61 English Language Facts

When it comes to the English language there are many interesting little things about it that a lot of people don’t know. We’re not talking about spelling and grammar, we are talking about interesting and slightly weird English language facts. So sit back and enjoy some of the best that we have to offer, because it did take us some time to find all of them.

1. The dot over the letter i and j is called a title.
2. The German translation for birth control pill is: Antibabypille
3. Your little toe is called the Digitus minimus pedis
4. The longest word in the English language contains an astounding 189,819 letters. It’s the chemical name for titan. Try reading it here
5. A fear of long words is called Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. Cruel or not?
6. “Screeched” is the longest one syllable word in the English language.
7. “Therein” has 10 different words hidden inside it: the,there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
8. The word “Checkmate” in chess comes from the Persian phrase “Shah Mat,” which means “the king is dead.”
9. ‘GO’ is the shortest complete sentence in the English language
10. The longest word that you can type on a typewriter using only one row is RUPTUREWORT, and it can be typed along the top row.
11. Uncopyrightable is the longest word in the English language who’s letters aren’t repeated and uses each vowel once.
12. /verb-is-actually-a-noun/
13. “lol” is actually a Dutch word meaning fun!
14. “The” is the most frequently used word in the English language.
15. The longest alphabet in the world is Cambodian, which has 74 letters.
16. The letters H, I, O, and X are the only letters that look the same if you flip them upside down or view them in a mirror.
17. The letter “a” is not used once when spelling the words from one to nine hundred and ninety nine.
18. Using the same method as above, the letter “B” wouldn’t be used until you reached one billion.
19. The word “set” has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
20. “Sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the hardest tongue twister in the English language.
21. The section of wall between two windows is called the interfenestration.
22. Explode originally meant to jeer the performer off the stage
23. Funk originally meant the stale smell of tobacco smoke
24. When you use a fan to cool something down it is called flabellation
25. A shape with 99 sides is called a enneacontakaienneagon
26. When you join your hands to form a bowl it is called a gowpen
27. The word Adultographic comes from the Greek word meaning the writing of prostitutes.
28. Darth Vader is called Lord Fenner in Italian
29. Aeronautics originated in France and is derived from the Greek words for “air” and “to sail.
30. A walla walla group is a group of people used in film, television, radio and video games to simulate the murmur of a crowd.
31. Richard Millhouse Nixon and William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton are the only 2 US Presidents who’s names contain all the letters of the word CRIMINAL
32. Trinkgeld is a word used for money that can only be spent of drink
33. A zoilist is someone who is a harsh critic, and generally finds joy in finding faults in things.
34. A useless person who only takes up space is called a cumberground
35. The things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets
36. Almost is among the 6 longest word in the English language with all of the letters in alphabetical order.
37. The only United States city whose name is spelled using only vowels is Aiea, Hawaii.
38. Paddywhack in the rhym This Old Man was a Victorian word for a severe beating
39. The first use of “do-it-yourself” was from a 1910 magazine about Boston University leaving students to teach themselves
40. A moment used to be exactly 1/40th of an hour, or 90 seconds
41. Porpoise means “pork fish”
42. The longest place-name still in use is: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwe-nuakit natahu, a New Zealand hill.
43. When a group of geese are on the ground they are called a gaggle. But when in flight they are called a skein, team or wedge. If they are flying close together they are called a plump.
44. The uncomfortable feeling of wearing new underwear is called a Shivviness
45. The burnt part of a candlewick is called the snaste
46. Aspirin and heroin were both trademarked, but lost it with the Treaty of Versailles
47. Strait-waistcoats was the original word for straightjackets.
48. Sermocination is the name for when you ask a question, but answer it yourself
49. Happy is used three times more often in Engliah than sad is
50. A percontation is a question that needs more than a straight foward yes or no answer
51. Scarecrows were originally called hobidy-boobies.
52. A Dutch feast is where the host gets drunk before the guests do
53. The infinity sign, ∞, is called a lemniscate.
54. Schoolmaster is an anagram of “the classroom.”
55. Spoonfeed is the longest word in the English language with the letters in reverse alphabetical order.
56. A  puckfist is a person who dominates a conversation while bragging
57. A gandermooner was a man who flirted with other women while his wife was recovering from child birth
58. Custard pies that were originally thrown in comedy sketches were called magoos
59. Transpontine means that something i located at the opposite end of a bridge
60. muffin-wallopers were old widows or single women who would meet over tea to gossip during the Victorian era.
61. The dots o domino’s and dice are called pips

We hope you enjoyed our English language facts. I’m sure that some of them would have left you grinning.