Top 7 weirdest facts about the English language

shutterstock

English is an astonishing language which can surprise even those who speak it from birth. These 7 facts about our beloved language will prove it.

#1

Contronyms are words that can have two opposite meanings.

FINE can mean excellent or just mediocre.

GO can mean to succeed or to fail

QUITE can mean rather or completely

LITERALLY can mean actually or virtually

#2

The thing is that it employs three distinct meanings of the word buffalo:

1. A proper noun that refers to the name of a city (Buffalo, New York);
2. A verb to buffalo, which means "to bully, harass, or intimidate";
3. A noun that refers to an animal (plural is also buffalo);

So, we get the following meaning:

The buffalo from Buffalo who are buffaloed by buffalo from Buffalo, buffalo (verb) other buffalo from Buffalo.

WERBUNG

#3

They include assassination, bedazzled, bandit, fashionable, lonely, and uncomfortable.

#4

OMG is more than a century old!

#5

Before that, the color was called geoluread.

#6

Such a sentence is called a pangram. In English, there are other pangrams. They are often used to test fonts.

#7

Do you agree with the results of the poll? Which English word do you think is the most annoying? Do you know any other interesting facts about English? Tell us in the comments!