Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Way OT... one of my new favorite words
James Watriss
>For years, my favorite word was "Defenestrate." Something cool about the idea that there's actually a word for throwing things out of a window.
But I found this one the other day by accident.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliaphobia
It means fear of long words.
How cool is that?
Yes, but can you use it in a sentence?
Tim Caley - North Little Rock
>
I'll have to tell that one to my sister...
John in New Mexico
>for years her favorite word was "sesquapadalian"
Re: Way OT... one of my new favorite words
Rob Lee
>Hi -
One of my favorites is a French word - "Ouaouaron" (wah-wah-row)...
French for "Bullfrog"...
Cheers -
Rob
Please!
Dean Lapinel
>Please take that off...that word scares me! :)
Re: Way OT... one of my new favorite words
Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.
>Dou you like "ouananiche"? It's a kind of freshwater salmon...
DC
Re: Way OT... one of my new favorite words
Rob Lee
>No - I just like saying ouaouaron.... it sounds just like a bullfrog...
:)
Re: ESCHEW OBSFICATION!!
Jim Toews - Walla Walla, WA
>
floccinaucinihilipilification *LINK*
Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA
>I like to learn my new words here...
Hot for words
challenge
Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI
>Since that word is not in my Funk & Wagnalls I will have to declare it not a word.
onomatopoeia, one of my favorite words
Bruce, a MN Galoot
>
print is dead.... *LINK*
Rob Brophy...lost in Niagara
>...this page cites three sources:
Dictionary.com: Defenestrate
Re: ESCHEW OBSFICATION!!
Dan Donaldson
>You were trying to obfuscate obfuscation weren't you;-)
and in addition, the OED lists it *LINK*
Bruce, a MN Galoot
>as far back as 1620.
ask a linguist
Okay but you spelled it wrong :)
Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI
>I found the reference to it at reference.com but still declare it not a word since apparently even people who declare it a favorite word cannot spell it correctly. If I admitted it to be a word I might have nightmares of being in a spelling bee.
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia � fear of long words. Hippopoto- "big" due to its allusion to the Greek-derived word hippopotamus (though this is derived as hippo- "horse" compounded with potam-os "river", so originally meaning "river horse"; according to the Oxford English, hippopotamine has been construed as large since 1847, so this coinage is reasonable); -monstr- is from Latin words meaning "monstrous", -o- is a pseudo-Greek noun-compounding vowel; -sesquipedali- comes from "sesquipedalian" meaning a long word (literally "a foot and a half long" in Latin), -o- is a pseudo-Greek noun-compounding vowel, and -phobia means "fear". Note: This was mentioned on the first episode of Brainiac Series Five as one of Tickle's Teasers.
can you use it in a sentence?
Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI
>It was a dark and stormy hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.
I think it sounds great; too bad Scrabble would not have enough letters to spell it in the entire set.
Re: defenestrate
Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI
>I wasn't really objecting to defenestrate, although I checked and it is not in my F&W either. I am thinking of defenestrating my Funk & Wagnalls. See, I used it in a sentence. I found it interesting that it is based on the word fenestra, which I now realize would be where our Pennsylvania Dutch word for window comes from, which would be phonetically spelled as "fensta".
Re: Way OT... one of my new favorite words
Marv
>Why do we need so many words in our language? So many words that are just a jumble of letters, words that three people other than the person who came up with the word has any idea what the hell it means. Huge long unpronouncable words are basically useless to 99.9% of people who communicate with each other. For insects and plants, etc, why do we need two names for each one? One name we can all pronounce and the other for the snobs of our society. That's just down right condecending. It's basically a form of comparing one persons knowledge base to another's. Sorry for the rant, but it's one of my pet peaves, peeves? I know, I can't spell either.
Marv
Re: floccinaucinihilipilification
Dean Lapinel
>Scott,
Honestly, I had to learn that word (spelling and all) in 6th grade...I think the teacher had us do it just for fun. That word has stayed in my head all these years!
Dean
Re: floccinaucinihilipilification
Dean Lapinel
>Just looked at the video...my teacher didn't look and sound like that! Rats-
Mine neither, but if you liked that... *LINK*
Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA
>I could learn a lot from her!
More Hot for Words
try once again...did you get my e-mail?
HC Sakman
>
Re: A BEET RED OOPS!! (FINGERS TOO TIRED)
Jim Toews - Walla Walla, WA
>
Just razzing you ;-)
Dan Donaldson
>
Re: Way OT... one of my new favorite words
James Watriss
>I dunno... but I do think it's cool sometimes. It's like too many planes, or having a specific name for each size, as opposed to "a really big one, a medium- sized one, and a smaller one..." And how many different words do we need for "chest of drawers," regardless of hte specific size and shape?
It's just a way of being a little more specific in some cases, and being singularly specific in others. Sure, we may never need so many of them in our day to day, but it somehow lends a little more dignity and grace to something when it's actually given a name.
So go, find something you really don't like, and chuck it out of a window. And revel in the joy of knowing that someone, somewhere, thought that such a deed was worth naming.