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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Want to sound cleverer than Jacob Rees-Mogg? Here are five long words to drop into conversation | Want to sound cleverer than Jacob Rees-Mogg? Here are five long words to drop into conversation |
| (6 months later) | |
| The record for the longest word spoken in parliament has been broken with pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis – but there are plenty of alternatives | |
| David Shariatmadari | |
| Mon 31 Jul 2017 15.36 BST | |
| Last modified on Sat 25 Nov 2017 02.28 GMT | |
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| Is this the first sign of Moggmentum draining away? We can but hope. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the MP for North East Somerset and the 18th century, has been knocked off his perch as utterer of parliament’s longest word. Michael Bryan’s use of “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” in a select committee meeting means floccinaucinihilipilification’s reign – it has been a mere five years since Rees-Mogg said it during a Commons debate – is over. Whether Bryan will follow through on this promising start by naming his future children after numbers is yet to be seen. He’s only 16, which means there’s plenty of time for a course correction if the position of National Fogey loses its appeal. In the meantime, here are five words you can slip into conversation if you want to put in a bid yourself. | Is this the first sign of Moggmentum draining away? We can but hope. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the MP for North East Somerset and the 18th century, has been knocked off his perch as utterer of parliament’s longest word. Michael Bryan’s use of “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” in a select committee meeting means floccinaucinihilipilification’s reign – it has been a mere five years since Rees-Mogg said it during a Commons debate – is over. Whether Bryan will follow through on this promising start by naming his future children after numbers is yet to be seen. He’s only 16, which means there’s plenty of time for a course correction if the position of National Fogey loses its appeal. In the meantime, here are five words you can slip into conversation if you want to put in a bid yourself. |
| Antidisestablishmentarianism | Antidisestablishmentarianism |
| The problem with many of these whoppers is that they’re fake, invented many years ago on the playing fields of Eton for the likes of Rees-Mogg to show off with. Some lexicographers call them “stunt words”. This is the mother of all stunt words and is said to mean “opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England”, although Oxford Dictionaries says it’s hardly ever used genuinely. Enjoy dropping it into conversations with bishops. | The problem with many of these whoppers is that they’re fake, invented many years ago on the playing fields of Eton for the likes of Rees-Mogg to show off with. Some lexicographers call them “stunt words”. This is the mother of all stunt words and is said to mean “opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England”, although Oxford Dictionaries says it’s hardly ever used genuinely. Enjoy dropping it into conversations with bishops. |
| Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch | Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch |
| Another invented one: the name of a station in Wales, created in order to attract tourists to the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll in the 1860s. In other words, smart 19th-century PR. Use it to brighten a National Rail customer service representative’s day. | Another invented one: the name of a station in Wales, created in order to attract tourists to the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll in the 1860s. In other words, smart 19th-century PR. Use it to brighten a National Rail customer service representative’s day. |
| Cystoureteropyelonephritis | Cystoureteropyelonephritis |
| Bryan had the right idea in seeking out a medical word. They can get awfully long, since the components – often Greek words for organs and the like – are piled on top of one another. This one means combined inflammation of the bladder, ureter, renal pelvis and renal pyramids, and can be used to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to GPs. | Bryan had the right idea in seeking out a medical word. They can get awfully long, since the components – often Greek words for organs and the like – are piled on top of one another. This one means combined inflammation of the bladder, ureter, renal pelvis and renal pyramids, and can be used to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to GPs. |
| Avrupalılaştırılamıyanlardansınız | Avrupalılaştırılamıyanlardansınız |
| Other languages don’t need to pull stunts, particularly if they are what is known in linguistics as “agglutinating” (tending to sticking things together). In Turkish, whole sentences can end up looking like single words. This one feels appropriate for our times. It means: “You’re one of those out of whom we can’t make a European.” | Other languages don’t need to pull stunts, particularly if they are what is known in linguistics as “agglutinating” (tending to sticking things together). In Turkish, whole sentences can end up looking like single words. This one feels appropriate for our times. It means: “You’re one of those out of whom we can’t make a European.” |
| Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianism | Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianism |
| What Rees-Mogg, Bryan and this article have been distracting you with. The stunt word to end them all – and hopefully shut down further conversation about stunt words – is supposed to describe a fetish for long – hippopotamusly, monstrously, foot-and-a-half-long – words. | What Rees-Mogg, Bryan and this article have been distracting you with. The stunt word to end them all – and hopefully shut down further conversation about stunt words – is supposed to describe a fetish for long – hippopotamusly, monstrously, foot-and-a-half-long – words. |
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