As I enjoy a savory meal, a soft blanket, or a harmonious song, I enjoy a good word. Now unlike Hamlet, I do like some illustrations along with my words when I'm reading a book, but the power of words is undeniable. While I usually assess a word based on its meaning or sound, I can't say I have often thought about the length of a word. This past spring one of the students that I tutor kept asking me what is the longest word in the world, prompted by his complaints about the length of Latin words. Having lived in Germany for three years, I thought to myself "Boy, if you think Latin is bad you should try learning German!" Nevertheless, it piqued my curiousity so I tried to find out the answer to his query but alas it is quite a debated topic and I could not come up with a definite answer. Apparently though, what is said to be the longest word in German will soon be no more according to the article in the link below. The 63-letter word is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz which is the word for beef labelling monitoring assessment assignment law.
http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20130603-50071.html
Although German is famous for having endless words, English has its fair share of lengthy words as well. Here are just a few of them:
antidisestablishmentarianism-opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England - 28 letters
floccinaucinihilipilification-the estimation of something as worthless - 29 letters
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis-a supposed lung disease - 45 letters
I found all of this to be quite amusing and I hope you do to!
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