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| Today is: Sunday January 28, 2001. |
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Trivia: Number and Words |
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 The word "tip,"
meaning a gratuity, was originally an acronym standing for "To Insure
Promptness."
The number 4 is the only number in the English language that has the same number of
letters in its name as its meaning.
The branch of entomology dealing with ants is called "myrmecology."
India ink (sometimes called "Chinese ink") was not known until recently in
either China or India.
The number of atoms in a pound of iron is nearly five trillion billion
4,891,500,000,000,000,000,000,000.
The British call a large umbrella, especially one that is bulky or awkwardly wrapped, a
"gamp." It is in allusion to the umbrella of Mrs. Gamp in Charles Dickens' work
Martin Chuzzlewit.
It is proper etiquette in Japan to put "-san" after another adult's name, or
"-chan" after a young girl's name, or "-kun" after a boy's name, but
never use these after your own.
The British idiom "off one's chump" means "crazy."
It takes 100 sen to equal one ringgit, which is Malaysia's basic unit of currency.
Malaysia is the only country that uses the ringgit as its primary legal tender.
It would take 31,688 years to reach a trillion if you counted 24 hours a day.
The word "toady" originally referred to a magician's assistant who literally ate
toads a part of the show. Toads were once thought to be poisonous; when the
"toady" recovered from eating one of them, it was considered an  indication of the magician's power.
The word "toast," meaning a proposal of health, originated in Rome, where an
actual bit of spiced, burned bread was dropped into wine to improve the drink's flavor,
absorb its sediment, and thus make it more healthful.
The number of possible ways of playing just the first four moves on each side in a chess
game is 318,979,564,000.
The word "undecennial" relates to a period of 11 years.
The number two is the only number greater than zero that, when added to or multiplied by
itself, gives the same result: 4.
The British refer to a grandfather clock as a "long-case clock."
The word "yardstick" is derived in part from the Old English word
"gird" for the word "yard," which translates to "stick." As
a result of this melding, we're literally calling the measuring device a
"stick-stick."
The numbers on opposite sides of a die always add up to 7.
The British term "swipes" is a slang expression meaning weak or inferior beer.
The word "groggy" originally referred to a person who was drunk on
"grog." The alcoholic beverage was actually watered down rum, an idea that
didn't please the sailors of 1740, when Admiral Vernon of the British Fleet enacted it.
The official term for the pincerlike claw of a crab, lobster, or scorpion is a
"chela."
The British term "sleeping policemen" refers to speed bumps across a street or
road.
The word "khaki" is derived from the Persian word khak, meaning
"dust."
The oldest letter of the alphabet is the letter "O."
The British term for abalone is "ormer." The word is derived from the Latin for
"ear of the sea," alluding to its shape.
The word "nerd" first appeared in Dr. Seuss's 1951 children's book "If I
Ran the Zoo!"
The only 15-letter word in the English language that can be written without repeating a
letter is "uncopyrightable."
The correct name for the British flag is the Union Flag. It should only be called the
Union Jack when it is displayed from the "jack" mast of a British ship.
The word zek is Russian prison slang for convict, derived from zaklyuchenny, the Russian word for prisoner.
The only English word with all the vowels in reverse order is "subcontinental."
The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is
"And the rest of the day to yourself."
The word dinosaur means terrible lizard. This is a bit of a misnomer since they were only
distantly related to lizard.
The opposite of a "vacuum" is a "plenum."
The cubit is the oldest known measurement, appearing in the Bible when God gives Noah
instructions for the ark. Described as a Royal Cubit, it was measured from the elbow to
the thumb knuckle. It was a means of insuring that the nobility got a larger share at the
market place.
The word encyclopedia is derived from the Greek enkuklios paideia, meaning "general
education."
The orchid is named after the male genitalia. Its botanical family name, Orchidaceae,
means "testicles" in Greek.
The curtain or veil used by some Hindus and Moslems to seclude or hide their women from
strangers is called a "purdah."
The original name for the butterfly was "flutterby."
The days of the week are named after the planets: Sunday (sun); Monday (moon); Tuesday
(day of Tiw, the Norse god which equaled the Roman god Mars); Wednesday (day of Woden, the
Norse equivalent of the Roman god Mercury); Thursday (day of Thor, Norse equivalent of the
Roman god Jupiter); Friday (day of Frigg, originally thought to be the Norse equivalent of
the Roman goddess Venus, but Freya was); and Saturday (Saturn).
The descriptive phrase "eighty pence to the pound" is a British term meaning
"not all there" or "stupid."
"Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in
alphabetical order.
"Diddle for the middle" is a slang expression used for the start of a darts
game. Opposing players each throw a single dart at the bull's eye. The person who is
closest starts the game.
"E" is the most frequently used letter in the English alphabet, "Q" is
the least.
"Fine turkey" and "honeycomb" are terms used for different qualities
and textures of sponges.
"Go" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
"Guddling" was the act of fishing with one's hands by reaching under stones
along river banks - it is now an outdated term.
"Hagiology" is the branch of literature dealing with the lives and legends of
saints.
"Kemo sabe" reportedly means "soggy shrub" in Navajo.
"Lobster shift" is a colloquial term for the night shift of a newspaper staff.
The word monsoon is derived from the Arabic word mausim, meaning "season." It
was first used by Arab sailors to describe the seasonal winds that blow across the Arabian
Sea.
"Mrs." is the abbreviation of Mistress, which originally was a title and form of
address for a married woman. It was always capitalized.
The word photography is derived from two Greek words for "writing" and
"light."
The phrase "a red letter day" dates back to 1704, when holy days were marked in
red letters on church calendars.
The word saltcellar comes from the French salière for "salt dispenser," and so
literally means "salt salter."
The phrase "guinea pig" originated when a tax was imposed on powder for Whigs in
England to help pay for the war with Napoleon. The list of those who had paid the guinea
(one pound, one shilling) was posted on their parish church door. As they were the wealthy
of the day, they became known as the guinea pigs.
The difference between a "millennium" and a "chiliad"? None. Both
words mean "a period of one thousand years" - the former from Latin, the latter
from Greek.
The word SILENT contains exactly the same letters as the word LISTEN.
The phrase "The best laid plans of mice and men" was first used in a poem titled
"To a Mouse" by Robert Burns: "The best laid schemes o' mice and men/Gang
aft a-gley; And leave us naught but grief and pain/For promised joy." The "of
mice and men" words were used as the title to John Steinbeck's popular novel, Of Mice
and Men. It later became a hit film and stage play.
The difference between a nook and a cranny: A nook is a corner and a cranny is a crack.
The word skeleton comes from the Ancient Greek word for dry.
The phrase "To not budge an inch" is from Will Shakespeare's Taming of the
Shrew, "Induction," Scene 1. This phrase was first uttered by the drunken tinker
Christopher Sly. Sly's refusal to budge altered what had been a neutral verb up until then
to a negation, according to word researcher Michael Macrone. As he points out in his book,
Brush Up on Your Shakespeare, "No one ever says 'I budged' or 'let's budge.'"
The dot on top of the letter "i" is called a "tittle." Tittle is Latin
for something very small.
The words "naked" and "nude" are not the same. Naked implies
unprotected. Nude means unclothed.
The phrase kinder, kirche, küche translates to "children, church, and kitchen," and is a German slogan limiting the sphere of
women's activities. |
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