DYK #20: World of Words

Letters in Hawaiian

1. There are between 6000 and 7000 languages are spoken in the world 
2. Most of the world’s languages are spoken in Asia and Africa. 
3. Many languages in Africa include a “click” sound that is pronounced at the same time as other sounds. You must learn these languages in childhood to do it properly. 
4. The non-European languages most widely used on European territory are Arabic, Chinese and Hindi, each with its own writing system. 
5. The Germanic family of languages includes Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, English and Yiddish, among others. 
1. The Romance languages include Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, among others. 
2. The Germanic family of languages includes Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, English and Yiddish, among others. 
3. The Slavic languages include Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and others.

DYK #7: English is a phunny language...

1. The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe. 
2. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle or superscript dot. 
3. The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
4. There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs five times: "indivisibility." 
5. The only 15-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable"
6. The shortest complete sentence in English is the following. "I am." 
7. The longest English word without a true vowel (a, e, i, o or u) is "rhythm". 
8. The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate. 
9. The word "triskaidekaphobia" means "fear of Friday the 13th". It also means "superstition about the number thirteen" in general. 
10. A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram".