Monday, February 7

The wonder of the LONGEST words

According to Disney:
SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS - popularized by the movie `Mary Poppins', a nonsense word meaning fantastic; also called supercalifragilistic

According to the Ozone Asylum:
HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPPEDALIOPHOBIA - the fear of long words

According to Guinness World Records:
FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION - an act or instance of judging something to be worthless or trivial

According to AskOxford.Com: PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS - a pneumoconiosis (lung disease) caused by inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust
ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM - originally, opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England, now opposition to the belief that there should no longer be an official church in a country

Other words (mainly technical ones) recorded in the complete Oxford English Dictionary include:
otorhinolaryngological (22 letters), immunoelectrophoretically (25 letters), psychophysicotherapeutics (25 letters), thyroparathyroidectomized (25 letters), pneumoencephalographically (26 letters), radioimmunoelectrophoresis (26 letters), psychoneuroendocrinological (27 letters) hepaticocholangiogastrostomy (28 letters), spectrophotofluorometrically (28 letters), pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters).

According to Useless Facts:
The longest official city name in the world, made up of 164 letters, is "Krungthep Mahanakhon Amorn Rattanakosin Mahintara Yudthaya Mahadilok Pohp Noparat Rajathanee Bureerom Udomrajniwes Mahasatarn Amorn Pimarn Avaltarnsatit Sakatattiya Visanukram Prasit" a.k.a. Bangkok, Thailand.
The world's longest name officially used by a person is "Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorft Senior" which is composed of 28 words or 192 letters.
"ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC" is the longest acronym. It is a Navy term standing for "Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command."

AND According to UrbanDictionary.Com: The longest word entered in a dictionary anywhere is Swedish, and it's NORDOSTERSJOKUSTARTILLERIFLYGSPANINGSSIMULATORANLAGG- NINGSMATERIELUNDERHALLSUPPFOLJNINGSSYSTEMDISKUSSIONS- INLAGGSFORBEREDELSEARBETEN, which means "preparatory work on the contribution to the discussion on the maintaining system of support of the material of the aviation survey simulator device within the north-east part of the coast artillery of the Baltic."

and FINALLY:

The full name of a distinct part of DNA, the tryptophan synthetase (a protein/enzyme with 267 amino acids), extends to 1,913 letters: methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalanyla lanylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalany lphenylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspa rtylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylserylleucyllysylisoleu cylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanylglycylalanylaspar tylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenylalanylser ylaspartylprolylleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonyliso leucylglutaminylaspfraginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylpheny lalanylalanylalanylglycylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcyste inylphenylalanylglutamylmethionylleucylalanylleucylisoleucylargin ylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleucylgl ycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylpheny lalanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalany ltyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylva lylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalanylaspartylvalylprolylvalylglu taminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphenylalanylarginylglutaminylalan ylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginylvalylalanylprolylisoleucy lphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanylaspartyl aspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminylisoleucylalanylseryl tyrosylglycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylseryl arginylalanylglycylvalylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparag inylarginylalanylalanylleucylprolylleucylasparaginylhistidylleucy lvalylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparaginylalanylalany lprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylser ylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylas partylalanylglycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylser ylalanylisoleucylvalyllysylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhi stidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylprolylglutamyllysylmethio nylleucylalanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalylglutaminyl prolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine!
Just try to pronounce that... you'll go berserk! Notice that some parts of it sound ridiculous as well... like "-asparaginy-"!