Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, December 26, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
android
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Defining the Subjunctive MoodThe subjunctive mood refers to verbs that are used to describe hypothetical or non-real actions, events, or situations. Verbs do not have different forms to express the subjunctive mood in English. What is done to them to convey the meaning we wish to achieve? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Iranian PotteryA crossroads of ancient civilizations and home to some of the world's oldest human settlements, Iran has a rich and storied history. Modern-day excavations have uncovered an almost continuous record of that history in the form of pottery, which transformed stylistically as a reaction to cultural and political changes. For example, following the 13th-century Mongol domination of Persia, Islamic pottery clearly began exhibiting a Chinese influence. During which dynasty were ceramic coffins used? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Boston Red Sox Sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees (1919)Between 1914 and 1919, Ruth compiled an outstanding pitching record, but because pitchers do not play in every game, he was shifted to the outfield so that his powerful hitting could be used consistently. The following season, he was sold to the New York Yankees, and his batting feats and public personality helped salvage baseball's popularity, which had been damaged by the Black Sox scandal. According to legend, Ruth was sold by the owner of the Red Sox in order to finance what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780)Somerville became an accomplished science writer at a time when women's involvement in the sciences was generally discouraged. She earned widespread recognition for her 1831 translation of Pierre-Simon Laplace's five-volume Mécanique Céleste (Celestial Mechanics), a project she undertook for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, which aimed to adapt scientific material for the rapidly expanding reading public. What term was coined in a review of one of her other works? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
long pig— obsolete Human flesh when eaten as food by cannibals. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
_in_Dingle,_Co_Kerry.jpg) St. Stephen's Day (Ireland) (2024)On this day in c. 35, St. Stephen became the first Christian martyr. He was denounced as a blasphemer by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council in ancient Palestine, and stoned to death. In many countries, St. Stephen's Day is celebrated as an extra Christmas holiday. In Ireland, boys with blackened faces carrying a paper wren go about begging and "hunting the wren." The hunting of the wren is most likely a carryover from an old belief that the robin, symbolizing the New Year, killed the wren, symbolizing the Old, at the turning of the year. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: standscircumstance - Literally "that which stands around (something)." More... cost - Something that costs a particular amount literally "stands at or with" that price, from Latin constare, "to be settled or fixed, stand at a price, cost." More... stem - The stem of a tree is etymologically the upright part, the part that "stands" up, from its Germanic base sta-, "stand." More... wing it - Comes from theatrical jargon, referring to the hurried study of lines by an understudy in the wings, or to the help given by a prompter who stands in the wings of a theater. More... | |