Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, March 16, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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flitter
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the PeriodThe period (also known as a full stop, especially in British English) is a punctuation mark ( . ) primarily used to indicate the end of a sentence. It appears as a single dot on the bottom line of the text, and it comes immediately after what in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The OctothorpeIn the US, it is most frequently called a pound or number sign. In the UK, it is called a hash. Elsewhere, it is referred to as a hex. Desiring an unambiguous name for the now-ubiquitous key, phone engineers coined the word "octothorpe" in the 1960s, but it never gained wide usage. "Octo" refers to the symbol's eight arms, but the origin of "thorpe" is less clear. One theory is that it is a reference to the symbol’s resemblance to a village surrounded by fields. Why is it called a pound sign? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Caligula Becomes Emperor of Rome (37 CE)When Caligula became the Roman emperor in 37 CE, replacing the hated Tiberius, the public welcomed his reign, and for a time it was uneventful. Seven months later, he fell severely ill, and when he recovered, he was a changed man. Suddenly, his reign was marked by financially ruinous extravagance, unmatched cruelty, and rampant executions, even of his former supporters. He was assassinated within a few years. What may have caused the mental instability Caligula displayed after his illness? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Rosa Bonheur (1822)One of the most famous female painters of the 19th century, Bonheur was trained by her father—an art teacher—and began regularly exhibiting her work at the Paris Salon in 1841. Her unsentimental paintings of animals became very popular, particularly in England and the US, and her most famous painting, The Horse Fair, gained her an international reputation. Who gave her formal permission to dress as a man so that she could study horses at the actual Horse Fair in Paris? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The nations of the earth are mostly swayed by fear—fear of the sort that a little cheap oratory turns easily to rage, hate, and violence.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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marry (someone) for (his or her) money— To marry someone solely or primarily to have access to their personal wealth. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Urho's Day (2025)St. Urho, whose name in Finnish means "hero," is credited with banishing a plague of grasshoppers that was threatening Finland's grape arbors. His legend in the United States was popularized in the 1950s; after being celebrated as a "joke holiday" for several years in the Menahga-Sebeka area, the idea spread to other states with large Finnish populations. The actual celebrations include wearing St. Urho's official colors—Nile Green and Royal Purple—drinking grape juice, and chanting St. Urho's famous words, "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go away," in Finnish. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: rollingbeachcomber - A long wave rolling in from the sea. More... sprag - A block placed behind a car wheel to keep it from rolling down a hill. More... keep the ball rolling - An allusion to rugby or bandy. More... voluble - "Flowing with speech, talkative"; such a person has words "rolling" off their tongue. More... | |