Growing up the word Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was popular, if inane, because of the movie Mary :Poppins. Julie Andrews created a lyrical way of remembering the order and it was hear on playgrounds across the west. I thought it was the longest word in the English language and for a 10 year old it surely was.
But the record might go to Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis which means or refers to a lung disease that is otherwise known as silicosis. While not common, you can find it in medical journals and reports.
As a child I heard that a word isn’t a word if it isn’t in the dictionary. Well really what I heard (and stuck with me was “ain’t ain’t a word because it ain’t in the dictionary”. Just because we say it or write it doesn’t make it a word. When Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon appeared in Aristophanes’ comedy Assemblywomen it was never really pronounced and never received word status.
As not to be outdone Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl…isoleucine with the … replacing 189919 letter purports to be the official name of a chemical ‘titin’
There are some countries that relish long place names;
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu (85 letters) New Zealand
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (58 letters) Wales
There is even an American location Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg that runs 45 letters.
Working any of these into sentence would be difficult and especially hilarious. It is even funnier when you consider that one of the most common word most of us say every day is “I”.
Make Today Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,
B
