Interesting Facts About English Language
The English language is, quite literally, the greatest language in the world.
Great in terms of size - the current edition of the Oxford English Dictionary contains 615,000
entries. Great in terms of scope -- it's an official language in seventy-nine countries and
territories
Here are some interesting facts about English
1. The most used letter in English language is (e).
2. The most used vowel in English language is (e) , followed by (a).
3. The most used consonant in English language is "r", followed by "t".
4. The word "triskaidekaphobia" means "extreme fear of the number 13". This
superstition is related to "paraskevidekatriaphobia", which means "fear of Friday the
13th".
5. Every syllable in English must have a vowel (sound). But not all syllables have
consonants.
6. Only two English words end in (-gry). They are (angry) and (hungry).
7. The word "bookkeeper" (along with its associate "bookkeeping") is the only
unhyphenated English word with three consecutive double letters. Other such
words, like "sweet-toothed", require a hyphen to be readily readable.
8. The number of English words begin with the letter "s" are more than with any other
letter.
9. The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that contains
letter used once only.
10. The following sentence contains all 26 letters of the alphabet: "The quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is often used to test typewriters or
keyboards. This kind of sentences is called "pangram".
11. A word formed by joining together parts of existing words is called a "blend" (or, less
commonly, a "portmanteau word"). Many new words enter the English language in
this way. Examples are "brunch" (breakfast + lunch); "motel" (motorcar + hotel); and
"guesstimate" (guess + estimate). Note that blends are not the same as compounds
or compound nouns, which form when two whole words join together, for example:
website, whiteboard, sunglasses.
12. The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha,
bēta.
13. If we place a comma before the word "and" at the end of a list, this is known as an
"Oxford comma" or a "serial comma". For example: "I drink coffee, tea, and hot
chocolate."
14. Some words exist only in plural form, for example: glasses (spectacles), binoculars,
scissors, shears, tongs, gallows, trousers, jeans, pants, pajamas (but note that
clothing words often become singular when we use them as modifiers, as in The
longest English word without a true vowel (a, e, i, o or u) is "rhythm".
15. We can find 10 words in the 7-letter word "therein" without rearranging any of its
letters: the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
Collected By . Ins Naela Al-Tami
References
1. EnglishClub.com
2. huffingtonpost.com
3. Wikipedia.org
12 Truly Fascinating Food Facts
1.The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929; " was selected because the original
containers were 7 ounces. " UP " indicated the direction of the bubbles.
2. The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma.
3. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
4. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's chewing gum.
5. Smelling bananas or green apples can help you lose weight ( they trick your body
into thinking you ate them ).
6. Chewing gum while peeling onions will help you from crying.
7. Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite!
8. Coca-Cola was originally green.
9.In Japan, they have square watermelons. They can be packed easier than the
round ones.
10. Honey is the only food that does not spoil.
11. Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry
can be dribbled like a basketball.
12. Broccoli is vegetables with a nervous system. Primitive though it may be, it can
feel pain.