Not many words contain four vowels in a row. Three common words that do are: Hawaiian, queue, and sequoia. “Queueing” is the only word with five vowels in a row.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_English_words
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/queueing?view=uk
“Facetious” and “abstemious” appear to be the only common English words that contain all five vowels in order without repeating.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/fivevowels?view=uk
The longest word in the English language with only one vowel is “strengths”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_English_words
“Bookkeeper” is the only word in the English language with three doubled letters in a row. OK, so “bookkeeping” would be another one if you want to be really picky…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_English_words
The longest common English word that never repeats a letter is “uncopyrightable”. I don’t consider “dermatoglyphics” to be all that common, do you?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_English_words
“Dreamt” is the only common English word ending in “mt”. But you knew that already, didn’t you?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_English_words
Disregarding “Lincoln” as a proper name, “kiln” is the only other English word ending in “ln”. Two words – “doubt” and “debt” are the only ones ending in “bt”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_English_words
Despite the popularity of the puzzle, there is NO common, stand-alone English word that ends in “gry” other than “angry” and “hungry”. (The puzzle – in several forms – asks for the third word ending in “gry”.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gry
No word in the English language rhymes with the words “orange”, “month”, “purple”, “chimney”, “depth”, “pint” and “wasp”. “Silver” is commonly included in this list, however it does rhyme with “chilver” but that’s one heck of a stretch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_English_words
You may have read where “stewardesses” is the longest common English word typed with the left hand on a standard keyboard. Not true. There are others including “reverberated” and “desegregated”. If you want to get pushy about this, “sweaterdresses” and “aftercataracts” would be the winners.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_English_words
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet. But you knew that already, didn’t you?
(No reference needed on this one…)
“Typewriter” is not the only long word that can be typed on only the top row of a QWERTY keyboard. Others common words include “repertoire”, “proprietor” and “perpetuity”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_English_words
There are only four common words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/dous?view=uk
“Vacuum” is the most common English word using two “u’s” in a row. Other than a handful of other less common words, “continuum” comes in second place.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/fivevowels?view=uk
“E” is the most commonly used letter in the English language. But you knew that already, didn’t you? It is followed by “a”, “r”, “I”, “o” and “t”. “Q” of course, shows up in last place.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/fivevowels?view=uk
“Redivider” and “releveler” appear to be tied for the longest naturally-appearing English palindromic word (words that read the same frontward and backward). “Racecar” and “rotator” are two more common examples.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindromic_words
“Dennis and Edna sinned” and “Do geese see God?” are examples of palindromic phrases (phrases that read the same frontward and backward). “Was it a bat I saw?” is another example…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindromic_phrases
Noah Webster published the first American dictionary in 1806. For his second work, An American Dictionary of the English Language, he learned 26 languages.
http://www.m-w.com/about/noah.htm
The Hebrew and Arabic alphabets use only consonants, no vowels. The presence of a vowel in a word may be indicated however, with specific symbols.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_alphabet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet
[Stated “fact”: In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... ‘goodnight, sleep tight’.] Possible, but probably not. It’s more likely that the “tight” refers to the old use of “tightly” meaning “soundly, properly, well, etc.”
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/tight?view=uk
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sle1.htm
[Stated “fact”: A 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have ‘the rule of thumb’.] Probably not. There’s a better than average chance that the “rule” refers to using the length of the first joint of the thumb as a unit of measurement.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-rul1.htm
The abbreviations “a.m.” and “p.m.” are from the Latin phrases “ante meridiem” and “post meridiem” which means before and after midday.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/meridiem?view=uk
You may have read that the phrase “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” may have originated from shipboard storage of cannon balls in a retainer known as a monkey. It’s more likely that since the original phrase was “freeze the TAIL” off a brass monkey, someone, sometime thought it would be funnier to use the “balls” instead. It does have more of an impact, doesn’t it?
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/brassmonkeys?view=uk
No one really knows the origin of the term “OK”. Click here for some possible explanations.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/ok?view=uk
Balneology is the study of baths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-ology
Cereology is the study of crop circles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-ology
Myrmecology is the study of ants. Formicology is too…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-ology
Scatology is the study of feces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-ology
Teratology is the study of monsters (or “wonders”).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-ology
Ufology is yes, the study of UFO’s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-ology
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