There are 72,466,926 books in the Library of Congress on 327 miles (526 km) of bookshelves.
Books in the Library of Congress
Category: English
Webster’s Dictionary
It took Noah Webster 36 years to write his first dictionary.
A page from the manuscript for Webster’s first dictionary
Hurry
William Shakespeare invented the word “hurry.”
And speaking of Shakespeare, can you imagine John Wayne reciting Shakespeare? Well, he did one time, and won a Shakespeare contest.
The following words were invented by William Shakespeare: boredom, disgraceful, hostile, money’s worth, obscene, puke, perplex, on purpose, shooting star, and sneak. Until his time, people had to have their conversations without these words.
Gadsby
e
In 1939 an author named Ernest Vincent wrote a 50,000 word novel called Gadsby. The only thing unusual about the novel is that there is not a single letter e in the whole thing.
The Letter E
One out of every eight letters you read is the letter e.
European Grosbeak
There is a species of bird called European Grosbeak. It’s official scientific name is Coccothraustes coccothraustes coccothraustes.
Mind Your P’s and Q’s
A long time ago in an English pub, someone told the bartender to mind his P’s and Q’s. What he was saying was to keep out of the customer’s business, and mind his own businesses, which was inventorying P’s (pints) and Q’s (quarts).
Bigwigs
English lawyers and judges used to wear powder-covered wigs. More important men tended to wear bigger wigs. This is where the expression bigwig came from. Some wigs worn in France were as much as 3 feet tall.
The Word “Boredom”
The word “boredom” made it’s very first appearance in a book by Charles Dickens in 1852.
English Letters
The letter Q is from the old word for monkey – see the tail? The letter H is from fence, and M probably represented water (waves).
The Word “Quiz”
Where did the word quiz come from? It was made up by a theater manager in Ireland who developed his claim to immortality by running around one night writing quiz as graffiti all over Dublin. The next day, everyone was asking everyone else, “What does ‘quiz’ mean?”
Ichthyology
I’ll bet most of you reading this don’t know what the word ichthyology means. Neither did I. Highlight the yellow section below to find out.
Ichthyology is the study of fish.
Teddy Hot Foot
Smokey The Bear was originally named Hot Foot Teddy.
Dimes
American dimes were originally pronounced “deems.”
Kanawha
There used to be a state in America named Kanawha. It was later renamed West Virginia.
Modesto
You might wonder how Modesto, California got its name. The founders of the town were unwilling to have the place named after themselves, they were modest.
The Name of Philadelphia
The Greek word for brotherly love is Philadelphia.
Place Names
Here are some places with unusual names:
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
Experiment, Georgia
Don’t Handle the Bobcats Without Gloves, Texas
Mars, Pennsylvania
Embarrass, Wisconsin
Mexican Hat, Utah
Enigma, Georgia
Old Joe, Arkansas
Smackover, Arkansas
Kissimme, Florida
Social Circle, Georgia
Waterproof, Louisiana
Why, Arizona
Zigzag, Oregon
Talent, Oregon
Zyxyz, California
Hygiene, Colorado
Imalone, Wisconsin
Gnaw Bone, Indiana
Bunlevel, North Carolina
What Cheer, Iowa
Humptulips, Washington
Scalp Level, Pennsylvania
Cheesequake, New Jersey
Looneyville, West Virginia
Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky
