Friday, June 09, 2006

Say This Once...Real Slow!



pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

noun:

(NOO-muh-noh-UL-truh-MY-kruh-SKOP-ik-SIL-i-koh-VOL-kay-no-koh-NEE-o-sis, nyoo-)


A lung disease caused by inhaling fine particles of silica.[From New Latin, from Greek pneumono- (lung) + Latin ultra- (beyond,extremely) + Greek micro- (small) + -scopic (looking) + Latin silico(like sand) + volcano + Greek konis (dust) + -osis (condition).]

By any other name this would still be unpronounceable.
at

4 comments:

  1. Peter7:11 PM, June 09, 2006

    I love this word. I put it in a poem once. But it didn't work out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crunchy Weta9:46 PM, June 09, 2006

    Hi, Wouldn't it be polite to acknowledge your source?? Umm Wordsmith springs to mind.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nick1:24 AM, June 10, 2006

    Peter,

    Yup, it's a mouthful alright! Great Word.


    Crunchy,

    Received this in an e-mail from a friend. Didn't realize it was from "Wordsmith". Umm, wouldn't it be polite to use your real name??

    ReplyDelete
  4. Crunchy Weta7:58 AM, June 10, 2006

    Hi Nick, Crunchy is such an unfortunate name isn't it?
    Anyway here is a link to the provider of many interesting words...

    http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html

    No harm done or anything,
    Cheers
    Glenn

    ReplyDelete