What is an earworm?

An earworm is a very short piece of music which the mind involuntarily plays on certain triggers. For example, I hear the city name, Exeter, and a snatch of Bob Marley's Exodus plays in my head. Here's how the august British Psychological Society explain the phenomenon.

The brain has its own jukebox. A personal sound system for your private listening pleasure. The downside is that it has a mind of its own. It often chooses the songs and it frequently gets stuck, playing a particular tune over and over until you're sick of it. Psychologists have nicknamed these mental tunes "earworms" (from the German Ohrwurm). A study from 2009 found that they can last anywhere between minutes to hours, but that they're only unpleasant in a minority of cases. Source

This BBC radio documentary takes a playful look at research into earworms

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Why is English not the official language of England?

58 countries list English as an official language - but not the UK. The world's lingua franca or second language is not, technically, the 'official' language of its birthplace. The de factoofficial language of the United Kingdom is English,[3][4] which is spoken by approximately 59.8 million residents, or 98% of the population, over the age of three.[1][2][10][11][12] An estimated 700,000 people speak Welsh in the UK,[13] an official language in Wales

Which countries do not have an official language?

According Henry Hitchings Language Wars (2011) these nations do not currently have an official primary language: UK see hereUSAthough 20 states now have an official language — see hereAustralia 80% speak English but not officialPakistan Urdu became official language in 2015 but only spoken by 8% of population.EthiopiaAmharic is official language but most spoken is OromoSomaliaEritrea Costa Rica Why these countries?Read extended transcript on Medium

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