Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, November 22, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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argot
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Nouns of AddressNouns of address (also known as vocatives, nominatives of address, or nouns of direct address) identify the person or group being directly spoken to. Like interjections, they are grammatically unrelated to the rest of the sentence—that is, they don’t modify or affect any other part of it. Instead, they are used to let the listener or reader know who you are addressing, or to do what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SapphoThe subject of many legends, Sappho was a Greek lyric poet who lived more than 2,500 years ago on the island of Lesbos, where she was the leader of a thiasos, an informal female community. Her verse is characterized by her passionate love of nature and women, the latter of which gave rise to the term lesbian, derived from the name of her island home. She wrote in a variety of meters, one of which has come to be known as "Sapphic" in her honor. How many of Sappho's complete poems have survived? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Blackbeard Killed in Battle with Royal Navy (1718)Before turning to piracy, Blackbeard, whose real name was probably Edward Teach, likely worked as a privateer in the War of the Spanish Succession. While marauding in the West Indies and along the Atlantic coast, Blackbeard enjoyed the protection of North Carolina's governor—who partook of the booty. A British naval force eventually killed Blackbeard and took his head back to England as proof. Legend has since romanticized the notoriously cruel pirate. When was his wrecked ship rediscovered? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Charles de Gaulle (1890)De Gaulle was a French general and statesman. He left France after it fell to the Germans in WWII and started the Free French movement in England. He returned to France after the liberation of Paris and headed two provisional governments before resigning in 1946. When an insurrection in Algeria threatened to bring civil war to France, he returned to government, helped establish the Fifth Republic, and became its first president in 1958. What was his role in the "Empty Chair Crisis"? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Long brooding over those lost pleasures exaggerates their charm and sweetness.William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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What's that got to do with the price of tea in China?— A rhetorical question calling attention to a non-sequitur or irrelevant statement or suggestion made by another person. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Cecilia's Day (2023)According to her apocryphal acts, which date from the fifth century, St. Cecilia was a Roman from a noble family who was put to death for her Christian beliefs; how she became the patron saint of music and musicians is not exactly known. In 1683, a musical society was formed in London especially for the celebration of St. Cecilia's Day. It held a festival each year at which a special ode was sung. The poet John Dryden composed his "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day" in 1687 for this purpose. There are still many choirs and musical societies that bear her name today. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tiredlanguescent - If you are becoming tired, you are languescent. More... irk - Originally meant "grow tired"; a possible source is Old Norse yrkja, "work." More... lassate - Means tired or weary. More... late - Comes from Indo-European lad-, "slow, weary," which begat Latin lassus, "tired," before English late, meaning "slow." More... | |