Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, July 25, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using "Can"The modal auxiliary verb "can" is used most often and most literally to express when a person or thing is physically, mentally, or functionally able to do something. What happens to "can" when it is used with "not" to become negative? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Jogo do PauLiterally translated as "stick game," Jogo do Pau is a Portuguese martial art that is perhaps more accurately described as "stick fencing." First used for self-defense and the settlement of disputes, the art evolved into a sporting competition during the 19th century. Urban migration and greater access to firearms later led to the art's decline, but it was revived in the 1970s. Still, the origins of the art are not known. What are some of the theories about how and why it was developed? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Cerro Maravilla Incident (1978)Cerro Maravilla, one of the highest peaks in Puerto Rico, is perhaps best known for being the site of a police ambush in 1978 in which two pro-independence activists were killed. Though initial inquiries by local authorities, the US Justice Department, and the FBI concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the police, subsequent investigations resulted in four second-degree murder convictions. How many Puerto Rican Secretaries of Justice resigned following the incident? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gavrilo Princip (1894)A member of the secret Serbian nationalist society known as the Black Hand, Princip sought to unite southern Slavic peoples and destroy Austro-Hungarian rule in the Balkans. When Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife made an official visit to Sarajevo in 1914, Princip—who was just a high school student at the time—assassinated them, setting off a chain of events that led to World War I. Princip was sentenced to 20 years in prison, where he died in 1918. What killed him? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get a big head— To become arrogant or conceited; to assume an exaggeratedly high opinion of oneself. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Furrinalia (2023)Furrina (or Furina) was an ancient Roman deity whose reason for existence has been largely forgotten. She might have been associated with a spring or springs, and some experts regard her as a spirit of the darkness. Others say she was the goddess of robbers. All that is known for certain is that she possessed a grove (on the slopes of the Janiculum, a ridge near the Tiber River), a festival (the Furrinalia, on July 25), and her own flamen, or priest, named Furrinalis. Although Furrina belongs to the earliest of Roman religions, the Furrinalia continued to be observed in later Roman times. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: limitsdeterminer - A word that limits or indicates the scope of a noun. More... modifier, qualifier - A word or phrase that limits or qualifies the sense of another is a modifier or qualifier. More... temper - Originally a proportionate mixture, is from Latin temperare, "to mix correctly; regulate" or "to keep within limits." More... | |