•    The word ‘toy’ comes from an old English word that means ‘tool’.

•    The sentence ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ uses every letter in the English language.

•    The word comet comes from the Greek word kometes meaning long hair and referring to the tail.

•    The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth is called Arachibutyrophobia.

•    The abbreviation Xmas for the word Christmas is of Greek origin. Since the word for Christ in the Greek language is Xristos, which starts with the letter X, they started putting the X in place of Christ and came up with the short form for the word Christmas.

•    In a day, kids that are between the ages of two to eight years  in the US spend 28 minutes of their time colouring.

•    Crayola is a French word that means ‘oily chalk’.

•    The word ‘diamond’ comes from the Greek word adamas, which means ‘unconquerable’.

•    The word ‘checkmate’ in chess comes from the Persian phrase ‘Shah-Mat’, which means the king is dead.

•    The word Spain means ‘the land of rabbits’.

•    The word ‘tulip’ comes from the Turkish word for ‘turban’.

•    The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements.— Compiled by The Surfer

Opinion

Editorial

Wheat price crash
Updated 20 May, 2024

Wheat price crash

What the government has done to Punjab’s smallholder wheat growers by staying out of the market amid crashing prices is deplorable.
Afghan corruption
20 May, 2024

Afghan corruption

AMONGST the reasons that the Afghan Taliban marched into Kabul in August 2021 without any resistance to speak of ...
Volleyball triumph
20 May, 2024

Volleyball triumph

IN the last week, while Pakistan’s cricket team savoured a come-from-behind T20 series victory against Ireland,...
Border clashes
19 May, 2024

Border clashes

THE Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier has witnessed another series of flare-ups, this time in the Kurram tribal district...
Penalising the dutiful
19 May, 2024

Penalising the dutiful

DOES the government feel no remorse in burdening honest citizens with the cost of its own ineptitude? With the ...
Students in Kyrgyzstan
Updated 19 May, 2024

Students in Kyrgyzstan

The govt ought to take a direct approach comprising convincing communication with the students and Kyrgyz authorities.