An "apple polisher" is one who gives gifts to win friendship or special treatment.It is not exactly a bribe（贿赂）, but is close to it.

All sorts of people are apple polishers,including politicians and people in high offices—just about everybody. Oliver Cromwell,the great English leader,offered many gifts to win the support of George Fox and his party,but failed.

There are other phrases meaning the same thing as "apple-polishing"—"soft-soaping" or "butter-up".A gift is just one way to "soft-soap" somebody,or to "butter him up".Another that is just as effective is flattery,giving someone high praise—telling him how good he looks,or how well he speaks,or how talented and wise he is.

Endless are the ways of flattery.Who does not love or hear it?Only an unusual man can resist the thrill of being told how wonderful he is.In truth,flattery is good medicine for most of us,who gets so little of it.

We need it to be more sure of ourselves.It cannot hurt unless we get carried away by it.But we just lap it up for its food value and nourishment,as a cat laps up milk,then we can still remain true to ourselves.

Sometimes,however,flattery will get you nothing from one who has had too much of it.A good example is the famous 12th century legend of King Canute of Denmark and England.The king got tired of listening to the endless sickening flattery of his courtiers（朝臣）.They over-praised him to the skies,as a man of limitless power.

He decided to teach them a lesson.He took them to the seashore and sat down.Then he ordered the waves to stop coming in.The tide was too busy to listen to him.The king was satisfied.This might show his followers how weak his power was and how empty their flattery.

Preparing for a job interview can be stressful: what do you wear? What questions will they ask you? Not to mention that, no matter how much you prepare, your interviewer’s first impression of you could be tarnished the moment you say a single word.

Surprisingly, the word is not “like” or “honestly” (though you should probably be careful about those, too). The word is “actually.”

Used properly, the word “actually” represents a contradiction. For instance, take the famous movie line “love actually is all around”: the speaker is contradicting those who think that it’s not. It can also be used to justify something: “That movie was awful, huh?” “Actually, I really liked it.”

You may wonder what harm a commonly used word like that could possibly do. However, we often don’t use it that way. When used a certain way, saying “actually” can instantly make you seem less reliable. Dictionary. com says that we use it as a “crutch word,” a word “that we slip into sentences in order to give ourselves more time to think.” Since using it this way adds emphasis rather than meaning, it automatically suggests that whatever you’re saying can’t stand on its own. Southern Living claims that the word makes listeners “subconsciously... question if there’s more unspoken information.”

Take this example: imagine you’re in a job interview, and your interviewer asks, “What was your last full-time job?” You reply, “I actually worked at Reader’s Digest.” The word doesn’t contradict or justify anything in the question, so there’s no reason for you to say it at all.

And it’s not just job interviews: Southern Living suggests that you stay away from this word completely. If you’re not using it to actively contradict something, and it’s just adding meaningless stuff to your sentence, avoid it. No longer relying on a “crutch word”, your statement will have more attraction.

What is the longest word in the English language? It would be truly shocking if you were trying to type the longest word, as it isn’t really a word anyone uses at all. The word is: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. According to Merriam-Webster, the 45-letter word is created to mean a disease occurring especially in miners.

But here’s the thing: That is not a term anyone—even doctors—use to describe an actual condition. The word was likely made up by Everett K. Smith in the 1930s, when he was president of the National Puzzler’s League, a group that loved crosswords and, by extension, words themselves. Smith intended to create the longest word by mimicking (模仿) medical terms，even if there wasn’t actually a disease to attach the word to. He just kind of made up the entire thing for fun.

Here are some other examples. Some record-setting English words are the longest in a particular aspect. “Uncopyrightable,” which refers to any work that cannot be copyrighted, is the longest word in English without any repeating letters. Words like this are called “isograms.” Then there’s the longest word made of only vowels (元音) “euouae”，a term that comes from music of the Middle Ages. On the other hand，you have the longest word without any vowels, “tsktsk”. It’s an onomatopoeia (拟声) for the sound you make when someone disappoints you.

Finally, you know there’s got to be a word to describe someone who makes a habit of using long words. Surprisingly, it’s only kind of long itself: “sesquipedalian”.