Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
turgid Definition: (adjective) Excessively ornate or complex in style or language. Synonyms: bombastic, declamatory, orotund, tumid, large Usage: Growing impatient with the politician's turgid prose, she turned off her television.

Article of the Day

Phonetics Phonetics is the study of the sounds of languages. This branch of linguistics focuses on the production, perception, and analysis of speech sounds from both a physiological and an acoustic point of view. Phonetics is not a new discipline—the first phoneticians were Indian scholars working to preserve the pronunciation of Sanskrit holy texts around 300 BCE, and the Classical Greeks are credited with the first writing system based on a phonetic alphabet. What is a phoneme? More...

This Day in History

Catherine of Aragon Married by Proxy to Arthur, Prince of Wales (1499) Catherine of Aragon is known as the first of King Henry VIII's six wives, but before they were wed, she was married to his older brother Arthur. Catherine was the youngest daughter of Spain's Ferdinand II and Isabella I, and her marriage to Arthur was primarily political. In fact, Arthur and Catherine were married by proxy before they had even met, in a ceremony attended by their representatives. The marriage was short-lived, as Arthur died young. When did Arthur and Catherine finally meet? More...

Today's Birthday

Malcolm X (1925) Malcolm X was an African-American activist. His home was burned by the KKK when he was a child, and he joined the Nation of Islam in prison as an adult. Upon his release in 1952, he renounced his "slave name," Little, and took the surname X, representing his lost African ancestral surname. He became a minister and soon rose to prominence campaigning for black separatism, but he publicly broke with the militant Black Muslims in 1964 after a pilgrimage to Mecca. Who assassinated him the next year? More...

Quotation of the Day
What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one's self! Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Idiom of the Day
to (one's) heart's desire — As much as or to the point that one wants; to the point of contentment, satiety, or surfeit. More...

Today's Holiday

Malcolm X's Birthday (2023) Malcolm X (1925-1965) was an outspoken leader in the black nationalist movement of the 1960s. He converted to the Muslim faith while serving time in prison, and, upon his release, began touring the country on behalf of the Nation of Islam. During most of his career, Malcolm X advocated violence (for self-protection) and had a reputation for fanaticism and racism; however, he changed his outlook after his pilgrimage to Mecca. He was assassinated at a rally in Harlem shortly after. His birthday is still observed in most major American cities with a large African-American population. More...