Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Dictionary Game: Flocci, et. al.

My family has played the "dictionary game" for years growing up. We'd argue about words, spellings, origins, and grammar.

I actually spelled this word correctly from memory today. Yes, I'm a word freak.
You get to read about it from Wikipedia:
Floccinaucinihilipilification (pronounced /ˌflɒksɨˌnɔːsɨˌnaɪ(h)ɪlɨˌpɪlɨfɪˈkeɪʃən/; Floccinaucinihilipilification.ogg British English , Floc.ogg American English ; variously floccipaucinihilipilification, with p for n) is the estimation of something as worthless, or the habit of doing so.[1] Sometimes written with hyphens, it is frequently cited as one of the longest words in the English language.

The word is derived from a list of Latin words found in a section of the Eton Latin Grammar.[1] The word is said to have been invented as an erudite joke by a student of Eton College, who found in his textbook four ways of saying "don't care" and combined them:[citation needed]

  • flocci facere (from floccus, -i a wisp or piece of wool)
  • nauci facere (from naucum, -i a trifle)
  • nihili facere (from nihilum, -i nothing; something valueless (lit. "not even a thread" from ni+hilum)) Example being: "nihilism"
  • pili facere (from pilus, -i a hair; a bit or a whit; something small and insignificant)
Hey, at least I didn't say Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

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