Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, March 13, 2024)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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conversant
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Correlative ConjunctionsCorrelative conjunctions, or "paired conjunctions," are sets of conjunctions that are always used together. Like coordinating conjunctions, they join words, phrases, or independent clauses of similar or equal importance and structure. Unlike coordinating conjunctions, they can only join two elements together, no more. What are some of the most common correlative conjunctions? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 MemesA meme is an idea, thought, or piece of information that is passed from generation to generation through imitation and behavioral replication. The terms memes and memetics, coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, are the cultural counterpart to the biological study of genes and genetics. In his book, Dawkins hypothesizes that human cultures evolve via "contagious" communications in a manner similar to the gene pools of populations. What is a memeplex? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Phoenix Lights: Aliens or Air Force? (1997)In 1997, thousands of people reported a series of optical phenomena—since known as the Phoenix Lights—taking place in the skies over the US states of Arizona and Nevada. The sightings consisted of two events: a triangular formation of lights observed passing overhead and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area. Although the US Air Force identified the second group of lights as flares, many believe the first set of lights were those of a UFO, including what notable politician? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Percival Lowell (1855)Lowell was an astronomer who built a private observatory in Arizona to study Mars and championed the idea that intelligent inhabitants of the Red Planet had constructed a planetwide system of irrigation there. He believed that the so-called canals of Mars were bands of cultivated vegetation dependent on this irrigation. His theory, long vigorously opposed, was finally put to rest by images taken by the US Mariner spacecrafts. Lowell did, however, correctly predict the existence of what "planet"? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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wash (someone's) mouth out (with soap)— To punish someone for using rude, vulgar, or obscene language by cleaning their mouth with soap (usually used merely as a threat). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Omizutori Matsuri (2024)Omizutori Matsuri is marked by religious rites that have been observed for 12 centuries at the Buddhist Todaiji Temple in the city of Nara, Japan. During this period of meditative rituals, the drone of recited sutras and the sound of blowing conches echo from the temple. On March 12, young monks on the temple gallery brandish burning pine-branches, shaking off burning pieces. Spectators below try to catch the sparks, believing they have magic power against evil. On March 13, the ceremony of drawing water is observed to the accompaniment of ancient music. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: noticeadvertisement - From advertir, Old French for "to notice," and ultimately from Latin advertere, "to turn toward." More... emit, emission, emissary - Emit, emission, and emissary come from Latin emittere, "send out," and emit once meant "publish a book or notice." More... notable, noticeable - Notable means "worthy of notice" and noticeable means "readily observed." More... remark - From an intensified French word marquer, "observe, notice," i.e. "making a verbal observation." More... | |