X-Nico

100 unusual facts about English language


2006 State of the Union Address

Newly elected Governor of Virginia Tim Kaine gave the Democratic response in English and Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa did so in Spanish.

Adler Volmar

Not yet fluent in English, he misunderstood and thought that he was obligated to serve in the military.

Ahmed Mohamed Iman

His books included Toosiye Everyday English for Everyone (an English Grammar translated into Somali), Marine Ecosystem Data Gathered of Somalia and Taariikhda Taxan iyo Dhaqanka Soomaaliya (a book about the history and culture of Somalia).

Airspeed Envoy

:(Hinazuru - en Young Crane)Licence production by Mitsubishi, fitted with flaps and powered by Gasuden Jimpu, or licence-built Armstrong Siddeley Lynx or Wolseley Aries Mk.III engines.

Albatros C.II

The unusual tail structure used an open frame structure with a conventional fin and rudder and gave rise to the nickname Gitterschwanz (en: lattice tail).

Alvand

Alvand is newer form of *Harvant, (from Indo-European > Indo-Iranian root of *har), means "high", and vanta (akin to German "bund" and English bond, Persian and Kurdish "band," meaning "connected to" or "that of," "bound to" etc.

Amit Offir

On 2013 Amit's books were translated to other languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and many more.

Amor Artificial

Amor Artificial (English: Artificial Love) is the 6th studio album made by Costa Rican rock band, "Evolución".

Anna Terruwe

Dr. Baars discovered her work and went on to translate some of her work into English and further the work on "Emotional Deprivation Disorder" and the repressive disorders.

Anton Vassil

As a director fluent in French, English and German, he is often associated with international projects requiring multiligual skills and international co-productions.

Arpan Sharma

Arpan Sharma (born 1997) is a British polyglot who at the age of 10 could speak 11 languages: English, Hindi, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Tamil, Swahili, Polish, Thai, Welsh and Sanskrit.

Bering Strait crossing

The TKM-World Link (Russian: ТрансКонтинентальная магистраль, English: Transcontinental Railway) also called ICL-World Link (Intercontinental link) is a planned 6,000-kilometer link between Siberia and Alaska providing oil, natural gas, electricity, and railroad passengers to the United States from Russia.

Biblioislam.net

Biblioislam.net is according to its founder Hani Atiyyah, professor of Library and Information Science at Cairo University, the first and largest academic website to be launched in both Arabic and English in the Muslim world that provides comprehensive informative, academic, intellectual, and interactive services.

Bukit Bintang Monorail station

The station is situated at Bukit Bintang (translated from Malay to English as "Starhill"), a shopping hub in the Kuala Lumpur Golden Triangle commercial district.

Campeonato Carioca de Futebol Feminino

The Campeonato Carioca de Futebol Feminino (Carioca Women's Football Championship, in English), organized by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation (FFERJ) is the women's football state championship of Rio de Janeiro State, and is contested since 1983.

Castra

In English, the terms "Roman fortress", "Roman fort" and "Roman camp" are commonly used for the castra.

Central fm

Central FM is by far the largest and longest serving English commercial radio station broadcasting in Southern Spain.

Chess Player's Chronicle

The Chess Player's Chronicle, founded by Howard Staunton and extant from 1841–56 and 1859–62, was the world's first successful English-language magazine devoted exclusively to chess.

Cifal

Cifal (meaning the biggest, most senior head, chief or director in Volapük; itself coming from English ˝chief˝) is the leader of the Volapük movement.

CIQA-FM

CIQA-FM is a Weatheradio Canada station which broadcasts weather information and alerts on a frequency of 93.3 FM in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, in English, French and Inuktitut.

CJLD-FM

On February 22, 2012, Mark Tamagi, on behalf of Blackgold Broadcasting Inc, received Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to operate a new English language FM radio station in Leduc.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Western Isles Council was retracted in 1997 under the Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997, meaning that the former Western Isles are now officially named Na h-Eileanan Siar, even in English language contexts.

Copa de Oro

The Copa de Oro (English: Gold Cup, Portuguese: Copa Ouro), or Copa de Oro Nicolás Leoz, was a football cup winners' cup competition contested on 3 occasions by the most recent winners of all Conmebol continental competitions.

Czesław Piątas

He is interested in military history and tennis; speaks fluently Polish, Russian and English.

Dakheel Najafi

The different works on Islamic (Shi’ite) jurisprudence by Al-Najafi, all written in Arabic have never been translated into English or any other language.

Delta Warp

Delta Warp was released only in Japan but features English text menus and the simple gameplay style means it can be played by non-Japanese readers.

Dr. Syed Gulam Farooq Mirranay

Dr. Mirranay is the official spokesperson for the Afghan Mellat Party and speaks both official Afghanistan languages, Pashto and Dari, as well as English.

Eala Frya Fresena

According to 16th century sources, it was spoken at the Upstalsboom in Aurich where Frisian judges meet on Pentecost and it is traditionally answered with Lever dood as Slaav, or in English, rather dead than slaves.

Elisabeth Eybers

Her poetry was mainly in Afrikaans, although she has translated some of her own work (and those of others) into English.

Enrique Badía Romero

Enrique Badía Romero (who signs his work simply Romero) is a Spanish comics artist, best known to English-speaking audiences for his work on Modesty Blaise.

Estoc

The French estoc or English "tuck" was a type of European sword in use from the 14th to 17th centuries.

Étangs Noirs/Zwarte Vijvers metro station

It was opened in 1981 and its name translates into English as the "Black Ponds".

Francisco Espoz y Mina

In 1825 Espoz y Mina published A Short Extract from the Life of General Mina, in Spanish and English, in London.

Frank A. Perret

Frank A. Perret became involved in the development of the theory of EMF (s:.Counter-electromotive force, CEMF).

French Road Cycling Cup

The French Road Cycling Cup (English for Coupe de France de cyclisme sur route) is a road bicycle racing competition under the Fédération Francaise de Cyclisme (French Cycling Federation) each year since 1992.

Furby

They are programmed, however, to speak less and less Furbish and more and more English as they "grow".

Gaus

A Gau is an administrative division formerly used in Germany, the plural of which is Gaue (though often rendered in English as Gaus).

Gregory Mair

She came to Jamaica to study English and married his father, founder and owner of the Desmond G. Mair insurance brokerage.

Hagai Shaham

By shear luck the manuscripts have been saved from disposal and arrived in the Hebrew University (see more in the CD's elaborated notes, in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish).

Heckler v. Campbell

Ms. Campbell had been born in Panama, and though she had limited ability to speak and write English, she could read and understand English fairly well.

Henry Alfred Todd

In 1910, with Raymond Weeks and other scholars, he founded the Romanic Review, the first learned review in English devoted entirely to the Romance languages.

Hrvatska poštanska banka

Hrvatska poštanska banka (English: Croatian Postal Bank) or HPB is the largest Croatian-owned bank in the country and ranks 7th in Croatia in term of total assets, worth around HRK 15.0 billion.

Hugo Schiltz

During World War II Schiltz was a member of the Nationaal-Socialistische Jeugd Vlaanderen (English: National Socialist Youth Flanders).

Hydrocotyle umbellata

Its English common name is manyflower marsh pennywort or dollarweed.

International School of Florence

In 1963 the school moved to Florence to meet the demand for an English language school in Tuscany.

Itopride

This may explain the apparent lack of patient information available in English compared to other similar classes of medication.

Ittefaq Group

The Ittefaq Group of Industries, (English The Unity), is a multimillion dollar integrated steel producer with major operations in Punjab Province of Pakistan.

John J. McClellan

In the 1985 English edition of the LDS hymnal, the music for "Sweet Is the Work" (hymn #147) was composed by McClellan.

Johnny Moses

In addition to speaking English, Moses is fluent in eight native languages and can also tell stories in traditional sign language.

Julian Owusu-Bekoe

Julian Owusu-Bekoe (born 10 May 1989 in Tooting) is an English-born Ghanaian football player who plays for Hayes & Yeading United in the Conference National.

Juvelen

Jonas Pettersson better known as Juvelen (English: The Jewel), born July 15, 1976, is an electro-pop singer from Stockholm, Sweden.

Kalokairino Randevou me ton Saki Tour

The Kalokairino Randevou me ton Saki tour (Greek: Καλοκαιρινό Ραντεβού με τον Σάκη; English: Summer Fling with Sakis) was a small-scale Greek and Cypriot tour performed by Greek pop-rock musician Sakis Rouvas following his large-scale North American & Australian Tour with Antonis Remos.

Kantheesangal

Kantheesangal or Qadishangal are the two of the many common Malayalam (and its English) renderings of a Syriac term meaning 'the holy ones'.

Karjalan Liitto

Karjalan Liitto (in English: Karelian Association) is an interest group for Karelian evacuees.

Kim Hammer

He supported legislation that allows only English as the language available for driver's license tests.

King's English

Received Pronunciation, a form of English language pronunciation sometimes known as the Queen's English or the King's English

Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao

Srinivasa Rao became famous after publishing the English translation of Prapancha Nataka Charitra (The Dramatic History of the World) (Vanivilasa Press, Bellary) in 1908.

Köse Mihal

Köse Mihal (13th century – c. 1340); (English: Michael the beardless, and Michael with the goatee)

Kotzen

Since one English translation of the German verb "kotzen" is "to vomit" therefore the town was jokingly (?) incorrectly referred to in Ripley's Believe-It-or-Not under the title "Barfburg".

L. Z. Sova

BA in English language from the Kharkov State Courses for Foreign Languages (1958)

Liberature

In the works where Nowakowski provides the reader with three versions of the text – Polish, English and Esperanto – one could observe certain differences in the rendition of the same topic, the technique which contributes to the further differentiation of the book’s meaning.

Luboš Blaha

"Back to Marx?" is currently translated into English and there are some plans to translate the book into Russian.

Ludowe Zespoły Sportowe

Ludowe Zespoły Sportowe (LZS) (Polish, in English Popular Sports Teams) is a union of Polish sport clubs.

Malietoa Talavou Tonumaipe’a

Talavou was a keen student and statesman who was highly respected by resident Europeans on account of his dignified and friendly demeanor, not to mention his impressive command of both the English and Samoan languages.

Mike Naumenko

Some of Naumenko's songs are more or less faithful translations or remakes of English language source material (the notions of copyright and plagiarism being hardly established in the Soviet Union, especially as regards works created on the other side of the Iron Curtain).

Miles Kington

It was during this time, in the late 1970s, that he began writing his Franglais columns written in a comical mixture of English and French.

Name of Joan of Arc

In the English language her first name has been repeated as Joan since the fifteenth century because that was the only English equivalent for the feminine form of John during her lifetime.

Nancy Ezer

In addition to her native Hebrew, she is also fluent in English and Arabic and also has working knowledge of French and Yiddish.

Nancy Ward

Nanyehi (Cherokee: ᎾᏅᏰᎯ: "One who goes about"), known in English as Nancy Ward (ca. 1738–1822 or 1824) was a Beloved Woman of the Cherokee, which means that she was allowed to sit in councils and to make decisions, along with the chiefs and other Beloved Women.

Novara-class cruiser

The Novara class, known as Rapidkreuzer or Helgoland-Klasse (in English literally rapid cruiser ) was a class of light cruisers of the Austro-Hungarian Navy active during the First World War.

Oleg Kuvaev

He studied first at a school specializing in the English language, then at school majoring in physics and mathematics.

Operation Lobster I

Tributh and Gärtner were both students and neither spoke English well.

Ottawa Fringe Festival

Because Ottawa is a bilingual city, both English and French productions are presented at the Fringe, though a small number of productions in past years have been bilingual.

Penny Bacchiochi

She continues to support a no-tax-increase state budget plans and has cosponsored legislation to make English the official language of Connecticut.

Physalis pubescens

Physalis pubescens is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family known by many common names, including husk tomato and hairy groundcherry in English, and muyaca and capulí in Spanish.

Physalis viscosa

Physalis viscosa is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family known by many common names, including starhair groundcherry and grape groundcherry in English, and arrebenta-cavalo, balãozinho, and camambú in Portuguese.

Plebeian Council

The Concilium Plebis (English: Plebeian Council or People's Assembly) was the principal popular assembly of the ancient Roman Republic.

Polish passport

The data page/information page is printed in Polish, English and French, whilst translation of this information into other official languages of the European Union can be found elsewhere in the document.

Professor Palmboom

While all the books are available in Dutch, the main three albums have also been translated into French, but not into English.

Radial tire

A radial tire (more properly, a radial-ply tire) is a particular design of vehicular tire (in British English, tyre).

Renault Avantime

The name combines the French word "Avant" (meaning "ahead") and the English word "time", with the latter using the English (tīm) rather than French pronunciation (tēm).

Roberto Jordan

Many of his songs were covers of English-language rock and pop songs, with arrangements provided by music teachers and producers Enrique Okamura and Eduardo Magallanes.

Roy Boudreau

He served in the opposition shadow cabinet at various times as critic for Department of Tourism and Parks, the Culture and Sport Secretariat, the anglophone section of the Department of Education and the Department of Family and Community Services.

Salim Idris

He has a PhD in "electronic radars" and speaks five languages, including English.

Shettleston railway station

In 2010, Shettleston station received bilingual name boards, in English and Gaelic, the Gaelic reading "Baile Nighean Sheadna".

Six Kalimas

English rendering:"I seek forgiveness from Allah, my Lord, from every sin I committed knowingly or unknowingly, secretly or openly, and I turn towards Him from the sin that I know and from the sin that I do not know. Certainly You, You (are) the knower of the hidden things and the Concealer (of) the mistakes and the Forgiver (of) the sins. And (there is) no power and no strength except from Allah, the Most High, the Most Great".

Star designation

In addition to the traditional names, a small number of stars that are "interesting" can have modern English names.

Stuart Cavilla

Being a native Gibraltarian, Cavilla is naturally bilingual in English and Spanish as well as speaking Llanito when among other Gibraltarians.

Subject side parameter

English is an example of a "subject first" language, whereas Malagasy is an example of "subject last".

Tan Seng Giaw

His multi-cultural academic and social background has resulted in Seng Giaw being fluent in Mandarin, English, Bahasa Malaysia, and competent in the writing of Malay in the Jawi script.

Torah Judaism

Torah Judaism is an English term used by a number of Orthodox Jewish groups to describe their Judaism as being based on an adherence to the laws of the Torah's mitzvot as expounded in Orthodox Halakha.

University of California Education Abroad Program

The study abroad program offers students academic opportunities abroad in English, for learning a foreign language and culture, or for taking courses in the language of a host institution.

Wasserstein metric

Most English-language publications use the German spelling "Wasserstein" (attributed to the name "Vasershtein" being of Germanic origin).

William Drake Westervelt

He is noted as one of Hawaii's foremost authorities on island folklore in the English language.

William Lilly

This was the first of its kind to be printed in the English language rather than Latin, and is said to have tutored "a nation in crisis in the language of the stars".

World Scrabble Championship 2003

This was the first time that a player won the WSC while representing a country for which English is not the first language.

Wrist

The English word "wrist" is etymologically derived from the ancient German word wristiz from which are derived modern German rist ("instep", "wrist") and modern Swedish vrist ("instep", "ankle").

Września Miasto railway station

Września Miasto (English: Września City) was a narrow-gauge railway stop in Września, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland.

Zagrebačka banka

Zagrebačka banka was established in 1914 as Gradska štedionica (English: City savings bank) by the Zagreb municipal authority at a time when Zagreb had a population of 100,000 and was rapidly developing into a modern city.

Zinkgruvan

The village is famous for its mining industry started by the Belgian company Vieille Montagne in 1857, hence the name Zinkgruvan (literally "the zinc mine" in English).


7th Wonder

"7th Wonder" (occasionally rendered as "Seventh Wonder") was the Maltese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, performed in English by Ira Losco.

AS-90

Haubicoarmata "Krab" - (eng. Howitzer-cannon Crab) Licensed "Braveheart" turret on a Polish chassis UPG, with modern "Azalia" BMS.

Asrary school riyadh

Asrary School, Riyadh is a school that teaches English, Arabic, and French from KG1 till 12th grade.

ATN Aastha TV

ATN Aastha broadcasts religious and spiritual programming in Hindi, Gujarati, and English, focusing mainly on the teachings and principles of Hinduism.

Bittern

They were called hæferblæte in Old English; the word "bittern" came to English from Old French butor, itself from Gallo-roman butitaurus, a portmanteau of Latin būtiō and taurus.

CBPM

CBPM is a Weatheradio Canada station which broadcasts weather information and alerts on a frequency of 1260 AM in Sicamous, British Columbia, Canada, in both English and French.

China Today

It is published in Chinese language, English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German and Turkish, and is intended to promote a positive view of the People's Republic of China and its government to people outside of China.

Comics Revue

In issue #200, Comics Revue featured the only English language publication of "The Dark Angels", the last Modesty Blaise story, by Peter O'Donnell and Romero.

Dans une galaxie près de chez vous

Dans une galaxie près de chez vous (English: In a galaxy near you) is a Quebec French language television series that aired on Canal Famille (later Vrak.TV) from 1998 to 2001, and a movie of the same name, released in 2004.

Demographics of Suriname

Dutch (official), Sranan Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population), Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), Javanese, English (widely spoken), French due to cultural influence from French Guiana, Portuguese and Spanish.

Dorcas Cochran

Her English language lyric for "Under the Bridges of Paris" was recorded by both Eartha Kitt and Dean Martin for United Kingdom chart hits in 1955, although they failed to chart in the United States, and Frankie Laine's recording of her song, "In the Beginning" similarly charted in the UK but not in the US that year.

Edmund Barton

The quotation, which spread by email and social networks, includes a photograph of Barton and an extract from a speech which argues for equal treatment of immigrants conditional on their cultural assimilation, the loyalty to the Flag of Australia and the exclusive adoption of the English language in Australia.

Garfield in Paradise

They meet the tribal chief who explains that the villagers learned English "from watching a lot of beach movies", and that the car was originally owned by the Cruiser, a James Dean/Fonzie-styled legend who drove his car into the village in 1957 and introduced the people to the 1950s pop culture.

Horne v. Flores

The case was brought in 1992 by English Language Learner (ELL) students against the state board of education and state superintendent on the grounds that the Nogales Unified School District had failed to teach the students English, which was vital to their success.

Indiana School for the Deaf

The Bilingual/Bicultural Philosophy provides language acquisition and facilitates proficiency in two languages, American Sign Language (ASL), and English.

Kaleohano

For the lyrics, and the English translation of the song, please visit reference #2.

La Jalousie

The title of its English editions is Jealousy, but this fails to capture the ambiguity of the French title: "la jalousie" can be translated as "jealousy", but also as "the jalousie window".

Las Supremas de Móstoles

Las Supremas de Móstoles (or The Supremes of Móstoles, in English) is a Spanish pop band made up of three sisters, Susi, Vicky and Luisi (two of them are twins).

Lima Azimi

At the time of the 2003 World Athletics Championships, Azimi was a student of English language and literature at Kabul University.

Little Pollon

Enoki Films USA holds the U.S. license to the anime series, although no English dub or subtitling of the series has ever been commercially released.

Mundo de Cristal

Mundo de Cristal (English: Crystal World) is the second studio album by Mexican singer Thalía, released in Mexico by Fonovisa Records in 1991.

Omnism

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) quotes as the term's earliest usage the 1839 long poem "Festus" by English poet Philip J. Bailey: "I am an omnist, and believe in all religions".

Phijigee Mani

Phijigee Mani (English: The Only Jewel; also written as Phijigi Mani) is a 2011 Manipuri drama film directed by Oinam Gautam Singh, co-written and produced by Takhelchangbam Ongbi and Medha Sharmi, and starring an ensemble cast including Gurumayum Bonny Sharma, Elangbam Abenao and Leishangthem Tonthoingambi Devi.

Points classification in the Giro d'Italia

The Azzurri d'Italia classification (English: Azure or Sky Blue Italy) is an award in the Giro d'Italia in which points are awarded for the top three stage finishers (4, 2 and 1 point).

Primera Fila: Sasha Benny Erik

Primera Fila: Sasha Benny Erik (English: Front row: Sasha Benny Erik) is the first album by Mexican pop trio Sasha, Benny y Erik released on November 6, 2012 by Sony Music Latin.

Purva Rana

Rana speaks Hindi and English, she loves singing and modelling, and she is currently a student of Electronic engineering at Himachal Pradesh Technical University.

Radio Bulgaria

In 2004, Radio Bulgaria broadcasts to Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America on short and medium wave in Bulgarian, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Serbian, Greek, Albanian and Turkish.

Sabras Radio

Although the majority of the schedule is presented in Hindi and English - there are speciality shows broadcasting in Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi.

Shema Yisrael Torah Network

The Shema Yisrael Torah Network is a group of (mainly English) websites dedicated to spreading Jewish thought, halakha (Jewish law) and other material through the World Wide Web, email and written material.

Slip End

The name of Slip End possibly has a connection with the brickworks, Slip is an old English word for clay and End is quite common in Bedfordshire and not unknown in other counties.

Sverok

The title translates to "Dragons and Demons", and in Sweden, it has the same status and recognition as "Dungeons & Dragons" has in English-speaking countries.

Takalani Sesame

It incorporates all of South Africa's 11 national languages, including Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele, Sesotho, Northern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana and Venda.

Teboho MacDonald Mashinini

A move by South Africa's apartheid government to make the white, colonial language Afrikaans an equal mandatory language of education for all South Africans in conjunction with English was extremely unpopular with black, Bantu and English-speaking South African students.

Toma Sik

The International Institute of Social History keeps a vast collection of papers from Toma Sik in several languages, such as Hebrew, Hungarian, and English.

TraXX FM

TraXX FM (formerly known as Blue Network, Radio 4 and Radio Malaysia Saluran 4 (English: Radio Malaysia Channel 4)) is an English radio station operated by Radio Televisyen Malaysia.

Ts'ao Yung-ho

Ts'ao has studied a number of languages in pursuit of his understanding of early Taiwanese history, meaning he can now make use of ten languages: Taiwanese, Japanese, English, German, Mandarin Chinese, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin.

Under the Bridges of Paris

"Under the Bridges of Paris" is a 1914 popular song with music written by Vincent Scotto, the original French lyrics (entitled "Sous les ponts de Paris") by Jean Rodor (1914), and English lyrics by Dorcas Cochran (1952).

Will Tura

Will Tura's first hit was Eenzaam zonder jou (Eng, Lonely without you) in 1963, for which he wrote the melody, and Ke Riema the text.