Daily Content Archive

(as of Friday, February 3, 2023)
Word of the Day

didactic

Definition:(adjective) Intended to instruct.
Synonyms:didactical
Usage: "The principal difficulty in your case," remarked Holmes, in his didactic fashion, "lay in the fact of there being too much evidence."
Daily Grammar Lesson

Using Prepositions with Adjectives

Prepositions can sometimes appear after adjectives to complete or elaborate on the ideas or emotions the adjective describes. Prepositions used in this way are known as "adjective complements." In such sentences, where is the preposition always positioned in relation to the adjective? More...
Article of the Day

Filibusters

A filibuster is an obstructionist tactic used in legislative assemblies. It is particularly associated with the US Senate, where the tradition of unlimited debate is strong, and it has been used by conservatives and liberals for very different purposes. It was not until 1917 that the Senate provided for cloture—or ending of the debate—by a vote of two-thirds of the Senators present. Yet, despite many attempts, cloture has been applied only rarely. What is the etymology of the term "filibuster"? More...
This Day in History

The Day the Music Died (1959)

During an extensive tour of the midwestern US, American rock-and-roll musician Buddy Holly chartered a small plane to transport him to his next gig. Fellow performers Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson, who was known as "The Big Bopper," filled the remaining seats. Tragically, the plane crashed, killing everyone on board. The event was later called "the day the music died" by Don McLean in his song "American Pie." Which of the passengers was said to have won his seat on the plane by a coin flip? More...
Today's Birthday

Gertrude Stein (1874)

Stein was an American avant-garde writer and notable patron of the arts. While she was living in Paris, her home became a salon for leading artists and writers, including Picasso and Hemingway. An early supporter of Cubism, she tried to parallel its theories in her work, employing a unique prose style characterized by the use of repetition, fragmentation, and the continuous present. Her only book to reach a wide audience, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was actually about whom? More...
Quotation of the Day
Success comes to a writer, as a rule, so gradually that it is always something of a shock to him to look back and realize the heights to which he has climbed.

P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975)

Idiom of the Day

hell week

A week in which new recruits or pledges of an organization, especially a college fraternity or sorority, are subjected to a series of hazing rituals prior to initiation. More...
Today's Holiday

Setsubun (Bean-Throwing Festival) (2024)

Setsubun is a ceremony observed in all major temples throughout Japan to mark the last day of winter according to the lunar calendar. People throng temple grounds where the priests or stars such as actors and sumo wrestlers throw dried beans to the crowd who shout, "Fortune in, goblins out!" Some people also decorate their doorways with sardine heads, because the evil spirits don't like their smell. Beans caught at the temple are brought home to drive out evil there. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: introduction

inlay card - A pamphlet accompanying a CD, film, etc., giving an introduction. More...

isagoge - An introduction to a field of study. More...

front matter - Things in the beginning of a book like an introduction and table of contents. More...

propaedeutic - A subject or course of study that is an introduction to more advanced study or to an art or science. More...

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