Did you know ...

... that there are more learners of English in China than there are native speakers of English in Britain and the United States taken together? This in itself is a powerful indication of the importance of English as a world language.
... that 96% of the world’s languages is spoken by only 4% of the world’s population? 50% of the world’s population speaks one of only eleven languages. One language alone, Mandarin Chinese, is spoken by 18% of the world’s population. Many languages have only a few dozen speakers or so, and there is an increasing likelihood for many of them to die out in the not too distant future. (Deutschlandradio, 2004)
... that the word grammar is etymologically related to the word glamour? The grammarians, i.e. the people who could read and write and explain language, were also the glamorous people, the people who were set off from the rest, those who were admired and got the limelight. The almost magical quality which was given to literacy is also reflected in the English word spell, which also means ‘words spoken by a wizard’, words which are supposed to have magical qualities. (Gutknecht 2003: 22)
... that a bill which was to introduce a new spelling system, Nue Spelling, was defeated by only 87:84 votes in the British Parliament in 1949? If the bill had been passed, we would now consider it perfectly normal to write "dhat aul men ar kreeated eekwal". (Crystal 1988:79-80) And the present spelling system would certainly strike us as something a bit weird. * ... that the word sherry is derived from the name of the Spanish town of Jerez? The English thought that Jerez, as it ended in –s, was plural, and thus the word [which was formerly also spelt Xeres) was shortened and then adapted to the English phonological system. (Gutknecht 2003: 47-8)
... that India has fifteen official languages and a thousand or so others? (Howard 1986: 75)
... that the German word for a cemetery, Friedhof, has nothing to do with Frieden? It is derived from the word vrīthof, which means ‘enclosure’, ‘enclosed space’, and is related to the word einfrieden. The form of the word can therefore be quite misleading.
... what the words nicotine, silhouette, and guillotine have in common? They are all derived from the name of a person. Monsieur Nicot was the French ambassador in Lisbon in the 16th century, at the time when the new plants were arriving from the New World. Monsieur Silhouette was, for a short time, Minister of Finances to Louis XIV. Being stingy, he decorated his palace on the River Marne with what later became known as silhouettes. Monsieur Guillotine was a French doctor who recommended the machine, for humanitarian reasons, to the National Assembly at the time of the French Revolution. (Gutknecht 2003: 51-3)
... that the words contemplate and balcony used to be stressed on the second syllable? (Crystal 1988: 64)
... why the German businessman Gotta, one of the most successful inventors of terms for new products (Kelts, Twingo, Yellow, etc.), failed when he proposed Kinki for a new brand of cat food? The name was rejected as kinky in English means ‘abnormal’, ‘perverse’. (Gutknecht 2003: 55)
... that the word nice can be traced back to Old English, where it meant ‘silly’, and then back to Latin nescius, where it meant ‘ignorant’? (Crystal 1988: 42) It underwent several changes before it received its present meaning, and when Locke called Newton a ‘nice’ man, he did not mean that he was amiable, but that he was irritable and touchy. (Howard 1986: 146)
... that in the Scottish translation of the New Testament only the devil speaks Standard English? (McCrum 1986: 150)
... the town in Northern Ireland which is called Derry by Roman Catholics is called Londonderry by Protestants? (McCrum 1992: 174)
... that in everyday conversation, people on average speak about five or six syllables a second, around 300 a minute? (Crystal 1988: 51)
... that there are over 1,500 place-names of Scandinavian origin in England? Many of them, like Derby, Grimsby, Rugby, end in –by, the Danish word for ‘farm’ or ‘town’. (Crystal 1988: 157)
... that the German word for a hammock, Hängematte, has nothing to do with either hängen or Matte? It is derived from the Spanish word hamaca, originally an Indian word, and later was re-interpreted by the speakers of German to make it more plausible. (Gutknecht 2003: 40-1)
... that the meaning of the name of the American states of Kansas and Arkansas, clearly distinguished in English by their pronunciation, is actually the same? They are both Sioux words meaning ‘land of the south wind people’. (Crystal 1998: 227)
... why the word Ye appears in the name of many pubs or inns in Britain, as in "Ye Old Fighting Cocks" or "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese"? It is the result of a mistake. The old letter thorn, <Þ>, or <>, which was later replaced by , was often confused with <y>, and ye thus just means `the´. (Crystal 1988: 178)
... that Greek inscriptions before the 4th century BC were continuous? Words and sentences were not separated or marked in any other way. Nor was any distinction made between minuscule and majuscule letters. (Howard 1986:157-8)
DONTYOUTHINKTHATTHATMADEREADINGAVERYHARDAFFAIR.
... that there are about 1,800 words of Scandinavian origin in Standard English? They include some very common words such as both, get, take or same, many words that use sk sounds such as skirt, sky, skin or whisk as well as the pronouns they, them, their, and forms of the words "to be", e.g. are. (Crystal 1998: 157-60)
... that the German word for a mole, Maulwurf, has nothing to do with the word Maul? It is derived from the Old German word mūwërf, which meant something like ‘throwing up hills’ and made no reference at all to any part of the body. Actually, the animal does not throw the earth up using its mouth, but using its feet. The form of the word can therefore be quite misleading. (Gutknecht 2003: 41-2)
... that in Irish Gaelic there are no specific forms for ‘yes’ or ‘no’? The famous Irish reluctance to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ may be due to this. (McCrum 1992: 179)
... that in Black English, "He working" means ‘He is busy right now’ whereas "He be working" means ‘He has a steady job’? (McCrum 1992: 213)
... that Benjamin Franklin, a printer by profession, became intrigued by the spelling conventions of English and proposed a reform? (McCrum 1992: 254)
... where the colloquial American word for a dollar, buck, comes from? The beaver was at the centre of the American fur trade, and material values were often reckoned in beaver skins or, later, in buck skins or bucks. (McCrum 1992: 272)
... that Shakespeare, like Alexander Pope one hundred years later, rhymed tea with tay and sea with say? In Irish English, this is still the case today. Elizabethan English, could we hear it, would probably not sound to us like Standard English, but perhaps like a mixture between West Country and Irish. (McCrum 1992: 106, 181)
... that, in the league table of acceptable accents in Britain, Dublin Irish and Edinburgh Scottish are very high on the list, whereas Cockney, Scouse, Birmingham and Glaswegian are very low on the list, with Geordie, Yorkshire and West Country somewhere in the middle? (McCrum 1992: 20)
... that the scholarly tradition to write in Latin was so strong that as late as 1678 Newton chose to write his Principia in Latin? (Leith 1983: 47)
... that in the University of Oxford an edict of 1340 forbade the use of English? French and Latin were gradually abandoned in favour of English, to such an extent that the academic authorities decided to step in. (Leith 1983: 48)
... that in English there can be up to (at least) seven different ways of representing what is for most people the same vowel sound? Take, for instance, tree, these, leaf, field, seize, key, machine. (Leith 1983: 36)
... why the sound at the end of grace and grass, although it is the same, is represented in different ways? At the time of the standardisation of the spelling system, two spelling traditions were mixed, the Anglo-Saxon spelling tradition, in which (most of) the Anglo-Saxon words (such as grass) were represented, and the French spelling tradition, in which (most of) the French words (such as grace) were represented. (Leith 1983: 37)
... which sound is the most frequently occurring vowel sound in any variety of English? It is not, as people will perhaps assume, the vowel of see or the vowel of kid or the vowel of bed or the vowel of art. It is schwa, the vowel which occurs in the first syllable of about, in the second syllable of opportunity and in the last syllable of manager. This comes as a surprise to many people, including native speakers, because the sound is represented in many different ways in writing and not perceived as one single sound. (Leith 1983: 126).
... that cocks, who in German go kikeriki, in French go coquerico, and in English go cock-a-doodle-doo? (Adamzik 2001: 49) Isn’t it funny how what they do in other languages sounds funny?
... that what in German is NATO in French is OTAN, what in German is UNO in French is ONU, and what in German is Aids in French is Sida? (Adamzik 2001: 161)
... that in Arabic, and in Semitic languages in general, only the consonants are represented in writing? The combination k-t-b, for instance, can stand for kitab, ‘book’, or for kataba, ‘wrote’, or for kattab, ‘writer’ (Adamzik 2001: 153). If this were done in English, just imagine how many possibilities there would be to interpret p-t. On the other hand, Sh pt hr rm rnd hs shldr may illustrate how it might work, given a little practice.
... that Derby rhymes with Barbie, Leicester rhymes with jester, Thames rhymes with hems, Slough rhymes with cow, Norwich rhymes with porridge, Reading rhymes with wedding, and Gloucester rhymes with foster? “Doctor Foster went to Gloucester/in a shower of rain/He stepped in a puddle/right up to his middle/and never went there again“ says a nursery rhyme.

... why the Lower House of the British Parliament is called House of Commons? Contrary to popular belief, it does not mean that it is to represent the commoners, the common people, the people without title or rank. It means that it is to represent the communes, the regional communities, i.e. counties and boroughs. (Suerbaum 1989: 142)
... that the most important language teaching method of the early modern period in England was translating texts from Greek into Latin, then from Latin into one of the modern languages, and then back again? The modernity of the method consisted mainly in considering Greek besides Latin, in considering the modern languages at all, and in teaching a pure, classical, incorrupt form of Latin. (Suerbaum 1989: 92)
... that, at Shakespeare’s time, the name Shakespeare is spelt alternatively Shackspere (27), Shakspere (30), Shackspeare (30), Shakspeyr (35), Shaxpere (38), Shakspeare (46), Shakspear (47), Shagspere (78), Shackespere (238) and occasionally even Shakespeare, all this in official documents, of course (Schoenbaum, 1987). The idea of a unified spelling system is a relatively new one and would have struck many people at the time as odd. Shakespeare himself, in the three signatures on his will, uses two different spellings of his own surname (Barber 1993: 201). Moreover, on his wife’s and daughter’s tomb it says Shakespeare, but on his own tomb it says Shakspeare.
... that although the goldfish is a fish, the crayfish isn’t, and that although the catfish is a fish, the shellfish isn’t? To make matters worse, the German Schellfisch is, but the Tintenfisch isn’t.
... that Welsh originally meant foreigner? This is very odd because wealas, ‘foreigners’, was the name given by the incoming peoples, the Anglo-Saxons, i.e. by the “real” foreigners, to the native population of Britain, and not the other way round (Knowles 1997: 29). The same word stem can be found in the German words Rotwelsch and Kauderwelsch.
... that Scotland was originally inhabited, not by the Scots, but by the Picts, and that the Scots were originally the inhabitants, not of Scotland, but of Ireland? (Knowles 1997: 22)
... that the first major work on English spelling, written by Sir Thomas Smith, was written in Latin? It appeared in 1568, and its title was De recta et emendata linguae anglicae scriptione, dialogus. (Knowles 1997: 84).
... that John Colet was suspended from office in 1513 for translating the Paternoster into English? (Knowles 1997: 65)
... that John Lewis was burnt at the stake in 1583 for heretical and subversive activities which included addressing everybody as thou? (Knowles 1997: 105)
... that, while several North Germanic and several West Germanic languages have survived into our own times, all East Germanic languages, Burgundian, Vandal, Gothic, have died out? (Barber 1993: 85)
... why there is a <k> in know, a <t> in castle or a in debt, although they are not pronounced? Frequently, the spelling system represents sounds which used to be pronounced but long ago ceased to be pronounced, as in (k)now, cas(t)le, (w)rong, but occasionally there are letters that never were pronounced, as in de(b)t, su(b)tle, recei(p)t or dou(b)t. These are letters that were introduced in the period known as Early Modern English on the grounds that they “ought to be” there because they are there in the Latin words they ultimately derive from. Before this period, in Middle English, you find the words assaut, parfit, aventure, etc. before they were remodelled in the Renaissance under Latin influence. (Barber 1993: 180, 201)
... that in (Modern) Greek there are no infinitives? If you look up a verb in a dictionary, you find it under the First Person Singular of the Present Tense. So if it was French, you would find the form veux, with vouloir not appearing because it does not exist. This is odd, but not generally a major problem. What is really a problem is how to form your sentences without the infinitive: “I want to go” is something like “I want that I go”, “You can go now” something like “You can that you go”. I wonder if the Greeks find it as odd to have an infinitive as we find it odd not to have one.
... that, while an American puts his trash into a trashcan for collection by the trashman, a Briton puts his rubbish into the dustbin for collection by the dustman? (Barber 1993: 254-5)
... that the Old English word mann was not confined to male persons, but simply meant ‘human being´, irrespective of sex or age? (Barber 1993: 222)
... that Arabic numbers are not generally used in Arabic countries? This is very odd, as the story of Arabic numbers is a real success story, Arabic being used almost all over the world, including countries which have their own number system and use Arabic numbers in addition to their own system. In Japan, for instance, you often get Arabic numbers on coins and bills, which is very practical for the foreign tourist. In Arabic countries, however, a system is used which originally developed in India. The system includes these numbers: ۳۵۹ They stand for 3, 5 and 9. Oddly, the number which corresponds to “our” 5, sometimes looks rather like “our” 0, and it gives you a funny feeling to be given a coin which seems to be worth 0.
... what happened when Jacques Toubon, the French Minister of Culture, announced a law which was to restrict the use of English loanwords in French? When the minister solemnly introduced the measures, he inadvertently used one of the “forbidden” words himself!
... what a child asked who was present at George Eliot’s funeral? “Is that George Eliot’s wife who is going to be buried?” (Karl 1995: 640-1)
... that Robin can be either a man’s or a woman’s name? The linguist Robin Lakoff of the University of California at Berkeley, is, for example, a woman. Another example is that of the pop singer Robin Beck of “First Time” fame. David Lodge makes use of this potential ambiguity in his novel Nice Work, in which the university lecturer Robyn Penrose is announced at an engineering company. There everyone, staff and management, is baffled when they see a woman turn up at the factory. A similar case is the name of Leslie, which can be male or female as well (although often spelt Lesley when female). The short forms Chris (Christopher or Christine) and Sam (Samuel or Samantha) are equally ambiguous.
... why Koofi Annan is called Koofi? He was born on a Friday, and in his Ghanaian language, koofi just means ‘Friday’.
... why Boutros Boutros Ghali, one of Koofi Annan’s predecessors, is called Boutros? This is just the Arabic form of Peter. In Arabic, there is no exact equivalent of our /p/. What sounds like a pretty exotic name, is in reality a name which we are all familiar with.
... that in Czech all words are stressed on the first syllable? (Sampson 1980: 109)
... that the Red Square in Moscow is quite erroneously called Red Square? The Russian name translates as ‘Beautiful Square’. The Russian words for ‘red’ and ‘beautiful’, красный (krásnyj) and красивый (krasívyj) are very similar, and the modern word for ‘red’ derives from the old word for ‘beautiful’, which was meant when the Square got its name. However, Red Square seemed quite appropriate, as the stones for many of the buildings are reddish in colour. Moreover, red being the emblematic colour of communism, the name seemed even more appropriate during the time of the Soviet Union! (Block 1976: 125)
... that, although Kurdish is an Indo-European language, Turkish isn’t? (Schendl 2001: 16)
… that the word of represents an important exception in English? It is the only word where <f> is not pronounced /f/, i.e. where the grapheme does not correspond to the phoneme. The pronunciation is not /f/, but /v/, i.e. it is voiced (Davis 2004: 27). As the word is extremely frequent, watching out for this may be a simple way for learners of English to improve their pronunciation.
… which word, according to a survey of the year 2000, was voted the favourite English word in Britain? – It was serendipity, with quidditch of Harry Potter fame being the runner-up, and onomatopoeia in fifth place. People liked the meaning of serendipity, ‘useful discoveries while looking for something else’, but also took pleasure in the sound of the word, the rather nice assortment of vowels and consonants and its pleasant echoes of serene and serenity. It has an interesting etymology, too. Serendip is the old word for Sri Lanka. The name came into English initially via a Persian story called “The Three Princes of Serendip”, a story in which the heroes always make accidental discoveries. This encouraged Horace Walpole to coin the word. (Burridge, 2004: 14-5)
… that, according to one calculation, fifty million schoolchildren spend ten million hours a day on learning the English spelling system? (Burridge, 2004: 2)
… what learning facilitators are? This is just a superliterate way of saying teachers, used by people whose primary interest does not lie in intelligibility. And what about anti-gravity panties, pavement deficiencies and entry systems? These are just girdles, potholes and doors. (Burridge, 2004: 48)
… that the second part of the word hatred in its origin actually meant the colour red? You were “red with hate” so to speak. (Burridge, 2004: 82)
… that a Bombay duck is not a duck but a fish and that Welsh Rabbit is neither a rabbit nor Welsh? (Burridge 2004: 220)
… that Saussure, who is nowadays thought of first and foremost as the scholar who defined the notion of synchronic linguistics, in all his publications and almost all his teaching dealt with historical rather than synchronic linguistics? (Sampson 1980: 35)
… that you was the form that survived and not ye, although you was originally only used in object position, whereas ye was the form used in subject position? (Jucker 2000: 85)
… that arrive was adopted from Old French ad-ripare and originally meant ‘get to the bank of a river'? Or that an alarm was originally ‘a call to the arms'? (Jucker 2000: 118)
… that Latin mus means both ‘rat' and ‘mouse' and French singe means both ‘ape' and ‘monkey'? (Lyons 1981: 148)
… that French voler, ‘fly' and French voler, ‘ rob' originally were one and the same word? The idea was that birds of prey used for hunting had to fly and flying snatched their prey in the air, took possession of it secretly, illegally, so to speak. (Pelz 121994: 203)
... that /«/ is the most frequent and /U«/ the least frequent phoneme in English, whereas /n/ is the most frequent and /¿/ the least frequent phoneme in German? (Dretzke 1998: 186)
… that the Canadian Indians are now called the First Peoples? (Bauer 2002: 73)
… that the quickest route in the 19th century to get from Wellington in New Zealand to Auckland in New Zealand (500 km away from each other as the crow flies) was by a 4,000 km round trip via Sydney? Nearly all trade and immigration came via Australia in the early days, and it is not surprising that the two varieties of English spoken in Australia and New Zealand became close enough for many outsiders failing to distinguish between them. (Bauer 2002: 75)
... that the first English settlement in what is now the US disappeared without a trace? This was the Roanoke settlement in present-day North Carolina in 1584. All the settlers had mysteriously disappeared when English ships returned – much late than expected – with provisions. The Roanoke settlement remains a puzzle to this day. Oddly enough, we know the name of the first English child to be born in America, Virginia, but she disappeared with all the rest. (Bauer 2002: 14)
… that William Butler Yeats, the renowned Irish poet, was turned for a professorship at Trinity College, Dublin, because he misspelled the word professor in his letter of application? (Eagleton 2002: 179-80)
… how Pitcairnese originated, the creole-like variety of English spoken in certain parts of the Pacific Ocean? It is the result of the mutiny among seamen on the British ship "The Bounty", after which nine British mutineers escaped, in 1790, to hide on Pitcairn (which was uninhabited at the time) together with six Tahitian men and twelve Tahitian women. (Trudgill/Hannah 4 2002: 114)
… that English is the national language of Namibia, although only 0.5 % of the population are Anglophones of British origin? (Trudgill/Hannah 4 2002: 121)
… that English is spoken in what is said to be the most remote permanent human settlement in the world? It is Tristan de Cunha, a territory consisting of six small islands half-way between Africa and America. Its nearest neighbours are 1200 miles away. (Trudgill/Hannah 4 2002: 119)
… that the Channel Islands were Norman French-speaking until the 1800s although they had been under the English and British crown since 1066? (Trudgill/Hannah 4 2002: 115)

… that there is an echo of Old English in the Star Wars film series? One of the characters, a certain Yoda, regularly inverts his sentences, like this: “If a Jedi knight you will become …”. This word order – Object – Subject – Verb - is characteristic of Old English. Interestingly enough, we do not have any difficulty understanding such sentences. (Crystal 2005: 103).
… that there was no word for the season between winter and summer in Middle English? The word spring is not recorded until the 16 th century, and sumer was used to refer to the whole period between equinoxes, covering the meanings of both modern spring and summer (Crystal 2005: 108).
… that money, car, church and letter are all borrowings from other languages? Most English speakers are unaware of this and treat them like any other English word, without any trace of foreign association. Other words preserve foreign association for a very long time, especially ‘Latinate' words such as obtain . On the other hand, get, its informal equivalent, is considered a fully English word. Nevertheless, get is also a borrowing, in this case one from Old Norse. (cf. Hudson 2 1996: 56)
… that Kannada is a language? It is spoken in a small community in India, along with Marathi and Urdu, which are Indo-European, while Kannada is not. (cf. Hudson 2 1996: 44)
… that the comma did not find its way into English until 1530? This is the date of its first recorded appearance. Until then, the virgule, </>, was used instead. (Cook 2004: 170)
… that the letter corresponds to three different spoken vowels in telegraph , telegraphic and telegraphy? (Cook 2004: 81)
… that (excluding inflectional endings) a prefix or a suffix can be found in 40-50% of all the words in the English language (Crystal 2005: 150)?
… that although there are many French words in English, there are even more Latin words? About 30,000 words (not counting derived forms) have French identified as their origin, the corresponding figure for Latin being 50,000 (Crystal 2005: 155)
… that Chaucer was not only a poet but also a civil servant – as well as a soldier, a diplomat, an intelligence officer, and a parliamentarian? (Crystal 2005: 231)
… that the apostrophe was, for a long time, only used as a mark of omission? Its modern use as a mark of possession is an eighteenth-century invention. (Crystal 2005: 261)
…that capital letters, first only used for proper names and verse-line openings, were gradually extended to be used for titles, terms of address, personification, etc.? In the seventeenth century, almost anything that was considered important could be capitalised. A reaction set in in the eighteenth century, and the present system gradually developed. (Crystal 2005: 262)
… that in the sixteenth century, the linguistic energy of learned men was almost entirely devoted to spelling reform? Some of the proposals were quite radical, and the reformers published whole works in the reformed spelling they advocated, such as Bullokar in his 64,000 words "Aesops Fablz" (Crystal 2005: 266).
… that Lindley Murray's English Grammar of 1795, an early work of what was later known as ‘prescriptivist grammar', became the second best selling work in the English speaking world (second only to Webster's spelling-book) with 200 editions by 1850, selling over 20 million copies? (Crystal 2005: 396)
…that a dictionary of abbreviations, Gale's Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary, lists a total of 586,000 entries? (Crystal 2005: 457)
… that Cleopatra, the classical femme fatale of Antiquity, thought to have been seductive, sly, beautiful (which, for all we know, she wasn't), was also an excellent language learner and one of the few politicians who did not need interpreters in their diplomatic dealings? (Günther 2003: 368)
… that the first edition of Ulysses is believed to contain more than 5,000 typographical errors? (Parody 2004: 110)
… that uncopyrightable is the longest word in common use with no letter appearing more than once? (Parody 2004: 162)
… that cathedral originally was an adjective? Cathedrals were originally known as cathedral churches. Later, the noun was dropped and the adjective became the noun. (Flavell & Flavell 2005: 26)
… that the British national anthem was the first to come into existence? It goes back to the 18th century, and the original words were, of course, not ‘God save the Queen' but ‘God save the King'. Some national anthems, like that of Spain, do not have words at all. The Russian national anthem has the tune of the anthem of the Soviet Union, which was recovered because it was so beloved by the people after it had originally been abolished. It has new words to make it suit the new country. Iraq and Afghanistan have changed their national anthem more than once, Afghanistan being the record holder with 6 changes in 80 years. One national anthem praised the monarchy, another the fact that the country was not a monarchy, another the fact that it was now a socialist country allied with the Soviet Union, another praised Allah, another had no words at all and the latest celebrates Afghanistan as a united country. Under the Taliban there was no national anthem at all.
... that a hospital was not originally a place for the sick? It was a place which offered lodging for pilgrims and wayfarers. The word derived from Latin hospes, ‘guest' or ‘host', a word which also gave rise to hospice, hostel and hotel. Pilgrims and wayfarers had to endure extreme weather conditions, could be attacked along the way or pick up a disease of some sort. From this, the special application of hospital as a place for the sick gradually developed, but not until the 15th century. The first mention of the word in the modern sense comes with reference to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, which had been founded by a pilgrim who had safely returned from Rome but had contracted a serious illness. A pilgrim was originally just a traveller, not necessarily one who was on a devotional journey. The word was derived from Latin pereger, which consisted of per + ager and just meant ‘travelling through a (foreign) land'. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 58-60)
... that the word canter, ‘to ride at a comfortable pace', derives from the name of the town of Canterbury? English pilgrims, travelling long distances to visit the shrine of St Thomas à Becket, did not tire themselves or their horses by galloping but rode at a comfortable pace. This was simply referred to as Canterbury trot , and this was then further abbreviated to canter . (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 60)
… that the /æ/of back is shorter than the /æ/of bag and that the /ei/of late is shorter than the /ei/of laid and the even longer /ei/ of lay ? (cf. Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 103)
… that, in television commercials, it is usually the voice of an unseen man (the so-called voice-over) which confers approval of what is shown? (cf. Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 270)
... that map, napkin, nappy and apron all have the same origin? (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 83)
… that thru in thruways, designating some limited access expressways, is now becoming an accepted spelling in American English? In general, this type of simplified spelling, as in nite or lite or hi, sometimes called ‘Sensational Spelling', is restricted to more informal writing or to advertising. (cf. Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 346)
… that webster is the word for a female weaver? The ending –ster denotes a female agent, the same as in spinster (a female spinner) and brewster (a female brewer). Since the weaving industry was mostly taken over by men, the word was then transferred, in a process of inversed sexism, to men. Webster also became one of the surnames which witness the importance of the wool industry in the Middle Ages, like Weaver, Webber, Fuller (somebody who makes cloth heavier or more compact during manufacture), Tucker (same as fuller), Sherman, Draper or Dyer (cf. Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 90)
… that there are communities in America where immigrant languages have been maintained over generations? Examples are German-speaking Amish in Pennsylvania, Russian-speaking Doukhobors in Saskatchewan and French in Louisiana, whose speakers are divided into a metropolitan variety (descendants of French immigrants) and Cajun French (descendants of the Acadians expelled in the 18th century from what is now Nova Scotia (cf. Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 368).
… that the majority of Canadians (about three quarters) use (British) zed instead of (American) zee as the name of the letter <z>? (cf. Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 369).
… that third person singular don't is the norm in some English-speaking communities? In Anniston, Alabama, for example, the rate was 69% in adult urban males and 90% in all working-class groups investigated. It was not the majority in the Anniston upper class, however! (cf. Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 377).
… that in Black English the copula be is sometimes left out and sometimes isn't? This is not done at random: "She smart" describes a permanent state, "She tired" describes a momentary state, but "Sometimes she be sad" described an intermittent state, and in these cases the copula is included. (Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 383)
… about the Australian newsreader working for the BBC who is supposed to have caused some consternation by reporting the Queen had chattered / « d / rather than chatted / i d / with workers? (Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 399).
… about the foreigner travelling in Australia who, when the train was approaching Eurelia, heard one porter going through the cars announcing / j u ù r « l a i « / , ‘You're a liar', being followed by a second yelling / j u ù r i ù l i ù a ù / , ‘-You really are'? (Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 402).
… about the American hearing "flight 846" at Wellington Airport announced as ‘Flight ite four sucks'? (Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 406).
… the visiting American phoning a New Zealand colleague at his house who got one of the man's children on the phone and was told, to his bewilderment, ‘He's dead' rather than ‘Here's Dad'? (Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 406).
… that the Maoris, the aborigines of New Zealand, as opposed to the aborigines of Australia, have a single language? (cf. Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 408).
… that the number of second-language users of English (not including speakers of English as a foreign language) is estimated at about 300 million. I.e. roughly the same number as that of English native speakers? There are 26 countries (amongst them India and Nigeria) in which English has the status of official language (sometimes shared with one or more other languages), another 9 (amongst them Israel and Malaysia) in which it de facto is. Of all these countries, Ethiopia is the only one which was never a British (or American) colony or protectorate. (cf. Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 419-20).
… that Sierra Leone and Liberia are both countries to which slaves were returned? The slaves were returned from America, Canada or the West Indies, and this is why these two countries have more than a handful of Black native speakers of English or Pidgin English. (Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 426).
… that Singapore has four official languages? They are Malay, English, (Mandarin) Chinese and Tamil. For a short time, Singapore and Malaysia were federated, and when Singapore left the federation, it retained these languages, whereas Malaysia abandoned English as a second language and became officially monolingual in Bahasa Malaysia. (Gramley/Pätzold 1992: 445).
… that of all the different applications of the word card, from visiting card to credit card, spring from the original meaning of playing card ? Playing cards came to England in the fifteenth century, and the word was borrowed as carte, and later unaccountably changed to card. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 124)
… what the different suits of playing cards, diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs, stood for? They represented different social classes. The diamonds, for example, stood for the merchant class, the spades for the army. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 125)
… that the first book ever to be printed in English was a book the printer himself had translated? It was Caxton's translation of a popular French romance, Recuyell of the Hystoryes of Troye. (cf. Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 127)
… that the word pamphlet comes the name of man? The man was Pamphilus, and he was the hero of a medieval Latin poem which described his amorous escapades. The book became very popular with university students, who preferred it to the rather more serious books they were supposed to read. The word, to which -et was added as to other short works of fiction, was then extended to refer to any short publication and then narrowed down again to refer to unbound publications which were used as propaganda tools. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 128-9)
... why an apricot is called apricot? It is a malum praecoquuum, i.e. an early ripening apple, a precocious apple, so to speak, and it was called that because it matures earlier than the peach, to which it is related. But where does the word come from? This is what is left of the Arabic article al, which was attached to the Latin word (after the malum was deleted) when it came into Arabic, from which it was passed on to the modern European languages. Spanish, which has albaricoque, incidentally preserved the Arabic article. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 133)
… that vanilla and vagina are related? The Spaniards were reminded of their sheaths when they discovered the vanilla in the New World, and the Spanish word for ‘sheath' being vaina, the vainilla was ‘a little sheath'. The word vaina, in its turn, derives from Latin vagina, which originally meant nothing but ‘sheath'! (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 152)
… that avocado, derived from Nahuatl ahuacatl, originally meant ‘testicle'? (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 154)
… that chocolate, derived from Nahuatl xocolatl, originally meant ‘bitter water'? (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 150-1)
… that Maggie, Margie, Maisey, Megan, Peggy, May, Mia, Grete, Margitta and Madge are all variations of one and the same name? They are all variations of Margaret, and this is disregarding minor variations such Margorie, Margy or Marga, spelling variations such as Maggy, Meggi, Meggie or Meggy or short forms such as Meg, Peg or Em. (Zevin 3 2005: 66-7)
... where, when and why the British national anthem was first sung? It was in Drury Lane Theatre in 1745, and the reason was the Jacobite rebellion, the attempt to bring back the Catholic Stuart kings to the British throne. When the curtain had fallen after a performance of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, it rose again to reveal the cast of the play singing a patriotic hymn, “God Save Great George Our King”. This became customary in the London theatres and after the defeat of the Jacobites, the music was frequently played on royal ceremonial occasions and thus became the oldest national anthem. For some reason, the word anthem prevailed in English instead of the more fitting hymn. A hymn in its original Greek sense was just a song of praise, not only a song with a religious content, whereas an anthem referred to the words sung as a response in liturgy. The authorship of the British national anthem is unknown, although its is sometimes attributed to Henry Carey. The music was included by Handel in one of his works, but was probably much older. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 206-7)
… that the first bluestocking was not a woman but a man? This was Benjamin Stillingfleet, a poet, who became a member of a fashionable literary circle in 18th century England. He used to wear blue woollen stockings instead of the fashionable black silk stockings. There were also women in the circle who, like him, either couldn't afford or didn't care for fashion, and so the term bluestocking came to be used for women who cared more for wit and learning than for card-playing and gossip. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 207-8)
… where the word ton comes from? Originally, a large barrel of wine was meant, but as large barrels filled with wine were also pretty heavy, the word was then applied to the weight. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 210-1)
… that a restaurant was originally not a place but a dish? Actually, it was a broth which was served to revive your energy, to ‘restore' your flagging strength. It was a certain Monsieur Boulanger, a Parisian who is credited with having run the first restaurant in the modern sense, who called his broths "restaurants". He had a board which included the word outside his restaurant to attract customers. Eventually, people began to use the word for his inn instead of the dish, and then for similar establishments in other places. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 211)
… that Queen Victoria is accredited with the ‘invention' of the clipped form of an English word? Apparently, in a letter written in 1860, she was the first to use the form photo . (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 239)
… that the American word movie is actually older than the British word film? The Americanism movie, which is a shortened form of moving picture, dates from around 1912 and only lost out against film after World War II. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 240)
… that broadcast was originally an agricultural term meaning ‘to sow seed by scattering it widely over the land'? This was a new technique and different from placing seed in drills. Later, instead of the seed it was the latest news which was scattered widely over the land. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 271-2)
… that pen, pencil, penis and penicillin all derive from the same word? The Latin word penis originally meant ‘tail', and horsetail and oxtail brushes were used in Roman households to brush the dust away. All other applications of the word derived from there. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 280)
… that Joseph Heller's Catch 22 originally was to be called "Catch 18"? The publication of another novel which contained the number 18, a novel by Leon Uris, made Heller change his mind. Today catch 22, which describes a particular kind of snare, a kind of problem from which there is no escape, has become a widely-used phrase in the English language. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2005: 296)
… that the word for a traffic roundabout in Swahili is kipfefti? As plural of words beginning with ki- are often formed by replacing ki- by vi- , traffic roundabouts are viplefti! (Aitchison 3 2001: 142)
… that the word futurity made its first (recorded) appearance in Shakespeare's Othello? “Nor present sorrow nor purpos'd merit in futurity can ransom me into his love again”. The word was also used by Benjamin Franklin and Sir Water Scott. Modern speakers often use it to describe a horse race in which the competitors are entered at birth or even before!
… that extremophiles are not people but microbes? These microbes thrive in environments once considered uninhabitable such as places with high levels of toxicity or radiation, boiling-hot deep-sea volcanoes or Antarctic ice sheets.
… where the expression "a hangdog look" comes from? It stems from the medieval practice of putting animals on trial and, if found guilty, sentenced to death. Putting animals on trial was quite common in Europe. In Savoy, beetles were accused of destroying a vineyard and in Switzerland a cock was accused of sorcery because it had laid an egg. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2000: 98-9)
… that it was not until 1832 that the dissection of a corpse for study and research was permitted by law? The demand for bodies soared, but there were few to be had. Some doctors resorted to unscrupulous dealings with gravediggers who dug up corpses and sold them at exorbitant prices. This macabre exchange was a matter of utmost secrecy and may actually be the origin of the idiom "a skeleton in the cupboard". (Flavell & Flavell 3 2000: 171)
… that Dr. Johnson included "spick and span" in his dictionary only after much hesitation? He thought it too ‘low' to be used by a ‘polite' writer. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2000: 175)
... that the ribbons in a bride's wedding bouquet should be laced? The laced ribbons symbolise unity. Knots are an important feature in the marriage ceremonies of different cultures, including Hindi, Sikh and Buddhist marriage ceremonies. In language, this is reflected in the idiom "to tie the knot", ‘to take the marriage vow'. (Flavell & Flavell 3 2000: 189)
... that you produce no voiced sounds when you speak in a whisper? Actually, you do not produce any voiceless sounds either. The vocal cords are drawn together but not closed. This produces the kind of turbulence characteristic of a whisper. (McMahon 2002: 26)
… that the Old Irish stop system had a /b/ but no /p/, and /p/ was borrowed from Latin? Similarly, English ‘developed' // to have a partner for / © /. This only leaves /h/ without a partner amongst the fricatives. As it is difficult to find a partner for /h/, it may, at best, remain on its own. Or it may even be on the way out. After all, in Standard English it only appears at the beginning of a syllable, and in some varieties, like Cockney, it is dropped even in this position, and might be said to be absent from the system altogether. (McMahon 2002: 65)

… that there is a connection between rubric and ruby? Both are related to the Latin word for red, ruber. Centuries ago, whenever manuscript writers inserted special instructions or explanations in a book, they put them in red ink to set them off from the black used in the main text. Ultimately, such special headings or comments came to be called rubrics.
… that Hollywood was originally called Hollywoodland? The name was invented, not by cinematographers, but by an estate agent’s. This company had put up monumental letters at the entrance of a district where they had houses on sale.

… that circumstance literally means ‘stand around’? It derives from Latin circumstare. A circumstance denotes an event or a condition that ‘stands around’ another, so to speak. The prefix circum has also given rise to circumvent, circumlocution, circumnavigate, circumference, etc.

… that, in Swedish, the word mil, ‘mile’ is used to refer to distances? This can be quite confusing, however, because a mil is neither a mile nor a kilometer. It denotes a Swedish mile, and that is ten kilometers! <o:p></o:p>

… what a lypogram is? It is a literary curiosity, a literary work in which one particular letter never occurs. George Perec’ novel La disparition, for example, does not contain a single instance of the letter <e>. A literary folly, and one which must pose endless problems for the poor translator. This is not a modern invention. The Greeks composed lypogrammatic works. A certain Tryphiodorus wrote his Odyssey with no <α> in the first book, no <β> in the second, etc. The Romans also composed such words, and so did the Orientalists: A Persian poet read to the celebrated Jami a poem of his own composition, which Jami did not like. But the writer replied it was notwithstanding a very curious sonnet, for the letter Aliff was not to be found in any one of the words! Jami sarcastically replied, “You can do a better thing yet; take away all the letters from every word you have written.”

… that kal in Hindi means both ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’? What the actual meaning in each utterance is must be gathered from the context. Similarly, parsòň means both ‘the day before yesterday’ and ‘the day after tomorrow’. (Debrebant & Much 2007: 140)

… that IBM means something in Arabic? It stands for in sha’allah bukra, ma’ alesh_,an expression which you use when you want to reject a request without doing it too directly, or when you want to put something off until the unforeseeable future. It literally means ‘So God will, tomorrow, it is not important’. (Debrebant & Much 2007: 140)

… that durex means ‘condom’ in European Portuguese but ‘Scotch tape’ in Brazilian Portuguese? (Debrebant & Much 2007: 60)

… that xoxota means ‘purse’ in European Portuguese but ‘vagina’ in Brazilian Portuguese? (Debrebant & Much 2007: 60)

… that Malay has a word for the male fear of a shrinking penis? It is koro and literally means ‘head of tortoise’. Similar ideas can be found in other Eastern countries (and probably not only there). There was major public hysteria in Singaporewhen rumours had it that the illness was caused by a particular dish. (Debrebant & Much 2007: 79)

… that listopad means ‘November’ in Czech and Polish but ‘October’ in Serbian and Croatian? (Debrebant & Much 2007: 139)

… that in Hungarian you may not make many friends if you fail to distinguish between Egészségedre and Egèszseggedre? The first means ‘To your health’, the second ‘Up your arse!’ (Debrebant & Much 2007: 100)

… what a Mexican breakfast is supposed to consist of in American English? A coffee and a cigarette. (Debrebant & Much 2007: 91) Similarly, a Mexican carwash means just leaving your car in the rain to give it a wash.

… that the Bantu word ilunga, according to The Times, is the most difficult of all words to translate? It refers to somebody who is ready to overlook an offense the first time and to tolerate it a second but not a third time. This was the result of a survey carried out by the London-based company Today Translations amongst 1,000 translators world wide. (Debrebant & Much 2007: 51)

… that AC/DC (i.e. Alternate Current/Direct Current) is the American English word for somebody who is bisexual? (Debrebant & Much 2007: 40)

… that Armenian has a word, hadam hatik, for the day when parents celebrate their baby’s first tooth? The baby is placed on the floor, and predictions about its future are made depending on into which direction it crawls. If, for example, it goes for the bookshelf, it is believed to become an intellectual. (Debrebant & Much 2007: 28)

… that adiós means ‘Hello’ in Costa Rica? (Debrebant & Much 2007: 12)

… the meaning of laut, bellen, tanga, elke, öl, gammel, yoga, glas, binse, leo y salāt? They are ‘sea’ in Indonesian (laut), ‘ring’ in Dutch (bellen), ‘sail’ in Swahili (tanga), ‘everyone’ in Dutch (elke), ‘beer’ in Swedish (öl), ‘old’ in Swedish (gammel), ‘mushroom’ in Swahili (yoga), ‘voice’ in Serbian (glas, which is also ‘eye’ in Russian), ‘bank’ in Gaelic (binse), ‘today’ in Swahili (leo) and ‘prayer’, i.e. the obligatory daily prayer of Islam, in Persian (salāt). My favourite, however, is nanu. It means ‘English’ in Samoan. (Debrebant & Much 2007)

… that of the top 100 words in English, in terms of frequency, only two are not Germanic in origin? They are people (no. 80) and use (no. 92). The top five are the, be, of, and, a. (Crystal 2007: 54)

… a proposal was made in Britainin the 1990s to replace mental handicap by such phrases as learning difficulties or intellectually challenged? It did not work. As the marketing director of the British charity Mencap said at the time: ‘It is only a matter of time before even the most right-on expression becomes a term of abuse. Children are already calling each other LDs as an insult.’ (Crystal 2007: 129)

… that people tend to underestimate the extent of their vocabulary? It is, it seems, unusual to find anyone with an active vocabulary of less than 35,000 words and a passive vocabulary of less than 50,000 words. (Crystal 2007: 22)

… that a news bulletin is usually read at about 200 words a minute? (Crystal 2007: 20)

… that children learn approximately 10 words per month between the age of one year and one year and a half but 25 words per month between the age of one year and a half and two years? After that, their vocabulary just rockets. It is difficult to count them, but at a rough estimate they then acquire about 300 words a month during the following year. (Crystal 2007: 19-20)

… that in one study a child of three and a half years, whose language was recorded for a whole day, is believed to have produced some 35,000 words that day? (Crystal 2007: 20)

… that the Gale Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary lists 200 entries for the acronym PA alone? (Crystal 2007: 12)

… that English is the official or semi-official language in some seventy territories around the world today? (Crystal 2007: 110)

… that in the USthere are places called Difficult (Tennessee), Hot Coffee (Mississippi), Monkey’s Eyebrow (Kentucky), Telephone (Texas), Knockemstiff (Ohio), Boring (Oregon), and Hell (Michigan)? You can even go on a themed travel weekend and visit Eighty FourEighty Eight (Kentucky), Ninety Six (South Carolina) and Hundred (West Virginia). There is also a town called Truth and Consequences in the US. It was not originally the town’s name. The original name was Hot Springs. The Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce took up a proposal made by the producer of a successful NBC radio quiz programme. He had suggested that, to celebrate the programme’s tenth anniversary, a town might be willing to change its name and adopt the name of his quiz programme – Truth and Consequences. In a special election, held in 1950, the town’s residents voted to change the name, a vote which was later confirmed in two further votes. Incidentally, this particular Hot Spring, situated between El Paso and Albuquerque, was only one of 30 places of the same name in California alone. (Crystal 2007: 76-7(Pennsylvania) )

… how many languages there are in the world? Tricky question, but one that anyone who deals with language should be prepared to answer/should be prepared to be asked/should reckon with/will have to answer sooner or later/will be confronted with sooner or later. How about 6912? This is the number listen in The Ethnologue, a trusted list of information. Sounds exact. However, The Ethnologue does not list Chinese amongst them. Instead, it lists 13 languages with names such as Hakka Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Xiang Chinese. So there’s the rub. It is sometimes difficult to decide whether two varieties are varieties of one language or two different languages. In this case, some varieties of Chinese are not mutually intelligible, but speakers regard themselves as speaking one single language and refer to their writing system which is the same for all varieties to support this view. (Finegan ⁵2008: 6-14)

… which is the official language of the US? English? That is what many people, including many Americans, think. But it isn’t. The US does not have an official language. Some states do, but not the country as a whole. (Finegan ⁵2008: 3)

… that a description of Sanskrit, which is one of the finest grammars ever written for any language, was written a century before Plato and Aristotle? It was written by the Indian philosopher Pānini. (Finegan ⁵2008: 22-3)

… that the chimpanzee Washoe, who was raised as a human child in as many ways as possible, ate with a fork and spoon, sat at a table and drank from a cup, wore diapers and played with dolls? She was also fond of picture books and made some attempt at washing the dishes. She was raised by Allen and Beatrix Gardner ,who wanted to show that chimps who are fostered by human adults replicate some of the aspects of language acquisition typical of human children. (Finegan ⁵2008: 20-1)

... that Australian Creole has four words for we? One is 'you and me', one is 'you and me and others', one is 'me and someone else', one is 'me and others'. Nice distinctions. (Bragg 2004: 278)

... this curious episode about two nuns in Sterne's Tristram Shandy? The nuns, convinced that the only way to move an obstinate mule is to say bugger, are hampered by the fact that bugger is a most sinful word. They solve the problem by splitting up the word, with one going bu-bu-bu and the other ger-ger-ger. (Bragg 2004: 232)

... that Mata Hari, the name of well-known World War I spy, is also a ‘real’ word? It is Indonesian and means ‘sun’. It consists of mata, ‘eye’ and hari, ‘day’. (Finegan ⁵2008: 47)

... that certain words may ve used at certain times but not at the others on some British TV channels? Many channels have their own guidelines as to what is appropriate when. According to one TV channel, bloody can be used at any time, nigger at no time, pissed off not before 6.00 p.m. and shag not before 9.00 p.m.! (Grystal 2007: 133)

... that science and shit have the same origin? Like many other words, they go back to Indo-European skei, which meant something like "seperate" or "cut". Either of these underlying meanings is visible in schism, skill, conscience, scythe, scissors, ski (cleft wood), and also in science and shit! /Crystal 2007: 44)

... what the following words have in common: rightsizing, negotiated departure, destaffing, personnel surplus, reduction, chemistry change, involuntary seperation? They are all words used to refer to workers being dismissed from their jobs, being chucked out. People who support this kind of evasive language have also proposed failure at schools to be replaced by deferred success. (Crystal 2007: 122)

... that in1981 the word game magazine Word Ways published a piece of writing in which the author had rewritten the story of Genesis using only words which start with the letter A? Not an easy task. Adam poses no prblem, but what about Eve? There is a solution to everything: God became Adonai, Adam and Eve became Adam and associatem and the serpent became Apollyon. So God would tell Adam and Eve to avoid apples and abide amid abundance, whereas the serpent would tell them to admire and aquire acumen. (Crytal 2007: 182)

... that But me no Buts is the name of a British punk group? (Crystal 2007: 71) The group, for its name, exploits a productive method of word-formation in English: a word, without changing its form, converts from one grammatical category to another, e.g. love (verb) > love (noun). In a similar way, but (conjuction) converts to but (noun). This word-formation process is called conversion.
... that marmalade is a word of Portuguese origin? (Crystal 2007: 60)

... which is the most frequent noun used in English? It is only number 53 in the list of most frequent words, preceded by articles, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, etc., not, but, she, if, of being only some of them. The most frequent noun is time, followed by year and people. (Crystal 2007: 55-7)

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