Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, September 3, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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muffle
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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MoodGrammatical mood refers to the way in which a verb is used to express certain meaning by the speaker or writer. Moods are broken down into two main categories. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Sarah Winnemucca: Woman of Two WorldsWinnemucca was the first Native American woman to publish a book in English. Her autobiographical Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883) describes her people's early encounters with white settlers. This includes her experiences as an interpreter for the US Army, a role she took on in hopes of securing fair treatment of her people and keeping the peace. She tried, but failed, to get a permanent reservation for the Paiute. What was her original name, and what does it mean? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Malcolm Campbell Becomes First to Drive over 300 MPH (1935)Campbell, an English automobile and speedboat racer, set many speed records for motorcycles, airplanes, automobiles, and motorboats. In 1931, he was knighted for his accomplishments. Four years later, driving his famed automobile Bluebird at Bonneville Flats, Utah, Campbell set his final land speed record, becoming the first person to drive an automobile faster than 300 mph (483 km/h). He later turned to speedboat racing and set a new record in 1939, when his boat reached what speed? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Marguerite Higgins (1920)An American journalist, Higgins covered major world events, including the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp and the Nuremberg Trials, and was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize. While reporting on the Korean War, she was expelled from Korea by US General Walton Walker—who said the military had no time to prepare accommodations for women—but when she appealed to General Douglas MacArthur, the ban was lifted. Higgins's life was cut short by a disease contracted while covering what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have a fling (with someone)— To have a brief, noncommittal sexual relationship (with someone). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Marinus Day (2023)This is the official foundation day of the Republic of San Marino, a landlocked area of less than 30 square miles on the Adriatic side of central Italy. The oldest independent country in Europe, San Marino takes its name from St. Marinus. According to legend, he was a deacon and stonemason when one day a woman wrongly identified him as the husband who had deserted her. He barricaded himself in a cave until she gave up, and he spent the rest of his life on Monte Titano as a hermit. The present-day city of San Marino was built on the site where his original hermitage was believed to be. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: spinningheckle - First a "flax comb" for splitting and straightening the fibers for spinning; its metaphorical sense developed from its verb form, "to mangle by cutting, to cut roughly." More... distaff side, spear side - The female side of a family is the distaff side—the distaff being a stick used for holding yarn when spinning; the male side is the spear side. More... fouette - A spectacular pirouette in which the ballerina whips her raised leg around in an eggbeater motion while spinning on the other leg. More... | |