Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, January 4, 2024)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
farrier
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Articles and Uncountable NounsThe indefinite articles "a" and "an" cannot be used with uncountable nouns, which are nouns that cannot be divided or counted as individual elements or separate parts. Can uncountable nouns take the definite article "the"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 The Golden Age of WhodunitBeginning in the 1920s, the complex, plot-driven, whodunit genre of detective fiction experienced a 30-year Golden Age. In these stories, the puzzle takes center stage, and readers, who are provided with clues throughout the book, are challenged to deduce the perpetrator's identity before it is revealed in the mystery's final pages. Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone (1868) is widely regarded as one of the first true whodunits. What famed children's author also penned a whodunit in 1922? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Topsy the Elephant is Executed by Electrocution (1903)Topsy was a circus elephant at Coney Island's Luna Park. After killing three people—at least one of whom was mistreating her at the time—in as many years, she was deemed a threat and scheduled to be put down. After hanging was ruled out after being deemed too cruel, Thomas Edison suggested electrocution in an attempt to further his campaign to portray alternating current electricity as dangerous. Electrocuted with 6,600 volts, Topsy died in seconds. How many people witnessed the execution? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Jakob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785)More than just a compiler of fairy tales, Jacob Grimm was a German philologist who formulated the linguistic principle known as Grimm's law and who, along with his brother Wilhelm, began work on a vast historical dictionary of the German language that took over a century to complete. The Brothers Grimm are best known, however, for their compilation of some 200 German folk tales, known as Grimm's Fairy Tales, that helped establish the science of folklore. How did they collect the stories? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
look (someone) off— In sports, especially American football, to mislead an opponent with one's eyes as to one's intentions in a given play. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Carnival of Blacks and Whites (2025)The Carnival of Blacks and Whites, held each year in Pasto, Colombia, is one of the oldest Carnival celebrations in South America. The Carnival officially opens on January 4 with a parade commemorating the arrival in Pasto of the Castañeda family, who are presented as a zany group overburdened with luggage, mattresses, and cooking equipment. The following day is the Day of the Blacks. Using special paints and cosmetics, revelers paint themselves and their friends black. Festivities continue on January 6 with the Day of the Whites, in which white paints and cosmetics are used. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: trousersfob - A small pocket close to the waistband of trousers. More... galluses - Another name for suspenders for trousers. More... plus fours - Got their name (c. 1920) from the fact that such trousers were made four inches longer than standard knickerbockers or shorts, which came to just above the knee. More... trousers, trouse - The singular of trousers is trouse. More... | |