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

Books on the Subway |Writers Bone

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Kehdi walked through the station with purpose, her burgundy booties clicking on the tiles, to a support beam adorned with peeling blue paint, a newly-installed electronic emergency help point, and a plaque with the station’s location listed on its side. She clutched a copy of Maya Angelou’s Mom & Me & Mom in her manicured hand and lifted her smartphone in the other to capture an Instagram-worthy photo of the book with the station sign in the background…

Via http://www.writersbone.com/featureslibrary/2016/11/30/books-on-the-subway-leaves-reading-material-for-commuters-in-new-york-city

The Greatest Books of All Time | As Voted by 125 Famous Authors

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The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books asks 125 of modernity’s greatest British and American writers to provide a list, ranked, in order, of what they consider the ten greatest works of fiction of all time– novels, story collections, plays, or poems.

Here is their selection…

Via https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/01/30/writers-top-ten-favorite-books/?platform=hootsuite

11 Incredibly Long Books Worth Reading

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Personally, I’m down with a long book — I love diving into a story and knowing I’ll get to stick around for a while, spending quality time with the characters I love and the world they live in. But at the same time, I get it: not everyone wants to sit down with all 1049 pages of The Arabian Nights when there are so many other good books to read; ones that require far less significant a time commitment. Some of us have Netflix binges to get back to, after all. But with that said, there are still some especially long books that are definitely worth the time it takes to read them.

Here are 11 of the longest books that are still worth your time

Via https://www.bustle.com/articles/193009-11-incredibly-long-books-that-are-definitely-worth-the-time-commitment?platform=hootsuite

Halloween Ghost Stories and Scary Tales 👻🎃

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My great-grandmother lived alone up in the mountains at her cabin. Her husband had died, so she was there all alone. She only had one companion, and that was her loving dog. T hey both loved each other very much and the dog loved her and comforted her. Every night when she went to bed, the dog would lick her hand to let her know that he was there to protect her.

One night, she had gone to bed and the dog had licked her hand like he had done routinely every night since her husband died. But this night was different…

via Halloween Ghost Stories and Scary Tales