THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?

In 2004, to mark its seventieth anniversary, the British Council polled 7,000 people in forty-six countries to ask them what they considered to be the most beautiful words in the English language. There was also an online poll that attracted over 35,000 votes. Here are the results:

mother

passion

smile

love

eternity

fantastic

destiny

freedom

liberty

tranquillity

peace

blossom

sunshine

sweetheart

gorgeous

cherish

enthusiasm

hope

grace

rainbow

blue

sunflower

twinkle

serendipity

bliss

lullaby

sophisticated

renaissance

cute

cosy

butterfly

galaxy

hilarious

moment

extravaganza

aqua

sentiment

cosmopolitan

bubble

pumpkin

banana

lollipop

if

bumblebee

giggle

paradox

delicacy

peek-a-boo

umbrella

kangaroo

flabbergasted

hippopotamus

gothic

coconut

smashing

whoops

tickle

loquacious

flip-flop

smithereens

oi

gazebo

hiccup

hodgepodge

shipshape

explosion

fuselage

zing

gum

hen night

WHERE’S IT FROM?

THE SILENT ‘B’ IN WORDS LIKE ‘LAMB’ AND ‘DOUBT’

By the fifteenth century, most English words had their origins in either Anglo-Saxon or French (after the Norman Invasion of 1066). The word ‘doubt’, for example, was then spelled ‘dout’ as it had come from the French word doute. ‘Aha,’ said the scholars who wanted to revive the classical world of the Greeks and the Romans, ‘this word has its origins in Latin, it comes from the word dubitare. Let’s add a “b” to reflect that (and to show how clever we are).’ And that’s what they did. ‘Dout’ became ‘doubt’ and other words suffered the same fate. So much so that our language is now haunted by silent letters:

- The g is always silent in words like ‘gnarl’ and ‘sign’.

- The h is always silent in words like ‘ghost’ and ‘ghastly’.

- The k is always silent in words like ‘knee’ and ‘knowledge’.

- The silent ‘w’ before words like ‘wrong’ and ‘wrestle’ is a legacy from the days when the ‘w’ in these words was pronounced because Old English was based on Old German.