Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, March 28, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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plectrum
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Noun Phrases of Varying LengthNoun phrases can be as short as two words, or they can be longer and have many words. The number of words in a phrase does not affect its status as a noun phrase, so long as it functions as what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Leaning Tower of PisaIn 1173, construction began on the final building of the cathedral complex in Pisa, Italy. The bell tower was designed to stand 185 feet (56 m) tall, but uneven settling of its foundation caused its 5.5-degree lean. Work was suspended several times, but the structure was still leaning upon completion in the 14th century. The tower's tilt only worsened over time, prompting a recent strengthening project to prevent collapse. How did the tower narrowly escape destruction during World War II? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Constantinople Becomes Istanbul (1930)The city now known as Istanbul was founded as the Greek colony of Byzantium in the 8th century BCE. Eventually passing to Alexander the Great, it became a free city under the Romans in the 1st century CE. Emperor Constantine I made the city the seat of the Eastern Roman Empire in 330, later naming it Constantinople. It remained the capital of the subsequent Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome in the late 5th century and then changed hands several times. Why was it renamed Istanbul in 1930? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Aristide Briand (1862)Briand was a French statesman who served as premier of France 11 times and held 26 ministerial posts between 1906 and 1932. After World War I, he emerged as a leading advocate of international peace. As foreign minister from 1925 to 1932, he was the chief architect of the Locarno Pact and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. An impressive orator, Briand was a prominent figure in the League of Nations and advocated for a United States of Europe. With whom did he share the 1926 Nobel Prize for Peace? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Death is only a launching into the region of the strange Untried; it is but the first salutation to the possibilities of the immense Remote, the Wild, the Watery, the Unshored...Herman Melville (1819-1891) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in all truthfulness— In one's sincere opinion; without any disingenuousness. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Teachers' Day in the Czech Republic (2024)March 28 is the birthday of Jan Amos Komensky (or John Comenius; 1592-1670), a noted educational reformer and theologian in the former Czechoslovakia. Komensky was the first person to write an illustrated textbook for children, used for teaching Latin words; he was also a proponent of compulsory education. It has been traditional for children to honor him on Teachers' Day, or Komensky Day, by bringing flowers and gifts to their teachers. The day is also observed with lectures, music, and educational activities. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: unluckydismal - Comes from French dies mali, "evil days," and first meant the 24 evil or unlucky days of the medieval calendar (two per month). More... infaust, infausting - Infaust is "unlucky" and infausting is "making unlucky." More... left-handed - Had a meaning of "unlucky" or "unseasonable." More... widdershins - Means "in a direction opposite of the usual one," but can also mean "unlucky." More... | |