Published: October 24, 2009 11:46 pm      

DRINKWALTER: Fun with words

Friends often forward me e-mails. Some consist of jokes, some are interesting facts and others are often heart-rendering emails that threaten death and destruction, at the very end, if the receiver doesn’t forward the note to seven other people. I don’t forward them and mysteriously, I’m still here! Anyway, I have received a few interesting word fun e-mails and thought I’d share some of them with you:

1. “Stewardesses” and “reverberated” are the longest words that can be typed using only the left hand.

2. “Skepticisms” is the longest word that can be typed using alternate hands.

3. “Typewriter” is the longest word that can be made using the letter on only one row of the keyboard. Try it! (Does anyone actually use a typewriter anymore??)

4. The longest one-syllable words are “screeched” and “strengths.”

5. “Deeded” is the only word that is made using only two letters, each used three times.

6. The word “queue” is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.

7. There is a seven-letter word in the English language that contains 10 words without rearranging any of its letters; the word is therein: the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

8. “Q” is the only letter that is not used in the name of any of the states in the United States.

9. There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs five times: the word is “indivisibility.”

10. There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: they are “abstemious” and “facetious.”

11. The words “racecar,” “level” and “kayak” are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.

12. There are only four words in the English language that end in “dous:” “tremendous,” “horrendous,” “stupendous” and “hazardous.”

13. There are only two words in the English language with three consecutive sets of double letters: “bookkeeping” and “bookkeeper.”

14. The letters “H,” “I,” “O” and “X” are the only letters that look the same if you flip them upside down or view them from behind.

15. The letter combination “ough” can be pronounced in nine different ways, which can be heard in this sentence: A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.

16. “Polish” changes from a noun or a verb to a nationality when it is capitalized.

17. If you spell out every number from 0 to 999, you will find every vowel except for “a.” You have to count to one thousand to find an “a!”

18. There aren’t any words that rhyme with orange, purple, silver or month.

19. “W” is the only letter in the alphabet that does not have one syllable. It has three!

20. Last but not least, if you want to forward this to “friends,” please don’t tag on the threat of doom and gloom if they choose not to forward it to others.

Deb Drinkwalter is a Lockport resident. Her column appears every Sunday. Contact Deb at d.drinkwalter@yahoo.com.