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

I am not fighting with anyone

"That town in Wales has changed its name to something shorter I believe."

It's called Llanfair on maps, but the long name is still central to tourism. Things on Anglesey don't change particularly swiftly.

B

Ah, I just remembered a news story about it 'changing'. Obviously not changing enough to stop them earning some money.

I disagree. There are bigger proteins out there, actually there is no limit for the length of a protein, so I could come up with a longer word any time.

That reminds me of that stupid school-days conversation:

"OK. Tell me a number!"
"Infinity"
"Hah, infinity plus one. I won!"
"Sigh!"

So, in that sense, whatever your last aminoacid is, mine will be a "...ylglutamine" - any time.

No go, IMO. Also, that Edited Entry is also very dull.

HELL

On the constructive side, you might re-write this Entry, to tell everybody that there is no such thing as a longest word in English, because there are ways to make even longer ones. Just like there is no biggest number or longest book.



HELL

I like that idea.

The 2 entries claim the 2 different spellings:
1,909 letters according to A4130443
1,913 letters according to A182765

Furthermore, a bit of fiddling with =len() in Excel reveals:
1,896 and
1,858 respectively (and that IS without the hyphens)

Regardless of the accuracy of my (quick) calculations, I feel that both are little more than curiosities and, in my opinion, unsuitable for inclusion in the Edited Guide

That protein you mention, at 267 amino acid residues, is a mere baby. For example, the largest protein in the human body occurs in infant heart muscle, and is trivially called 'titin'. Its complete amino acid sequence was published in 2001 and it was found to contain 38,138-amino acid residues, and has a Relative Molecular Mass of 4,200 kD.

Now, who would care to type out that name!?

Ref 'that town in Wales', I wasn't aware of it actually having changed its name - the residents probably wouldn't allow it due to money from tourism. (I well remember a coach driver delighting in articulating this name at every possible opportunity). However, on documents, maps etc it is usually abbreviated to Llanfair P.G.

I like Hell's idea of writing about how you can't claim one word as the 'longest word'

Hope we haven't scared the author away with all this conflicting talk!

Kat

I believe the official name of the town in Wales is Llanfairpwyllgwyngwyll. This is the name on the sign as you go into the town. The only place I found the longer name printed was on the post office.

When I was last there, the railway station (for a 'little train') had it. They also issued a souvenir ticket with the name printed in full.

Whatever the town is called - officially or unofficially - is irrelevant because it's in Welsh, not English.

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned that the subject of this entry is a mere curiosity and not worthy of the EG. I'd tend to agree regarding the existing entry, but some interesting ideas have come up in this thread which could make a worthwhile if relatively short edited entry - what's the longest *real* word, what's the longest scientific word (including Hell's description of why you can always add something on the end like infinity plus one), what's the longest place name - Moretonhampstead I think, and a rounding it off with a nice little conclusion about Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobllllantysiliogogogoch (and no I didn't copy that from anywhere, I really can write it out - and say it out loud too, and will at the drop of a hat ) and what it means in English.

I bet you're fun at parties!

Anyway, an entry on long words in general would be very interesting, and could include abnormally long words from other languages too. It's be a challenge though, anyone fancy taking it up?

"I bet you're fun at parties!"

I can sing 'How Much Is That Doggy in the Window' backwards too, and will at the drop of another hat

Care to write an entry on singing and reciting backwards, Oojakapiv? It's quite an interesting topic, particularly if you get down to the phonetic level.

I've heard it done but never mastered it myself

I read something suggesting that it's a very little-kid thing to do. Someone (and I'm sorry I can't actually cite the source) did a study on kids talking backwards, and apparently it's very common. Some reverse the letters in the word, and some reverse the phonemes, but it's quite interesting either way. I would love to see that entry written!

I know it's not quite the same, but I learnt to say the alphabet backwards phoneticaly (sorry about spelling...).

Ummm... going OT here... but.... what do you mean phonetically? Like spinning a record backward? What about diphtongs and intonation? How do you pronounce a rolling 'r' backwards?

UNK!

HELL