Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, April 16, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using the Subjunctive MoodWhen we use the subjunctive mood to express actions that we demand, suggest, or request that someone else take, or describe something that must be the case, we use the base form of the verb. What does that mean? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Exquisite CorpseExquisite corpse is an exercise in which a collection of words or images is assembled by several participants, each of whom adds to a composition by either following a predetermined sequence—such as adjective-noun-adverb-verb-article-adjective-noun—or by looking at the end of the previous entry. The name of the game is derived from the phrase that French Surrealists created when they first played it in 1925: "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau," which means what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Chinese Submarine Suffers Mysterious Accident that Kills 70 (2003)A week and a half after a mysterious event left the entire 70-man crew of the Chinese, Ming-class submarine No. 361 dead at their posts, the stricken vessel was discovered and towed to shore. The official explanation for the disaster, that the crew suffocated when diesel engines failed to shut down while the vessel was submerged, leaves many questions unanswered. For example, if the vessel was submerged, how was it recovered? What else is strange about the circumstances surrounding the tragedy? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sir John Franklin (1786)Franklin was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer who also served as governor of Tasmania. He is best remembered for presiding over a doomed expedition in the 1840s to chart the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic. He and his crew fell prey to a host of ills, including starvation, disease, and lead poisoning. Of the entire expedition of nearly 130 men, not one is known to have survived. What evidence suggests that some of the crew members may have resorted to cannibalism? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 How is it that the poets have said so many fine things about our first love, so few about our later love? Are their first poems their best? Or are not those the best which come from their fuller thought, their larger experience, their deeper-rooted affections?George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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never a rose without a/the prick— There is rarely a good or positive thing, event, or circumstance that is not accompanied by something negative or unpleasant (i.e., just as a rose has thorns). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Sechseläuten (2018)This colorful springtime festival in Zurich, Switzerland, ushers in spring by exploding the Böögg ("snowman"), the symbol of winter. Sechseläuten means the "six-o'clock ringing." On Monday, members of the guilds parade through the city in medieval costumes, accompanied by bands. Everyone converges at six that evening; the bells ring, groups on horseback gallop around the Böögg (which is stuffed with cotton wadding and firecrackers) to the music of a hunting march, and then the Böögg explodes and burns. Torchlight parades go on into the night, and feasts are held at guild halls. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: knightesquire - At its root, it means "shield bearer (in service to a knight)," from Latin scutarius. More... forget-me-nots - May have gotten their name from the last words of a knight who drowned while trying to pick these flowers by a riverside. More... heart on one's sleeve - Comes from chivalry, when a knight wore a scarf or other item from his lady tied to his sleeve. More... | |