Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, July 5, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Primary InterjectionsPrimary interjections are interjections that are single words derived not from any other word class, but from sounds. Nonetheless, primary interjections do have widely recognized meanings. What are some common examples? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Debt BondageDebt bondage is a means of paying off loans with direct labor instead of currency or goods. Bonded persons are not legally owned but are instead contractually bound to perform labor to work off a debt under terms that often make it impossible to completely retire the debt. Defined as a form of modern-day slavery by the UN and prohibited by international law, debt bondage nonetheless persists in many areas of the world. According to estimates, how many people are subjected to debt bondage today? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 SPAM Introduced into the Market (1937)Introduced in 1937 by the Hormel Foods Corporation as "Hormel Spiced Ham," the precooked, canned-meat product was renamed "SPAM" when it began to lose market share. SPAM is now popular worldwide and is sold in more than 40 countries, including South Korea, where it is said to be so popular that it is sometimes given as a gift. The product has become a part of pop culture as the butt of many jokes and urban legends about mystery meat. What ingredients are used to make SPAM? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 P. T. Barnum (1810)Barnum may be best known for the circus he formed with James Bailey in 1881, but this took place late in his life and was neither his first, nor sole, line of work. The splashy showman was also an author and, oddly enough, a politician. Yes, the man who may have said "There's a sucker born every minute" was elected to office—more than once. Apparently fond of seeing his name in print, Barnum published his autobiography in 1855 and even got a newspaper to oblige him in what way before his death? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 My argument is that War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading.Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a great many— A very large number of (people, things, etc.). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Algeria Independence Day (2023)On this day in 1962, more than 100 years of French rule in Algeria came to an end as France officially recognized a referendum for independence that was passed by a vote of the Algerian people on July 1. Algerians had struggled for independence, or at least equality with the French occupants of their land, with organized movements for revolution since the end of World War I. Independence Day is a legal holiday in Algeria. Another important celebration takes place on Algeria National Day, which commemorates the day the successful revolution against the French began. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: lapis lazuliazure stone - Another name for the lapis lazuli. More... lapis lazuli - A sky-blue semiprecious stone, it is pronounced lap-us-LAY-zuh-lee. More... sapphire - From Greek sappheiros, "lapis lazuli" or "blue stone." More... ultramarine - First a blue pigment made from lapis lazuli, imported from Asia by sea, so, in Latin, it was ultramarinus, "beyond the seas." More... | |