Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, June 21, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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promulgate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Rules for Using Prepositions with NounsCertain prepositions can be used in conjunction with nouns. There is no clear-cut rule that determines which prepositions connect to which nouns, but we can make an educated guess by looking at what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 KinesicsKinesics is the study of nonverbal, systematic communication through bodily movements, such as gestures, posture, and facial expressions. The study was pioneered by Ray Birdwhistell, a ballet dancer turned anthropologist, who wrote Introduction to Kinesics in 1952. Borrowing from descriptive linguistics, he argued that non-verbal forms of language have a grammar that can be analyzed like spoken language. Why is a "kineme" in kinesics similar to a phoneme in linguistics? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Molly Maguires Hanged in Pennsylvania (1877)The Molly Maguires was a secret organization of Irish-Americans who fought against the oppressive working conditions in the anthracite mining districts of Pennsylvania. Members often resorted to intimidation or murder when dealing with police, who were entirely controlled by the mine owners. At around the time the organization reached the height of its power, a detective was hired to infiltrate its ranks. His testimony led to the eventual hanging of 10 "Mollies." How did the group get its name? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859)Tanner was an American painter of religious and genre scenes. He studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he was the only black student. Tormented by racial persecution, he settled in Paris in 1891 and gained international acclaim, earning many awards for his landscapes and treatments of biblical themes. In 1927, he became the first African American granted full membership in the National Academy of Design. What was his most famous work? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 A fool cannot be an actor, though an actor may act a fool's part.Sophocles (496 BC-406 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go through a phase— To experience or be in the midst of a temporary period of change, development, or fluctuation. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Midnight Sun Festival (2023)The Midnight Sun Festival is a celebration of the Summer Solstice in Nome, Alaska, where the sun shines for better than 22 hours a day in the peak of summer. The longest day of the year is feted with a street dance, blanket toss, barbecue, Monte Carlo night (gambling), Eskimo dances, and a parade. A river raft race has been held at midnight on June 21 since the 1960s. Various homemade rafts paddle down a one- to two-mile course on the Nome River, and the winning team claims a fur-lined honey bucket, which is passed on from year to year. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sleepingcubicle - Originally a small room for sleeping—from Latin cumb, "lie down"—that was separated from a larger room. More... breakfast - Literally means "breaking the fast"—of the night, as it is the first meal after sleeping. More... dormition - A peaceful and painless death, as well as the act of sleeping or falling asleep. More... incubate, incubation - Latin incubare, the source of incubate, literally meant "lie down on"; incubation once had the sense of sleeping in a sacred place or temple for oracular purposes. More... | |