Daily Content Archive

(as of Sunday, June 15, 2025)
Word of the Day

egotist

Definition:(noun) A conceited and self-centered person.
Synonyms:swellhead
Usage: Mr. Whittleworth is an insufferable egotist with delusions of omnipotence, but we tolerate him because he pays us well.
Daily Grammar Lesson

Using the Future Continuous for Definite Events

We can use the future continuous to describe something that will definitely be happening in the future—that is, it is not a prediction or an expectation. Because it is a certainty, what do we often reference in the sentence? More...
Article of the Day

Theda Bara

Theda Bara was the stage name of Theodosia Burr Goodman, an American silent film actress who was one of the most popular screen actresses of her era and one of cinema's earliest sex symbols. Known for femme fatale roles, Bara appeared in more than 40 feature films between 1914 and 1926. However, she is perhaps most famous for having a higher percentage of lost films than any other actor with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. How many of her films still have complete prints in existence? More...
This Day in History

Charles Goodyear Granted Patent for Vulcanization (1844)

Goodyear was the inventor of vulcanization, a process that makes rubber harder, less soluble, and more durable. Previously, rubber products were sticky and volatile, often melting in heat or hardening in cold. He obtained a patent for vulcanization in 1844 but was still badly in debt at the time of his death. Goodyear had no official connection to the famed Goodyear Tire Company, which was founded decades later and named in his honor. Why was he in prison when he began experimenting with rubber? More...
Today's Birthday

Hugo Pratt (1927)

Italian comic book author Hugo Pratt spent his early childhood in Venice and moved with his parents to Ethiopia when he was 10. Following WWII, he returned to Italy, but he did not remain there for long. Pratt traveled widely, and his wanderlust is mirrored in his best-known character, Corto Maltese, a roving sea captain and adventurer. A meticulous researcher, Pratt often incorporated actual historic figures and events into Maltese's fictional adventures. Where was Pratt imprisoned as a child? More...
Quotation of the Day
You have such strong words at command, that they make the smallest argument seem formidable.

George Eliot (1819-1880)

Idiom of the Day

have a nodding acquaintance (with someone or something)

To have a slight or precursory knowledge of someone or something. More...
Today's Holiday

Valdemar Day (2025)

According to legend, Danish King Valdemar II set out to conquer the pagan Estonians and convert them to Christianity. During the night of June 15, 1219, the Estonians made a surprise attack on the Danish camp. A red banner with a white cross floated down from the sky, and the Danish archbishop heard a voice say that the Danes would win if they raised this banner. Schools, sports organizations, and Boy Scout troops in Denmark often hold pageants on June 15 in which they reenact the story of the Dannebrog (the Danish flag) and King Valdemar. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: pierce

sashimi - Thinly sliced raw fish with a sauce, it is a compound formed from sashi, "pierce," and mi, "flesh." More...

point - "Sharp end" is the etymological notion underlying point, from Latin pungere, "pierce, prick." More...

stake - Meaning "post," it comes from a Germanic base meaning "pierce, prick." More...

stick - Comes from Germanic meaning "be sharp, pierce, prick"; the piercing notion led to "becoming fixed in something" and then "adhering." More...

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