From Uncommon parlance:
“Floccinaucinihilipilification is the act of estimating something as worthless or without value. It has the distinction of being the longest non-technical word in the English language.”
So why do we have such a long word to designate so little?
“Apparently the term was coined by pupils at Eton from a line in the Eton Latin Grammar that listed verbs that govern a genitive noun: Flocci, from floccus, a wisp or piece of wool + nauci, from naucum, (a trifle) + nihili, from the Latin pronoun, nihil (nothing) + pili, from pilus, (a hair, or something insignificant) + fication.”
In case you’re having any difficulty with the pronunciation, go HERE. It just trips off the tongue, does it not?
I’m quite fond of the notion of the long word having a small meaning. It’s somewhat like the musical term hemidemisemiquaver, which means a 64th note, which is mighty short. And while I grew up with the American notation, I LOVE the word hemidemisemiquaver.
And speaking of notes, LISTEN TO:
Worthless from The Brave Little Toaster
Nothing From Nothing – Billy Preston. It went to #1 in 1974.
And yes, floccinaucinihilipilification is another one of those words that you ALMOST never see in blogs.
I love you, man!
Aha! Now that’s quite a tongue-twister, Roger.
Not my favorite word to spell for sure 🙂
Cheers!
I’m glad you included a link to the pronunciation, I tried it myself first and got stuck on cinny-hilly-pilly in the middle.
I first thought it to be a dangerous terminal disease! The longer the word the more contagious. Very clever to invent such a word!
Have a great week.
Wil, ABCW Team
Ha! Almost never see on blogs, indeed. Well I need to go and get the pronunciation and spring this one on my daughter…
Oh what fun!!!! Awesome words AND the Brave Little Toaster!
Thank you, Roger and have a great week.
Hah!…love it…seems you went to a lot of trouble for ‘nothing’♪ http://lauriekazmierczak.com/firefly/
I love that word funny, Floccinaucinihilipilification!!
Floccinaucinihilipilification sounds like something a politician may say – nothing.
“Excellent, Roger!!,” and “good one, Laurie K.!”
Long ago I learned to pronounce australopithecine by the rhythm of ‘pass the bread and butter’ – any suggestions for floccinausinihiliplification????
@Arnold: It’s exactly what a politician has said.
@Roger: “Almost.” Precisely. 🙂
Kind of reminds me of supercaliflag…etc. lol
Leslie
abcw team
I didn’t attempt to pronounce your word. It sounds something medical. LOL
I have nothing to say about this, not even a hemidemisemiquaver’s worth of comment. Anything I have to say would be considered floccinaucinihilipilification.
Calling by from ABC Wednesday for F, well we have now,seen Floccinaucinihilipilification on a blog!
Wow, that’s a hard word to wrap the mouth around. Thanks for the link to the Billy Preston video. Haven’t heard that song in some time and it makes me feel good. Also, that magnificent hair…
Sure takes a LOT of letters to mean nothing!!
ann
Floccinaucinihilipilification is the act of estimating something as worthless or without value. Oh, so it’s self-explanatory! 🙂
What a word!
You are so funny, Roger. This is almost nerd territory, but you carried it off with aplomb! I agree about the hemidemisemiquaver. It was one of my favorite words in chorus, because Mr. Attridge (Vestal Voices) would joke that “Only Penderecki would use a hemidemisemiquaver for a vocal score!”
And thanks for the Billy Preston. I passed a young woman absolutely KILLIN’ the Afro, the big natural hair, of Billy’s prime. We stopped and talked. I gave her major style points, and she really appreciated hearing that from me. She also knew about the Puerto Rican designation of Black hair as “pelo male,” or “bad hair,” and we wondered how that came to be – probably from racist hair dressers? Nice moment. Thx, Amy
Just as I suspected you posted about the word floccinausinihiliplification. Okay, not really, I didn’t suspect a thing due the fact that I have never heard of this strange word in my life! Thanks for keeping our minds alert with new vocabulary…that we cannot pronounce!
How original 🙂 yes this is my first time ever seeing this word on a blog, or on anything. Great post!
Some might say that’s a fadoodle word, but I loved it (brand new for me) and have to say it does sorta’ roll off the tongue. Thanks for the pronunciation link. Hemidemisemiquaver’s not bad either 🙂
This was so hard dificult to pronounce. But when I succedeed, I realised it sounds pretty funny :))
I wonder if the Eton students’ first sentence was something like Coining floccinaucinihilipilification is floccinaucinihilipilification. Hmmm, did I use it correctly?