<文字遊戲篇> 73 則 / 50829.1837 initiated

◥ No other word can be made by rearranging the letters of the word "anagram."
◢ 無論怎麼重新組合 "anagram" 這個字的字母, 都無法拼出其他的字出來｡
◥ The dot over the letter 'i' is called a "tittle".
◢ i 字母上面的小點正式名稱叫做 "tittle"｡

◢ 大寫字母之所以叫做 "upper case" (上盒), 而小寫字母之所以叫做 "lower case" (下盒), 是因為當年活字印刷的時候, 裝大寫字母的盒子放在裝小寫字母的盒子上｡

◢ 溫蒂這個名字是小飛俠彼得潘的作者杜撰出來的, 在此之前從沒出現過這個名字｡

◥ There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: month, orange, purple and silver.
◢ 字典中沒有任何字能跟月份、橘色、紫色以及銀色押韻｡

◢ "拇指規則" (經驗法則) 這句片語來自古英國律法, 規定任何人不得用比拇指寬的東西來打老婆｡

◢ "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick." (第六個生病酋長的第六隻羊生病了) 是英文中最困難的繞口令｡

◥ Australian speak for going to the bathroom is, "Spending a penny."
◢ 澳洲人上廁所的說法是 "花一分錢"｡

◢ 所有英文字裏, "set" 這個字的解釋最多｡

◢ "typewriter" (打字機) 是鍵盤上用同一排按鍵所能拼出最長的字｡

◥ Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
◢ "Stewardesses" (女管家) 是單用左手所能打出最長的字｡

◥ Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands.
◢ "Skepticisms" (懷疑論) 是雙手交替所能打出最長的字｡

◢ "racecar" (賽車) 和 "kayak" (小船) 不管從左到右或從右到左拼法都相同｡

◥ Stressed is Desserts Spelt backwards.
◢ "stressed" (壓力) 倒過來拼就是 "desserts" (甜點)｡

◥ The term Cop comes from Constable on Patrol. It's from England.
◢ "cop" (警察) 這個字來自於 "Constable on Patrol" (巡邏警官), 是由英國傳來的｡

◥ The shortest English word that contains the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F is feedback.
◢ 同時含有 abcdef 六個字母的最短英文字是 "feedback" (回饋)｡

◥ The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
◢ 所有大陸的英文名字, 開頭與結尾的字母都相同｡
◣ 小毛註: 亞洲 / AsiA, 歐洲 / EuropE, 非洲 / AfricA, 美洲 / AmericA, 澳洲 / AustraliA, 南極洲 / AntarcticA｡

◥ The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
◢ 英文最長的單音節字是 "screeched" (尖叫)｡

◢ 英文中 "dreamt" (作夢) 是唯一用 "mt" 結尾的字｡

◥ Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
◢ 緬因州是美國唯一單音節的州名｡

◥ "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
◢ "我是" 是英文中最短的完整句｡

◥ "Amen" is recognized in more languages than any other.
◢ "阿門" 是最多語言通用的字｡

◥ "Bookkeeper" is the only word in the English language that has 3 sets of double letters all in a row.
◢ "Bookkeeper" (簿記員) 是英文中唯一含有連續三組重複字母的字｡

◥ The only word in the English language with all vowels in reverse order is "subcontinental."
◢ 英文中唯一母音出現順序顛倒的字是 "sUbcOntInEntAl" (次大陸的)｡
◣ 小毛註: 照 aeiou 順序出現的字則有 facetious (滑稽的), abstemious (儉樸的) 及 arsenious (砷元素的)｡

◥ The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter in the alphabet and was developed by Western Union to test telex/twx communications.
◢ "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" (迅速的褐狐跳過了懶狗) 這句話使用了所有的英文字母, 是由西聯公司發展出來測試電報傳輸用的｡

◢ 唯一十五個字母都不重複的字是 "uncopyrightable"｡

◢ 英文最長的字有 1909 個字母, 指的是 DNA 中某個特定的片段｡

◥ Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula". And can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "L.A."
◢ 洛杉磯的全名是 "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" (我們天使女王的廣場), 縮寫為 "L.A.", 壓縮率是 3.63%｡

◥ Nova Scotia is Latin for 'New Scotland.'
◢ "Nova Scotia" 是 "新蘇格蘭" 的拉丁文｡

◢ "lethologica" 這個字是指想不起要講的字的情況｡

◢ "jiffy" (瞬間) 是指百分之一秒的時間單位｡

◥ "Oneiromancy" is the practice of predicting the future by interpreting dreams.
◢ "oneiromancy" 意思是藉由解夢來預測未來｡

◥ "Telephonicophilia" is the technical name of arousal derived from phone sex.
◢ "telephonicophilia" (電話癖) 是指由電話性愛而得到的興奮｡

◥ Arachibutyrophobia is fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
◢ "arachibutyrophobia" 是指害怕花生醬黏在上顎｡

◥ Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive.
◢ "taphephobia" 是指害怕被活埋的恐懼｡

◥ Clinophobia is the fear of beds.
◢ "clinophobia" 是指對床的恐懼｡

◥ Papaphobia is the fear of Popes.
◢ "papaphobia" 是指對教宗的恐懼｡

◥ Pogonophobia: The fear of beards.
◢ "pogonophobia" 是指害怕鬍子｡

◥ Ablutophobia is the fear of bathing.
◢ "ablutophobia" 是指害怕洗澡｡

◥ The collecting of Beer mats is called Tegestology.
◢ "tegestology" 是指收集啤酒杯墊的行為｡

◥ The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
◢ 鞋帶末端的塑膠管正式名稱叫 "aglet" (釦鏈)｡

◢ 地面上的一群鵝叫做 "gaggle", 空中的一群鵝叫做 "skein"｡

◥ A group of unicorns is called a blessing.
◢ 一群獨角獸叫做 "blessing" (上帝的賜福)｡

◥ A group of kangaroos is called a mob.
◢ 一群袋鼠叫做 "mob" (烏合之眾)｡

◥ A group of whales is called a pod.
◢ 一群鯨魚叫做 "pod" (豆莢)｡
◣ 小毛註: 根據維基百科的說法, 是專指 "彼此間有社交行為聯繫的鯨目動物"｡

◥ A group of owls is called a parliament.
◢ 一群貓頭鷹叫做 "parliament" (國會)｡

◥ A group of ravens is called a murder.
◢ 一群渡鴉叫做 "murder" (謀殺)｡

◥ A group of bears is called a sleuth.
◢ 一群熊叫做 "sleuth" (大獵犬)｡

◥ 12 or more cows is called a flink.
◢ 12 隻以上的乳牛叫做 "flink"｡

◥ A baby oyster is called a spat.
◢ 牡蠣的幼兒叫做 "spat" (吐口水)｡

◥ 'Zorro' means 'fox' in Spanish.
◢ "zorro" (蒙面俠蘇洛的名字) 在西班牙文中意思是 "狐狸"｡

◥ Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.
◢ "Assassination" (暗殺) 及 "bump" (碰撞) 這兩個字是莎士比亞發明的｡

◥ Even though it is widely attributed to him Shakespeare never actually used the word 'gadzooks'.
◢ 雖然大家都歸咎於莎士比亞, 但其實他從未用過 "gadzooks" (溫和的詛咒語) 這個字｡

◥ There are only four words in the English language which end in '-dous': tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
◢ 英文中用 "dous" 結尾的只有四個字: tremendous (巨大的), horrendous (可怕的), stupendous (驚人的) 以及 hazardous (危險的)｡
◣ 小毛註: 用眼醫生隨便找都不只四個: apodous (無足/無腹鰭的), iodous (碘元素的), jeopardous (冒險的), ligniperdous (對木材有害的), nefandous (污穢的), palladous(鈀元素的)｡

◢ "bye" 在英文和西班牙文裡的意思相同｡

◥ Good bye came from God bye which came from God be with you. So-long came from the Arabic salaam and the Hebrew shalom.
◢ "Good bye" (再見) 源自於 "God bye", 本意是上帝與你同在｡ 俗語的 "So long" (再會) 則是由阿拉伯問候語及希伯萊文的再見轉變而來｡

◢ "nerd" (討厭鬼) 是由 Seuss 博士在 "If I ran the Zoo" (如果我開動物園) 中杜撰的｡

◥ The pound sign is called an "octothorp".
◢ 英鎊的符號 "#" 叫做 "octothorp" (八村)｡

◥ Before Jets, Jet lag was called Boat lag.
◢ 在噴射機 (jet) 發明之前, "jet lag" (時差) 稱為 "boat lag"｡

◥ The word "monosyllable" actually has five syllables in it.
◢ "monosyllable" (單音節) 這個字其實有五個音節｡

◥ The longest word in the Old Testament is Malhershalahashbaz.
◢ 舊約裡最長的字是 "Malhershalahashbaz"｡

◥ The three words in the English language with the letters uu are: vacuum, residuum and continuum.
◢ 英文裡含有 "uu" 的字有: vacuum (真空), residuum (殘渣) 以及 continuum (連續體)｡

◥ Karaoke means 'empty orchestra' in Japanese.
◢ "卡拉ＯＫ" 這個字起源於日文的 "空交響樂團"｡
◣ 小毛註: "から" (空) 與 "オーケストラ" (orchestra) 各取兩個假名合成 "カラオケ"｡

◥ The letter N ends all Japanese words not ending in a vowel.
◢ 日文唯一非母音結尾的字母是 "n"｡
◣ 小毛註: 這裡是指將日文字寫成英文拼音的時候, 最後一個字母如果不是母音就一定是鼻音｡

◥ The word "AND" appears 46,277 times in the Bible.
◢ 聖經裡 "and" (以及) 出現了 46277 次｡

◢ 英文最常出現的字母是 "e", 最罕見的字母是 "q"｡

◥ Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of unwanted people (without killing them) used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."
◢ 從前黑道想要擺脫討厭的人而又不想殺他的話, 就會燒他的房子｡ 這就是為什麼被開除要叫做 "get fired" (被燒了)｡

◥ The Ten Commandments contain 297 words.
◢ 十誡共有 297 個字｡

◥ The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words.
◢ 美國人權法案有 463 個字｡

◥ Lincoln's Gettysburg Address contains 266 words.
◢ 林肯的蓋茲堡宣言有 266 個字｡

◥ A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words.
◢ 最近美國聯邦某項調整捲心菜價格的指令共有 26911 個字｡

◥ The are 255 squares on a Scrabble board.
◢ 拼字遊戲板上有 255 個方格｡

◥ The first word played in the Scrabble rules demonstration game is "horn".
◢ 有史以來照拼字遊戲的玩法所拼出的第一個字是 "horn" (號角)｡

