How well do you know the intricacies, subtleties, and oddities of the English language? You have three minutes to find out--starting now. (Answers appear at the end of the quiz.)
- What is the only letter in the alphabet with a name longer than one syllable?
- What do the nouns scissors, underpants, and grits have in common?
- Etymologically, what do the words electrocute, infotainment, workaholic, and Brangelina have in common?
- What is the antonym of euphemism?
- What do these two sentences have in common: "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs" and "Sixty zippers were quickly picked from the woven jute bag"?
- Orthographically, what do the words radar, racecar, and tattarrattat have in common?
- Semantically, what do the words weather, fix, sanction, and clip have in common?
- Etymologically, what do the words aspirin, escalator, trampoline, and zipper have in common?
- Orthographically, what do these two 15-letter words have in common: uncopyrightable and dermatoglyphics?
- Poecilonym is a synonym for what common linguistic term?
Answers
- The letter w. (As Douglas Adams observed, the abbreviated form of World Wide Web--WWW--"takes three times longer to say than what it's short for.")
- All three are examples of pluralia tantum--nouns that appear only in the plural form.
- All four are blends or portmanteau words--word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two or more other words.
- dysphemism
- Both sentences are pangrams: they use every letter of the alphabet.
- Each is a palindrome, reading the same backwards and forwards.
- All four are Janus words--words having opposite or contradictory meanings.
- All four nouns were originally trademarks; now they are regarded as generic names.
- Each of these 15-letter words contains no letter more than once.
- synonym
If you answered more than seven questions correctly (or heck, even if you didn't), please share your linguistic lore with other linguaphiles in our Grammar & Composition Forum.
Comments
Your knowledge of the English language is amazing. I, too, am an Anglophile and love to read your website; it is so entertaining! You very often answer questions I’ve contemplated concerning the language. On the other hand, as great as it is to have my questions discussed, it is a little disconcerting that I still have so much to learn.
thanks.