h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why on earth did people in lab-coats actually accept that word? And don't talk to me about systems of naming and classifying organics, etc.

Anyone with half a mind would get halfway through writing that and then declare the substance to be imaginary, and forget all about it.

And thank God it never came up in any of my chemistry lessons.

Well, as I stupidly decided to be an organic chemist for a living it is fairly obvious to me that this chemical is a protein - although I've no idea which one. Oddly enough, we don't go around saying words like this to each other, chemicals are usually known by what is called a trivial name. You'll probably find that this protein shown here has probably got a much simpler name like "hair" for example.
You will also find much bigger proteins which would therefore have much longer systematic names but anyone with half a mind should really have something much better to do than write it down in this (or any similar) fashion.
I thought Murray Walker had it right in a Grand Prix commentary about three years ago. "We all know that 'if' is a very long word" - Tee Hee.

Just what is the point in such a large word?

Who actually sits down and thinks, "right I'm going to call this protein thing..." and come out with such rubbish?

There out to be a smiley to express extreme anger. I think I'm going to try and find one.

It's amazing how language provokes such emotion in people. You'd think words could start wars or something.

They do.

I say this every morning when I wake up. It's really good exercise....you should try it. The only problem with it is by the time I'm done saying it, I've missed breakfast and it's time for lunch. I haven't had a good bowl of Lucky Charms in ages!!!

Indeed, this does look like just a list of amino acids strung together. I wonder what daft reference work calls it an "official" word?

Just think, once the human genome project is complete we could come up with a humungous word for the entire DNA sequence by just stringing together base names...and it would be just as useful as this one.

I fear this is an area where h2g2 fails to provide very useful knowledge.

If combos of big worded proteins are going to end up being called by even bigger names then I want to find whoever decides these words become official and shoot him.

Who on earth allows words like that to happen? It makes me so mad to think that there are people stupid enough to say "alright that word's OK" when it obviosly isn't. There is no need for stupid words like that. Do something about it. Everyone. Start a riot or something to get attention!

How about, for the longest general use word (still scientific, but it's medical, so you may yet suffer from it one day), the ol' faitfhul:

Pneumonoultramicroscpoicsilicovolcanoconiosis

(God, please don't ask me to spell check it!)

PS: Yes, I used to watch that sad afternoon quiz show with Paul Coia too

As far as the smiley goes, how about > (a mixture of frowning and unhappiness) or >:-< (frowning and severe unhappiness).

I don't see how the Guide has failed in its usefulness. As its intention in this case was to publicise the longest word in the English language, and as it has done precisely that, I'd say it's been pretty useful. If I ever want to know what the longest word is, for a report or something, I now know where I can look.

Scientifically this article is useless, and to all the people who want to nurse their everyday vocabularies back to health, it's rubbish really, but for what it actually *is,* it's as useful an article as any.

Well, fair enough, but honestly, the word isn't hurting anybody. What harm is it doing in simply existing? It's never bothered anybody before, and I don't see why it should be persecuted now! It's a perfectly legitimate word, albeit an utterly useless and stupid one.

You've got to give it the benefit of the doubt, after all. No doubt it's a word that could be, in some bizarre and infinitely unlikly situation, of unbelievable importance to someone.

The 'official work' I got it from was actually 'The Guiness Book of Records 1967'. I don't really have a clue about chemistry.

This 1000+ letter word is of no use to anybody. In it's current form it is pointless and unuseable in a normal situation. So far all it's done is made me angry. If it was shortened to something more sensible it would be alright. I demand it be shortened by those who allowed it to grow so large.

But if you had recognised that up till then it hadn't done anything at all, good or bad, you probably wouldn't have gotten mad at it, thereby allowing it to continue to have done nothing. Therefore its only crime is—in a sense—your own.

That's not to say it isn't a stupid word. It is. It's not only a stupid word, but it's also a stupid word to get all waxy about, if you'll pardon my candor.

We do... Oh... I haven´t really got an answer yet to my question. Can I eat it?

I can't agree that it's a legitimate word - words are, after all, tools for communication. That abomination we're discussing is no tool, it's a hindrance. It would be more useful just to assign that substance a number, than go to all the effort of giving it an unusable name.

Well....although I do object to calling this the longest word, that particular string of characters has its uses. Any competent organic chemist, given that listing, could use it as a complete description of the molecule in question, and draw out its chemical structure. Perhaps it's more useful to think of this "word" as a sort of computer program, a set of instructions in a stylized language that just happens to not use spaces between tokens.

There is information in that string that wouldn't be present if the substance were just assigned a number.

Having made a brief scan of various internet resources on the subject, it does seem possible that Pneumonoultramicroscpoicsilicovolcanoconiosis might be counted as the longest common-usage word... however, the Oxford English Dictionary apparently defines it as a word which is only really actually used as an example of the longest word in the English language; it has various equivalents a mere few syllables in length.

Cheeky person.

This word reminded me of that village in Wales.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

It's such a phony place! These peple, many years ago, gave their village a ridiculous name. Now it's modern inhabitants have realised it's potential and started cashing in on their long name. If you go there, you'll see the chufty they've got on their village's name. They're all a bunch of sell-outs!

So let's call Plymouth kuthgfleuthclirenvkrdygnvliehnvksehnuidchnkgehglinuvhekuvdhvcmnemhvldkmhut
and watch the money flow into our coffers.