The First Time I’m Scared of a Word

I’m horrible at spelling. Maybe that’s why I’m a chemist instead of a biologist. All those letters (ATGC) and odd words make my eyes glaze over. In chemistry you can get away mostly with drawing and doing math :slight_smile:

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Unless you’re a biochemist working on ribulosebisphosphatecarboxylaseoxygenase or something equally distressing! :slight_smile:

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Is… Is that an actual word?

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Is the new supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Yes. And it is actually intelligible to me. I’m concerned about my sanity.

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This is actually the first time I’m actually scared of a word.

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Then you need My First Book of Ribulosebisphosphatecarboxylaseoxygenase the Cat by Dr Swamideuss.

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pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis still wins.

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Nice to be in a group where it’s anyone’s guess who’s being the most supercilious… even accidentally!

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That’s for Year 2

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That one is made up, right?

How could you say that? It’s common parlance here:
LKiDSWc

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Those competitive Germans have us all soudly beaten.
At 80 letters, the longest word ever composed in German is Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft , the “Association for Subordinate Officials of the Head Office Management of the Danube Steamboat Electrical Services”.Jun 3, 2013

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I like this thread. I find the number of famous examples of very long words represented here quite impressive (although I have not yet seen “antidisestablishmentarianism” [the spell checker says that is incorrect?!]).

I would like to commend @jongarvey for “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogogoch” (spell checker got that one too [but I don’t think it’s worth it to find the error :confounded:]). That is one I was not expecting (though hoping) to see :wink: . Welsh is an interesting language…

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I’m pretty sure that’s the longest word that’s not a proper noun (unlike “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”)

The South Africans would like to have a word on this point. Specifically, the word Tweedehandsemotorverkoopsmannevakbondstakingsvergaderingsameroeperstoespraakskrywerspersverklaringuitreikingsmediakonferensieaankondiging.

It means “issuable media conference’s announcement at a press release regarding the convener’s speech at a secondhand car dealership union’s strike meeting” and yes, it was contrived for length.

As, indeed, was Llanfair P.G., which was, I believe, coined to make an obscure railway station a tourist attraction. Welsh is actually quite an economical language (my brother speaks it) - much simpler that Irish Gaelic (which my ancestors spoke).

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