KhorTose Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 The Gaurdian had a great little filler piece about long words in English. It was easy to guess what they meant from the multiple choices you were given. I think some of the wrong choices you could have picked were worth a smile, so I am posting the link here. Oh, I had never heard of any of these words. Am I alone? http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/shortcuts/2013/jun/04/longest-words-english-what-they-mean ChristianPFC 1 Quote
Bob Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 Nope, never heard of any of them before although I guessed the meaning of all of them correctly (although that wasn't hard). I used to laugh at the length of some German words and one I learned in 1st year college German was geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung (German word for speed limit). But I see the article you urled lists the longest (perhaps now defunct) German word of "rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz" which means "the law concerning the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and the labeling of beef." That word, I note, hasn't come up too often on this message board (although I was thinking christianPFC might use it some time in reference to the bars' recruitment and grading of gogo boys....). Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 Well, that German word beats by just a few letters the longest word domain name in the English language - Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch – which, as we all know (don’t we!!) is the name of a train station in Wales. So I suppose it’s really the longest word in the Welsh rather than the English language. Try pronouncing it, though!To get the domain name, just add .info to the end.The word I think most appropriate for a Forum like this is psychoneuroendocrinological. Know what it means? Try wiktionary which gives this hugely helpful answer – “Of or pertaining to psychoneuroendocrinology.” As if we didn’t know!Bascially it seems to be something to do with mood disorders which can affect the brain and be associated with psychiatric illness. A condition, it seems, which tends to afflict a handful of regular posters on some of the gay Thailand message Boards Quote
Rogie Posted June 7, 2013 Posted June 7, 2013 Can anyone guess (ideally without 'cheating') the meaning of these two words 1) sesquipedalian 2) Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia If you don't know the second one you haven't been paying attention! Quote
KhorTose Posted June 8, 2013 Author Posted June 8, 2013 Can anyone guess (ideally without 'cheating') the meaning of these two words 1) sesquipedalian 2) Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia If you don't know the second one you haven't been paying attention! Number 2, I was paying attention as I posted it. Number one without looking it up reads as over a foot and a half or longer then a foot. I have no idea what it has come to mean but that is the latin. Ped=foot sesqui when combined means one and a half. In Caesar's commentary, Caesar is always using this word and I had to look it up almost every time. Now it is stuck in my head. It is often used in land measurments and measurements of gold and money Quote
kokopelli Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 Ok, I give up about ped and money and gold? But do understand pedestrian, pedometer, etc. Even a ped crossing! As for the hippo....I suppose it must be a fear of being walked on by a hippo? Welcome back Rogie. Quote
Rogie Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia sesquipedalian As we know the meaning of the first word (see back to the OP if you missed it), and the similarity of a big chunk of the words, might that not provide a clue? And thank you Koko for your kind words. May I wish you a long life, one free from stray hippos and the lust for gold! Quote
kokopelli Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 I fear long words I can't pronounce or write or understand or spell. Quote
Rogie Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 You may feare them, but is there any chance you secretly love them? Quote
KhorTose Posted June 9, 2013 Author Posted June 9, 2013 Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia sesquipedalian As we know the meaning of the first word (see back to the OP if you missed it), and the similarity of a big chunk of the words, might that not provide a clue? And thank you Koko for your kind words. May I wish you a long life, one free from stray hippos and the lust for gold! Knowing Latin did not help. I saw the multiple choices and did not translate, but now know that means gigantic long word fear, How one and a half foot becomes long words is beyond me, but that is what I found when I finally looked up sesquipedalion. One who uses long words. Duhhhhhh. There is a laguage drift over 2000 years. Rogie 1 Quote
Rogie Posted June 9, 2013 Posted June 9, 2013 There is a laguage drift over 2000 years. I have had no idea about how either of the words were formed. I just liked Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia owing to its absurd teutonic length and then came across sesquipedalian online and the explanation for which apparently means a lover of long words. Having got that off my chest I just looked it up in my SOED and it says this: Definition #1. adj. of words etc (after Horace, A.P. 97) of many syllables - 1656 transf. given to using long words - 1853 Definition #2. sb. a person or thing that is a foot and a half in length - 1615 Hence KT is spot on with definition #2. I have liked his post in recognition. As for the changes in 2,000 years, that second definition has only been around for 400 years but the meaning must have been apparent for 2,000. I think we have to make allowances for dictionaries. They didn't have them 2,000 years ago to the best of my knowledge and English-language dictionaries are obviously not the same as Latin ones. So I would be quite happy to acknowledge sesquipedalian was in use as a Latin word in ancient Rome as KT mentions in post #6. KhorTose 1 Quote
KhorTose Posted June 9, 2013 Author Posted June 9, 2013 So I would be quite happy to acknowledge sesquipedalian was in use as a Latin word in ancient Rome as KT mentions in post #6. Actually I am not sure it was in use. I put two words together but I may be wrong. sesqui is one and a half, and pes (ped) is a foot, but I think they had another word for a foot and a half, because I know they had others words for fractions of a foot. Too lazy tonight to look it up and too old to remember, but I think these two words did not go together to mean one and a half foot. Quote
