- English is actually native to what is now called northwestern Germany and the Netherlands.
- The phrase "long time no see" is believed to be a literal translation of a Native American or Chinese phrase, as it is not grammatically correct.
- “Go!” is the shortest grammatically correct phrase in English. Discover some of the longest words in the English language.
- The butterfly's original name was flutterby.
- About 4.000 words are added to the dictionary every year.
- The two most common words in English are I y you.
- 11% of the entire English language is just the letter E.
- English is said to be one of the happiest languages in the world – oh, and the word “happy” is used 3 times more than the word “sad”!
- 1/4 of the world's population speaks at least some English.
- The United States does not have an official language.
- It is the only major language that does not have any organization to guide it, unlike the Académie française, the Royal Spanish Academy and the Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung. These organizations are responsible for controlling the evolution of their respective languages in terms of usage, vocabulary and grammar.
- The most used adjective in English is "good."
- The most used noun is "time."
- The word "set" is the one with the largest number of definitions.
- Month, orange, silver y purple They don't rhyme with any other words.
- The English language contains many autoantonyms: words that can have contradictory meanings depending on the context.
- More than 80% of the information stored on computers around the world is in English.
- Words used to fill time when speaking, such as “like” or “basically,” are called filler words (and are best avoided!)
- English is the official language of 67 countries.
- 90% of English texts are made up of only 1.000 words.
- In the United States there are 24 different dialects of English.
- The word "lol" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011.
- What is known as a British accent came into use in and around London around the time of the American Revolution.
- Shakespeare invented many words, such as birthplace, blush, dress, torture and many more.
- The word "Goodbye" originally comes from an Old English phrase meaning "may God be with you."
- Etymologically, Great Britain means "great land of the tattooed."
- There are seven ways to spell the "ee" sound in English. This phrase contains them all: “He believed Caesar could see people seizing the seas.”
- Many English words have changed their meaning over time: for example, "awful" used to mean "awe-inspiring" and was a short version of "full of awe," while "nice" used to mean "silly."
- The first English dictionary was written in 1755.
- The oldest English word still in use is "town."
- Some English words are repeated to make a new word. A tautonym in linguistics is a word that consists of the same word twice. You can also hear about reduplication. The common English word so-so is the perfect example of a tautonym. It means “just okay; "fine."
- Some English words look the same backwards. An ambigram is a word that looks the same upside down as it does right side up. A great example is the word “SWIMS” with all capital letters.
32 curiosities of the English language
Alvaro Montalvo
English teacher
«English is the dominant language in the world today. But there are many things that you may not have known and that may surprise you. In this post I show you some of the many curiosities. »
Alvaro Montalvo
English teacher
«English is the dominant language in the world today. But there are many things that you may not have known and that may surprise you. In this post I show you some of the many curiosities. »
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