Word Trivia

The longest word that only uses letters from the top row of a keyboard is TYPEWRITER

AFTERCATARACTS (plural for a condition that sometimes follows cataract surgery), TESSERADECADES and TETRASTEARATES are the longest words which can be typed using only the fingers of the left hand.

JOHNNY-JUMP-UP (a fast-growing flower or a brand name for a type of toy) is the longest word found in abridged dictionaries that can be typed using only the fingers of the right hand.

SHAKALSHAS (plural of Shakalsha, a people emigrating from Phrygia and colonizing Sicily in early times) is the longest word which can be typed using only the middle row of letters on the keyboard.

PLEASING is typed by using each finger one time. Some other such words (all of which consist of eight letters and include the letter P) are SCALPING, CLASPING, LIFESPAN, BIPLANES, CAPTIONS, PANELIST, and JACKPOTS.

A sentence that uses the same word 7 times in a row! "Adam, where Eve had had "had

had", had had "had".

Palindrome -- (a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward)

    • "Madam, I'm Adam", "Madam, In Eden I'm Adam" "Was it a cat I saw?"
    • "Able was I ere I saw Elba" "Go deliver a dare, vile dog" "Do Geese see God"
    • "Dogma: I am God" "Never odd or even" "Norma is as selfless as I am, Ron"

Monday is the only day of the week that has an anagram, dynamo.

"One thousand" contains the letter A, but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine has an A.

SWIMS is the longest word with 180-degree rotational symmetry (if you were to view it upside-down it would still be the same word and perfectly readable).

Hydroxyzine (a prescription drug) is the longest containing "x-y-z" in exact order. Next in line line is xyzzors, a scientific name for a nematode worm in biology.

The three-syllable word "hideous," with the change of a single consonant, becomes a two-syllable word with no vowel sounds in common: "hideout."

Honorificabilitudinitatibus is the longest word consisting entirely of alternating vowels and consonants.

A googol is a 1 followed by 100 zeros. Mathematician Edward Kasner supposedly asked his nephew Milton Sirotta to suggest a name for the number, and he came up with this word.

"Tautonyms" are scientific names for which the genus and species are the same.

The longest word in the Oxford dictionary is "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis." It has 45 letters.

In German, "eins" and "acht" are the only numbers with their letters in alphabetical order.

The word "earthling" was first found in print in 1593.

"Conservationalists" & "Conversationalists" (18 letters) are the longest non-scientific transposals (word formed from another by changing its letters).

The only countries in the world with one syllable in their names are Chad, France, Greece, and Spain.

"Four" is the only number whose number of letters in the name equals the number.

"Fickleheaded" and "fiddledeedee" are the longest words consisting only of letters in the first half of the alphabet.

"Adcomsubordcomphibspac" is the longest acronym. It is a Navy term standing for Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command.

"Forty" is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical order. "One" is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.

"Dreamt" is the only common English word ending in -MT. Others are the obscure "adreamt," "redreamt," "undreamt," or "daydreamt."

If all numbers are arranged in alphabetical order, "eight" would be the first number. "Zero would be the last number.

Among words consisting only of Roman numeral letters, the "highest scoring" words in English are MIMIC (2098) and IMMIX (2008).

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanioconiosis- an English word that refers to a lung disease that is otherwise known as silicosis. It is the longest word in the English language published in a dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary.

Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch - Llanfairpwllgwyngyll is a large village and community on the island of Anglesey in Wales, situated on the Menai Strait next to the Britannia Bridge and across the strait from Bangor. It is alternatively known as Llanfairpwll, Llanfair PG, or Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch.

Holalphabetic sentences

Pangrams are sentences containing all the letters of the alphabet.

    • "Quit beer," vows dizzy, puking, Michael J. Fox
    • A large fawn jumped quickly over white zinc boxes.
    • A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
    • The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.
    • A quick movement of the enemy will jeopardize six gunboats.
    • A quart jar of oil mixed with zinc oxide makes a very bright paint.
    • Astronaut Quincy B. Zack defies gravity with six jet fuel pumps.
    • Back in June we delivered oxygen equipment of the same size.
    • Ban foul, toxic smogs which quickly jeopardize lives
    • Blowzy red vixens fight for a quick jump.
    • By Jove, my quick study of lexicography won a prize.
    • Dangerously frozen, he quickly judged his extremities to be waterproof.
    • Doxy with charming buzz quaffs vodka julep.
    • Dr. Jekyll vows to finish zapping quixotic bum
    • Ebenezer unexpectedly bagged two tranquil aardvarks with his jiffy vacuum cleaner.
    • Five jumbo oxen graze quietly with packs of dogs.