came here by accident....no scene
----- Original Message -----
From: Adrian
To: tech@gatt.co.tt
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 4:09 PM
Subject: Re: {GATT-Tech} Word For the Day
jeeze why you send to both tech and general mailing list? this is general related not so? no need for it to go in tech uncle maxx.
but on another note, that is a serious word, very long word, i go never be able to spell that.
----- Original Message -----
From: MaxxSeven
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 3:57 PM
Subject: {GATT-Tech} Word For the Day
This word was so much...that it required more than just a simple word and meaning explanation.
Floccinaucinihilipilification is the act or habit of esteeming or describing something as worthless, or making something to be worthless by said means.
It is pronounced \'flä-chE-'nau-chE-ni-'hi-lE-'pi-lE-fI-'ca-shun\.
It may also be pronounced "FLOK-sih-noh-see-NEE-hee-lee-PEE-lih-fih-KAY-shun".
It is the longest non-technical word in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary where it dates back to 1741. The first use the OED gives is from the poet William Shenstone in 1741: "I loved him for nothing so much as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money".
It is said to have been made up as an erudite joke by an Eton College student, who, upon consulting a Latin textbook, found four words meaning 'nothing' or 'worthless,' tacked them all together, and added verb endings. This was presented in "a well-known rule from the Eton Latin Grammar", as for example:
a.. flocci - Latin, "a sheep's fleece or piece of wool", as in flocci non facio - "I don't care" (literally "I couldn't give a sheep's fleece)
b.. nauci - Latin, "of the trifle"
c.. nihil - Latin, "nothing"
d.. pili - Latin, "the hairs", by implication small and insignificant
In fact, as given in the OED, the word includes four sets of quotation marks and is presented thus:
"Flocci" "nauci" "nihili" "pili" fication
The OED appears to have overlooked the more popular present form, floccinaucinihilipilificatious, which has one letter more than the noun form, and means "small" or "insignificant."
It is often spelled with hyphens, and has even spawned the back formations : floccinaucical ("inconsiderable, trifling") and floccinaucity ("thing of small importance").
Garreth Ferguson
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