Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, December 18, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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chicanery
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining AdjectivesAdjectives are used almost exclusively to modify nouns, as well as any phrase or part of speech functioning as a noun. For example, what is the adjective in the sentence, "A loud group of students passed by"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The AmbulocetusThough similar to crocodiles in appearance and behavior, Ambulocetus was actually an early cetacean—a member of the mammalian order that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. However, unlike today's cetaceans, Ambulocetus had legs and so could walk as well as swim. These and other key adaptations of the "walking whale" have helped scientists piece together the way in which whales evolved from land mammals. Ambulocetus lived 50 million years ago in what part of the world? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Nutcracker Premieres (1892)Now a beloved Christmastime classic, The Nutcracker ballet premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, to fairly negative reviews. Even Tchaikovsky himself, the composer responsible for the score, found the ballet lacking. Despite its initial failure, the ballet about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and battles the evil Mouse King has since become a holiday favorite. What helped turn things around for The Nutcracker? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb (1886)Cobb was one of the greatest offensive players and perhaps the fiercest competitor in baseball history. During his 24-year career as an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics, he set records that would stand for decades, including 892 stolen bases—a feat partly attributed to the brutality with which he used his cleats. Cobb provoked controversy on and off the field but was the first player elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1936. Which of his records remain unbroken? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions ... I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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locker-room humor— Especially crude, vulgar, or bawdy humor. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Modesto's Day (2024)St. Modesto is the patron saint of farmers in Greece. His feast day is celebrated with various rituals in honor of farm animals. In Lemnos, kollyva (cooked wheat berries) and holy water are mixed with their fodder, while in Lesbos, the holy water is sprinkled on the fields to ward off locusts and disease. For horses and oxen, December 18 is a day of rest. The Eastern Orthodox Church reserves this day to commemorate St. Modestus, who was patriarch of Jerusalem from 631 to 634. He is known for a sermon he preached on the bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: nimbleagile - Means having quick motion and being nimble, from Latin agere, "to do." More... flippant - Once meant "flexible, nimble, pliant." More... chopsticks - In Chinese, the word for chopsticks originally meant "quick sticks" or "nimble ones." More... wieldy - Means "easily controlled or handled," and once meant "agile, nimble." More... | |