Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, May 1, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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fumigate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Ambitransitive VerbsSome action verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on the context of the sentence or what information the speaker wishes to include. These are sometimes known as "ambitransitive verbs." What are some examples of ambitransitive verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Toyota PriusThe award-winning Toyota Prius was the world's first commercially mass-produced and marketed hybrid automobile. Toyota's goal for the Prius was to reduce the amount of pollutants it produced and to increase its energy efficiency. To achieve this goal, the company reduced the engine's gasoline consumption, added two electric motor/generators, reduced air resistance and road friction, and reduced the car's weight. Supposedly, why did Toyota choose the name "Prius" for their hybrid car? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 General Mills Introduces Cheerios as CheeriOats (1941)General Mills introduced its oat-based, ready-to-eat cold cereal as CheeriOats but, in 1946, changed its name to Cheerios because of a trademark dispute with Quaker Oats. Today, it comes in nearly a dozen different flavors and is marketed to children as well as adults. It has used several different characters in its advertising over the years, including Charlie Brown from Peanuts. Why did the US Food and Drug Administration call Cheerios an "unapproved new drug" in 2009? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Joseph Heller (1923)As a bombardier with the US Air Force during World War II, American writer Joseph Heller flew 60 combat missions. He drew on his wartime experiences when writing his darkly humorous novel Catch-22 (1961), a satiric commentary on the absurdity of war and bureaucracy. One of the most significant works of postwar protest literature, it was a huge critical success. What did Heller famously reply when asked why he had not written anything else as good as Catch-22? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There is a sort of jealousy which needs very little fire; it is hardly a passion, but a blight bred in the cloudy, damp despondency of uneasy egoism.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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no pressure— Said ironically to emphasize that what is being discussed carries a large amount of importance or makes one feel that one must try very hard to succeed. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of St. Joseph the Worker (Worker's Day) (2025)This public holiday in Malta is celebrated with festivities throughout the country. In Valletta, a highlight of the mass conducted by the archbishop in St. John's Cathedral is the blessing of the tools and products of laborers and craftsmen. St. Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary, was a carpenter who taught Jesus his craft. He is the patron saint of workers, laborers, carpenters, cabinetmakers, and joiners. In 1955, Pope Pius XII established the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1 as a counter-celebration to the Communists' May Day celebrations honoring workers. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pancakeblin - As in blini and blintze, it is Russian for "pancake." More... blintz, blintze - Blintz(e) is from Russian blinets, "little pancake." More... cake - A Viking contribution, from Old Norse kaka, it is related to "cook"; cake first meant small, flat bread roll baked on both sides by being turned—as in pancake or potato cake. More... omelet, omelette - Omelet has also been written omelette, amulet, and aumelet; omelet's root sense is "thin layer" or "crepe," and it was first described in English as a "pancake of eggs." More... | |