Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, January 16, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
friable
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Personal Pronouns - PersonGrammatical person refers to the perspectives of the personal pronouns used to identify a person in speech and text (e.g. first, second, and third person). What is the generic "you," and when is it used? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 PontusPontus was an ancient region in northeast Asia Minor on the coast of the Black Sea. It became an independent kingdom with its capital at Amasia in the 4th century BCE. At the height of its influence under King Mithradates VI, it controlled all of Asia Minor. It continued expanding its borders until 66 BCE, when Mithradates was defeated by the Roman general Pompey the Great and Pontus was incorporated into the Roman Empire. What popular fruit of the rose family is thought to be native to Pontus? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 The Council of Nablus (1120)The Council of Nablus was convened to establish the first written laws for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Christian kingdom established in 1099 by the First Crusade. The council included both ecclesiastic and secular lords who established 25 canons that addressed both religious and secular issues like tithing, adultery, bigamy, false accusations, legal attire for Muslim residents, and theft. Why, according to the canons, was it necessary for the Christian leadership to organize this council? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Fulgencio Batista (1901)Batista was a soldier, president, and dictator who twice ruled Cuba. After working his way up through the army, he ruled first through associates before becoming president himself in 1940. In his first term, he achieved gains in education, public works, and the economy while enriching himself and his associates. He lost the 1944 election but returned to power through a US backed coup in 1952 and ran a corrupt and brutal dictatorship that set the stage for his overthrow in 1959 by whom? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism are all very good words for the lips: especially prunes and prism.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
Humpty Dumptyism— The act or practice of misusing or misinterpreting a word, phrase, or article of text to suit one's own meaning or purpose. Taken from the character Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, who states, "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean." More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Pongal (2024)A colorful four-day harvest celebration in southern India, Pongal honors the sun, the earth, and the cow. The first day is for cleaning everything in the house. On the second day, freshly harvested rice and jaggery (palm sugar) are put to boil in new pots, and people cry out, "Pongal!" ("It boils.") On the third day, village cows and oxen are bathed, decorated with garlands of bells, beads, and leaves, and worshipped. On the fourth day, bundles containing money are tied to the sharpened horns of bulls. Young men who are brave enough try to snatch the money from the bulls' horns. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: smilesmilet - A little smile. More... mandarin crease, risorius of Santorini - Below each side of the mouth is the mandarin crease; the muscle that pulls the corners up to smile is the risorius of Santorini. More... miracle - From Latin miraculum, "object of wonder"; its ultimate root meant "to smile upon." More... gelasin - The dimples that appear when you smile are gelasins. More... | |