Word of the day
It’s “floccinaucinihilipilification”.
My always erudite friend Nick Hobson used this word in a comment on this blog and I had to look it up on Wikipedia.
It’s “floccinaucinihilipilification”.
My always erudite friend Nick Hobson used this word in a comment on this blog and I had to look it up on Wikipedia.
November 2nd, 2006 at 11:27 am
Thanks Roger!
I’d not heard of the word myself until this morning. Apparently, it
contains the most “i”s (nine) of any English word (I’ve not been able
to verify this); and, remarkably for a 29-letter word, contains no
“e”s.
Recent uses of “floccinaucinihilipilification” include:
Press Secretary Mike McCurry in his December 6, 1995, White House
Press Briefing in discussing Congressional Budget Office estimates and
assumptions: “But if you — as a practical matter of estimating the
economy, the difference is not great. There’s a little bit of
floccinaucinihilipilification going on here.”
US Senator, Jesse Helms, referring to the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty in July 1999: “I note your distress at my floccinaucinihilipilification of
the CTBT.”
Nick
References:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-flo2.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A542008
http://clinton6.nara.gov/1995/12/1995-12-06-press-briefing-by-mike-mccurry.html
http://members.aol.com/gulfhigh2/words11.html
November 5th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
Sometimes I despair of erudite people.
November 6th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
I remember back in the 60s/70s, Walkers Crisps used to have a ‘trivia panel’ on the back of the packets and this word was often printed on it.