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August 14, 2014

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato

34 Comments/ 3285/ 0

wordsDid you read the title of that correctly?  I know you did!  Today’s post is all about words. All about language and some quirks that you may or may not know.

I love words.  I love how I can learn new words every single day.  I never will run out of learning new words and apparently there are even more new words that are acceptable. According to this CNN article there is now a new Official Scrabble dictionary that has added 5,000 new words including “selfie” and “hashtag”.   Now if my Words With Friends games can include those I am in luck!

I love to find little facts and gems that I didn’t know before and that is what today’s post is all about.  Maybe you already know some or all of these but maybe, just maybe, you will learn something new today and turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary day!!! Here are some random wordy facts.

  • On a QWERTY keyboard, 32 % of keystrokes take place on the middle (home) row, 52% on the upper row and a mere 16% on the bottom row.  (Jared Diamond, Discover Magazine, April 1997)
  • Counting up from zero, and excluding the word “and”, the first number to contain the letter A is one thousand. (Prospect Research)
  • The words “tomato,” “coyote,” “avocado,” and “chocolate” all come from the Aztec language Nahuatl. (Marginal Revolution, February 27, 2006)
  • In the Eskimo language Inuktitut, there isa single word that means “I should try not to become an alcoholic”—Iminngernaveersaartunngortussaavunga   (The New York Sun, December 28, 2006)
  • “Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand and “lollipop” with the right.  Urbandictionary.com
  • There are no words in the English language that rhyme with “orange”, “silver”, “purple” or “month”. (New Scientist, December 18, 2004)
  • The word “boredom” did not exist in the English language until after 1750.  (Boredom, the Literary History of A State of Mind by Patricia M. Spacks)
  • The word “paradise” comes from a Persian word meaning “walled around”.  (Fencing Paradise by Richard Mabey)
  • The “zip” in “zip code” stands for “zone improvement plan”.  (Chicago Tribune, December 2, 2002)
  • The collective noun for owls is “parliament”.  (Wikipedia)
  • “Queueing” is the only word in the English language with 5 consecutive vowels. (Prospect Research)
  • The Finnish language has no future tense.  (Wikipedia)
  • There are no plurals in Chinese.  (Wired, December 206)
  • The five most used nouns in the English language are “time,” “person,” “year,” “way,” and “day.” (CNN, June 22, 2006)
  • The fourteenth most popular search term entered into Google is “Google.”  (Time, June 6, 2007)
  • By the age of five, children have acquired 85% of the language they will have as adults.  (John Bastiani, RSA Lecture)
  • Jack Keroauc typed at one hundred words a minute. (The New Yorker, April 9, 2007)
  • The condition of being unable to release a dart from one’s hand when throwing is known as dartitis.  (Prospect Research)
  • There are 823 languages spoken inPapua New Guinea, more than any other country in the world.  (Limits of Language by Mikael Parkvall

Do you have any wordy facts to share?  Feel free to enlighten me with your wisdom!!!

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34 Comments

Leave a comment
  1. Dianna
    August 14, 2014 at 06:07 am

    I, too, love words!! My favorite puzzle in the paper is the one where you find as many words within a given word as possible.
    I love your mention of the longest words typed with a single hand. My son (when he was probably 10 or 11 and taking keyboarding in school) and I played a little game where we found the longest word typed with one hand. His dad and I owned a variety store at the time, and as I passed the housewares section one day, I noticed “beverageware” on a box of drinking glasses. I think I won our little contest! (Oddly enough, same number of letters as stewardesses!)
    I’m going to forward this post to him; he’ll immediately know why!

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 07:25 am

      That is awesome and such a fun game. Is beverage ware one of those words in the dictionary. Spell check made it two words for me so I suspect my spell check needs to catch up and get with the program! Fun game!!!

      Reply
  2. georgettesullins
    August 14, 2014 at 07:15 am

    Without knowing Spanish there are numerous words of Spanish origin that we recognize and have penetrated English: Florida, adiós, amigo, bonito, canyon, aficionado, Zorro (zorro), tortilla, taco, tamale, suave, siesta, piñata, patio, paella, loco, matador, fiesta, hacienda, guerilla, Colorado, sí…so many.

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 07:23 am

      Oh that is a great addition to the list!!! We are a country of words even if we have borrowed them!

      Reply
  3. Susi Kleiman (@SusisSnapshots)
    August 14, 2014 at 07:49 am

    So interesting! I am constantly surprised by how many new words I learn all the time. Or when I am able to use a word in the right manner – I still get mixed up sometimes! 😉

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 08:03 am

      We ALL get mixed up! I love learning new words but that does not mean I remember to use them later!!!

      Reply
  4. Marla aka Crazy Mom
    August 14, 2014 at 07:53 am

    Wonderful! I love this post – and yes, I did read the title right … without even knowing it was a bit of a “test!” You may be on to another theme day; Thursday Wordsday?

    Reply
  5. Diane
    August 14, 2014 at 09:00 am

    Love it. I knew one – parliament. A group of cats is a Clowder or a glaring. Thank you, Sheldon Cooper! There was a time I could match Jack’s typing speed. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 09:59 am

      I knew parliament, too, but that was about it. But yes—Sheldon is a great source of little known facts, right? Gotta love it when your tv watching can enhance your language skills.

      Reply
  6. Helen Brown
    August 14, 2014 at 09:15 am

    This blog was a surprise but very interesting. I am way behind on your new words.

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 09:57 am

      I am always trying to keep you on your toes, aren’t I? 🙂

      Reply
  7. Minnesota Prairie Roots
    August 14, 2014 at 09:20 am

    If my brain was functioning this morning, I would have some gem to present to you. But, alas, I don’t. But I will say that I also love words. A lot.

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 09:57 am

      Haha! I totally get it. I actually slept in till 7 today—I have been sleep deprived due to the Pyrotechnics Guild being in town all week. I should have gone to Texas this week.

      Reply
  8. poemsandponderings
    August 14, 2014 at 10:20 am

    You say tomato, I say.. If I get my hands on that woodchuck, I’ll kill him..

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 10:49 am

      Hahaha! You always make me laugh. Thank you!

      Reply
  9. Pix Under the Oaks
    August 14, 2014 at 10:35 am

    My brain isn’t firing on all it cylinders right now but I love this post and I love words! And Georgette’s observation of how Spanish has penetrated English.. such lovely words they are. I wish I had learned to speak Spanish.. it isn’t too late! Those words Georgette typed.. they liven up our language!

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 10:49 am

      Yes, indeed, they do!!! And that is what I love about all of you guys! You add to the conversation! This is what I talked about on the radio on Tuesday and Cynthia had some great ones to add!

      Reply
  10. Debbie
    August 14, 2014 at 10:43 am

    What fascinating facts! I’m sure I’d heard some of them before, but definitely not ALL of them. Thanks for adding to my education (now that I’ve learned something, I can go back to bed — right?!!)

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 10:48 am

      Yes, you can definitely go back to bed. Your life has been enriched already this morning so why tax it more? 🙂

      Reply
  11. Gibber
    August 14, 2014 at 06:59 pm

    Wow very fascinating facts I did not know!

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 07:31 pm

      My job here is done!!!

      Reply
      1. Gibber
        August 14, 2014 at 07:40 pm

        Now you can take a nap. 😉

        Reply
        1. Beth Ann
          August 14, 2014 at 07:44 pm

          Not with the blasted pyrotechnics in town. Have I mentioned how much I hate fireworks about now???

          Reply
          1. Gibber
            August 14, 2014 at 08:13 pm

            Oh no! I wouldn’t like that either!

            You said blasted! lol

          2. Beth Ann
            August 14, 2014 at 08:28 pm

            I know. They have me all fired up! 🙂

          3. Gibber
            August 14, 2014 at 08:33 pm

            Bang on!

  12. Jennifer Flaa (@JeniEats)
    August 14, 2014 at 08:04 pm

    I got a kick out of these facts!

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 14, 2014 at 08:28 pm

      Good!!! Some of them are pretty good!

      Reply
  13. kzemek
    August 15, 2014 at 05:45 am

    Useless but interesting odd facts–enjoyed reading this list! I’m surprised though at the 85% of language will have as an adult by age 5. That one shocked me.

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 15, 2014 at 06:34 am

      Those first 5 years are pretty important!!!!

      Reply
  14. My Odd Family
    August 16, 2014 at 07:26 am

    Love words. Every Monday a short vocabulary quiz arrives in my in-box that I take. It’s fun and I usually find or remember a new word or two for the week. http://www.vocabulary.com/

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann
      August 16, 2014 at 07:28 am

      Oh fun!! Thanks for sharing!!! I used to get Word of the Day in my inbox but I think it was cleaned out in the big Unsubscribe episode. 🙂

      Reply
  15. pattisj
    August 21, 2014 at 12:13 am

    I’ll have to study before the next Scrabble game! 85% of language by age 5? That is astounding.

    Reply
  16. benzeknees
    September 01, 2014 at 01:33 am

    Tumbledown is all one word. I stumped my English teacher in Grade 12 English – he marked it wrong, I brought in the dictionary to show him. I got a perfect mark on the paper!

    Reply

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