{"id":3510,"date":"2020-10-08T15:06:01","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T15:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?p=3510"},"modified":"2021-06-14T11:36:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T11:36:25","slug":"9-surprising-facts-about-the-english-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-the-english-language\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Surprising Facts About the English Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you can successfully read and understand this article, you\u2019re among the world\u2019s 1.5 billion English speakers. Indeed, almost 1 in 5 people speaks English either as a first or a second language.<\/p>\n

But in addition to its immense worldwide prevalence, English has a lot of interesting quirks \u2013 ones that will surprise even native speakers! For example, did you know what proprietary eponyms <\/b>are? What about pangrams? <\/b>If not (or even if you do!), read on to find out some of the weirdest and most wonderful oddities about the world\u2019s most widespread language.<\/p>\n

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Explore our courses taught by qualified native speakers in your city or online!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>

Image via Pexels<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

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1. A new word is created once every two minutes<\/h2>\n

Each year, about 4000 words are added to the dictionary, which comes out to a whopping rate of over one word every two minutes! 2014, for example, seems to have been a fun year, since some of the words added were \u201cselfie\u201d and \u201ctwerk\u201d. 2020 was characterised by words like \"live stream\" and \"pay gap\".<\/p>\n

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2. The word mortgage <\/i>means \u201cdeath pledge\u201d<\/h2>\n

If you study French, you may notice that the English word \u201cmortgage\u201d looks like the French words mort<\/b> (death) and gage <\/b>(contract). This isn\u2019t a coincidence: \u201cmortgage\u201d indeed derives from French. According to the Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, <\/i>the word came about because the debt becomes void or \u2018dead\u2019 when the pledge was redeemed\u201d.<\/p>\n

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3. A pangram <\/i>is a sentence that contains every letter in the alphabet<\/h2>\n

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. <\/i>This oft-cited sentence is famous for containing all 26 letters and is thus frequently used to showcase particular typefaces. These sentences are officially known as pangrams. <\/b>Two other pangrams include:<\/p>\n

Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.<\/i><\/p>\n

Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. 11% of English consists only of the letter \u201cE\u201d<\/h2>\n

The most common letter in the English language, \u201cE\u201d, has an incidence rate of over one in 10 letters. In contrast, the least-used letter, \u201cQ\u201d, is seen only once in every 500 letters.<\/p>\n

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5. There are more English speakers in Nigeria than in the UK<\/h2>\n

The UK \u2013 the birthplace of the English language \u2013 has about 60 million English speakers. Nigeria, in contrast, has over 90 million. This makes it the fourth-most populous English-speaking nation in the world, after the United States, India, and Pakistan.<\/p>\n

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\"Image<\/a>

Image via English Language College Hong Kong<\/a> \/ Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n

6. Words that derive from brand names are called proprietary eponyms<\/i><\/h2>\n

Have you ever used a Band-Aid? Or thrown away your garbage into a Dumpster? Or tried a Popsicle? Or Xeroxed a sheet of paper?<\/p>\n

If so, you\u2019ve used a proprietary eponym, <\/b>which are brand names that have snuck their way into our everyday vocabulary. Indeed, all of the above words were commercial products before they gained popularity as generic nouns. Other examples include Velcro, Frisbee, Q-Tip, <\/i>and Hula Hoop.<\/i><\/p>\n

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7. There are over 24 different dialects in the US alone<\/h2>\n

The United States is a big place, and as such, it has over 24 distinctly identifiable dialects within it. Indeed, as any native American English speaker can tell you, people in New York, Boston, Texas, Minnesota, and California will sound quite different!<\/p>\n

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How good is your English? Find out by taking our <\/i><\/b>free online English level test<\/i><\/b><\/a>!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. 80% of the information stored in computers is in English<\/h2>\n

English is the most widely used language on the Internet. It\u2019s also the language used by the vast majority of programming languages such as Java, which means that most code is written using English-language commands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9. Some words have been added to the dictionary by accident<\/h2>\n

The 1934 edition of Merriam-Webster\u2019s <\/i>English dictionary included an entry for the word dord,<\/b> which purportedly meant \u201cdensity\u201d. However, this was actually an error, as in physics, density can be abbreviated by an upper-case or lower-case \u201cD\u201d. The editor of the dictionary mistakenly read \u201cD or d\u201d as a single word \u2013 dord <\/b>\u2013 and thus incorrectly added it to the dictionary. It wasn\u2019t removed until over a decade later in 1947.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019ve studied English extensively \u2013 or even speak it \u2013 we bet you didn\u2019t know the saga behind the \u201cword\u201d dord!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The prevalence of English only continues to grow, and as a result, it\u2019s more important than ever to have a good grasp of the language for educational, business, and personal reasons. If you want to perfect your English skills, the best and fastest way to fluency is to take lessons from a professionally trained native English speaker<\/a>. Send us a quick inquiry<\/a> to find out more about course and package options.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Explore our courses taught by qualified native speakers in your city or online!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you can successfully read and understand this article, you\u2019re among the world\u2019s 1.5 billion English speakers. Indeed, almost 1 in 5 people speaks English either as a first or a second language. But in addition to its immense worldwide prevalence, English has a lot of interesting quirks \u2013 ones that will surprise even native(\u2026)<\/p>\n

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