Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, May 15, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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glower
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Evaluative Adverbs that Indicate AttitudeThere are several types of evaluative adverbs, which can be classified according to their function. We can use evaluative adverbs to make our attitude about something clear. "Frankly" is an evaluative adverb that we can use in this way. What are others? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Public HouseA public house—or pub—is a centuries-old type of drinking establishment, so named because early English common law declared inns and taverns to be public houses obligated to receive travelers willing to pay for food, drink, and lodging. However, pubs did not cater exclusively to travelers. They also served as communal centers where locals could meet and gossip, and so became an enduring part of British culture. How did an 18th-century crackdown on alcohol consumption actually create more pubs? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Great Gold Robbery (1855)On the night of May 15, 1855, a shipment of gold bars and coins was sent from London to Paris, first via the South Eastern Railway and then on a ship across the English Channel. When the shipment arrived in Boulogne, France, the containers—all of which were locked and sealed—were found to be missing a large amount of the gold, worth about 12,000 British pounds at the time. The missing weight had been replaced with lead shot. A group of men was later arrested for the theft. How had they done it? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (1857)Shortly after Fleming emigrated from Scotland to the US with her husband, their marriage failed. Forced to support herself, she worked as a housekeeper for the director of the Harvard College Observatory, who soon hired her to do clerical work at the observatory. She quickly rose through the ranks and went on to make significant contributions to the field of astronomy—classifying thousands of stars and discovering numerous variable stars and novae. At what age did her formal education end? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get in the last word— To express the final point or opinion in an argument or discussion, especially in a way that decisively or conclusively ends it. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Dymphna's Day (2024)According to legend, St. Dymphna fled with her priest to Geel, Belgium to escape her pagan father's demand for an incestuous marriage. St. Dymphna came to be known as the patron saint of the insane, and for centuries mental patients were brought to the site of her relics in Geel. Today there is a large, well-equipped sanatorium for the mentally ill in Geel. On May 15 special church services are held and a religious procession moves through the streets carrying a stone from St. Dymphna's alleged tomb—a relic that at one time was applied to patients as part of their therapy. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sitstrimmer - One who sits on the fence or remains neutral about political issues. More... insessor - One who sits in or on/upon something. More... nest - From Indo-European nizdos, literally "(place where the bird) sits down." More... soot - Etymologically, something that "sits" on something else—like film settling on a surface. More... | |