Posts

What is the 'be all and end all'? Where does it come from?

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The 'be-all-and-end-all' is now used to refer to a decisive life-changing event. It is usually used in the negative e.g. Your exams are important but are not the be-all-and-all.

What is schmutter?

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schmutter [ˈʃmʌtə]  noun

Where does the word OK come from?

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The word OK entered American English in the 19th century and is now one of the most popular in the language. But there is little agreement as to its origins.

What is an octothorpe?

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In the 1960s engineers at Bell Labs were designing the first touch keyboard telephones.

Which American term did Sergeant Pepper introduce to Britain?

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What is a rookie? Where does the word come from?

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A rookie is someone new to a particular situation or recently promoted to a higher level of competition or responsibility.

Where does the word pundit come from?

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From the Hindi/Sanskrit word 'pandit'. 

What is a smoking gun? Where does the phrase come from?

A smoking gun is piece of incontrovertible incriminating evidence. 

Which languages do Americans speak at home?

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Top 10 words with the most entries in the Oxford English Dictionary?

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Here are the words with the most separate entries in the OED:

Top 10 words with most OED entries? What do they have in common?

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Most popular word in English?

It has only two letters but is arguably 'America's greatest word'.  

Most common spelling mistakes in English?

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These are the five most common spelling errors in English: