Word Trivia

Most writers love words and language. Some of us have even been known to (occasionally) read the dictionary for fun! If you're a word geek too, see if you can figure out the answers to the questions below.


1. What are the only two English words to end in the letters –ngry?

2. What is the English word that, when all its letters are capitalized, comes out the same backward, forward and upside down?

3. Come up with the shortest English word that contains each of the first six letters of the alphabet.

4. What common word uses each of the five vowels, plus y, in their proper order?

5. What's the longest English word that uses only one vowel?



Answers:

1. angry and hungry

2. NOON

3. feedback

4. facetiously

5. strength

Questions selected from The Great American Bathroom Book
Photo courtesy of togr at flickr.com

Friday Fun

Happy Friday! Enjoy these gems from Steven Wright, a favorite comedian,
actor and writer.

"Borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back."

"Half the people you know are below average."

"42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

"A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good."

"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

"If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?"

"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking."

"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it."

"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is
research."

"I finally got around to reading the dictionary. Turns out the zebra did it."


--MP

At the Movies

Certain things happen over and over in movies that just don't reflect real life. For some Friday fun, we'll take a look at a few of these silly Hollywood clichés. Here are a handful of examples from a longer list called Things We've Learned from the Movies:

* During all police investigations, it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.

* The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.

* In school, teachers will always be interrupted mid-sentence by the end-of-class bell.

* Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment.

* It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.

* A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.

* Police Departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite.

* If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear.

* The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.

* A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince in agony when a woman tries to clean his wounds.

* All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.

* Once applied, lipstick will never rub off - even while scuba diving.

* Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family every morning, even though the husband and children never have time to eat them.

* Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant.

* Building ventilation ducts are always clean.

* Grocery shopping bags are made out of brown paper and there is always enough shopping to fill two bags exactly.

*Large loft-style apartments in New York City are well within the price range of most people - whether they are employed or not.

*At least one of a pair of identical twins is born evil.


Maybe you have some of your own ideas to add to the list.

--MP