Facts About English Did you knowthat English is the most widespread language in the world and is more widely spoken and written than any other language? Did you knowthat over 400 million people use the English vocabulary as a mother tongue, only surpassed in numbers, but not in distribution by speakers of the many varieties of Chinese? Did you knowthat over 700 million people, speak English, as a foreign language? Did you knowthat of all the worlds languages (over 2,700) English is arguably the richest in vocabulary; and that the Oxford English Dictionary lists about 500,000 words, and a further half-million technical and scientific terms remain uncatalogued? Did you knowthat three-quarters of the worlds mail, telexes and cables are in English? Did you knowthat the main language used throughout the world on the internet is English? Did you knowthat more than half of the worlds technical and scientific periodicals are in English? Did you knowthat English is the medium for 80% of the information stored in the worlds computers? Did you knowthat English is the language of navigation, aviation and of Christianity; it is the ecumenical language of the World Council of Churches? Did you knowthat 5 of the largest broadcasting companies in the world (CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC and CBC) transmit in English, reaching millions and millions of people all over the world?Source :http://www.framtak.com/english/facts.htm

ENGLISH TRIVIA the shortest word containing all five main vowels is eunoia, meaning beautiful thinking or a state of normal mental health. the longest word with only one vowel is strengths (9 letters long). there are only 4 words that end with -dous: tremendous, stupendous, hazardous and horrendous. the oldest word is town. the longest one-syllable word is screeched. the longest word with all the letters in alphabetical order is almost. the only two words that end -gry are hungry and angry. the longest word without the main vowels is rhythms. the dot on top of the letter i is called a tittle. the most commonly-used word in conversation is I. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. Go. is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. The sentence the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog uses every letter in the English language. Shakespeare invented the word assassination and bump. The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with. The word lethologica describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want. The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left. China has more English speakers than the United States. The longest word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a distinct part of DNA. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is screeched. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple. Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters mt. There are only four words in the English language which end in - dous: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. The longest place-name still in use is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwe-nuakit natahu, a New Zealand hill. Donald Ducks middle name is Fauntleroy. There is a seven-letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, therein: the,there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein. The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning containing arsenic. The word Checkmate in chess comes from the Persian phrase Shah Mat, which means the king is dead. a man a plan a canal panama spelled backwards is still a man a plan a canal panama The most popular first name in the world is Muhammad. Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing. The fear of vegetables is called Lachanophobia. In England, in the 1880s, Pants was considered a dirty word. The book Gads by, written by Ernest Vincent Wright, has 50,110 words in it, none of them in which contain the letter e. Canada is an Indian word meaning Big Village. The is the most frequently used word in the English language (used three times in this sentence alone). More countries use English as their official language than any other. French is second. There are six words in the English language with the letter combination uu. Muumuu, vacuum, continuum, duumvirate, duumvir and residuum. A moment is actually 90 seconds. Mrs. was originally an abbreviation of mistress, but now is not an abbreviation of anything, except a womans single lifestyle. The worlds largest alphabet is Cambodian, with 74 letters. Rhythms is the longest English word without vowels. Lollipop is the longest word that can be typed using only the right hand. The letters H, I, O, and X are the only letters that look the same if you flip them upside down or view them from behind. Queuing is the only word with five consecutive vowels. The only city in the United States whose name is spelled using only vowels is Aiea, Hawaii. W is the only letter in the alphabet that does not have one syllable. It has three! Deeded is the only word that is made using only two different letters, each used three times. The only words with three consecutive double letters are bookkeeping and bookkeeper. If you spell out every number from 0 to 999, you will find every vowel except for a. You have to count to one thousand to find an a! Q is the only letter that is not used in the name of any of the United States. HIV VIRUS is an obvious redundancy, since the v stands for virus. The name for Oz in the Wizard of Oz was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z, hence Oz. All 50 States are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill. Maine is the only State whose name is just one syllable. Los Angeles full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula. Stewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand. The sixth sick sheiks sixth sheeps sick is said to be the toughest tongue twisterin the English language. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all the letters from the word criminal. The second was William Jefferson Clinton. (How that makes sense? They were the only two U.S. presidents that were impeached!) The symbol on the pound key (#) is called an octothorpe. The dot over the letter i is called a tittle. The word set has more definitions than any other word in the English language. Underground and underfund are the only word in the English language that begin and end with the letters und.

Sources:http://voxy.com/blog/index.php/2013/02/10-interesting-facts-about-the-english-language/http://sweetfacts.webs.com/words.htm