Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, September 22, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Aspects of the Present TenseWe use different aspects with verbs in the present tense to describe exactly how an event is structured in relation to the present moment in time. What is the present simple structure used to express? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Gratuitous UmlautAn umlaut is a diacritical mark consisting of two dots placed over a letter to alter pronunciation. However, the so-called "heavy metal umlaut" is used in the names of bands, such as Mötley Crüe and Motörhead, not to change pronunciation, but to evoke the stereotypes of boldness and strength commonly attributed to peoples whose languages incorporate such marks. It has since been widely parodied, including in the mockumentary This Is Spin¨al Tap. Which band first used a gratuitous umlaut? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Vela Incident (1979)In the 1960s, the US launched a group of satellites to monitor international compliance with a treaty prohibiting all tests of nuclear weapons except those conducted underground. In 1979, one of the satellites detected an unidentified double flash characteristic of an atmospheric nuclear explosion. The data were initially interpreted as evidence of a South African nuclear test, but experts later determined that the flash was likely not nuclear in origin and may have instead been caused by what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Joseph Valachi (1903)Valachi, a New York gangster, was the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the organization's existence. A "soldier" in New York City's powerful Genovese crime family, he testified before a congressional committee on organized crime in 1963, disclosing details about the Mafia's history and operations and making "Cosa Nostra" a household name. Three years later, he attempted suicide in his prison cell but survived. Why did Vito Genovese put out a $100,000 contract on Valachi in 1962? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Every artist makes himself born. It is very much harder than the other time, and longer.Willa Cather (1873-1947) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have had (one's) chips— To be defeated; to fail completely; to die or be killed. A reference to chips (small plastic disks) used to make wagers when gambling. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Bulgaria Independence Day (2023)On September 22, 1908, Prince Ferdinand (1861-1948) of Bulgaria declared the country's independence from the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which had ruled since the 14th century. In 1944, the former Soviet Union invaded Bulgaria and imposed its communist system for nearly 50 years. Like many other eastern European countries, Bulgaria became an independent republic with a new constitution in 1991. In 1998, the Bulgarian Parliament reinstituted September 22 as Bulgarian Independence Day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: trybeseech - First meant "search for, try to obtain." More... emulate - Means "try to equal or surpass, especially by copying." More... experience, experiment, expert - Experience, experiment and expert derive from Latin experiri, "try." More... quorum - First the genitive plural of Latin qui, "who," it originally referred to the "number of justices who need be present to try a case." More... | |