Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, April 6, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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mercantile
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Commonly Paired Adjectives and PrepositionsThere are no definite rules when it comes to combining adjectives with prepositions. What is the best way to learn correct adjective and preposition combinations? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SicilySicily, the strategically located largest island in the Mediterranean, has long been a crossroads of history, a "melting pot" of ancient cultures and peoples. It was colonized by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks starting in the 8th century BCE and in the millennia that followed fell first to the Romans, then successively to the Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, and Arabs, and finally to the Normans. Today, it is an autonomous region of Italy. Who are some of history's most famous Sicilians? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Hostess Twinkies Are Invented (1930)The Twinkie was invented by baker James Dewar, who noticed that the shop's shortcake pans were only used during the strawberry season and otherwise sat idle. His thrifty idea to use the pans during the off-season led to the development of the banana-filled Twinkie snack cake. During a World War II banana shortage, vanilla filling replaced the original banana. Twinkies disappeared from US shelves in 2012 when Hostess declared bankruptcy but returned in 2013. What is the "Twinkie defense"? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan (1927)Mulligan was an important baritone saxophonist and one of the best-known exponents of cool jazz, a delicate, understated offshoot of bebop. He began his career in the mid-1940s as an arranger for Gene Krupa and Claude Thornhill and played on the historic Miles Davis nonet recordings in 1949. He gained considerable success with the quartet he formed with Chet Baker in 1952, and he led ensembles of various sizes thereafter. Mulligan served jail time after he was arrested in 1953 for what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Now, I hold it is not decent for a scientific gentTo say another is an ass—at least, to all intent; Nor should the individual who happens to be meant Reply by heaving rocks at him to any great extent. Bret Harte (1836-1902) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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high muckety-muck— slang An especially important, influential, and authoritative person, especially someone who is overbearingly or arrogantly so. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Chakri Day (2025)Chakri Day is a national holiday in Thailand to commemorate the enthronement of Rama I, who founded the Chakri Dynasty in 1782. He was born Chao Phraya Chakri in 1737 and had become Thailand's leading general when a palace coup took place in Thon Buri. The dynasty he established has headed the country to this day, although the end of absolute monarchy came in 1932. The king was given the title Rama after his death. Ceremonies on April 6 honor his deeds and the founding of Bangkok as the capital. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tiredlanguescent - If you are becoming tired, you are languescent. More... irk - Originally meant "grow tired"; a possible source is Old Norse yrkja, "work." More... lassate - Means tired or weary. More... late - Comes from Indo-European lad-, "slow, weary," which begat Latin lassus, "tired," before English late, meaning "slow." More... | |