English Language Trivia

The longest one-syllable word in the English language is screeched." No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple. There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt". Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle. The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, doughfaced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed." "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. alternately: "Go," is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. The longest word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a distinct part of DNA. The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic." The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase

"Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead". Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head." The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language. The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with. The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want. TYPEWRITER, is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard. The most common name in the world is Mohammed. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan." The Bible has been translated into Klingon. http://www.family.solidrockpl.org/English_Language_Trivia.htm The only city whose name can be spelled completely with vowels is Aiea, Hawaii. "Polish" is the only word in the English language that when capitalized is changed from a noun or a verb to a nationality. "Corduroy" comes from the French, "cord du roi" or "cloth of the king." The highest scoring word in the English language game of Scrabble is 'Quartzy'. This will score 164 points if played across a red triple-word square with the Z on a light blue double-letter square. It will score 162 points if played across two pink double-word squares with the Q and the Y on those squares. 'Bezique' and 'Cazique' are next with a possible 161 points. All three words score an extra 50 points for having seven letters and therefore emptying the letter rack in one go. The English word with the most consonants in a row is latchstring. The word "robot" was created by Karel Capek. It came from Czech/Slovak "robotovat," which means to work very hard.

The only word that consists of two letters, each used three times is the word "deeded." A hamlet is a village without a church and a town is not a city until it has a cathedral. The stress in Hungarian words always falls on the first syllable. The word "karate" means "empty hand." The word "girl" appears only once in the Bible. Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan. A H I M O T U V W X Y are the symmetric capital letters in the Roman alphabet. i l o t u v w x are the symmetric lower case letters in the Roman alphabet. The 'v' in the name of a court case does not stand for 'versus', but for 'and' (in civil proceedings) or 'against' (in criminal proceedings). The term, honeymoon, is derived from the Babylonians who declared mead, a honey-flavored wine, the official wedding drink, stipulating that the bride's parents be required to keep the groom supplied with the drink for the month following the wedding; that month became known as the honeymonth, hence our honeymoon. Source: Bryan Giese "Rhythm" and "syzygy" are the longest English words without vowels. 'Strengths' is the longest word in the English language with just one vowel. The longest place-name still in use is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungah oronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu, a New Zealand hill. The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It is a a pneumoconiosis caused by the inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust. The only other word with the same amount of letters is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural. The second longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary is "floccinaucinihilipilification," which means "the act of estimating as worthless."

The third longest word in the English language is "antidisestablishmenterianism". The longest muscle name is the "levator labiisuperioris alaeque nasi" and Elvis popularized it with his lip motions. 'Stewardesses' and 'reverberated' are the two longest words (12 letters each) that can be typed using on the left hand. The longest word that can be typed using on the right hand is 'lollipop'. 'Skepticisms' is the longest word that can be typed using alternate hands. One out of every eight letters used in written English is an e. Source: "2201 Fascinating Facts" Alma mater means bountiful mother. The words 'sacrilegious' and 'religion' do not share the same etymological root. The phrase "sleep tight" originated when mattresses were set upon ropes woven through the bed frame. To remedy sagging ropes, one would use a bed key to tighten the rope. The word denim comes from 'deNimes', or from Nimes, a place in France. "Freelance" comes from a knight whose lance was free for hire, i.e. not pledged to one master. The term "Mayday" used for signaling for help after (SOS), it comes from the French term "M'aidez" which is pronounced "MayDay" and means, "Help Me" When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g., motor + hotel = motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a "portmanteau." Avocado is derived from the Spanish word 'aguacate' which is derived from 'ahuacatl' meaning testicle. AM and PM stand for "Ante-Meridian" and "Post-Meridian," respectively, and A.D. actually stands for "Anno Domini" rather than "After Death."

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb. Lucifer is latin for "Light Bringer". It is a translation of the Hebrew name for Satan, Halael. Satan Means "adversary", devil means "liar". Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order. The heraldic term "gules", meaning red, comes from the French word "gueules", meaning a throat. The only Dutch word to contain eight consecutive consonants is 'angstschreeuw'. There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs six times: Indivisibility. The letters H I O X in the latin alphabet is the only ones that look the same if you turn them upside down or see them from behind. There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. The youngest letters in the English language are "j," "v" and "w." The only capital letter in the Roman alphabet with exactly one end point is P. "Xmas" does not begin with the Roman letter X. It begins with the Greek letter "chi," which was used in medieval manuscripts as an abbreviation for the word "Christ" (xus=christus, etc.) The letter W is the only letter in the alphabet that doesn't have 1 syllable... it has three. "Bookkeeper" and "bookkeeping" are the only words in the English language with three consecutive double letters. There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, here, ere therein, herein. "Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und." There are only three words in the English language with the letter combination "uu." Muumuu, vacuum and continuum. The oldest word in the English language is "town"

Hydroxydesoxycorticosteroneandhydroxydeoxycorticosterones are the largest anagrams. The Old English word for "sneeze" is "fneosan." The word "Boondocks" comes from the Tagalog (Filipino) word "Bundok," which means mountain. Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable. The derivation of the word trivia comes from the Latin "tri-" + "via", which means three streets. This is because in ancient times, at an intersection of three streeets in Rome (or some other Italian place), they would have a type of kiosk where ancillary information was listed. You might be interested in it, you might not, hence they were bits of "trivia." "Speak of the Devil" is short for "Speak of the Devil and he shall come". It was believed that if you spoke about the Devil it would attract his attention. That's why when your talking about someone and they show up people say "Speak of the Devil" The "Nullarbor" in Nullarbor Desert in Western Australia is a Latin name; Null=No, Arbor=Trees. The word "samba" means "to rub navels together." The 'y' in signs reading "ye olde.." is properly pronounced with a 'th' sound, not 'y'. The "th" sound does not exist in Latin, so ancient Roman occupied (present day) England use the rune "thorn" to represent "th" sounds. With the advent of the printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled thorn was the lower case "y". "Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting." The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.

The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows." The ampersand (&) is actually a stylised version of the Latin word "et," meaning and." The word 'byte' is a contraction of 'by eight.'

The word 'pixel' is a contraction of either 'picture cell' or 'picture element.' No modern language has a true concept of "I am." It is always used linked with are in reference of another verb. The naval rank of "Admiral" is derived from the Arabic phrase "amir al bahr", which means "lord of the sea" In Chinese, the words for crisis and opportunity are the same. The Chinese ideogram for "trouble" symbolizes "two women living under one roof". The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "and the rest of the day to yourself." The abbreviation for pound, "lb.," comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning balance, and symbolized by scales. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P. The Greek version of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint. The word "queueing" is the only English word with five consecutive vowels. The word "modem" is a contraction of the words "modulate, demodulate." (MOdulateDEModulate) The shortest French word with all five vowels is "oiseau" meaning bird. The infinity sign is called a lemniscate. http://www.jayp.net/trivia/lang01.htm The past tense for the English word 'dare' is 'durst' The word 'testify' derived from a time when men were required to swear on their testicles The first English dictionary was written in 1755 The most commonly used word in English conversation is 'I' http://www.did-you-knows.com/did-you-know-facts/englishlanguage.php

A "Blue Moon" is the second full moon in a calendar month (it is rarely blue). A bibliophile is a collector of rare books. A bibliopole is a seller of rare books. A ghost writer pens an anonymous book. A magic potion or charm thought to arouse sexual love, especially toward a specific person, is known as a "philter." A poem written to celebrate a wedding is called an epithalamium. A speleologist studies caves. Cannibalism, eating human flesh, is also called anthropophagy. In 1945 a computer at Harvard malfunctioned and Grace Hopper, who was working on the computer, investigated, found a moth in one of the circuits and removed it. Ever since, when something goes wrong with a computer, it is said to have a bug in it. In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling. "Long in the tooth," meaning "old," was originally used to describe horses. As horses age, their gums recede, giving the impression that their teeth are growing. The longer the teeth look, the older the horse. "Second string," meaning "replacement or backup," comes from the middle ages. An archer always carried a second string in case the one on his bow broke. The ancient Romans built such an excellent system of roads that the saying arose "all roads lead to Rome," that is, no matter which road one starts a journey on, he will finally reach Rome if he keeps on traveling. The popular saying came to mean that all ways or methods of doing something end in the same result, no method being better than another. The idiom "pillar of salt" means to have a stroke, or to become paralyzed and dead. The last thing to happen is the ultimate. The next-to-last is the penultimate, and the second-to-last is the antepenultimate.

The phrase "raining cats and dogs" originated in 17th Century England. During heavy downpours of rain, many of these poor animals unfortunately drowned and their bodies would be seen floating in the rain torrents that raced through the streets. The situation gave the appearance that it had literally rained "cats and dogs" and led to the current expression. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets. The ridges on the sides of coins are called reeding or milling. The right side of a boat was called the starboard side due to the fact that the astronavigators used to stand out on the plank (which was on the right side) to get an unobstructed view of the stars. The left side was called the port side because that was the side that you put in on at the port. The side of a hammer is a cheek. The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe. The two lines that connect your top lip to the bottom of your nose are known as the philtrum. The white part of your fingernail is called the lunula. The word "assassination" was invented by Shakespeare. The word 'news' did not come about because it was the plural of 'new.' It came from the first letters of the words North, East, West and South. This was because information was being gathered from all different directions. The world's largest alphabet is Cambodian, with 74 letters. Theodore Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to deliver an inaugural address without using the word "I". Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower tied for second place, using "I" only once in their inaugural addresses. There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today. However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers. The most widely spoken language in the world is Mandarin Chinese. There are 885,000,000 people in China that speak that language. Victor Hugo's Les Miserables contains one of the longest sentences in the French language - 823 words without a period

http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/j-triv.html