Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, January 26, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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self-righteous
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Negative Adverbs Meaning "Almost Not"Some negative adverbs (such as "hardly" and "barely") mean "almost not." Where are they placed in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 OstracismIn ancient Athens, ostracism was a method of temporarily banishing a public figure. Each year, the assembly took a preliminary vote to decide whether a vote of ostracism should be held. If a majority approved holding an ostracism, voters would put into an urn a piece of pottery—called an ostrakon—marked with the name of a person they wished to be ostracized. If at least 6,000 votes were cast, the person named on the most ostraka was exiled. How long did the exile last? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss Premieres (1911)Still regularly performed, Der Rosenkavalier is one of the most acclaimed comic operas of Richard Strauss, the leading composer of romantic opera in the early 20th century. It is loosely based on the works of Molière and Louvet de Couvrai and tells the story of the shifting romantic attachments of four principal characters. Strauss, who often abandoned tonality to emphasize the humor or drama of a scene, composed Der Rosenkavalier in collaboration with what poet? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Paul Leonard Newman (1925)Newman was an American actor who captured the darker, less heroic aspects of his best-remembered roles, such as those in The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting. After eight nominations, he finally won an Academy Award for The Color of Money in 1986. In 1982, he launched his "Newman's Own" line of food products, donating the profits to various charitable causes. Why was Newman once placed on Richard Nixon's enemies list? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Fiddle, n.: An instrument to tickle human ears by friction of a horse's tail on the entrails of a cat.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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the low road— Any method, practice, or course of action that is unethical, unscrupulous, underhanded, or otherwise base or vile. (Most often used in the phrase "take the low road.") More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Australia Day (2022)The anniversary of the first British settlement in Australia on January 26, 1788, was formerly known as Foundation Day or Anniversary Day. Captain Arthur Phillip and his company of British convicts arrived first at Botany Bay, and when that proved to be unsuitable, they moved on to Port Jackson, where the city of Sydney was eventually established. First officially celebrated in 1818, Australia Day has been a public holiday since 1838. It used to be observed on either January 26 or the nearest Monday, but, since 1994, it has been observed on January 26 with celebrations all over the country. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: occupationaptronym - A name that fits a person's nature or occupation, like Jane House for a real estate agent. More... mechanical - Predates "machine" in English and has long had certain separate senses, such as "an art, trade, or occupation: concerned with manual work" and "practical as opposed to theoretical." More... specialization, specialty - Specialization refers to the process of becoming specialized; specialty refers to a special pursuit, occupation, or product. More... study - Based on Latin studium, "painstaking application, zeal" (from studere, "to be zealous"), study's earliest uses are surprising: "affection, friendliness," an "occupation or pursuit," and "a state of reverie or abstraction; state of perplexity." More... | |