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This is the Conversation Forum for The Longest Word << Heavy! but in FINNISH >> Subject: Non-science word Posted Oct 12, 1999 by DickieP   Posting 1 I seem to remember being told that the longest non-science word was "antidisestablishmentarianism" - 28 letters (meaning something to do with being conservative with a small 'c'). I may very well be wrong. In fact, I'm almost totally sure somone in the forum will prove me wrong. Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Non-science word Posted Oct 12, 1999 by Dinsdale Piranha This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 2 As I remember, 'antidisestablishmentarianism' means disagreeing with those who think that the monarch (in the UK) should not be the head of the Church of England. Another word I have come across before is 'floccinaucilihilipilification' (honest) which apparently means 'the action of estimating as worthless' Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Non-science word Posted Oct 12, 1999 by DickieP This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 3 Like on the Antiques Roadshow, where they build the punter up and then tell them the object is worth less than their bus fare to bring it down? Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Non-science word Posted Oct 12, 1999 by Dinsdale Piranha This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 4 Ah, yes! I especially like the bit where the punter feigns indifference (with no success) to the question 'Have you ever thought about how much it might be worth?' Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Antiques Roadshow Posted Oct 12, 1999 by 26199 This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 5 It's even more fun when they say something like "Well, if you'd kept it in the box, it'd be worth £500,000 - but in this condition I'm afraid it's only worth ten quid." Subject: squinting fun! Posted Oct 12, 1999 by goldfish This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 6 if you look at the word and squint slightly all the 'y's line up and form diagonal lines which give me a funny feeling in my prostate. perhaps. i should lie down. Subject: A useful resource Posted Oct 12, 1999 by 26199 This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 7 A search on altavista turned up the following link: http://members.aol.com/gulfhigh2/words11.html It has a lot of interesting detail about various long words - and antidisestablishmentarianism doesn't even get a mention! Neither does the 'longest word' of this page... but then, let's face it, who's going to be bothered to type that lot out? Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: A useful resource Posted Oct 12, 1999 by DickieP This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 8 Nice link. Both antid... and flocc... are on there. Good to see. Doesn't the German language have some horrendously long compound nouns? My failing memory throws up strassenbahnhaltenstelle - street train station stop place (or something) - meaning tram stop. Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: A useful resource Posted Oct 12, 1999 by Vestboy This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 9 I htink its a ploy by the German ink and paper makers. Tram stop hardly takes up any space or ink while your word uses about ahlf a page and a bottle of ink (or two ball point pens or a ribbon on a typewriter). Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: A useful resource Posted Oct 12, 1999 by Bluebottle This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 10 Hmmm... By the way, how do you spell that Welsh train station? Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: A useful resource Posted Oct 12, 1999 by Vestboy This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 11 Something like Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrdrobwyllllantisiliogogogoch. But I wouldn't swear to it. Known as Llanfairp.g. I believe. Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Non-science word Posted Oct 12, 1999 by Cheerful Dragon This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 12 Actually, floccinaucinihipilification is 29 letters long and therefore (just) beats antidisestablismentarianism. I believe that flocc...(etc) was invented by Shakespeare, but I don't know which of his works it crops up in and I don't know why he bothered. Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Non-science word Posted Oct 13, 1999 by Ęther SPOON! This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 13 There is one town in England that has the longest website that i know of, but I cannot remember the name of it. Maybe one of you can? I know it was a link of the day on http://www.userfriendly.org Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: A useful resource Posted Oct 13, 1999 by Spartus This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 14 And it's a really funny sign to go past, particularly if you're not expecting it. Subject: Non-science word Posted Nov 7, 1999 by Technoyokel (muse of poetry) This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 15 Llanfair PG was a made up name to attract tourists (it needed something to attract them!) at the start of the century. It means something like - place where the doe runs under the wych hazel by the pool on the hill - well something like that - my welsh is only at the "how are you, I am OK" stage, so this is just from what I remember Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Non-science word Posted Nov 8, 1999 by Bluebottle This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 16 My mum went there once on holiday, so if it was designed to attract tourists, it worked. Subject: Non-science word Posted Dec 2, 1999 by zb This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 17 Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch (you missed out the 3rd 'n' Vestboy ) means: "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave" hth, zb Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Non-science word Posted Dec 5, 1999 by Technoyokel (muse of poetry) This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 18 makes it sound a lot more interesting than it really is! Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Non-science word Posted Dec 6, 1999 by Bluebottle This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 19 and a lot bigger too Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Non-science word Posted Dec 8, 1999 by Phil This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 20 I have cnly once ever seen floccinaucinihipilification in print once and did try and find a dictionary with it in but to no luck. The place I saw it was the book The Number Of The Beast by Robert Heinlein. At least I now know what it means Read the First Reply to this Posting Conversation list Most of the content on h2g2 is created by h2g2's Researchers, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced. 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