100 Random Facts about the English Language

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This is a feature containing obscure words, surprising etymologies and bizarre linguistic facts. If you are a word-buff you will find this really interesting. So, without further a do, here are 100 random facts about the English language, English words, and English etymology:

1. Bumblebees were nicknamed foggy-toddlers in 18th century England.

2. Pupaphobia is the fear of dolls and puppets.

3. Cowards have been called chickens since the 14th century.

4. A monepic sentence is one that contains a single word.

5. The distance between your thumb and the opposite side of your hand when it’s extended is called the shaftment.

6. In 16th century English, twirk (spelled with an E, not an I) meant “to twist the hairs of a moustache.”

7. The word creosote literally means “flesh-preserver.”

8. The feeling of calmness or contentedness that follows a pleasant dream is called euneirophrenia.

9. The word comet comes from a Greek word meaning “long-haired star.”

10. To dismantle originally meant “to remove a cloak.”

11. In its earliest known written record, the English alphabet had 29 letters.

12. Cluck-and-grunt was 1930s slang for ham and eggs.

13. An anepronym is a trade name that has come to be used generally in the language, like Kleenex, Jacuzzi or hoover.

14. In Elizabethan English, a clap of thunder was nicknamed a rounce-robble-hobble.

15. The word trampoline derives from an Italian word for a pair of stilts.

Read the other 85 here: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6272224

100 Random Facts About The English Language

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This month, words and trivia Twitter account @HaggardHawks turns one year old. Since December 2013, we’ve been tweeting obscure words, surprising etymologies and bizarre linguistic facts every day, covering everything from abature (that’s the trail of trampled grass an animal leaves behind it) and abligurition (spending to much money on food and drink — worth remembering that one in the run up to Christmas) to zenzizenzizenzic (a 16th century word for a number raised to its eighth power) and zwischenzug (a purely tactical move made to buy time). So, after almost 3,000 tweets, here to mark our first anniversary are 100 random facts about the English language, English words, and English etymology taken from our first year online.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6272224