October 2, 2008

a sexy sesquipedalian

I want to be a sexy sesquipedalian,
brevity is over-rated.
That's the first thing that came to mind after learning a new word from Maureen Dowd's writeup in the NYT today remembering Paul Newman. (Should say, much as I enjoy her snark and wit usually, somehow the article today was disappointing and does not do justice to Newman or her own writing talents. It seems like it was written in a hurry and not much thought was put into it and I don't say that only because it ends suddenly. Seems like a quick job that she felt obliged to do (due to Newmans death) in the midst of the political campaign... big let down for me; though I learned a word!)

Ok.. indulge me - feel like writing some bad poetry. :)

I want to be a sexy sesquipedalian,
brevity is over-rated.

I may be a man of few words,
but remember I'm the one who at 10 (or 12?)
had learned to spell
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis;
though I didn't care much for Greek dishes.*

You may undermine my effort through
floccinaucinihilipilification (2),
(arguably the longest word without an e)
and accuse me of antidisestablishmentarianism
(longest word excluding coined and technical ones)
but I'm just ....well...supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

* Lopadotemakhoselakhogameokranioleipsanodrimypotrimmatosilphiokarabomelitokatakekhymenokikhlepikossyphophattoperister-alektryonoptokephalliokigklopeleiolagōiosiraiobaphētraganopterýgōn.
2) "the act of describing something as worthless, or making something to be worthless by deprecation".

2 comments:

Ninad said...

Remember we had knew how to spell and speak
pneomono............
in school maybe in 7th or 8th
We even found the meaning of it.
This was in the pre-pre-pre-google days
Nowadays I teach it to my kid who just laughs and i dont remember even phone numbers forget spellings.

Sanjeev said...

Exactly...when I said I learned that word when I was 10 or 12th...that's what I was referring to.

My memory also is obviously not quite what it used to be.

let me see if i remember it though.. i might.

pneumonoultramicroscopisilicovolcanoconiosis.

go check if it is correct. honest, i wrote that from memory. the other day, i cut-n-pasted....so it is not that i had recently read/practiced/typed it.

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