English language trivia fun

[Incanus]

Know any fun facts about English? Curious tidbits about language?

Here's a few:


--> The words with the most definitions: set (464 defs)

--> The word(s) with the most consecutive double-letters: bookkeeper, bookkeeping

--> And of course, everyone's favorite super-long word: antidisestablishmentarianism (this one is fun to say at speed)


The thing I love about that last word is how most of it is made up of prefixes and suffixes.

How about more? What language oddities have you come across?

 

[skip.knox]

My favorites are the ones we don't really know where they came from. Current favorite: jalopy

I also love prepositional phrases. Just grabbing one at random
cut up (in the sense of funny)
cut down
cut over
cut in (which is somewhat different from cut into)
cut out (which differs from cut that out)

but really you can play the game with lots of words. Prefixes and suffixes are also good fun. Even more fun in German, where you can pile words up like firewood.

 

[Ireth]

Words containing the word "meow": meow, meows, meowed, meowing, homeowner

 

[CupofJoe]

Words containing the word "meow": meow, meows, meowed, meowing, homeowner

Proof that Cats really are the dominate species...

 

[La Volpe]

Words containing the word "meow": meow, meows, meowed, meowing, homeowner

That is hilarious.

--

As for my contribution: The only ones I can think of is... Nothing rhymes with purple and orange, if I remember correctly. Also, not really a language thing, but apparently "orange" was a fruit before it was a colour. I.e. at some point in history, people could say, "Hey, hand me that red fruit over there. Yeah, the orange."

And my non-English contribution, in Afrikaans, the longest word that contains only vowels is "eeue-oue".

 

[Michael K. Eidson]

George Bernard Shaw claimed, tongue in cheek, that the word fish could be spelled "ghoti." gh = /f/ as in enough. o = /i/ as in women. ti= /sh/ as in nation.

George Bernard Shaw's "Ghoti" (/Fish/) - An Analysis

 

[Incanus]

Words containing the word "meow": meow, meows, meowed, meowing, homeowner

That's so great. Thanks for that, Ireth! Didn't see that one coming.

Is that your own observation, or something you've come across somewhere?


--> The longest word with only one vowel: strengths

 

[Ireth]

That's so great. Thanks for that, Ireth! Didn't see that one coming.

Is that your own observation, or something you've come across somewhere?

Not my observation. I think I found it somewhere on Tumblr.

 

[SumnerH]

Common word with all the vowels in order exactly once, including y: facetiously (there are others, abstemiously probably being the next most common).
Longest word with only one vowel: strengths

Favorite etymology: preposterous :From Latin praeposterus (“with the hinder part before, reversed, inverted, perverted”), from prae (“before”) + posterus (“coming after”).

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Words containing the word "meow": meow, meows, meowed, meowing, homeowner

Now I can't stop pronouncing it ho-meow-ner in my head! Aaah

 

[Incanus]

Favorite etymology: preposterous :From Latin praeposterus (“with the hinder part before, reversed, inverted, perverted”), from prae (“before”) + posterus (“coming after”).

That's great and makes so much sense. That's my favorite etymology now too!