Daily Content Archive

(as of Wednesday, May 20, 2020)
Word of the Day

fuss-budget

Definition:(noun) A person who fusses over trifles.
Synonyms:fusspot, worrier, worrywart
Usage: Stop being such a fuss-budget, and just relax and have fun!
Daily Grammar Lesson

Using Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used in interrogative sentences to ask questions, functioning either as the subject or object of such sentences. Most often, interrogative pronouns are used in what type of questions? More...
Article of the Day

False Doors

Many ancient Egyptian tombs contain a false door facing west—toward the land of the dead. Made of stone or wood, these doors do not open, as they were designed for the use of the departed, who were said to be able to pass through them. Nested door jambs were used to give the doors an illusion of depth. The living would lay gifts to the dead in front of the doors, which were often decorated with depictions of the tomb's owner receiving the offerings. Why did some tombs have two false doors? More...
This Day in History

Cartographer Abraham Ortelius Issues the First Modern Atlas (1570)

Prior to 1570, maps were often unreliable, illegible, and unwieldy. When Ortelius published his Theatrum orbis terrarium, it was the first comprehensive, easy-to-use, and fairly up-to-date collection of world maps. It drew from the works of 87 cartographers, all of whom were credited. Demand was immediate and persisted for decades, during which time dozens of editions were published in several languages. In addition to practical contemporary maps, Ortelius published what? More...
Today's Birthday

James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart (1908)

Stewart was an American actor known for his self-effacing screen persona. His slow, halting line delivery initially made him difficult to cast, but his idealistic characters in films such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) soon endeared him to audiences, and he won an Oscar in 1940. His role as the quintessential small-town man helped make It's a Wonderful Life (1946) a Christmas classic. During World War II, Stewart served as a bomber pilot and attained what military rank? More...
Quotation of the Day
Sometimes I wonder why God ever trusts talent in the hands of women, they usually make such an infernal mess of it. I think He must do it as a sort of ghastly joke.

Willa Cather (1873-1947)

Idiom of the Day

meatball surgery

Battlefield surgery that is performed hastily so as to quickly stabilize a patient and prevent their imminent death. Popularized (and possibly coined) by H. Richard Hornberger in his semi-autobiographical novel M*A*S*H, which focused on doctors serving in a fictional mobile army surgical hospital during the Korean War. Primarily heard in US. More...
Today's Holiday

Cameroon National Day (2024)

National Day is a public holiday commemorating the people's vote to establish a united Republic of Cameroon on May 20, 1972. This day is also known as Constitution Day. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: prune

amputate - Comes from Latin ambi, "around," and putare, "to prune, trim." More...

dried plum - Another name for a prune. More...

preen - Generally thought to be an alteration of prune, "cut branches." More...

purge - To purge a tree is to prune it; to purge a candle is to snuff it. More...

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