English Language Trivia
7 Cool English Language Trivia to entertain and educate your mind
while I was listening to How We Speak Reveals What We Think, with Steven Pinker, he said in the video
“language has many practical applications among other things Language is a way of coding information so that we can share different information. Whether verbal or in writing language is an intricate talent.”
An awesome video by the way and it got me thinking about language and specifically english language trivia as it can be fun if you are wanting to “wow” your friends or play trivial pursuit lol
Here are just a few English language trivia for you to gasp and go really?
1. Women have been found to speak about 20,000 words per day while men only speak about 7,000 words. Seriously? . Oh and it turns out that women speak faster as well—sometimes twice as fast. source
Now while I have been known to babble like a fool, do I talk twice as fast? heck no sometimes its 3 times faster and I have to slow down to be understood. sigh just the truth!
2. Did you know that there are over 60000 languages known in the world. Now I have heard the rumor that these languages were originated from a sole mother language beleived to have been formed 50,000 years ago. I have no idea if that is true but here is a question to one and all.. considering we live in the digital world could we not add two more languages the computer language and text language that many of us use every day? just wondering!
3. Speaking of computers – Did you know that in 1945 a computer at Harvard malfunctioned and Grace Hopper, who was working on the computer, investigated, found a moth in one of the circuits and removed it. Ever since, when something goes wrong with a computer, it is said to have a bug in it.
go figure!
4. For those of you women who are into women power, it really is trues that girls start producing words and sentences before boys. Before you get too high on your female horses, this really is only a matter of months of lag time and remember we as women tend to talk more then men. It begs the question what would have happened if boys had started to talk before girls, would the same “speed talking” be happening to them. hmmm makes one think doesn’t it!
5 If you like playing scrabble pay attention! there are only 13 words in the English language which end in “dous” including:
hazardous
horrendous
stupendous
tremendous
Write it down please, think of the points you can make with this knowledge ( drooling over the points)
6. Here is an OMG Fact that had me going are you serious?
More than half the world’s top 500 companies now outsource … to India, where over 170,000 people work in call centres. They must first complete a spell of ‘accent training’ … [where they learn to] repeat ‘can’t’ with a long ‘a’ after watching Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady. source
When it comes to quotes and English language trivia one must never forget these wise words from different people
Language has three important uses–it expresses thought, conceals thought, and takes the place of thought. ~Unknown
Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks only when driven to speech by something outside himself-like, for instance, he can’t find any clean socks. ~Jean Kerr ( laugh ladies its funny!)
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. ~Mark Twain ( I really do like Mark Twain )
Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood. –William Penn ( oh boy, ladies we are in trouble!)
and maybe this is one quote we should all strive for
Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men’s souls, and a beautiful image it is. ~Blaise Pascal
I guess in the end when you realize that many ape individuals, of bonobo, chimps, gorillas or orangutans have been taught human sign languages or to manage graphic or computer symbols.,it really is all about the capacity of the brain!
Now I just know that you all know at least one or two language trivia, so come on in and in the comment form below share what you know..it will be fun!
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Jul 31, 2015 @ 15:57:46
Wonderful article. wonderful quotes. Learned a lot of fascinating new things over here. This quote: “Language has three important uses–it expresses thought, conceals thought, and takes the place of thought. ~Unknown” rings so true. Most individuals try to use it to conceal thoughts. Not very good because others can see through them – their body language reveals what they are actually thinking. I prefer those who use it to express thought, even if i disagree with them.
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