A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia

[DannyBoyUK]

And just when the puns were coming to an end..........


(you'll have to wait until your everloving DannyBoyUK gets back from work to see what joys this thread has in store for you all)

 

[red_rose]

Unless I actually keep it up whilst you are away.



(I probably won't though. lol)

 

[red_rose]

Okay, hi. I'm a moron.

I thought this was the pun thread.

I can't read.

ANYwho....

I thought you were going to bed!

 

[DannyBoyUK]

TYPEWRITER can be typed using only the top row of keys on the keyboard.

 

[DannyBoyUK]

DISMANTLEMENT is typed by alternating the use of both hands.

 

[DannyBoyUK]

Other such words are ANTIENDOWMENT, ANTIFORMANT, ANTISKEPTICISM, ANTISOCIAL, ANTISUDORIFIC, ANTIVISITOR, AUTHENTICITY, AUTOTOXICOSIS, CHAIRMAN, ENCHANTMENT, ENFLAMEMENT, LEPTOTHRICOSIS, LEUCOCYTOZOANS, NEUROTOXICITY, PRODUCIBLE, PROFICIENCY, PROFICIENT, RHAPSODIAL, RIFLEMAN, SHENANDOAH, SKEPTICISMS, SUBPROBLEMS, SUSPENSORIAL

 

[DannyBoyUK]

POSTMUSCULAR is the longest word typed using alternating hands, two letters at a time.

 

[DannyBoyUK]

MIRZMMMDKND (a village in Azerbaijan) has 9 consecutive consonants

 

[DannyBoyUK]

ANGSTS is the shortest word with 5 consonants in a row.

 

[DannyBoyUK]

ACCEDED, CABBAGE, BAGGAGE, DEFACED, EFFACED, and FEEDBAG are seven-letter words which can be played on a musical instrument. CABBAGED is an eight-letter one

 

[DannyBoyUK]

AEGILOPS (alternate spelling of egilops, an ulcer in a part of the eye) is apparently the longest word which consists of letters in alphabetical order.

 

[Gord]

Trivia

The Kop in anfield is an afrikaans word named after a place where a load of Irish Guards were killed in the Boer war

 

[DannyBoyUK]

ASTHMA and ISTHMI (alternate plural of isthmus) are perhaps the only six-letter words that begin and end with a vowel and have no other vowels between

 

[DannyBoyUK]

Some common words which change from one to three syllables upon the addition of just one letter are: ARE/AREA, CAME/CAMEO, CRIME/CRIMEA, GAPE/AGAPE, HOSE/HOSEA, JUDE/JUDEA, LIEN/ALIEN, OLE/OLEO, RODE/RODEO, ROME/ROMEO, and SMILE/SIMILE.

 

[DannyBoyUK]

Beijing has three dotted letters in a row (in lower case).

 

[DannyBoyUK]

Among words consisting only of Roman numeral letters, the "highest scoring" Roman numeral words in English (e.g. MerCy = 1100) are MIMIC (2,102) and IMMIX (2012)

 

[Gord]

BOLLOCKS

an eight letter word starting with a B and ending in S that can be typed with both hands or one

 

[DannyBoyUK]

DEEDED, GEGGEE (the victim of a hoax) and SESTETTES have each of their letters appearing three times

 

[DannyBoyUK]

EARTHLING is first found in print in 1593. Another surprisingly old word is SPACESHIP (1894).

 

[DannyBoyUK]

EIGHT is the first number, if all numbers are arranged in alphabetical order; ZERO would be the last number

 

[DannyBoyUK]

ESCALATOR is one of many words that were originally trademarks but have become ordinary words found in dictionaries. Some other words which were originally trademarks (or still are) are AQUA-LUNG, ASPIRIN, AUTOHARP, BAKELITE, BAND-AID, BREATHALYZER, CELLOPHANE, CORNFLAKES, CUBE STEAK, DACRON, DEEPFREEZE, DICTAPHONE, DITTO, DRY ICE, DUMPSTER, FORMICA, FRISBEE, GRANOLA, GUNK, HEROIN, JEEP, JELL-O, KEROSENE, KLEENEX, LANOLIN, MACE, MIMEOGRAPH, MOXIE, NOVOCAIN, NYLON, PABLUM, PHILLIPS SCREW, PING-PONG, POPSICLE, Q-TIP, ROLLERBLADE, SCOTCH TAPE, SHEETROCK, STETSON HAT, STYROFOAM, TABLOID, TARMAC, THERMOS, TRAMPOLINE, VASELINE, VELCRO, WINDBREAKER, YO-YO, ZIPPER.

 

[DannyBoyUK]

EWE and YOU are pronounced exactly the same, yet share no letters in common. Another example: EYE/I, OH/EAU (de cologne), A/EH, AWE/OR (Australian pronunciation)

 

[DannyBoyUK]

FABACEAE (a family of beans in some classifications) is the longest word which can also be a hexadecimal numeral (consisting only of A, B, C, D, E, and F). Other hexadecimal words are ACCEDED, BEDFACE (a word used in the building industry), DEFACED, and EFFACED.

 

[DannyBoyUK]

FICKLEHEADED and FIDDLEDEEDEE are the longest words consisting only of letters in the first half of the alphabet.

 

[DannyBoyUK]

FICKLEHEADED and FIDDLEDEEDEE are the longest words consisting only of letters in the first half of the alphabet.

Some shorter words in this category are BACKFIELD, BACKFILLED, BLACKBALLED, BLACKJACKED, BLACKMAILED, DECALCIFIED, FEEDBACK, FLIMFLAMMED, HIJACKED, IMMEDICABLE, MACADAMIA, and HIJACKED