Language trivia is dangerous territory: everyone uses words all day, so everyone assumes they know these. Commit to your answers before peeking. No partial credit for "I knew that."
What do you call a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet?
A pangram — like "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
What is the dot over a lowercase i or j called?
A tittle.
Which letter appears in none of the 50 U.S. state names?
Q.
What's the only common English word that ends in -mt?
Dreamt.
Which everyday word has three sets of double letters in a row?
Bookkeeper — oo, kk, ee.
What do you call a word that reads the same backward and forward?
A palindrome — like "racecar" or "level."
Where does the word "alphabet" come from?
The first two Greek letters: alpha and beta.
What symbol was once recited at the end of the English alphabet as a 27th letter?
The ampersand (&) — schoolchildren finished with "and, per se, and."
What does SOS stand for?
Nothing — it was chosen because the Morse pattern (three dots, three dashes, three dots) is unmistakable.
What is the most commonly used word in English?
"The."
What is the humorous name for the fear of long words?
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia — yes, on purpose.
What is often cited as the shortest complete sentence in English?
"Go." — the subject is implied, the verb is present.
Score ten or more and you've earned the right to say "tittle" at dinner and refuse to explain it.
