WEIRD FACTS ABOUT
ENGLISH
More English words begin with the letter 'S' than any other letter of the alphabet.
The longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary, however, does not begin with S but P.
It is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which is a 45-letter lung disease.
By contrast, the longest word used by Shakespeare was 'honorificabilitudinitatibus', a 27-letter concoction which is found in Love's Labours Lost.
The longest common words that can be typed on the top row of letters of a typewriter or computer keyboard are 'proprietor', 'repertoire', 'perpetuity' and 'typewriter' itself.
'Aegilops', which can mean either a genus of molluscs or an eye ulcer, is the longest word that has its letters in alphabetical order.
The top three words in spoken English are 'I', 'you' and 'the'.
In written English, they are 'the', 'of' and 'and'.
Related links:
2012
2012 is the centenary of the first parachute jump from a moving aeroplane, the sinking... MORE
BREAD
The word for a worshipper of bread is 'artolater'.
The word 'lady' derives from an Old... MORE
BRUSSELS SPROUTS
An analysis of whether young people liked or disliked Brussels sprouts was undertaken by John... MORE
BUTTOCKS
The word 'buttock' comes from the Old English 'buttuc', meaning a short ridge of land.... MORE
CHOCOLATE
Montezuma started the myth about chocolate being an aphrodisiac. His cup of cocoa at bedtime... MORE
CLICK
In the !Xoo language of Botswana and Namibia, which is spoken by about 4,000 people,... MORE
COPYRIGHT
The word 'uncopyrightable' is one of the two longest English words that consists entirely of... MORE
DANDELION
The French for a dandelion is pissenlit, or 'piss-in-bed'. The English used to refer to... MORE
GIGGLE
The earliest recorded appearance of the verb 'to giggle' in the English language was in... MORE
GOLDFISH
The Polish-born film director Sam Goldwyn was originally called Schmuel Gelbfisz. He anglicised his name... MORE
KISSING
More germs are transferred shaking hands than kissing.
During World War I, it was reported... MORE
KNOWLEDGE
The New Oxford Thesaurus of English lists 36 synonyms for 'knowledgeable' but 90 for 'ignorant'.... MORE
LAVATORIES
'Toilet' is currently the most popular word for the little boys' (or girls') room, being... MORE
LUNCHEON
The word 'luncheon' originally meant a thick slice or a hunk. ... MORE
PORTUGAL
When Pedro I was crowned King of Portugal in 1357, he proclaimed his lover, Ines... MORE
RHYME
It has frequently been asserted that there are no English words that rhyme with purple,... MORE
SCRABBLE
The game of Scrabble was invented by Alfred Butts in 1921, since when over 100... MORE
TATTOO
The first tattoos were carried out by the Egyptians, possibly as early as 4000BC. The... MORE
VOWELS
Abstemious and facetious are frequently alleged to be the only two words in English that... MORE
WIG
The word 'wig' only appeared in the English language around 1675. Before that, it was... MORE
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