Spell Check Dictionary

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#1

reminds me of "and the longest word in the English language is ... "

          or is it supercalifragilisticespialidocious :wink:
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRFHXMQP-QU

#2

There are two answers.

The longest word in any English language is the name of a small town
in Wales - Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch
(see Wikipedia if you're curious about what and where this is). I had
thought it was 56 letters, but this one is 59. Hmm.

The longest word in American English is
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, aka black lung disease.
It is 45 letters.

There is a longer word, which is the 85 letter long name of a village
in Africa, but I don't know what that one is (and I'm too lazy to
Google it right now :-).

FWIW.

MR

#3

Perhaps a bit off the track:
I learned somewhere that the longest English word is smiles. Why? There is a mile between the first and the last letter :slight_smile:
Kolbjoern

Den 22.05.2014 22:21, skreiv MR ZenWiz:

#4

Sorry, that's the second longest. The longest is in the North Island of
New Zealand.

Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukakapiki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatahu
(85 letters) which means "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big
knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about,
played his nose flute to his loved one"

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long_place_names

David

#5

The place names referenced are indeed used in English speaking countries, but it ought to be borne in mind that the small town's name is actually not an English word, bet a Welsh one (Welsh being a Celtic language) & the one from New Zealand is actually Mauri, rather than English.

~ George

#6

I would have to say that the big word above is not English.

German is a language where there really _are_ long words in the language,
since German, much more than English, strings words together to make
longer ones. We have things like fireplace and carwash. (Fireplace
translates directly: Feuerplatz.) If you ask the average German what is
the longest word, he is likely to tell you,
               "Oberweserdampfschiffahrtgeschäftskapitän"
which also happens to be the name of a song! (Perhaps the word was
invented by the songwriter?) Translating, it means the "Upper Weser
excursion boat company captain." But my German teacher, eons ago,
told me about a word of 100 letters, involving a a miscreant Hottentot
from Trödelstadt who was jailed in a latticework kangaroo cage for killing
his mother-in-law. I suppose it might actually have existed, back when
Germany had a presence in Africa.

--doug

#7

The longest word in any English language is the name of a small town in
Wales - Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch (see
Wikipedia if you're curious about what and where this is). I had
thought it was 56 letters, but this one is 59. Hmm.

Sorry, that's the second longest. The longest is in the North Island of
New Zealand.

Sounds like it was Māori in origin and became part of the en_ZA language.

Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukakapiki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatahu

(85 letters) which means "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big
knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about,
played his nose flute to his loved one"

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long_place_names

David

I would have to say that the big word above is not English.

German is a language where there really _are_ long words in the language,
since German, much more than English, strings words together to make
longer ones. We have things like fireplace and carwash. (Fireplace
translates directly: Feuerplatz.) If you ask the average German what is
the longest word, he is likely to tell you,
              "Oberweserdampfschiffahrtgeschäftskapitän"
which also happens to be the name of a song! (Perhaps the word was
invented by the songwriter?) Translating, it means the "Upper Weser
excursion boat company captain." But my German teacher, eons ago,
told me about a word of 100 letters, involving a a miscreant Hottentot
from Trödelstadt who was jailed in a latticework kangaroo cage for killing
his mother-in-law. I suppose it might actually have existed, back when
Germany had a presence in Africa.

--doug

Any word used in use in the language, can become part of the language as more and more people use it.

English came into being as more and more groups came to "England" and became part of its early language/culture. There was a multi-part PBS about the origin of the "modern" British English language - i.e. up to around the 1800's.

#8

Uh, I doubt it... ZA would be South Africa, not New Zealand :slight_smile:

Paul

#9

I'll bet there aren't more thn 50 people in the world who use "Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukakapiki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatah"!

#10

we do it too in English but disguise the fact. we write "airport parking garage manager" instead of "airportparkinggaragemanager."

F.

#11

Well sorry
should have stated en_NZ, not ZA.

#12

So, using adjectives = "disguis[ing] the fact"? Interesting. Evidently,
German is the only non-disguised language (and "chile relleno con carne
asada" should really be "chilerellenoconcarneasada," and it's English
translation shouldn't be "stufffed peppers with grilled beef*" but
"stuffedpepperswithgrilledbeef;" yeah, good luck with that).

*Yes, I know that "carne" is technically "meat," not "beef;" lo se.
However, it's almost exclusively used for "beef," since other meats would
be specified (e.g., pollo asado), so I went with "beef" as a more accurate
translation in this case.