Archive for the ‘Just to know’ Category

English passed the Million Word mark earlier today, June 10 at 10:22 am GMT.

Austin, Texas June 10, 2009 – The Global Language Monitor today announced that Web 2.0 has bested Jai Ho, N00b and Slumdog as the 1,000,000th English word.Web 2.0 is a technical term meaning the next generation of World Wide Web products and services.
It has crossed from technical jargon into far wider circulation in the last six months.
Two terms from India, Jai Ho! and slumdog finished No. 2 and 4.Jai Ho! is a Hindi exclamation signifying victory or accomplishment;Slumdog is an impolite term for children living in the slums.
Just missing the top spot was n00b, a mixture of letters and numbers that is a derisive term for newcomer.
It is also the only mainstream English word that contains within itself two numerals.

At its current rate, English generates about 14.7 words a day or one every 98 minutes.

The English language is now being studies by hundreds of millions around the globe for entertainment, commercial or scientific purposes.

In 1960 there were some 250 million English speakers, mostly in former colonies and the Commonwealth countries.
The future of English as a major language was very much in doubt.
Today, some 1.53 billion people now speak English as a primary, auxiliary, or business language, with some 250 million acquiring the language in China alone.

These are the ten finalists for the one millionth English word, all of which have met the criteria of a minimum of 25,000 citations with the necessary breadth of geographic distribution, and depth of citations.

1,000,000: Web 2.0 – The next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you.

idioms
drunk as a lordin his cups – feeling no pain – drunk as a skunk – three sheets to the wind – beat criţă;

Un citat din Thomas Nashe, contemporanul lui Shakespeare, unde el descrie cele cinci stări de ebrietate.The first is ape drunk, and he leaps and sings and hollers and danceth to the heavens.The second is lion drunk, and he flings the pots about the house, calls his hostess whore, breaks the glass windows with his dagger, and is apt to quarrel with any man that speaks to him.The third is swine drunk – heavy, lumpish, and sleepy, and cries for a little more drink and a few more clothes.The fourth is sheep drunk, wise in his own conceit when he cannot bring forth a right word.The fifth is maudlin drunk, when a fellow will weep for kindness in the midst of his ale, and kiss you, saying “By God, Captain, I love thee; go thy ways, thou dost not think so often of me as I do of thee. I would, if it pleased God, I did not love thee so well as I do”- and then he puts his finger in his eye, and cries.”