Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, February 20, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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cornucopia
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Adjective ComplementsAn adjective complement is a phrase or clause that provides information necessary to complete an adjective phrase's meaning. What part of speech are they most often used with? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Potato CannonsAlso known as spud guns, potato cannons are inexpensive and often homemade devices that use air pressure or combustion to launch potatoes—or other projectiles—at high speed. Typically built and used by hobbyists, potato cannons are usually made of plastic piping, which is readily available at hardware stores. They are inherently dangerous but are generally not illegal. Similar devices include hail cannons, bird-scarers, and chicken cannons, which are used for what specific, practical purposes? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Metropolitan Museum of Art Opens in New York City (1872)"The Met" is the foremost repository of art in the US, with a collection of more than two million works of art. Established for the purpose of encouraging the study of fine art, the museum opened in 1872 with just one stone sarcophagus and 174 paintings. However, the collection quickly outgrew its gallery space and in 1880 was moved to its iconic present-day location on the eastern edge of Central Park. In recent decades, the Met has used what controversial practice to acquire high-quality art? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ansel Adams (1902)Adams was an American photographer famous for his black-and-white landscape photographs and for his many books about photography, including a series of technical instruction manuals: The Camera, The Negative, and The Print. He invented the "zone system," a technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, and advocated a more sharply focused and composed style of photography than was in vogue at the time. What initially spurred his interest in photography? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make (something) up as (one) goes (along)— To improvise continuously as one does something; to do something without formal guidelines, structure, rules, etc. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Black History Month (2025)Black History Month grew out of Negro History Week, which was established in February 1926 by African-American historian Carter G. Woodson, who founded the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. Initially designed to encompass the birthday of the abolitionist orator Frederick Douglass on February 14 as well as Abraham Lincoln's Birthday, it was expanded in 1976 to a month-long observance. The event is widely observed by schools, churches, libraries, clubs, and organizations wishing to draw attention to the contributions of African Americans. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: scrapmammock - A scrap, shred, or piece that is torn or broken off. More... riffraff - Rif/riff, "spoil, strip," and raf, "carry off," combined as rif et raf in French, then went to English as riff and raff, "everything, every scrap," and then riffraff. More... scrip - Can be a scrap of paper with writing on it. More... tatter - A scrap of cloth, from Old Norse totrar, "rags"; often used as tatters. More... | |