Daily Content Archive

(as of Saturday, March 18, 2023)
Word of the Day

aide-memoire

Definition:(noun) A memorandum setting forth the major points of a proposed discussion or agreement, used especially in diplomatic communications.
Synonyms:position paper
Usage: After the conference, they wrote an aide-memoire and sent copies of it to everyone in the department who had been unable to attend the meeting.
Daily Grammar Lesson

Idioms that End with "Up"

To determine the meanings of idiomatic phrasal verbs, we must memorize as many combinations as possible. Many idioms end with "up," such as "hang up" and "make up." What are some others? More...
Article of the Day

Pompeii

Pompeii was a Roman city near modern Naples, Italy, that was destroyed during the catastrophic 79 ACE volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. As a result of the eruption, the city was buried under many feet of ash for 1,600 years before it was accidentally rediscovered. Its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. During the first excavation in 1860, voids discovered in the ash-layer were found to be spaces left by what? More...
This Day in History

UK Recognizes British Sign Language as Official Language (2003)

Making use of space and involving movement of the hands, body, face, and head, British Sign Language (BSL) is the preferred language of deaf people in the UK and those who communicate with them, such as relatives and interpreters. BSL has regional and local dialects, and some signs go in and out of fashion or evolve over time, just like spoken words. Although English is the predominant spoken language in both the UK and US, BSL differs from American Sign Language in what ways? More...
Today's Birthday

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (1848)

In 1840, Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and the two had nine children, whose marriages, and those of their grandchildren, in turn, allied the British royal house with those of Russia, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Romania, and others. Their sixth child, Princess Louise, is regarded by biographers as the couple's most beautiful daughter. In 1871, Louise married the Marquess of Lorne and became the Duchess of Argyll. Why was the marriage controversial? More...
Quotation of the Day
A picture is an intermediate something between a thought and a thing.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

Idiom of the Day

ice maiden

pejorative A coolly composed, unemotional woman; a woman without affection or warmth of feeling. More...
Today's Holiday

Sheelah's Day (2024)

Even the Irish aren't exactly sure who Sheelah was. Some say she was St. Patrick's wife; some say his mother. But one thing that they all seem to agree on is how this day should be celebrated: by drinking whiskey. The shamrock worn on St. Patrick's Day is supposed to be worn on the following day as well, until it is "drowned" in the last glass of the evening. If someone should drop his shamrock into his glass and drink it before the "drowning ceremony" takes place, he has no choice but to get a fresh shamrock and another glass. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: utter

arrant - Means "complete, utter," as in arrant knave, "an extremely untrustworthy individual." More...

explore - Comes from Latin, meaning "search out," from ex-, "out," and plorare, "utter a cry." More...

whicker - To utter a half-suppressed laugh. More...

yodel - From Bavarian jodln, "to utter the syllable jo (yo)." More...

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