Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 28, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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petulant
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Prepositions with NounsCertain prepositions can be used in conjunction with nouns to connect, emphasize, or provide clarification for ideas expressed in sentences. In this combination, the preposition always comes directly after the noun. What are some of the most common prepositions used with nouns? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Messier ObjectsIn 1784, French astronomer Charles Messier compiled a list of non-stellar celestial objects. He had no understanding of what these items—now known to be galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters—actually were; he just wanted to further the search for comets by listing the indistinct objects that might be mistaken for them. Designations from his catalog are still used to refer to some nebulae and star clusters—for instance, M1 is the Crab Nebula and M45 is the Pleiades. What is a "Messier Marathon"? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First African American wins Academy Award (1940)Hattie McDaniel was an African-American singer-songwriter, comedienne, stage actress, radio performer, and television star. She appeared in over 300 films and is best known for her role as Mammy in the iconic 1939 film Gone with the Wind, a performance that earned her the first Academy Award ever presented to an African American. McDaniel's Oscar was later lost. What are some theories about what became of it? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Dinah Shore (1916)Shore was an American singer, actress, and TV personality who enjoyed widespread popularity during the Big Band era of the 1940s and 50s. She was the first singer of the era to achieve success as a solo artist, producing over 80 hit songs, including "Baby It's Cold Outside," before beginning a four-decade career in television. Shore was a hit with TV audiences as well and went on to earn nine Emmys, a Peabody Award, and a Golden Globe. How did Shore, born Frances Rose, earn the stage name Dinah? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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miss the cut— In golf, to fail to match or better the score necessary to remain in the final two rounds of a four-round tournament, thus resulting in elimination. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Leap Year Day (2024)The Earth actually takes longer than 365 days to complete its trip around the Sun—five hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds longer, to be precise. To accommodate this discrepancy, an extra day is added to the Gregorian calendar at the end of February every four years. The year in which this occurs is called Leap Year, probably because the English courts did not always recognize February 29, and the date was often "leaped over" in the records. There was an old tradition that women could propose marriage to men during Leap Year. The men had to pay a forfeit if they refused. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: witchtroll - Originally a witch or sorceress. More... fly-by-night - Said to be an old term of reproach to a woman signifying that she was a witch, and was extended to "anyone who departs hastily from a recent activity," especially while owing money. More... hag - First meant "witch." More... witch - In Old English, it was actually wicca and originally (c. 890) was a man who practiced magic or sorcery, who we now call a wizard; by the year 1000, witch came to be defined as "a female magician or sorceress." More... | |