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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 17
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 17 |
I'm new here so these may already be familiar, credits anonymously vary or unknown
the average person's left hand does 56% of the typing
the longest one syllable word in the English language is "screeched"
no other words in the English language rhyme with month, orange, silver or purple
"dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt"
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable
there are only 4 words in the English language which end in "dous":
tremendous, horrendous, stupendous and hazardous
stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand
Shakespeare invented the words "assassination" and "bump"
the names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only
one row of the keyboard
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 157
member
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member
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Posts: 157 |
Thanks, I enjoyed those! I think I have actually wondered about the longest one-syllable word.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
no other words in the English language rhyme with month, orange, silver or purple
Ogden Nash would have had a ball with these words ... I can imagine it .....purple somehow managing to end up in one of his poems rhymed as "slurp ill."
One of my favorites of Mr. Nash's imaginative poems :
The turtle lives twixt plated decks
Which almost entirely conceal its sex
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.
wow
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
as I've pointed out heretofore:
To find a rhyme for silver
Or any "rhymeless" rhyme
Requires only will, ver-
bosity, and time.
-after W.P. Espy
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
oh, and regarding -dous words; infandous and nefandous are perfectly good words, to be found in the OED (and other, compendious lexicons). [YCLIU]
infandous - Unspeakable, not to be spoken of; nefarious [but marked obs.]
nefandous - Not to be spoken of; unmentionable; abominable, atrocious 'Tis a foul offence, A most nefandous error.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
In reply to:
Shakespeare invented the words "assassination" and "bump"
Not having the OED to hand [baying mob with placards saying "Bring the price down" attacking the OUP emoticon], I can't check but are you sure Shakespeare's isn't just the first recorded use? It's not necessarily the same thing. Perhaps others used these words without us knowing about it.
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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OED cites "Macbeth" for assassination, and says it was probably borrowed from the Latin or French original of assassinate. Shakespeare is not cited at all for bump; it is dated 1611 from someone(?) abbreviated as Cotgr.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Romeo and Juliet: |ROM-1-3| ** Nurse Yes, madam: yet I cannot choose but laugh, |ROM-1-3| ** To think it should leave crying and say 'Ay.' |ROM-1-3| ** And yet, I warrant, it had upon its brow |ROM-1-3| ** A bump as big as a young cockerel's stone; |ROM-1-3| ** A parlous knock; and it cried bitterly: |ROM-1-3| ** 'Yea,' quoth my husband,'fall'st upon thy face? |ROM-1-3| ** Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age; |ROM-1-3| ** Wilt thou not, Jule?' it stinted and said 'Ay As found in the Concordance of Great Books at: http://www.concordance.com/cgi-bin/letsr.pl Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Bingley : Thank you for the http://www.concordance.com link. I went to the home page and spent way too much time investigating its options. Where do you find this stuff?
wow
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Thank you for that link, Bingley! I've "book"-marked it; sure I'll be using it a lot. Great stuff. 
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