Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, December 24, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Factitive VerbsFactitive verbs are used to indicate the resulting condition or state of a person, place, or thing caused by the action of the verb. What is this resulting condition or state known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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| This Day in History | |
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 Christmas Island Discovered by Captain James Cook (1777)Though Captain James Cook was certainly not the first person to set foot on Christmas Island—the atoll had been visited by native Pacific Islanders in the past—it was uninhabited when he found it. Both the UK and US later laid claim to the atoll, and they vied for power there for the next 100 years or so, until it gained independence as part of the 33-island Republic of Kiribati and was renamed Kiritimati. Before it gained independence, the US and UK used the atoll as a testing ground for what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Kit Carson (1809)Carson was an American frontiersman, trapper, scout, Indian agent, and soldier. He ran away from home as a teen to join an expedition to the Southwest, embarking on a lifetime of adventure that earned him an almost mythical status in the annals of the American West. Much to his dismay, fictionalized versions of his daring exploits were published in a series of popular novels. He was haunted by the knowledge that a lady who had been kidnapped and killed had had such a book in her possession. Why? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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| Idiom of the Day | |
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torqued off— Particularly irritated, frustrated, or exasperated. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Christmas Eve Bonfires (2025)St. James Parish, Louisiana, has a popular Cajun tradition that takes place before Christmas and dates back to the 1880s. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, local residents work together to collect materials and to construct bonfires. Then, on Christmas Eve, nearly 100 bonfires are ignited before a large crowd. Fire chiefs give a signal at 7:00 p.m., and the fire-tenders simultaneously ignite the fires. The event draws thousands of revelers to the area for the bonfires as well as a series of pageants, music performances, and cook-offs accompanying the main event. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: rindcrust - From French crouste, from Latin crusta, "rind, shell; incrustation." More... pith - First referred to the spongy cellular tissue in the stems and branches of many plants, and also the spongy white tissue lining the rind of citrus fruits. More... rind, peel - The rind is the hard or tough covering on oranges, grapefruit, and watermelon; once removed, skin or rind is usually known as peel. More... | |