ENGLISH- 23

 ENGLISH- 23

Though a language of global relevance, – English has its own elements of fun by the sheer flexibility of grammar and meaning. The very history of the language looks fun-filled if one chooses to patiently review the glorious past that the language has had. It is said be the most widely spoken after ‘Mandarin’. Proudly   English has the status of official language for 67 countries and for some 27 non-sovereign states like Hong Kong. Data on speakers of the language is pitched around 840 million. The number includes persons who speak it as the first or the second language.

Quite some interesting facts about English deserve patient consideration and appropriate recognition thereof

The language is said to have originated from North West Germany and the Netherlands

Curiously, the expression or phrase ‘long time no see’ is grammatically incorrect and ascribed to Native America or Chinese phraseology.

PSEUDOMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS is suggested to be the longest word in English and it refers some lung disorder caused by silica dust from volcanic discharge of ultramicroscopic particles.

This is my own guess                                                                                                                                   by segmenting the word into plausible fractions, so as to infer a logical veracity for the word.

The Oxford dictionary explains it thus:  A name that has been invented for a lung disease caused by breathing in very small pieces of ash or dust.

Though said to be the longest word in English, I for one would genuinely feel that the word is a medical term rich in Greek/Latin phrase so as to pinpoint the details.

I find another term that appeals to me for Genuine English –though a coinage to indicate a certain function. The word is “Antidisestablishmentarianism”           

Clearly, the term is against disestablishing some facility in vogue and necessarily it sounds a coinage if one chooses to segregate the component words-each of which specifies an action or feature

The shortest grammatically correct sentence in English is “Go”.

Another pleasant change to learn is --that the name butterfly was reset from  ‘flutter by”

‘I’ and ‘YOU’ are said to be the most common words in English.

English enjoys an annual addition of 4000 words to the dictionary. 

The language is categorized to be among the happiest in the world as words-‘oh’, ‘happy’ are used 3 times more frequently than the word ‘sad’.

Letter ‘E’ is said to constitute 11% of the entire English language

A grand revelation [at least to me] is that the US does not have an official language.

English is the lone major language –that does not  have an organization for regulating the evolution of the language ,grammar/ vocabulary –unlike for French/Spanish/German.

The most common adjective used in English is “good” and the most common noun in English is “Time’

The word ‘SET’ is said to have the highest number of definitions

Words—Mouth, Orange, Purple do not rhyme with any other word. If someone feels there are some rhyming words for the ones suggested –[s]he ought to check his/her pronunciation

The language is said to have ‘contronyms’—words that can have contradictory meanings as per the   context

The oldest word still in use is ‘Town’.

Well over 80%   of the data/information across the world is in English

The US alone accounts for some 24 different dialects in English.

Some 1000 words alone make 90% of English text.

Etymologically Great Britain means the ‘Great land of the tattooed”

By 2911, the word ‘lol’ gained acceptance into Oxford English Dictionary and it means ‘laugh out loud’.

Words such as ‘blushing’, ‘birthplace’, ‘ torture’, ‘undress’ and many more are said to be inventions of Shakespeare.

Some words that help to buy time such as ‘like’ or basically, actually are termed ‘crutch’ words and it is suggested that they should be avoided.

An old English phrase meaning ‘God be with you’ has been condensed to 

‘Awful’, ‘nice’ have witnessed change in their meaning      originally ‘awful meant inspiring [full of awe] but now it is a word for low rating.

Nice has a positive significance. Earlier it was somewhat a derogatory remark. Even now, the  old timers do not gladly endorse the phrase ‘nice gentleman’

Prof. K. Raman