English Is Fun

[Toxic-Avenger]

The average Americans know about 10,000 words. Writers know the most words, averaging 20,000. Farm workers seem to know the fewest words, at around 1,600.

The word "set" has over 100 meanings or uses.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, there are as many as 2,241 synonyms for the state of being "drunk." How many can you list?

A fellow in Montana gave his daughter a 622-letter long name. His purpose: To tangle up and crash government computers!

In 1984 Alan Foreman of England sent his wife Janet a rather long letter containing over one million words.

When modern kids say "bad!" their actual meaning is "good!" Some of us wince at this slang reversal. This is not the first such reversal in the English language, however. "Awful" used to mean awe-inspiring, and "artificial" used to mean full of art.

In Spanish and German, they capitalize the word "you." In English, we capitalize "I."

Here's an interesting example in the evolution of the English language. Butterflies used to be called "flutterbys."

Who first said, "Don't count your chickens before they are hatched?" It was Aesop, of Aesop's Fables.

A voice heard over a telephone does not sound live. It sounds false or "phony."

In France a computer is called l'informatique, and in Sweden a computer is a dator (because it handles data).

Hemidemisemiquaver is a funny word. It is a musical term meaning a 64th note.

Chauffeurs date to the days of coal-fired, steam-driven cars. In fact, "chauffeur" is French for "stoker."

In the mid-1800's, there was a guy hired by an Irish earl to collect high rent from tenant farmers. The farmers totally ignored him. His name was Charles C. Boycott.

Some Vocabulary Going Out of Style
(This may be the last time you see some of these phrases.)
FIFTH WHEEL, someone not needed.
SHALL, this word is seldom used in ordinary conversation.
BIBCOCK: A faucet.
DUFF: The composting leaves that cover the ground in the woods.
HARP: The part of a lamp which surrounds the lightbulb and holds the shade.

When is the last time you heard the word "aglet" in conversation? It is the clear plastic tip on the end of a shoelace. ,

Blowouts are less-often seen nowadays. They are the things you used to see at parties - you put one end in your mouth, and when you blow into it, the other end unrolls and makes a weird noise.

And pianoforte has gone out of style. This is what a piano used to be called. Pianoforte literally translates to quiet-loud.

These words came from the Hindu language: Bungalow, pajamas, shampoo, jungle, cot.

The Hindu word khaki means "dusty."

The word cosmetics is based on the Greek, 'skilled in decoration.'

From Algonquin (American Indian) we get: Skunk, pecan, chipmunk.

From Arabic: Admiral, Almanac, mattress.

From Chinese: silk, tea, ketchup, tycoon.

The word gobbledygook was coined by a Texas congressman in 1944.
The word "book" comes from "bok" meaning "beech." The first books in Europe were written on thin slabs of beech wood.

The word candidate roughly translated into Latin means a person dressed in white.

The word "deliberate" translates roughly in Latin to balance, or weigh on a scale. "Libra" means scale. This is where the abbreviation for pound comes from. (lb.)

The original meaning of the word "fee" was cow, an ancient trading medium that is not used much anymore because it is not convenient to carry cattle your pocket.

Hitchhiking was originally a technique in which two people rode one horse. One would ride the horse a short distance, tie it to a tree, then start walking. The other person would arrive at the horse on foot and then ride it past the first rider (now walking), then tie it up and start walking. Soon the first person would get to ride the horse again, etc.

[Toxic-Avenger]

English is Fun, Part Deux.


The word "pamphlet" loosely translates into "loved by all" in Greek.

In Latin, "perfume" translates to "through smoke."

In Greek, "school" translates to "leisure."

The original definition of a barn was a hole in the ground covered with a door, for storing barley.

There is one word mispelled in this sentence which is one of the most misspelled words in America. Which one is it? Mispell is misspelled.

The most common name in the world is Muhammad.

When you type the word "typewriter" you do it all from the row of keys above the home row.

The entire Hawaiian language uses only twelve letters of the alphabet: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p and w.

All except 15 percent of international phone calls are conducted in English.

Here's a new word that is already passe: "Microcomputer." It means an ordinary desk top computer. It was used a few years ago because until then, computers were five feet tall and several feet wide. Now we just say computer, home computer, personal computer or sometimes pc. A modern "minicomputer" is larger than your desktop 486.

A new high-tech term is "degrade gracefully" which is the opposite of a computer crash.

A palindrome is a sentence that if read backward says the same thing. The following may be the stupidest palindrome on earth: "Straw? No, too stupid a fad, I put soot on warts."

This thing is not a slash: /. It is called a solidus or an obolus.

California means "hot furnace" in Spanish. Alabama means "here we rest" in Indian. Connecticut means "the long river" in Indian. Kentucky means "the dark and bloody ground" in Indian. Vermont means "green mountain" in French. BBB-63

A camera was originally called "camera obscura."

The word "paper" came from the papyrus plant from which paper was made. Papyrus used to be a common plant in Egypt, but no longer grows there.

The word "bible" came from the Greek word "biblios" which means books.

The word "pen" came from the Latin "penna" which means wing, or feather.

To the ancient Romans, the left side of the human body was thought of as evil and the right side was good. The Latin word for left is "sinister."

The Caesar family has two months named after them. July was named for Julius Caesar and August for Augustus Caesar.

The average American knows about one-tenth of a million words.

If you look at a monkey wrench, you think it is obvious where it got its name, but you are wrong. It was named after its inventor, Charles Moncke.

Camel's-hair brushes were named after Mr. Camel.

We think of snow - as snow, but to Eskimos, there are twenty variations, which are all different things, each with their own name - much as we think pencils and pens are different things.

The technical term for snapping your fingers is "fillip."

A "clue" meant a ball of thread at first.

The word robot was invented in 1920, in an early science fiction play.

The French word "verre" which means glass is similar to the word "vaire" which means fur. It makes more sense that Cinderella's slippers were made of fur than glass. It is assumed an early translator of the story goofed.

Freelance originally meant mercenary soldier, a person who was free to use his lance for you, if you had money to pay him.

The letter B evolved from the Egyptian symbol for house

A radio announcer speaks about 183 words per minute.

Cooties are a kind of lice. Kids are right, you really don't want to catch cooties.

Etymologists are not sure, but the origin of the term "OK" may be from an American Indian word, "okeh," meaning "it is so."

If you have had a haircut, you can be called an acersecomic.

Hoful is an unusual word meaning cautious.

In a typical office, each worker uses 2.5 pounds of paper per day.

If you stretched out 1,429 words written in longhand, about the amount necessary to fill a small pocket notebook, the line would be one mile long.

A professional typist's fingers move 12 miles in one workday.

The word "hypocrite" comes from Greek, in which it means "actor."

There are about twice as many words in the English language to describe negative emotions such as sad, upset, and disappointed as there are for positive ones, such delighted, happy and elated.

[thevoicewithin]

That is some interesting information Toxic! Where do you find all of it?? Anyways, I never knew that a person could have a 622-letter long name. What was it anyway?

[tay]

Hehe, I suppose you could make a name that long. Poor kid though.

That is some interesting stuff. I knew the thing about the sinister being the left side. Haha, left-handed people back then... they were 'sinister,' evil. And the right handed people were dexterous, which means clever and creative. Ambidexterous (being able to write with both hands) literally means 'right-handed with both hands.' Hehehe, so the left-handed people couldn't get any good.

And I don't know, but I think OK is abbreviation of oll korrect, which is an alteration of 'all correct.' At least, that's what the good old folks at Webster have taught me.

[Shrubby]

A voice heard over a telephone does not sound live. It sounds false or "phony."

It took me an unnaturally long time to get that one...

[Alyssa]

Just knew I couldn't be the only one who thinks these things are strangely fun.

[Midnight55309]

I think Toxic is the only guy on this board who can make anything seem fun. Actually, Toxic's the only other guy I know on this board.

[tootrickyforyou]

Dude, that was cool! My eyes kind of hurt after reading all that, but it was worth it!

"The average Americans know about 10,000 words. Writers know the most words, averaging 20,000. Farm workers seem to know the fewest words, at around 1,600. "

One of the many, MANY reasons I want to be a writer.