h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Eight people fractured their skull last year after falling asleep while throwing up into the loo.

In the US this is often referred to as 'driving the porcelain bus'

Barfing, hurling, ralphing, calling for Huey, talking to God on the great white telephone...

Been there many times. The worst thing that can happen is to get a bad back and food poisoning at the same time.


If you predict that tomorrow's weather will be the same as today, your success rate will be only marginally lower than that of the professional weatherforecasters.

'screeched' is the longest one sylable word in the English language. And I think 'strengths' is the longest word with ony one vowel.

Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex bud

With 28 letters is the shortest pangram.

Unless, of course, you count "Mr Jock, TV Quiz PhD, bags few lynx". 26 letters. Can't get any shorter than that!

Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex bud

With 28 letters is nearly the shortest pangram

Buck's Fizz (orange juice and champagne) was named after the founder of a London gentlemen's club (Captain H. J. Buckmaster) where it was invented in 1921. A real Buck's Fizz can only be drunk in that club because it has 3 other ingredients and the recipe is a closely guarded secret.

Five people were injured last year in accidents involving out of control scalextric cars.

More people get kicked to death by donkeys than die in aeroplane accidents.

Unless anyone knows better.....
In the English language...
Queueing is the word with the longest string of consecutive vowels
Rhythms is the word with the longest string of consecutive consonants

Please prove me wrong, I'm sick of citing these two and too lazy to trog through the dictionary looking for longer strings!

Polar bears are left handed, or is that pawed..,bees have 5 eyes, and Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark...

That's not how you spell queuing. This (two words ago) is.

As far as I'm aware, there are four different four-vowel combinations available in the English language:

ueue: queue
euei: queuing
uoia: sequoia (incidentally, the shortest word to use all vowels in any order)
oeia: onomatopoeia

I discount words like aaaargh!

Any more to add?

Facetious is the shortest word to use all 5 vowels in order. Others include facetiously and fecetiousness. There is a 10-letter word out there, though. Anyone?

From http://www.rinkworks.com/words/oddities.shtml :

"Eunoia, six letters long, is the shortest word in the English language that contains all five main vowels. Seven letter words with this property include adoulie, douleia, eucosia, eulogia, eunomia, eutopia, miaoued, moineau, sequoia, and suoidea. (The scientific name iouea is a genus of Cretaceous fossil sponges.)"

Also
"Euouae, six letters long, is the longest English word consisting only of vowels, and, also, the English word with the most consecutive vowels. Words with five consecutive vowels include cooeeing and queueing."

One 10-letter word with all 5 vowels in order is abstemious.
Queueing I remembered from a Guinness book of records from over 30 years ago when we didn't spell according to US spool-chuckers!
I'm not a member of the cult of Dictionary readers for nowt, tha knows!

An Argentine ducks penis is about the same length as its body...

543 people have been admitted to a & e in the last two years after opening bottles of beer with their teeth.

Twelve episodes of Fawlty Towers were made. Interestingly, only eleven were sold to Germany.

Which one didn't they want...