Page 11 - Language Facts

Humans are the only mammals that can’t swallow and breathe at the same time!

The human voice box sits lower than it does in other mammals. It gives us a uniquely large resonating system, which is why we are the only animal able to make the wide range of sounds that create speech. 

However, the placement of the voice box also makes us the only mammals that can’t swallow and breathe at the same time. Other animals have no problem swallowing and eating simultaneously. The human voice box doesn’t drop until about 9 months, though, which allows infants to nurse and breathe at the same time still. 

The ability to speak and learn language is pretty incredible. Today, we are starting to understand that we quite possibly begin learning language while still in the womb. After only three to five days of being alive, infants born into French speaking families tend to cry with rising intonation that is characteristic of the French language while babies born into German speaking families cry with falling tones, which is characteristic of the German language. 

(Source)

There's a Native American lake named Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. It means "you fish on your side, I fish on my side, and no one fishes in the middle."

Located in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, it is known more commonly as Lake Chaubunagungamaug or Webster Lake. Its full name comes from Nipmuc, an Algonquian language, and when translated directly means “Fishing Place at the Boundaries -- Neutral Meeting Grounds.” 

Its name is often cited as the longest name of a location in the United States. Though most commonly known as Webster Lake, many area residents consider the longest version of the name to be correct (according to the US Department of the Interior). 

There have been numerous other translations, though all of them have been generally similar. Other translations have included “boundary fishing place,” “fishing place at the boundary,” or “that which is a divided island lake.” 

(Source)

U.S. soldiers made people say “flash, thunder, welcome” to weed out German spies.

This sort of test is known as a shibboleth. It relies on the overgeneralization and stereotyping of the way people speak in different regions. It especially focuses on specific characterizations of letter sounds and regional accents. 

Using shibboleths, you can determine to a reasonable degree of accuracy whether a person is or is not from a certain area based on word sounds. Shibboleths are sometimes used in military operations to distinguish out spies and people from different areas that might be enemy territory. Throughout history, language has been used to sort people out into their regions for political purposes. 

Each test used a phrase or series of phrases to listen for a difference in pronunciation. Say something wrong, and you might be in big trouble! The U.S. soldiers used shibboleths in the Second World War. In particular, during the Battle of Normandy, they used the phrase “flash, thunder, welcome” to make sure a person was a native English speaker. 

A German speaker would pronounce welcome as “velcome”, therefore giving up the fact that he was the enemy. The British sometimes used the word “squirrel” to pick out Germans. 

(Source)

The first recorded use of the word “boredom” was only 160 years ago.

It’s unlikely that you’re unfamiliar with boredom. There’s a pretty good chance that your present visit to this site is an attempt to stave it off. But unlike many words that date back centuries, the word “boredom” has only been around since Charles Dickens put it on paper. 

In Dickens’ novel Bleak House, written in 1852, the word appears six times, which is the earliest instance it can be seen. The word did, however, stem from the expression “to be a bore,” which has been used to mean “to be tiresome or dull” since at least 1768. 

Because the suffix “-dom” is added on to the root “bore,” we know the concept attached to boredom is something that’s been around for a while. So Dickens by no means invented the definition of boredom, just as the first person to say “martyrdom” didn’t invent the martyr. Dickens is simply the first known man to say the term we now associate with the feeling that’s existed forever. 

(Source)

Chuck Palahniuk wrote a story that caused people to faint when it was read.

Chuck Palahniuk is an author who is well known for his ability as a writer and especially for having written the book Fight Club, which the movie was made off of. One of his most interesting stories was title “Guts” and was included as part of a series of horror stories called Haunted. 

His goal in writing the short stories series was to create horrific stories using completely ordinary items. What is truly amazing about this short story is that it is so horrifying that it consistently causes people to faint when it is read for an audience. 

This was a surprise to the author, who had read it to some of his writing buddies, as was their custom, without any illness or fainting. His buddies' response was to laugh hilariously at it. However in readings across the United States, across England, and in translations of the story in Italy people dropped in the crowds, faint from the descriptions of the story. 

Palahniuk who frequently read the story at bookstores became very familiar with watching people faint in the crowds. According to his publicist, people tended to drop at the words 'corn and peanuts.' He finds the story very amusing himself, and is amazed at how horrifying people find the story. Read about author’s opinion on his story at the source.

(Source)