Unusual words or origins, etc.
| Word(s)/Phrase | Explanation |
| Abracadabra | This word was originally intended for the specific purpose of curing hay fever. |
| Abstemious and facetious | The only 2 words in the English language with all the vowels in the correct order |
| Coin a phrase | This phrase came about in the early days of printing. After a phrase was made out of lead typeface, the phrase was "coined". This is a variation of Quoin, meaning a wedge, which was used to hold type in place. |
| Cushion and fashion | The only 2 words in the English language ending in "shion" |
| Curfew | This originates from the days when a law was in existence ordering people to cover their fires at night. |
| Denim | The fabric originally came from Nimes, in France. (de Nimes) |
| Dreamt and undreamt | The only 2 words in the English language ending in "mt" |
| Dumbell, a piece of apparatus for exercising. | Thin came about because exercising was started by bellringing. Those who could not attend church could use a piece of equipment substituting lead weights for the bells, thus making them 'silent' (ie, dumb) bells. |
| E=mc2 | The most famous equation in the world, discovered by Albert Einstein in 1905.
The E stands for Energy, discoverd my Michael Faraday in the early 1800s. The m stands for mass, discovered by Antoine Lavoisier who, in the late 1700s, found matter to be transformable between gas, liquid and solid. The c stands for Celeritas, which is Latin for speed (of light), 2.998*1010cm per second (about 670 million miles per hour), first computed in mid 1800s by Michael Faraday. 2 stands for squared and was first used in the mid 1700s by Emilie du Chatelet, although it took 100 years for it to be accepted as a link between Mass and Energy. Einstein devised the formula following the efforts of the pioneers in their fields. |
| Influenza | This illness got it's name because people thought it was caused by the evil influence of the stars. |
| Lunch or Luncheon | Luncheon is a corruption of Nuncheon, a portion of food (usually bread or cheese) eaten at noon. Lunch (or Nunch) is the shortened version. |
| Moment | According to an old English system of time units, this is defined as one and a half minutes. |
| Morology | The technical term for the study of stupidity |
| P's and Q's | This phrase was supposedly started in the early days of "mirror" printing. It refers to lowercase p and q which were very easily to mix up. Hence "mind your p's and q's". |
| Posh | This word is thought to have originated in the 18th century when travellers by sea to India who could afford it booked the more expensive shady side of the ship for the journey - "Port Out, Starboard Home" was the expression used, hence abbreviated to POSH |
| Queueing | The word containing the most consecutive vowels (5) in the English language. |
| School | This word is derived from the Greek for leisure! |
| Testimony, testify, testament | Words derived from the Ancient Roman practice of a man holding his testicles with his right hand while taking an oath.
If proved that his 'testimony' was incorrect he stood to lose them! |
| typewriter | Longest English word you can type using only the top row of letters on a keyboard |
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