English language curiosities The longest words: In Czech? •Nejzdevětadevadesáteronásobitelnějšího • (38 letters) •Nejneobhospodařovávanějšími •Nejnevykrystalizovávatelnějšího • •Červenokostelecký •(the longest second name) • • Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis •The longest word in a major dictionary •Coined to be the longest word •From medicine Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch That is a lovely town in a very pretty part of Wales. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious • •Famous for being created for Marry Poppins musical smiles •The nicest longest English word The shortest word: •A •I balloonneer •The only word in the English language that has four sets of double letters in row Queue • •the only word that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed The most common letter in English • E • • This paragraph is not ordinary. Look at it. At first, it won´t look too odd. Just a normal paragraph – you may think. But look at it again and you might find it a bit unusual. Just a tiny bit. What´s wrong with it, you may ask? Nothing wrong at all, in fact: as I said, it´s just slightly unusual. It´s difficult to put it in words. Look again. Is anything not right? Can you spot it? Is anything … missing? There was no letter E •It´s the hardest kind of lipogram. Lipogram •= a text written without using a particular letter of the alphabet. Almost •the longest word with the letters in the alphabetical order • In Czech? •Mateřídoušky •dvacetikoruny • •The words with all vowels in order •Abstemious, •abstemiously, •abstentious, •adventitious, •adventitiously, •Arenicolous, •arsenious •cavernicolous •the words with each of the vowels, all in order, none repeated Subbookkeeper •the only word with four pairs of double letters in a row • •= (a person who works underneath the main bookkeeper) • Goddessship •the only word in the English language with a triple letter In Czech? •Nejstřeštěnější •Přesvědčivější • •Scvrnkls • •Smrž pln skvrn zvlhl z mlh. •Slova s pěti háčky • • •Nejdelší slovo bez samohlásek •Nejdelší věta bez samohlásek. Sentences The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs • • •Use every letter of the alphabet! • • And Czech? •Ulili-li liliputáni oheň včas, zabránili požáru. •5x the same syllable • •Nebudou se štítiti títi Ti ti tiší špehové do vazu? •9x One word three times makes a sentence: •Kuli kuli kuli. • •(Kuliové kovali kouli.) I am. •The shortest complete sentence No vowels in a Czech sentence •Blb vlk pln žbrnd zdrhl hrd z mlh Brd skrz vrch Smrk v čtvrť srn Krč. • •The longest Czech sentence without any vowels. •Smrk z Brd pln skvrn z mlh strhl smršť zrn z prh. • (prha arnika – rostlina) •Smrž pln skvrn zvlhl z mlh. • • A bit shorter Palindroms • a word or phrase that is the same whether it is read forwards or backwards •Madam I´m Adam. •Sit on a potato pan, Otis. • •Read the whole words: •First ladies rule the State and state the rule: ladies first. • • • Other palindroms •Stressed or desserts •Stop – pots •Evil – live •Star – rats •Red rum, sir, is murder. •Step on no pets. •Eva, can I see bees in a cave? •No lemon, no melon. The longest Czech one-word palindroms •Nepochopen •Nezasazen •Nepotopen •nezařazen … and sentences? •Kobyla má malý bok. •Fešná paní volá: Má málo vína pan šéf? •Do chladu si masa mísu dal Chod. •Sabina hrává na varhany bas. •Jelenovi pivo nelej. •Umírá na rýmu. •A dál vidí lítat netopýry potentát i lid, i vláda. •Co nám nedá den, má noc. From politics •I zeman ležel na mezi. • •A kníže je žínka. From maths •19.9.1991 Strange meanings? •They were too close to the door to close it. •Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. •I had to subject the subjest to a series of tests. Is English logical? •Noses can run and feet can smell. •If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? •There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. •When the stars are out, they are visible; but when the lights are out they are invisible. Q-game • • •Quapem přiquačil qartál a qelikému přeqapení qalita qasinek qůli qvantu dodávqázne. Qasinky neqasí. What is hidden in the Czech word •ÚSPĚCH • •SPĚCH PECH ECH!