Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, June 13, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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buttery
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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FractionsFractions are a type of pre-determiner that divides the quantity of the noun. What word do we usually use between the fractional expression and the other determiner? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Birdman of Easter IslandTangata Manu, or "Birdman," was the title given to the winner of an annual ritual competition practiced by Easter Island natives up until Christian missionaries suppressed it in the 1860s. The object of the contest was the retrieval of the first sooty tern egg of the season from the cliffs of a rocky islet off the coast of the main island. The winner's clan received the right to collect that season's harvest of wild bird eggs, while the Birdman himself was afforded what privileges? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Martin Luther Marries a Catholic Nun (1525)Eight years after he issued his 95 Theses and sparked the Protestant Reformation, Luther married former Catholic nun Katherina von Bora, with whom he raised six children. Though little is known about her, she is considered an important figure of the Reformation due to her role in helping to define Protestant family life and setting the precedent for clergy marriages. Von Bora was one of 12 nuns Luther helped escape from a convent in 1523. How was he said to have smuggled them out? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Dorothy L. Sayers (1893)Sayers, an English writer, is considered one of the masters of the detective story. In 1915, she became one of the first women to graduate from Oxford University. In her first major work, Whose Body?, she created the witty and dashing detective Lord Peter Wimsey, who would be featured in several later novels and short story collections. She later concentrated on theological works and scholarly translations. Which of Sayers's previous jobs provided a setting for one of her novels? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I desire no future that will break the ties of the past.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go to the mattresses— To enter into or prepare for a lengthy war, battle, or conflict; to adopt a combative or warlike position. While the true origin is uncertain, the phrase was popularized in English by The Godfather novel and films, where it referred to warring mafia families housing their soldiers in small, secure apartments to await orders. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of St. Anthony of Padua (2023)St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195, and is the patron saint of Portugal. The festivities held here in his honor begin on the evening of June 12 with an impressive display of marchas, walking groups of singers and musicians, who parade along the Avenida da Liberdade. The celebration continues the next day with more processions and traditional folk dancing. Another custom of the day is for a young man to present the girl he hopes to marry with a pot of basil concealing a verse or love letter. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: zeroaught - Another word for "nothing, zero." More... zero, cipher - Zero and cipher come from Arabic sifr, "nought, zero," from Sanskrit sunya, "empty." More... lay an egg - The egg in "to lay an egg" refers to "zero." More... googol - Coined when mathematician Edward Kasner asked his nephew to create a word for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. More... | |