Language Bizarre Facts Page 3

Bizarre Fact #101:
Did you know...
Kyoto, which was the Japanese capital before Tokyo, means "old capital".

Bizarre Fact #102:
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Hydroxydesoxycorticosterone and hydroxydeoxycorticosterones are the largest anagrams.

Bizarre Fact #103:
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A chiropodist treats hands and feet.

Bizarre Fact #104:
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Narcissism is the psychiatric term for self-love.

Bizarre Fact #105:
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The boundary between two air masses is called a "front."

Bizarre Fact #106:
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A nihilist believes in nothing.

Bizarre Fact #107:
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A gynephobic man fears women.

Bizarre Fact #108:
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A community of ants is called a colony.

Bizarre Fact #109:
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A phonophobe fears noise.

Bizarre Fact #110:
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The food of the Greek gods was called Ambrosia.

Bizarre Fact #111:
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German is considered the sister language of English.

Bizarre Fact #112:
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A horologist measures time.

Bizarre Fact #113:
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Hairy people are called "hirsute."

Bizarre Fact #114:
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Almost is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

Bizarre Fact #115:
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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.

Bizarre Fact #116:
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E is the most frequently used letter in the English alphabet, "Q" is the least.

Bizarre Fact #117:
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Guddling was the act of fishing with one's hands by reaching under stones along river banks. It is now an outdated term.

Bizarre Fact #118:
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Hagiology is the branch of literature dealing with the lives and legends of saints.

Bizarre Fact #119:
Did you know...
I am is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

Bizarre Fact #120:
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Kemo Sabe reportedly means "soggy shrub" in Navajo.

Bizarre Fact #121:
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Lobster shift is a colloquial term for the night shift of a newspaper staff.

Bizarre Fact #122:
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Mrs. is the abbreviation of Mistress, which originally was a title and form of address for a married woman. It was always capitalized.

Bizarre Fact #123:
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White elephants were rare even in Siam (the modern Thailand). If you found one the emperor automatically owned it and you couldn't harm it. When the emperor wanted to punish someone, he gave him or her a white elephant as a "gift." They couldn't ride it or work it, but they still had to take care of it and clean up after it. And you know what elephants do besides eat. So the gift was useless. Hence the expression.

Bizarre Fact #124:
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To whinge is Australian slang for "to complain constantly."

Bizarre Fact #125:
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Turnip used to be a U.S. slang expression for a pocket watch.

Bizarre Fact #126:
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Romanji is a system of writing Japanese using the Latin alphabet.

Bizarre Fact #127:
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Toboggan is derived from the Algonquin language and loosely meant "instrument with which to drag a cord."

Bizarre Fact #128:
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Yakka means "hard work" in Australian slang.

Bizarre Fact #129:
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Graffito is the little-used singular of the much used plural word graffiti.

Bizarre Fact #130:
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Hoi polloi is a Greek phrase meaning "the many". Hoi polloi are the masses.

Bizarre Fact #131:
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The American Heritage Dictionary was once banned from the Eldon, Missouri library because it contained 39 "objectionable" words.

Bizarre Fact #132:
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A "clue" originally meant a ball of thread. This is why one is said to "unravel" the clues of a mystery.

Bizarre Fact #133:
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A "criticaster" is an incompetent, inferior critic.

Bizarre Fact #134:
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Ekistics is the science of human settlements, including city or community planning and design.

Bizarre Fact #135:
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A greenish facial tint has long been associated with illness, as suggested by the phrase "green around the gills." As a person who is very envious is considered by many folks to be unwell, these people have been described as "green (or sick) with envy."

Bizarre Fact #136:
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The word constipation (con sta PAY shun) comes from a Latin word that means "to crowd together."

Bizarre Fact #137:
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The study of nose picking is called "rhinotillexomania."

Bizarre Fact #138:
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The Ouija board is named for the French and German words for yes - oui and ja.

Bizarre Fact #139:
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The explative, "Holy Toledo," refers to Toledo, Spain, which became an outstanding Christian cultural center in 1085.

Bizarre Fact #140:
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The term "honeymoon" is derived from the Babylonians who declared mead, a honey-flavored wine, the official wedding drink, stipulating that the bride's parents be required to keep the groom supplied with the drink for the month following the wedding.

Bizarre Fact #141:
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Scatologists are experts who study poop (a.k.a. crap, dung, dookie, dumps, feces, excrement, etc...).

Bizarre Fact #142:
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A deltiologist collects postcards.

Bizarre Fact #143:
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Women who wink at men are known as "nictitating" women.

Bizarre Fact #144:
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A male witch is called a warlock.

Bizarre Fact #145:
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The name of the point at which condensation begin is called the dew point.

Bizarre Fact #146:
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Xenophobia is the fear of strangers or foreigners.

Bizarre Fact #147:
Did you know...
A notaphile collects bank notes.

Bizarre Fact #148:
Did you know...
A phrenologist feel and interpret skull features.

Bizarre Fact #149:
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The abbreviation e.g. stands for "Exempli gratia", or "For example."

Bizarre Fact #150:
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Ukulele means "little jumping flea" in Hawaiian

Bizarre Fact #151:
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Shakespeare is given credit by scholars for introducing as many as 10,000 words and phrases into written language, including "skim milk," "alligator," and "hobnob." But it's not at all certain that he made this many words up. Most were probably common terms for his time and he merely was the first to put them in written form in his plays and poems. Some scholars give him credit for thousands, but others say he actually coined only a few hundred.

Bizarre Fact #152:
Did you know...
Acre literally means the amount of land plowable in one day.

Bizarre Fact #153:
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Would you believe that "on the nose" comes from radio? When broadcasting began, directors had to communicate with people on the air without making noise, so they developed hand signals. Time is always a key element in live broadcasts. The person at the mike needed to know if the program was on schedule. If things were "just right," the director signaled with a finger to the side of his or her nose.

Bizarre Fact #154:
Did you know...
Doubleheader, which refers to two baseball games played back to back, was originally a railroad term that referred to two engines in a switching yard hooked up back to back on a single train. The train could also be called a "two-header."

Bizarre Fact #155:
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Mark twain means "two fathoms." (A fathom, of course is six feet deep, so that's 12 feet.) When navigating a riverboat over the Mississippi River, a riverboat captain needs someone to call out the depth in tricky areas to ensure that the boat can make it through. If he hears "mark twain," he knows that the water is barely deep enough for the boat to pass.

Bizarre Fact #156:
Did you know...
Samuel Clemens, the creator of the adventuresome Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, took "Mark Twain" as his pen name. This was not because he WAS a riverboat captain, but because he once wanted very badly to be one.

Bizarre Fact #157:
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The English word pajamas has it's origin in Persian. It is a combination of the Persian words pa (leg) and jamah (garment).

Bizarre Fact #158:
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The word "puppy" comes from the French poupee, meaning "doll."

Bizarre Fact #159:
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Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.'

Bizarre Fact #160:
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The abbreviation for 1 pound, lb., comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning balance.