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    The Curious World of Words!

    The Curious World of Words!

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      By Arakkal. M. Sebastian

    The longest words in English

    1. HONORIFICABILITUDINITATIBUS (27 LETTERS) This word occurs in Shakespeare's play Love's Labour's Lost, and means 'with honourablenesses'

    2. FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPIPIFICATION (29 LETTERS) This is found in the Oxford English Dictionary, and means 'the action or habit of estimating something as worthless.'

    3. PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS (45 LETTERS) Found in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 8th Edition. It is a pneumoconiosis caused by the inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust.

    4. BABABADLGHARAGHTAKAMMINARRONNKONNBRONN- TONNERRONNTUONNTHUNNTROVARRHOUNAWNSKAWN- TOOHOOHOORDENENTHURNUK (100 LETTERS) This word is on the first page of Finnegans wake by James Joyce and is a symbolic thunder clap representing the fall of Adam and Eve.

    The most commonly used words in written English

    1. The

    2. Of

    3. And

    4. A

    5. To

    6. In

    7. Is

    8. You

    9. That

    10. It

    11. He

    12. For


    (Source: American Heritage Word Frequency Book)

    The largest Dictionary

    The largest dictionary now published is the 12-volume Royal quarto The Oxford English Dictionary of 15,487 pages published between 1884 and 1928 with a first supplement of 963 pages in 1933 with a further 4 volume supplement, edited by R.W. Burchfield. The work contains 414825 words, 1827306 illustrative quotations and reputedly 227779589 letters and figures.

    The longest abbreviation

    The longest abbreviation is S.O.M.K.H.P.B.K.J.C.S.S.D.P.M.W.D.T.B. The initials of the Sharikat Orang-orang melayu Kerajaan hilir Perak Berker Jasama-Serkerjasama Kerana Jimat Chermat Serta Simpanon Dan Pinjam Meminjam Wang Dengan Tanggonnan Berhad. This is the Malay name for the Lower Perak, Malay Government Servants' Co-operative Thrift and Loar Society Limited in Telok Anson, Perak State, West Malaysia.

    Copy right 2003 Arakkal. M. Sebastian sebastianam@sabic.com

    About the Author:

    Arakkal. M. Sebastian is a re-seller of e-commerce solutions packages, internet service providing in US and Canada, domain name registration services, and other services to start successfull online businesses with excellent customer support! Please visit him HERE.

     
     
     
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