Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, February 3, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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affront
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Prepositions with NounsCertain prepositions can be used in conjunction with nouns to connect, emphasize, or provide clarification for ideas expressed in sentences. In this combination, how is the preposition always positioned? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 El DoradoEl Dorado—Spanish for "the gilded man"—is the fabled city of gold and jewels believed by the 16th-century Spanish and other Europeans to exist somewhere in South America. The legend supposedly originated from the Chibcha people of Colombia, who each year anointed a chieftain and rolled him in gold, which he then ceremonially washed off in a sacred lake, casting offerings of emeralds and gold into the waters. Who were some of the explorers who searched for El Dorado, and where did they look? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Contested Kentucky Governor Dies of Gunshot Wounds (1900)At the time he was shot on the grounds of Kentucky's state capitol, William Goebel was not a well-liked man—nor had he technically won the heavily contested 1899 Kentucky gubernatorial election. However, he lived just long enough to be declared governor and sworn into office, making him the only state governor in US history to have been assassinated. The identity of his assassin remains a mystery. Several years before his murder, Goebel shot a political foe in the head. What prompted their duel? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Antonio José de Sucre (1795)One of the most respected leaders of the Latin American wars for independence, Sucre was a close friend and chief lieutenant of Simón Bolívar. He was an able military leader, yet he was known for his kindness to those he defeated. Against his will, he became president of the newly created state of Bolivia and soon resigned. He later returned to service to help repel a Peruvian invasion. At the age of 35, he was waylaid in a mountainous region and killed. He was buried not in Bolivia, but where? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Love is...the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives.Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be knocking on heaven's door— To be dying; to be approaching or very close to death (i.e., about to be admitted into the afterlife). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Fiesta of San Blas (2021)San Blas (Saint Blaise) is the patron saint of Paraguay, and his feast day, February 3, is observed throughout the country. Asunción and other large cities host religious processions, and the smaller villages often have bullfights on this day. Flowers, ribbons, and paper money (attached to the tail) adorn the bull. Because this event is a humorous commentary on bullfighting, rather than a real bullfight, the goal is not to kill the bull. Instead, bullfighters try to grab hold of the bull and remove the money from its tail without getting hurt. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: privilegebox social - A social event at which boxes of food are auctioned to male bidders, who win the privilege of eating and dancing with the woman who prepared the box lunch. More... privilege, prerogative - A privilege is a right that may be extended to a group or a number of people; a prerogative is a right that, customarily, is vested in a single person. More... munity - A granted right or privilege. More... prerogative - Comes from Latin praerogare, "ask before others," and came to mean "right to precedence, privilege." More... | |