Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, July 7, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Adverbial NounsAdverbial nouns are nouns or noun phrases that function grammatically as adverbs to modify verbs and certain adjectives. Why are they sometimes referred to as "adverbial objectives"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Wife CarryingInitially introduced as a joke in Finland, wife carrying has become a competitive sport in which male participants race through an obstacle course while carrying a female teammate. Carrying styles include piggyback, fireman's carry, and Estonian-style, in which the female participant hangs upside-down with her legs around the man's shoulders and her arms around his waist. Major wife carrying competitions are held throughout the US as well as in Sonkajärvi, Finland, where the winner gets what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Terrorist Bombings in London (2005)On July 7, 2005, four bombs struck the London public transportation system during the morning rush hour, killing 52 people—as well as the four bombers—and injuring some 700. The incident was the worst act of terrorism in the UK since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people. The attacks appeared to be the work of Islamic suicide bombers, and later evidence indicated that they may have been directed by a member of Al Qaeda. Initial reports attributed the explosions to what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Satchel Paige (1906)Reputed to have won 2,000 of the 2,500 games he pitched during his nearly 30-year career, Paige first made a name for himself playing in the Negro baseball leagues. In 1948, shortly after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's race barrier, the 42-year-old Paige entered the major leagues. In his first season, he helped his team earn a World Series victory. In 1971, he became the first Negro leagues star to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Who called Paige the best pitcher he ever faced? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do well.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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guess again— A rhetorical imperative indicating that the person being spoken to is mistaken about, and thus should reconsider, something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Festival of Juno Caprotina (2023)Juno was the ancient Roman goddess of women and marriage, identified with the Greek goddess Hera. As the highest deity in the Roman pantheon next to Jupiter, her brother and husband, she ruled all aspects of women's lives, including sexuality and childbirth, and served as a kind of guardian angel for women. The two most important festivals in honor of Juno were the Juno Caprotina (or Nonae Caprotinae) and the Matronalia. The former was held under a wild fig tree in the Campus Martius, or Field of Mars, a floodplain of the Tiber River. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: losingidiot strings - Refers to the strings that attach mittens to prevent a child from losing one. More... in hock - Can be traced to the card game faro, in which the last card in the box was called the hocketty card; when a player bet on a card that ended up in hock, he was at a disadvantage and was himself in hock and at risk of losing his bets. More... jeopardy - Comes from French ieu parti, "(evenly) divided game" (from Latin jocus partitus, "divided game"), referring originally to chess, in which the chances of winning and losing are balanced. More... pain - Originally meant punishment for a crime or offense—sometimes by losing one's head. More... | |