Longest Worm

[mfgoode]

Longest Word.
When in school remember learning what you thought was the longest word in the EnglishLanguage ?
Was it Anti-Dis-Establish- Ment –Arian-Ism?
Similarly was it Super-Cali-Fragi-Listic-Expi-Ali-Docious?
Well there are longer ones. But firstly what is called the fear of long words?
Hint: it’s a 36 letter word.
Can you name at least two words longer than it?
Hint: They are medical terms but any others will also pass.
Mally

[Joshua2]

OK.
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis-a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch-a village in Wales
TETRAMETHYLDIAMINOBENZHYDRYLPHOSPHINOUS-a type of acid apparently
HEPATICOCHOLANGIOCHOLECYSTENTEROSTOMIES-surgical creation of a connection between the gall bladder and a hepatic duct and between the intestine and the gall bladder-the longest word in Gould's Medical Dictionary.

And the longest of all is "smiles"... (to see why highlight below)
After all there is a miles between the first letter and the last!! :)

[jinydu]

Actually, I learned in Linguistics 1 that it is possible to form arbitrarily long words by adding as many prefixes and suffixes as you want.

[Mystwalker]

In German, you can even connect words. My favorite is "Mississippischaufelraddampferkapitänsmützenfabrikbesitzer", a mississippi paddle wheel steamer captain cap factory owner.
Up to "steamer" (resp. "dampfer"), I found it in a novel...

[99.94]

Don't forget there's a shorter word "sesquipedalian" which refers to someone given to the use of long words.

[grandpascorpion]

Long words like this are very common in German. If I remember correctly, the word for exceeding the speed limit is 37 letters.

[Mystwalker]

Well, "Geschwindigkeitsüberschreitung" would be 30, I don't know of another long expression for it that doesn't sound ugly. Maybe "Überschreitung der zulässigen Höchstgeschwidigkeit" (50 letters inkl. blanks), but that's more than one word...
Of course, you can cut it to "rasen" or "heizen" (--> dash, rush).

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Mystwalker

Well, "Geschwindigkeitsüberschreitung" would be 30, I don't know of another long expression for it that doesn't sound ugly. Maybe "Überschreitung der zulässigen Höchstgeschwidigkeit" (50 letters inkl. blanks), but that's more than one word...
Of course, you can cut it to "rasen" or "heizen" (--> dash, rush).

"Höchstgeschwindigkeitsüberschreitung" has 36 (38 if you use "oe" in place of ö and "ue" in place of ü, but that's cheating in my opinion ). When I was kid growing up in Austria one of our favorite long-word examples was "Donaudampfschifffahrtgesellschaft" (33 letters, translates as "Association of Danube Steam Shippers") - we used to play a game where we'd lengthen that by adding ever-increasing numbers of words to the end, for instance
"Donaudampfschifffahrtgesellschaftkapitänskajütenvorratschrankschlüssellochsperrriegelhebelbearbeiter"
(a 100-letter word for the inevitable "Association of Danube Steam Shippers captain's cabin supply closet keyhole locking mechanism lever tool"). Fun way to pass a few hours on a rainy Saturday.

[akruppa]

German law is a rich pool of ridiculously long words. How about "Anwärtersonderzuschlagsverordnung" (33) or, pure poetry, "Binnenschifffahrtssprechfunkverordnung" (38). Then there's the profundly german "Asylzuständigkeitsbestimmungsverordnung" (39). The longest I found in skimming over laws starting with A or B was "Auslandstelekommunikationsgebührenverordnung", weighing in at 44 letters.

Alex

PS: There's a "Donauschiffahrtspolizeiverordnung" (34)
PPS: I couldn't think how to even begin to translate those monstrosities...

[TauCeti]

Mehrwertsteuereigenmittelbemessungsgrundlage. Also 44 letters. Take at least two of them (grundlagen) and it's 45.
--
What comes after once, twice, thrice?

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by TauCeti

Mehrwertsteuereigenmittelbemessungsgrundlage. Also 44 letters. Take at least two of them (grundlagen) and it's 45.

"Donaudampfschifffahrtgesellschaftkapitänskajütenvorratschrankschlüssellochsperrriegelhebelbearbeitermehrwertsteuereigenmittelbemessungsgrundlagenbestimmungsverordnungen"

("Association of Danube Steam Shippers captain's cabin supply closet keyhole locking mechanism lever tool value-added tax somekind-or-other-bureaucratic nonsense, ad nauseam, et cetera").

What comes after once, twice, thrice?

"Force," I think.