[Home]History of English language/Long words

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Revision 23 . . November 29, 2001 3:54 am by Dmerrill [Hehehe, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis was a hoax. Also mentioned 207,000+ letter word cited by Guiness.]
Revision 22 . . (edit) October 4, 2001 5:00 pm by ManningBartlett
  

Difference (from prior major revision) (no other diffs)

Changed: 1c1
There are endless debates over what is the longest word in the English language, and thes debates revolve around the terms of consideration. If scientific or technical terms are allowed wholesale, then there is a potential for words of indescribable length, particularly in regard to the naming of organic and biological compounds such as proteins.
There are endless debates over what is the longest word in the English language, and these debates revolve around the terms of consideration. If scientific or technical terms are allowed wholesale, then there is a potential for words of indescribable length, particularly in regard to the naming of organic and biological compounds such as proteins.

Added: 5a6,9

Regardless whether one considers that complaint valid, there is yet another, more serious problem with the term, which is referred to by logologists? as "p45", which is that the word is a hoax. In Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics, in several separate articles (May 1985, pp. 95-96; November 1986, pp. 205-206; May 1987, p. 82), researchers discovered that the word was made up wholesale in 1935 by by Everett M. Smith, president of the National Puzzler's League, as an example of a theoretical word that might one day enter use if trends in medical word coinage were to continue. Research into the body of medical literature prior to his usage in 1935 have never successfully shown that the word existed prior to his coinage.

His prediction seems to have been proven true by the 207,000+ letter word cited by the [Guiness Book of World Records]? which allegedly represents the name for human mitochondrial DNA.

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