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Jan 11, 2018
This week’s themeLong words with short definitions This week’s words senectitude weltanschauung infundibuliform floccinaucinihilipilification pneumonoultramicrosco- picsilicovolcanoconiosis
During hyperinflation in Germany in 1923, it was cheaper to use currency notes as wallpaper
Photo: German Fed. Archives/Wikimedia
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargfloccinaucinihilipilification
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: Estimating as worthless.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin flocci, from floccus (tuft of wool) + nauci, from naucum
(a trifling thing) + nihili, from Latin nihil (nothing) + pili, from pilus
(a hair, trifle) + -fication (making). Earliest documented use: 1741.
NOTES:
This word was coined by combining four Latin terms flocci, nauci,
nihili, pili, all meaning something of little or no value, which were
listed in the well-known Eton Latin Grammar of Eton College in the UK.
The word seems to be popular in the US government. It has been heard from
the mouths of White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, Senator Robert Byrd,
and Senator Jesse Helms, among others.
A related word is floccipend.
USAGE:
“I have been gathering relevant state public investment data since 2000 and
in that time have provided a consistent approach to calculating Our Fair
Share. I hope I avoid the floccinaucinihilipilification.” Colin Dwyer; Region Has Missed Out on Due Wealth; Townsville Bulletin (Australia); Jun 10, 2014. “She tells me that Floccinaucinihilipilification is the name she wants our first child to have. I say the name is terribly long.” Craig Stone; The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness; Troubador; 2016. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest. The
maple and the pine may whisper to each other with their leaves ... But the
trees also commingle their roots in the darkness underground, and the
islands also hang together through the ocean's bottom. -William James,
psychologist and philosopher (11 Jan 1842-1910)
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