Language Facts

The shortest word in the English language with all its letters in alphabetical order is the word "almost."

The Philippines has more than 1,000 regional dialects and two official languages.

The only MLB team to have both its city's name and its team name in a foreign language is the San Diego Padres.

The longest word in the Finnish language, that isn't a compound word, is 'epaejaerjestelmaellistyttaemaettoemyydellaensaekaeaen'. In English it means 'even with their lack of ability to disorganize'.

The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis. The only other word with the same amount of letters ispneumonoultra-microscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.

The longest word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a distinct part of DNA.

The longest one syllable word in he English language is "screeched".

The letter most in use in the English language is "E" and the letter "Q" is least used.

The computer programming language ADA was named in honor of Augusta Ada King. The U.S. Defense Department named the language after the Countess of Lovelace and daughter of Lord Byron because she helped finance and program what is thought to be the first computer, the “analytical engine” designed by Charles Babbage.

The Chinese language does not require punctuation.

The "huddle" in football was formed due a deaf football player who used sign language to communicate and his team didn't want the opposition to see the signals he used and in turn huddled around him.

South Africa used to have two official languages, now it has eleven.

Some biblical scholars believe that Aramaic (the language of the ancient Bible) did not contain an easy way to say 'many things' and used a term which has come down to us as 40. This means that when the bible -in many places -refers to '40 days,' they meant many days.

Seoul, the South Korean capital, just means "the capital" in the Korean language.

Rudyard Kipling was fired as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. His dismissal letter was reported to have said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language. This isn't a kindergarten for amateur writers."