Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, November 27, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hard-bitten
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Future Tense (Approximation)Grammatically speaking, there are no future tenses in the English language. There are really only aspects of the future tense. What does that mean? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 SatiSati is an Indian funerary practice in which a widow immolates herself on her husband's funeral pyre. Though its stated purpose is to purge the sins of the couple and ensure their reunion in the afterlife, the practice has been encouraged by the low status of widowhood. Practiced since the 4th century BCE, sati became widespread in India in the 17th and 18th centuries, and not all instances were voluntary. Today, it occurs rarely, and mostly in remote areas. When was the practice outlawed? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 The Great Storm of 1703: First Eddystone Lighthouse Is Destroyed (1703)For five years, the Eddystone Lighthouse guided mariners safely past the treacherous Eddystone Rocks off the southwestern coast of the UK. Then, a catastrophic hurricane struck. The Great Storm claimed hundreds of ships, thousands of lives, and the Eddystone Lighthouse—along with its builder, Henry Winstanley, who was inside at the time. Fire destroyed the second lighthouse on the site, and erosion led to the dismantling of the third. How did operators mark the 100th anniversary of the fourth? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Jimi Hendrix (1942)One of the tragic figures of 1960s pop music, the left-handed Hendrix taught himself to play the guitar, which he held upside down. His appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and the success of the album Are You Experienced? lifted him to instant stardom. A year after his legendary performance at Woodstock in 1969, Hendrix died at age 27 of an apparently accidental barbiturate overdose. Hundreds of people attended his funeral, including which well-known musicians? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Poverty doesn't bring unhappiness; it brings degradation.George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
have a gas— To have a thoroughly entertaining, enjoyable, and/or amusing time. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Lopburi Monkey Banquet (2023)Yongyuth Kijwattananuson first offered this banquet to the long-tailed macaque monkeys who live in the city of Lop Buri, Thailand, in 1988, to thank them for making his hotel so attractive to visitors. It has since become an institution, especially for the hundreds of monkeys who normally spend their time begging and stealing food from townspeople and tourists. Dozens of chefs prepare numerous dishes featuring fruit and vegetables on tables covered with red tablecloths. The monkeys eventually approach the tables to feast on the offerings, playing and throwing food in the process. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: leftoverspick-up, pick-up dinner - A pick-up or pick-up dinner is one made up of leftovers. More... ort, orts - An ort is a morsel or remaining scrap; orts is another name for leftovers. More... leftover, relic, relief - Before leftovers were called leftovers, they were called relics, and, before that, relief. More... gallimaufry - A medley or confused jumble, especially a dish made of leftovers, from French gallimaufry, "ragout, hash." More... | |