Message-ID: <9408300403.AA07448@viper.cwru.edu>
Date:    Tue, 30 Aug 1994 00:03:15 EDT
From:    anu@viper.cwru.edu (Anu Garg)
To:      linguaphile@viper.cwru.edu
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

pneu.mo.no.ul.tra.mi.cro.scop.ic.sil.i.co.vol.ca.no.co.ni.o.sis 
   \'n(y)u:-m*-(.)no--.*l-tr*-.mi--kr*-'ska:p-ik-'sil-i-(.)ko--(.)v\ n [NL, 
   fr. Gk pneumo-n + ISV ultramicroscopic + NL silicon 
   +]a:l-'ka--no--.ko--ne--'o--s*s ISV volcano + Gk konis dust : a 
   pneumoconiosis caused by the inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz 
   dust


From:    anu@viper.elp.cwru.edu (Anu Garg)
To:      linguaphile@viper.elp.cwru.edu
Subject: Re:  A.Word.A.Day--pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

(Due to some glitch, many of you received a blank message, instead of
this post. I'm reposting it. if it has already graced your mailbox,
please ignore.)

Posting of 45 letter long pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, 
the longest word in Webster's Third International dictionary, prompted 
many engaging responses from the linguaphiles. Here are some of them:
To save wear on my keyboard, I'm going to write the word as p43s 
in the rest of this message.

P43s brought back some fond memories for Steven Fowler (netcom.com).
In case you are wondering why someone would be so enamored with
a word for a lung disease, read on. Almost two decades back, he 
spelled this word correctly to get into the Arizona state spelling 
championship finals. He reminisced, "Boy, the things kids'll do 
to get a trip to the capitol..." Well done, Steve.

"Goodness! 19 syllables," exclaimed Alison Huettner of cgi.com. 
P43s beat her previous favorite, diisobutylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol, 
a mere 16. She also had this to say: "The latter is the active 
ingredient in Orthogynol contraceptive jelly. In case you were curious."

Bob Whitehead of ingr.com sent in "osseocarnisanguinovicericartilagin-
onervemedullary (49 letters)," a word which "names all the major organ 
systems of the body." But Bob is not happy with just 49 letters, 
"I personally believe that they missed two: eyes and ears. Perhaps the 
word should be: optosseoaudicarnisanguinovicericartilaginonervemedullary 
(56 letters)." He observed, "Medical terminology is almost as bad as 
German for stringing words together."

Tom Srnak of ucarb.com sent this scoop on p43s: "It was first observed 
amongst Union Carbide workers digging the Hawk's Nest tunnel." Ron Gregory 
of ti.com added that the disease is also called "white lung."

Garthe Nelson of ucsb.edu recalled supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 
from _Mary Poppins_. Sambit Basu of rutgers.edu and C. Sudhama of mot.com
both mentioned that the longest word in Oxford English Dictionary is 
floccipaucinihilipilification. This collection of 29 letters means: "the 
action of estimating as worthless." (Try pronouncing this word aloud for 
some kicks).

Thanks to all of you and many other folks from the word over 
who wrote in and let us know these. You make a word of difference!
Finally, I dug up some more info from the _Guinness Book of Word Records_.
According to the book, "The longest word ever to appear in literature
occurs in _The Ecclesiazusae_, a comedy by Aristophanes. In the Greek
it is 170 letters longs but transliterates into 182 letters in English."
For the curious, the word is l180n. I'll consider typing the complete 
spelling over the next winter break. (-:

Perhaps this mystery and magic of words was best summed by John Goodman 
of ba.com. His e-mail had just one word:  "Wow!"

Near Lake Erie...
Anu