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- A chiropodist treats hands and feet.
- Narcissism is the psychiatric term for self-love.
- The boundary between two air masses is called a "front."
- A nihilist believes in nothing.
- A gynephobic man fears women.
- A community of ants is called a colony.
- A phonophobe fears noise.
- The food of the Greek gods was called Ambrosia.
- German is considered the sister language of English.
- A horologist measures time.
- Hairy people are called "hirsute."
- "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
- "Diddle for the middle" is a slang expression used for the start of a darts game. Opposing players each throw a single dart at the bull's eye. The person who is closest starts the game.
- "E" is the most frequently used letter in the English alphabet, "Q" is the least.
- "Guddling" was the act of fishing with one's hands by reaching under stones along river banks. It is now an outdated term.
- "Hagiology" is the branch of literature dealing with the lives and legends of saints.
- "I am" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
- "Kemo Sabe" reportedly means "soggy shrub" in Navajo.
- "Lobster shift" is a colloquial term for the night shift of a newspaper staff.
- "Mrs." is the abbreviation of Mistress, which originally was a title and form of address for a married woman. It was always capitalized.
- White elephants were rare even in Siam (the modern Thailand). If you found one the emperor automatically owned it and you couldn't harm it. When the emperor wanted to punish someone, he gave him or her a white elephant as a "gift." They couldn't ride it or work it, but they still had to take care of it and clean up after it. And you know what elephants do besides eat. So the gift was useless. Hence the expression.
- "To whinge" is Australian slang for "to complain constantly."
- "Turnip" used to be a U.S. slang expression for a pocket watch.
- "Romanji" is a system of writing Japanese using the Latin alphabet.
- "Toboggan" is derived from the Algonquin language and loosely meant "instrument with which to drag a cord."
- "Yakka" means "hard work" in Australian slang.
- Graffito is the little-used singular of the much used plural word graffiti.
- Hoi polloi is a Greek phrase meaning "the many". Hoi polloi are the masses.
- The American Heritage Dictionary was once banned from the Eldon, Missouri library because it contained 39 "objectionable" words.
- A "clue" originally meant a ball of thread. This is why one is said to "unravel" the clues of a mystery.
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