Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, March 18, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
portent
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Attributive AdjectivesAttributive adjectives are adjectives that describe a characteristic (or attribute) of the noun or pronoun that they modify. What is the difference between restrictive and non-restrictive attributive adjectives? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 TapewormsTapeworms are parasitic flatworms of the class Cestoda that live in the digestive tracts of vertebrates and steal vital nutrients from their hosts. Most human tapeworm infestations result from the consumption of contaminated meat or fish that has not been properly cooked. An adult tapeworm consists of a knoblike head, or scolex, equipped with hooks for attaching to the intestinal wall of the host, a neck region, and a series of flat, rectangular body segments. How long can tapeworms grow to be? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 UK Recognizes British Sign Language as Official Language (2003)Making use of space and involving movement of the hands, body, face, and head, British Sign Language (BSL) is the preferred language of deaf people in the UK and those who communicate with them, such as relatives and interpreters. BSL has regional and local dialects, and some signs go in and out of fashion or evolve over time, just like spoken words. Although English is the predominant spoken language in both the UK and US, BSL differs from American Sign Language in what ways? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (1848)In 1840, Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and the two had nine children, whose marriages, and those of their grandchildren, in turn, allied the British royal house with those of Russia, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Romania, and others. Their sixth child, Princess Louise, is regarded by biographers as the couple's most beautiful daughter. In 1871, Louise married the Marquess of Lorne and became the Duchess of Argyll. Why was the marriage controversial? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing, and dancing sooner than war.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
blow the coop— To leave or escape (something). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Bering Sea Ice Golf Classic (2017)This golfing challenge, played on a six-hole course with bright orange golf balls, takes place on the frozen Bering Sea off Nome, Alaska, at a time when the winds can be gale-strength. Par is 41, but winners have claimed scores as low as 23. Entry fees benefit the Lions Club. The tournament, not a wholly serious affair, coincides with the final days of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race that starts about the first of March and ends in Nome about two weeks later. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: tapfaucet - Probably comes from French fausset, meaning "bore, tap." More... tattoo - In the military sense—of a signal summoning soldiers to their quarters at night—it was originally written tap-too, from a Dutch word taptoe, meaning "close the tap" (of a cask), which was told to soldiers when they were expected to return to their quarters. More... tick, tickle - Tick, as in "sound of a clock," "mark of correctness," originally meant "light touch, tap," and its modern senses are recent developments; tickle is probably a derivative of this version of tick. More... tit for tat - Probably borrowed from Dutch tip for tap, "blow for blow." More... | |