Daily Content Archive

(as of Wednesday, May 1, 2019)
Word of the Day

dramaturgy

Definition:(noun) The art of writing and producing plays.
Synonyms:dramatics, theater
Usage: I know that you plan to become a novelist, but your dialogue is so sharp and witty that you may want to consider dramaturgy.
Daily Grammar Lesson

Mitigators vs. Intensifiers

Mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers, which are used to increase the intensity of the words they modify. "Very" is an example of an intensifier. What are some others? More...
Article of the Day

Clay Animation

Clay animation is a form of stop-motion animation in which each frame of a film is created and photographed independently using clay figures molded into different positions for each frame. Clay animated films were made in the US as early as 1908 and became something of a fad in 1916, but they were soon overtaken by cartoons. Clay animation is a laborious process, requiring about 21,600 stops for a 30-minute film. How many frames per second are needed to create the illusion of continuous motion? More...
This Day in History

Founding of the Illuminati (1776)

The Illuminati were members of a rationalistic society founded in Germany by Adam Weishaupt. Having close affinities with the Freemasons and seemingly organized on a Masonic plan, the group was briefly very popular among German rationalists but had limited influence. The Roman Catholic Church, which Weishaupt left in his youth and rejoined before his death, condemned the Illuminati. In 1785, the Bavarian government dissolved the organization. What conspiracy theories involve the Illuminati? More...
Today's Birthday

Calamity Jane (1852)

Born Martha Jane Canary, Calamity Jane was a legendary American frontierswoman. She grew up in Montana and worked in mining camps, where she acquired riding and shooting skills. In 1876, she appeared in Deadwood, South Dakota, the site of new gold strikes, boasting of her marksmanship and her exploits as a pony-express rider and as a scout with Custer's forces. It was there that she likely met Wild Bill Hickok, who would become her companion. How did Jane claim to have acquired her nickname? More...
Quotation of the Day
Life wouldn't be worth living if I worried over the future as well as the present.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

Idiom of the Day

fingers crossed

An expression of hope that something one desires will come to pass or turn out to be true. A truncated version of the phrase "keep your fingers crossed." More...
Today's Holiday

Beltane (2024)

Beltane is the Celtic name for the first day of May, which divided the ancient Celtic year in half. It was believed that each day began with the setting of the sun the night before, so Beltane was celebrated by lighting bonfires to honor the sun god. Contact with the fire was symbolic of contact with the life-giving sun. The day is still observed in parts of Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, Wales, Brittany, and the Isle of Man, with most of the celebrations revolving around fire and reflecting ancient fertility rites. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: notch

crenelation, crenelle - A crenelation (from Latin crena, "notch") is a series of indentations or loopholes around the top of a castle, battlement, or wall—with each indentation being a crenelle (or crenel). More...

carf, kerf - A cut or notch in timber is a carf or kerf—which are also used to describe the width of such a cut. More...

dent - As in "notch," it comes from the French word for tooth; its original meaning was "blow, stroke" in general. More...

score - First a notch used to keep count, as on a stick. More...

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