A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sentence that reads the same forward or backward.  Once in a while for extra credit, as a last question on a quiz, I’ll invite my students to come up with one.  Here are a few.  Can you list others?

1.  If I had a hi-fi.

2. No lemons, no melon.

3.  No, Mel Gibson is a casino’s big lemon.

4.  Rise to vote, sir.

5.  Cigar?  Toss it in a can, it is so tragic.

6.  Oh, no!  Don Ho!

7.  Never odd or even.

8.  Rats live on no evil star.

9. A Toyota!  Race fast, safe car.  A toyota.

10.  Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel, and Ellen sinned.   (if your name is in there, you should feel pretty special that you are a part of a palindrome!)

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I enjoy making up words.  For instance, wasn’t the GLEE episode that aired after the Super Bowl zombastic?!  Those that viewed the show will know exactly what I mean.  Words of the English language are fascinating to me.  Language is ever-evolving, growing new words and losing extinct ones.  At times, language may diverge when a subgroup separates from a larger population to create a unique social identity.  Other times, popular phrases teenagers use may seemingly disappear after a few years of unpopularity.  Here is a collection of fun facts I’ve collected over the past decade teaching English, illustrating just how strangely interesting these words we take for granted are.

Words About Words

1.  The longest one-syllable word in the English language is screeched.  The word has an onomatopoeia effect to it, don’t you think?

2. No word in the English language rhymes with orange, silver, purple or month.  I think this calls for creation of new words!!

3.  Typewriter is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.  Try it!

4.  The sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter in the alphabet.  Everyone knows this one, right?

5.  Dreamt is the only English word that ends in “mt.”  This shows how important it is to dream.

6.  Go is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.  Some may argue this one, but a curse word does not constitute a complete sentence – it’s an exclamation!

7.  Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.  It’s also the perfect example of an evolving word; this word has been all but replaced by flight attendant.

8.  The letters of the alphabet in order of frequency of use are:  ETAISONHRDLUCMFWYPGVBKJQXZ

What fun facts regarding words do you have to add to this list?  I’d love to have you add them!!

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Those that know me know I like to make up words . . . or use words that aren’t used too often.  HaHa!!  Hey, it did wonders for my daughter’s vocabulary.  She was the only two year-old around who used ‘perhaps’ regularly in her everyday language. 

Here are a few of GG’s made-up words for your summer use!

~ resigoo = the stuff sticking to you after a bikini wax

~ teenile = someone who is way too old and/or out of shape for what she/he is wearing (like various women I see at the pool – or the 60 yr. old man in a Speedo!!)  

~ spenny = my short version for expensive (Sure I like that bathing suit, but it’s kind of spenny.)

~ fifty-footer = someone who looks really attractive from 50 feet away.  Closer examination reveals . . .

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In anticipation of the summer travel season, here is a travel lexicon to enjoy.  Perhaps you may find some of these useful . . .

~ Frequent Liar: someone who boasts about traveling to places he/she has never been

~ Scary-on: an item that’s clearly too big to fit into a plane’s overhead bin, whose owner insists on carrying it on anyway.

~ Screamese: the loud voice used only to speak to foreigners, as opposed to learning a few rudimentary terms to get by.

~ Business *#*ss:  the dude who shows up at the airport in his best suit thinking it will help him get an upgrade.

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I like to make up words. My daughter laughs at me and my students smile, but adding a suffix to an existing word or creating a new word creates a more precise identification. Here is the first set in my own lexicon of words:

~ Grocerying: the act of grocery shopping (quicker to say “I’m grocerying” rather than “I’m at the grocery store)
~ Scrumbling: the act of scraping the black stuff off overdone toast (why don’t we have a word for this?)
~ Quizlet: a quiz worth very few points
~ Brassles: the spikes on a hairbrush (I think I was bored getting ready for work one morning)

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