A Word on the Words

ANOMALIES, statistics, quirks and oddities of the English language always fascinate me.

I do not apologise for inflicting some of my favourites upon you.

Did you know: More words start with S than any other letter? Followed by P,C, D, M and A.

E is the most used letter, and then T. The two most commonly used words are I and you. The most common adjective is good, the most common noun is time.

Queueing is the only word with five consecutive vowels.

The longest word using letters only once is subdermatoglyphic (17 letters), although some insist this is a technical term and therefore the 15-letter word uncopyrightable is longest.

Nothing rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.

Of all the information stored on computers, 80% is in English.

There are seven ways to spell the sound EE and they are all in here: He believed Caesar could see people seizing the seas.

Supposedly the most fiendish tongue-twister in English is: Sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick. But this is my favourite: The most difficult mistake to spot is when you can’t see the the mistake in this sentence.

Did you spot the most difficult mistake? Have a good read, but if you’re still stuck see page 56.