Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, May 11, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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incumbency
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Object ComplementsAn object complement is a word or group of words that describes, renames, or completes the direct object of the verb. Which parts of speech can be object complements? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Walpurgis NightCelebrated in parts of Europe on April 30 or May 1, Walpurgis Night is a holiday influenced by both Pagan and Christian traditions. It is named after Saint Walpurga, whose holy day coincides with various Pagan spring customs, including the commemoration of the Norse god Odin's self-sacrificing retrieval of the knowledge of the runes. On this night, the boundary between the living and dead is allegedly weakened. Who is said to gather in Germany's Harz mountains on Walpurgis Night? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Siam Is Renamed Thailand (1949)Thailand's origin is traditionally tied to the short-lived kingdom of Sukhothai founded in 1238. After contact with the west in the 16th century, adroit diplomacy enabled Siam to remain independent of European colonization, the only country in Southeast Asia able to do so. A mostly bloodless revolution established a constitutional monarchy in Siam in 1932. Seven years later, under Pibul Songgram's military dictatorship, the name Thailand was adopted. What does the word thai mean? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Münchhausen (1720)Münchhausen was a German baron who became legendary for his fantastic stories about his adventures as a hunter, sportsman, and soldier. Sent in his youth to serve as a page, he later joined the Russian military and served until 1750, taking part in two campaigns against the Ottoman Turks. Returning home, Münchhausen acquired a reputation as an honest businessman but also as a teller of tall tales. He claimed to have ridden cannonballs, travelled to the moon, and escaped a swamp by doing what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 A boy's love comes from a full heart; a man's is more often the result of a full stomach. Indeed, a man's sluggish current may not be called love, compared with the rushing fountain that wells up when a boy's heart is struck with the heavenly rod.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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fire in the belly— Passion and determination. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Frost Saints' Days (2018)These three consecutive days in May mark the feasts of St. Mammertus, St. Pancras, and St. Servatus. In the wine-growing districts of France, a severe cold spell occasionally strikes at this time of year, inflicting serious damage on the grapevines; some in rural France have believed that it is the result of their having offended one of the three saints, who for this reason are called the "frost saints." French farmers have been known to show their displeasure over a cold snap at this time of year by flogging the statues and defacing the pictures of Mammertus, Pancras, and Servatus. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: hirefreelance - Comes from the knights whose lances were free for hire and who were not pledged to one master; originally, a freelance was a free companion or a person free of occupational or political party obligation or allegiance. More... hire - As a noun, it originally meant the payment for the use of something. More... claque - A group of people hired to applaud an act or performer. More... dry lease, wet lease - To rent an aircraft without a crew is a dry lease; a wet lease is to hire an aircraft with a crew. More... | |