The act of snapping one's fingers has a name. It is called a "fillip."
The act or habit of talking while asleep is called "somniloquy."
The adjective "saxicolous" refers to something living or growing on or among rocks.
The adjective "sesquipedalian" defines itself: it is used to describe the use of very long, or multi-syllabic, words.
The ampersand (&) was once a letter of the English alphabet.
The ball on top of a flagpole is called a "truck."
The branch of entomology dealing with ants is called "myrmecology."
The British call a large umbrella, especially one that is bulky or awkwardly wrapped, a "gamp." It is in allusion to the umbrella of Mrs. Gamp in Charles Dickens' work Martin Chuzzlewit.
The British idiom “off one’s chump” means “crazy.”
The British refer to a grandfather clock as a "long-case clock."
The British term "swipes" is a slang expression meaning weak or inferior beer.
The British term for abalone is "ormer." The word is derived from the Latin for "ear of the sea," alluding to its shape.
The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "And the rest of the day to yourself."
The cubit is the oldest known measurement, appearing in the Bible when God gives Noah instructions for the ark. Described as a Royal Cubit, it was measured from the elbow to the thumb knuckle. It was a means of insuring that the nobility got a larger share at the market place.
The curtain or veil used by some Hindus and Moslems to seclude or hide their women from strangers is called a "purdah."
The descriptive phrase "eighty pence to the pound" is a British term meaning "not all there" or "stupid."
The difference between a "millennium" and a "chiliad"? None. Both words mean "a period of one thousand years" – the former from Latin, the latter from Greek.
The difference between a nook and a cranny: A nook is a corner and a cranny is a crack.
The dot on top of the letter "i" is called a "tittle." Tittle is Latin for something very small.
The duffel bag got its name from the Belgian town of Duffel, where the coarse, thicknapped woolen fabric used for the bags was manufactured.
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