Jesus, Mary went into the mountains of Judea to see her cousin, the wife of Zechariah, who had conceived a son to be known as John the Baptist. According to the Gospel of Luke, Elizabeth's baby "leaped in her womb" (1:41) at the sound of Mary's voice. It was at this moment, according to the belief of some Roman Catholics, that John the Baptist was cleansed from original sin and filled with heavenly grace. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: messaddled, muddled - Addled refers to mental confusion; muddled is anything confused or in a mess. More... dog's breakfast, dog's dinner - Meaning a mess or muddle, a dog's breakfast or dog's dinner originally may have referred to a cooking mishap with results fit only for a dog's consumption. More... higgledy-piggledy - Probably formed from pig and the animal's suggestions of mess and disorder. More... kettle of fish - Meaning "mess, muddle," the phrase is from "a pretty kettle of fish," a corruption of "kiddle of fish," in which a kiddle is a basket set in the opening of a weir for catching fish. More... | |