Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, December 25, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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hornswoggle
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Prepositions with VerbsCertain verbs require prepositions in order to connect to their sentences’ objects. These combinations are also known as prepositional verbs. How do prepositional verbs differ from phrasal verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Cock ThrowingWidely practiced in England until the 19th century, cock throwing was a blood sport in which people took turns throwing heavy sticks at a rooster tied to a stake until it died. If a rooster became too injured to stand, it could be propped up on sticks for the remainder of the game. It was a popular pastime for people of all classes, particularly among the young, and was traditionally practiced on Shrove Tuesday—even after it was banned. What were some variations on the brutal game? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Baldwin I Crowned First King of Jerusalem (1100)The son of a French count, Baldwin joined the First Crusade and created the first Crusader state when in 1098 he gained control of Edessa, now in Turkey. In 1100, his brother Godfrey died in Jerusalem, and Baldwin was summoned by the nobles to succeed him as king of the Crusader state. He expanded the kingdom by conquering coastal cities and established an administration that served for 200 years as the basis for Frankish rule in Syria and Palestine. Where did Baldwin's coronation take place? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Clara Barton (1821)Barton was a pioneering American nurse and humanitarian. During the American Civil War, she organized the distribution of medicine and supplies to wounded soldiers and nursed in army camps and battlefields, earning the title "Angel of the Battlefield." In Europe at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, she began doing relief work there under the auspices of the International Red Cross. In 1881, she organized the American Red Cross, heading it until 1904. Who was Barton's first-ever patient? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be left holding the bag— To have responsibility or guilt for something foisted upon oneself; to take the blame for something. Primarily heard in US. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Christmas (South Africa) (2023)Because South Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas is a summer holiday. The tinsel and evergreen boughs that decorate homes, churches, parks, and shopping malls offer a stark contrast to the weather. But Christmas traditions persist: children hang up their stockings in anticipation of the arrival of Father Christmas, carolers sing by candlelight on Christmas Eve, and Christmas pageants are performed. For South Africans Christmas is a day for feasting and exchanging gifts. It marks the culmination of a Carnival-like week of singing, dancing, and eating. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: turkeypoult - A young domestic fowl (like a turkey) being raised for food. More... meleagrine - The adjective form of turkey. More... wattle - The fleshy part hanging from the neck of a turkey or other bird. More... turkey - Originally the name for African guinea fowl, it eventually became the name for the Western hemisphere fowl with which the earlier fowl was confused; it is short for turkeycock or turkeyhen. More... | |