Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, February 26, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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The Difference between Transitive and Intransitive VerbsEnglish verbs are split into two major categories depending on how they function in a sentence: transitive and intransitive. Transitive verbs take one or more objects in a sentence. How many objects do intransitive verbs take? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Blood BrothersMany cultures around the world have long held that unrelated people can be bound to each other as kin through a ceremony in which their blood is mingled. The Scythians mixed participants' blood with wine and drank it from a shared cup, while the Lydians licked the blood from each other's nicked forearms. Blood brother ceremonies persist even today, though they have fallen out of favor due to the risk of disease. In Greece, what tradition establishes blood brotherhood without any actual blood? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Grand Teton National Park Established (1929)Before US President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating Grand Teton National Park, the National Park Service and homesteaders around Jackson Hole, Wyoming, fought for decades about the best way to preserve the landscape there. Much of the steep Teton Range lies within the boundaries of the park. Its peaks rise above deep valleys, called "holes" by the first white trappers and traders in the area. It has been suggested that early French trappers named the Teton Range after what body part? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Christopher Marlowe (1564)A shoemaker's son, Marlowe attended Cambridge University and then became an actor and dramatist in London. His plays, such as Dr. Faustus and The Jew of Malta, often center on a heroic personality ruined by his own ambition. Most critics hold that the poetic beauty of his language elevates his plays' violence to high art, and many believe that he influenced Shakespeare's work. At 29, he was stabbed to death in a tavern brawl, possibly due to his involvement in what covert activity? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I do know my own mind…The trouble is, my mind changes and then I have to get acquainted with it all over again.Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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handbags at dawn— A confrontation or disagreement that is highly aggressive, emotionally expressive, and/or highly dramatic, but which does not end or result in violence. Used originally and primarily in reference to football (soccer) players, who would be sent off if they engaged in violent actions, the phrase is a play on the clichéd "pistols at dawn," indicating a forthcoming pistol duel. Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Fiesta de los Vaqueros (2020)This weeklong event in Tucson, Arizona, features the "world's longest non-motorized parade" and the largest outdoor midwinter rodeo in the United States. The fiesta starts with the parade—a two-mile-long procession of more than 200 entries, including old horse-drawn vehicles such as buckboards, surreys, and Conestoga wagons. The eight days of rodeo include the standard events, as well as daily Mutton Bustin' contests. In these, four- to six-year-olds test their riding skills on sheep. There are also demonstrations by the Quadrille de Mujeres, a women's precision-riding team. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: supportedwhatnot - A series of open shelves supported by two or four upright posts, for displaying knickknacks. More... oriel - A large, upper-story bay window, usually supported by brackets or on corbels. More... portico - Describes a covered walkway with a roof supported by columns and usually attached as a porch to a building. More... felly, felloe - The felly or felloe is the exterior rim on a wheel or the section of rim supported by a spoke. More... | |