English Trivia March 6, 2014

Fact #1

The word ”butterfly”, was originally called ”flutterfly”.  Some say Shakespeare is responsible for this name change.

Fact #2

Shakespeare invented a lot of the words he used. For example: Grovel, Worthless, and Mimic. Shakespeare decided to lump them up together for the sake of fitting his iambic pentameter!

Fact #3

The English language grows at a rate of about one new word every two hours.

Fact #4

The word “goodbye” came from “God bye”, which in turn comes from “God be with you”.

Fact #5

The dot above “i” and “j” is known as a Tittle.

Fact #6

The first English dictionary was written in 1755.

Fact #7

A “jiffy” is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

Fact #8

The name “Evian” spelled backwards is naive.

Fact #9

Pinocchio is Italian for “pine head.”

Last, but not least: Fact #10

“Freelance” comes from a knight whose lance was free for hire, i.e. not pledged to one master.

PC TECH teaches us everything we need to know about English, and it’s diversity. Yes, diversity. Because English is evolving. And PC TECH is evolving, too. 🙂

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City