[分享]英文文字趣聞 73 則...
◥ No other word can be made by rearranging the letters of the word "anagram."
◢ 無論怎麼重新組合 "anagram" 這個字的字母, 都無法拼出其他的字出來.
◥ The dot over the letter 'i' is called a "tittle".
◢ i 字母上面的小點正式名稱叫做 "tittle".
◥ Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.
◢ 大寫字母之所以叫做 "upper case" (上盒), 而小寫字母之所以叫做 "lower case" (下盒), 是因為當年活字印刷的時候, 裝大寫字母的盒子放在裝小寫字母的盒子上.
◥ The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan, there was never a recorded Wendy before.
◢ 溫蒂這個名字是小飛俠彼得潘的作者杜撰出來的, 在此之前從沒出現過這個名字.
◥ There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: month, orange, purple and silver.
◢ 字典中沒有任何字能跟月份、橘色、紫色以及銀色押韻.
◥ The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
◢ "拇指規則" (經驗法則) 這句片語來自古英國律法, 規定任何人不得用比拇指寬的東西來打老婆.
◥ The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
◢ "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick." (第六個生病酋長的第六隻羊生病了) 是英文中最困難的繞口令.
◥ Australian speak for going to the bathroom is, "Spending a penny."
◢ 澳洲人上廁所的說法是 "花一分錢".
◥ Of all the words in the English language, the word set has the most definitions.
◢ 所有英文字裏, "set" 這個字的解釋最多.
◥ TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
◢ "typewriter" (打字機) 是鍵盤上用同一排按鍵所能拼出最長的字.
◥ Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
◢ "Stewardesses" (女管家) 是單用左手所能打出最長的字.
◥ Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands.
◢ "Skepticisms" (懷疑論) 是雙手交替所能打出最長的字.
◥ The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.
◢ "racecar" (賽車) 和 "kayak" (小船) 不管從左到右或從右到左拼法都相同.
◥ Stressed is Desserts Spelt backwards.
◢ "stressed" (壓力) 倒過來拼就是 "desserts" (甜點).
◥ The term Cop comes from Constable on Patrol. It's from England.
◢ "cop" (警察) 這個字來自於 "Constable on Patrol" (巡邏警官), 是由英國傳來的.
◥ The shortest English word that contains the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F is feedback.
◢ 同時含有 abcdef 六個字母的最短英文字是 "feedback" (回饋).
◥ The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
◢ 所有大陸的英文名字, 開頭與結尾的字母都相同.
◣ 小毛註: 亞洲 / AsiA, 歐洲 / EuropE, 非洲 / AfricA, 美洲 / AmericA, 澳洲 / AustraliA, 南極洲 / AntarcticA.
◥ The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
◢ 英文最長的單音節字是 "screeched" (尖叫).
◥ "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
◢ 英文中 "dreamt" (作夢) 是唯一用 "mt" 結尾的字.
◥ Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
◢ 緬因州是美國唯一單音節的州名.
◥ "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
◢ "我是" 是英文中最短的完整句.
◥ "Amen" is recognized in more languages than any other.
◢ "阿門" 是最多語言通用的字.
◥ "Bookkeeper" is the only word in the English language that has 3 sets of double letters all in a row.
◢ "Bookkeeper" (簿記員) 是英文中唯一含有連續三組重複字母的字.
◥ The only word in the English language with all vowels in reverse order is "subcontinental."
◢ 英文中唯一母音出現順序顛倒的字是 "sUbcOntInEntAl" (次大陸的).
◣ 小毛註: 照 aeiou 順序出現的字則有 facetious (滑稽的), abstemious (儉樸的) 及 arsenious (砷元素的).
◥ The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter in the alphabet and was developed by Western Union to test telex/twx communications.
◢ "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" (迅速的褐狐跳過了懶狗) 這句話使用了所有的英文字母, 是由西聯公司發展出來測試電報傳輸用的.
◥ The only 15-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
◢ 唯一十五個字母都不重複的字是 "uncopyrightable".
◥ The longest word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a distinct part of DNA.
◢ 英文最長的字有 1909 個字母, 指的是 DNA 中某個特定的片段.
◥ Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula". And can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "L.A."
◢ 洛杉磯的全名是 "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" (我們天使女王的廣場), 縮寫為 "L.A.", 壓縮率是 3.63%.
◥ Nova Scotia is Latin for 'New Scotland.'
◢ "Nova Scotia" 是 "新蘇格蘭" 的拉丁文.
◥ The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
◢ "lethologica" 這個字是指想不起要講的字的情況.
◥ A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
◢ "jiffy" (瞬間) 是指百分之一秒的時間單位.
◥ "Oneiromancy" is the practice of predicting the future by interpreting dreams.
◢ "oneiromancy" 意思是藉由解夢來預測未來.
◥ "Telephonicophilia" is the technical name of arousal derived from phone sex.
◢ "telephonicophilia" (電話癖) 是指由電話性愛而得到的興奮.
◥ Arachibutyrophobia is fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
◢ "arachibutyrophobia" 是指害怕花生醬黏在上顎.
[ 本帖最後由 123qq 於 2006-9-27 09:00 編輯 ]