Just did a search on floccinoccinihilipilification. Yours was the only site on the entire internet that came up but the page referred to is not available. Okay, so can you help? What does it mean? What is its derivation? Any help would be appreciated.

that would be ask jeeves i don't know what floccinoccinihilipilification means, but it sounds like it hurts, and leaves you with a feeling of sheepish, godless emptiness when the sun comes up story of my life

I'm stumped. Cdn't find it in any of the online dictionaries.

hey Grock, why'd you search for that word anyway, if you have no idea what it means or has to do with?

according to usenet, floccinoccinihilipilification is among the longest English words, defined as: "The act or habit of considering things useless" here is a second reference

Thanks, Mark.

When you choose to look up a word/isn't it usually becuz you have no idea what it means? When I can hazard an educated guess on my own/I don't bother w/the dictionary. I still don't recall ever seeing that word posted here before. But Grock sads the search engine lead to Sorabjiland...

I thought it sounded like George Clinton made it up. Sorabji was right the first time.

supergroovalisticprosifunkstication, baby.

i know my latin, but was too drunk last night to make much of it. after further research, it sounds like one of those words that comes up sometimes when someone asks what the longest word in the english language is. "floccinoccinihilipilification" is usually dismissed as being unnecessarily lengthy. the page in question is, in fact, available through the earlier link. it's also here

I first heard of that word about fifteen years ago, while searching through the Oxford English dictionary for cool words to impress people with. I also like the word 'defenestration', which means to throw oneself out of a window.

i'd love to check the etymology. only a complete asshole could come up with a word like "defenestration" to communicate the urge... well, the actuality of throwing one's self out a window. i guess it's a noun rather than a verb. probably latin in origin. fuck the italians. fuck the greeks. fuck the french. if i lived in high-rise and wanted to throw myself out the window, i sure as hell wouldn't call it a "defenestration". i'd call it a "glass-eating end note". and i'd most definitely try to land on somebody.

The most frequently mentioned reference (and possibly the origin) of the word "defenestration" was the defenestration of Prague. The Polish ((?) I asked a Russian friend, but I'm not sure) people got sick of their legislature and threw the bums out--literally. Don't remember more detail than that.

"Defenestrate" is, in fact, from the Latin root "fenestra" meaning "window," and it generally means to throw something or someone out a window. "Defenestrate" is also used in computing to describe exiting a windows system, or perhaps it is meant to describe what to do with an MS computer system.

the famous prague defenestration took place on staromestke namesti, next to the astronomical clock. when I lived in prague I lived in a panelak, a '60s commie rebar-and-concrete housing project. the apartments didn't have refrigerators, but they had little shelves outside the window. during the summer the shelf was worthless as a cooling device, so I grew marijuana there (it was unclear whether this was illegal -- vaclav havel shoots down the few drug bills that get passed in czech parliament). I was going to try to bring this story back to the defenestration theme, but I changed my mind. the end.

i love havel, i have read numerous interviews with him by lou reed about the music revolution in the late sixties. he is an artist that actually managed lead a country to some sort of civil freedom, Cyst tell us more about Prague and Czech culture.

Thanks, Cyst. I'm bad at geography. So I asked a friend who was at the party I posted from, who was from Russia. He said it was in Poland. I believed him. It was that kind of party.

czech culture: it used to be that the germans held the title for most-beer-drinking-per-capita. then czechoslovakia split up, and now the czechs hold that distinction. when I lived in prague in 1994, bill clinton was having women troubles, and vaclav havel said something like, bill clinton just picks the wrong women -- none of my mistresses would ever talk to the media about me. hahahaha. when I was looking for a place to stay I once called up an old czech woman whom my great-aunt had known in liberia before civil war started there, to see if she knew of any available apartments. this woman and my aunt had been part of an expat culture comprised mostly of people who could no longer stay in their homelands. (my great-aunt was kicked out of indonesia when the dutch lost control there; the czech woman and her husband had left just before the communists took over.) anyway, so this 70-year-old woman found her way across town to my office and told me that she didn't know of any apartments but, even though we had never met, that I was welcome to live with her until I could find a place of my own. that is czech culture.

While it's true that the separation of the Czechs from the Slovaks has left them the beer per capita champs, if the same happened with Bavaria vis-a-vis Germany, they'd bring the honor back across the Danube. Bavarians drink almost twice as much beer as their "Prussian" compatriots. I miss Munich.

I miss Munch.

And whatever happened to Edvard Munsch?

"the scream" wallpaper is available at softseek.com

floccinaucinihilipilification comes from British english a long time ago and means "something that is worth a heap of air" as in, not much. "The U.S. government is a floccinaucinihilipilification of beauraucracy." (App had a crazed latin teacher and fnnpfction. was his favorite word.)

In a recent poll in England to find people's favourite word came up with "serendipity" in the top spot. Second was quindish (sp?), or whatever that game is they play in Harry Potter books. Love, bollocks, peace, muggle, family, fuck and football were also up there (not necessarily in that order).

Bollocks might be my favorite word. Quench. Uncouth. Couth. Squeegee. More favorite words.

Yes, I'm quite fond of the word "bollocks." Also, "bugger" (as in "bugger off" or "can't be buggered" or "bugger it all.") "Bloody" and "bleedin'" are good too. "Ah bloody hell" is a fine rail.

Indeed, it is. So is blast. Blast it all! One of my friends says "suck" to cuss. I like it. "Oh, suck!"

i snap my fingers. or frick. "oh, frick! frick frick frick!" was my cry at mervyn's, which you could hear if i was tagging jeans or somesuch nonsense. there's also "son of a biscuit eater, but that's rather long.

Frick. I like that one too. BLOW ME! That's a good one.

Musn't forget "Damn their oily hides!"

Oh, yes...don't forget hells yeah!

erm. ahem. barbarous. antidisestablishmentarianism. atherosclerosis. shrift. pugnacious. and, of course, pollywog.

Flabbergasted recalcitrant bonk knickers troglodyte persimmon doppelganger tickety-boo boffo and spiffy Actually I quite like self-invented word combinations, like "deciduous-hairline" to describe dandruff. And of course, spanking-new insults are all the rage with me right now. Bumrush or Smegmaface or whatever.

I like invented words too, they're so much fun. It's much easier to insult someone when they don't understand what you're saying. Ugh. The airline has completely mucked up my tickets back to California. Bloody hell. All I want is a seat on some plane going to some airport in California. All I ask.

Wow! I knew Floccinoccinihilipilification existed! I heard it once when I was 11 or 12, and have searched every dictionary since! Praise the lord for this Web site and the crazy people who post to it!

I'm about to turn them all to pillars of salt so they can be sprinkled on fries everywhere

I love salt,I eat it on fuit and jello,and I put it in my beer,when you live in a desert,you should drink lots of water so you don't get dehydrated,and end up looking like a walnut.I swear to BOB.

You'd better be careful, J..... Ted Koppell looks EXACTLY LIKE A WALNUT....and you DON'T WANT THAT!!!!!!!!!!

Oh,I have good skin,and I drink lots of water,and use sunblock,and I wear sunscreen,God has been very good to Janny.

not mention a great ass! YOINK!

Serves me right for reading old posts where Patrick posts something about someone's ass... I"M the complete asshole who wrote the poem "Defenestration" some years ago. I think it's around somewhere, may be at Navelgazer, or may be I sent it there and it didn't get posted. Geez, doesn't my past ever DIE?

and yes, "Defenestration" WAS about an alcoholic grandfatherly man, completely alone and alienated, jumping out of a window.

I like "Poofter" best of all the Brit words. That & 'biffed' or 'boxed' for drunk. Sounds so much better than shitfaced. THAT'S what Sorabji needs -- a thread of synonyms for drunk! (But I won't qualify til the weekend.) I had a really weird dream last nite abt seeing Mark playing piano in a hotel bar in Vegas. But I'll save it for a rainy day...

"Wearing a wobbly boot" = Aussie for drunk.

Hey cat, you up late or early?

Up early. Working. Not a lot of business going past my corner today though. Have to strut my stuff a bit more, I guess.

You go, cat.

"Wearing a concrete wig"---Lord Buckley's analogy for a hangover. "Hammered", "Snockered", "Sloshed"...some fave colloquiallisms.... That "Defenstration" guy sounds like me at age 60.....

I've always just liked "faded." I need a good word for a hangover... it's coming on strong, and if i name it, maybe I can convince it to go away?

blah. yeah. I had to run to catch the last MAX train, and that didn't help any. Roommate and I went out with two other friends, and ended up holding court at the Matador with 13 people total in our group. Good stuff... Not used to having people smoke in bars, though. it got too me after a while. I was at that point where as long as I don't drink any more, I would be okay, except all the nicotine fumes were making my tummy do the unhappy dance. All of my friends went home with each other or someone they met at the bar. Some scenester wearing leopard print tried to get me to go with her, but I know better than that. I laughed at her. It just happened. I may regret that when she hunts me down and kicks my ass tomorrow. It was like some bad movie. I haven't ever been picked up on in my life, as far as I can recall, and here's this new girl who seems like a nice sort, and she was giving me the eye, and then she offered me a ride to her place, and I just lost it because the whole scene was just so pricelessly b-grade movie, and I wasn't even interested in the slightest wee little bit. On the upside, I found a bar I like here. Feels like home. Sleazy old men at the counter, scuzzypunks in the back showing each other their tattoos, 25 cent pool tables, a cranky old hippie woman bartender with a loose hand. Yeah. nice. Don't think I'll be able to drink white russians for a while, though. Milk flavored alcohol. I'm DEFINITELY still drunk. didn't notice till just now. I should walk down to the diner and get some coffee.

here's your hangover term: Someone rented out my cranium to Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. anyone read that?

tom lemme know if you meet a short, crusty, jewish punker named jared who is in culinary school who can geek to you about punk rock records till the sun comes up. he's a long time school mate of mine, and the bar you descibe sounds like the one he sips at. and for the record...the idea of mixing milk and alcohol is like giving a bicycle to a fish...its just wrong.

the bar was (and probably still is) called the Matador. I'll put out my Jared radar. And yeah. I'm all about JTHM. well, really, I'm all about happy noodle boy. I have powers pinto beans can only dream of!

I drink milk with my booze,it builds strong bones.

you are also a cute desert pixie pothead with a potty mouth from mars j soooooo......

J loves you Patrick,I was telling Cat the other day that you were the one Sorabjite that I think is the most like me,this could be good:)

Patrick, you are a lucky man

ok

I think "pneumonoultramicroscopic- silicovolcanoconiosis", which is a lung disease, is the longest word in any english dictionary. However, "Methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalanylaianylglutaminylieucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanylyalyithreonylieucylglycylaspartylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanylglycylalanylaspartylalanylleucyllutamylleucylglycylisoleucylpro6dphenylalanylserylaspartylprolylleuceialanylaspartylglycylprolythreonylisoleucylglutaminylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanylglycylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamylmethionylleucyalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylphenylaianylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyltyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylvalylaspartylserylvalylieucylvalylalanylaspartyl valylprolylvalylglutaminylglutamylserylaianylprolylphenylalanylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidyla,sparaginylvalylalanylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanylaspartylaspartylaspartylieucylleucylarginylglutaminylisoleticylalanylseryltyrosylglycylarginylglcyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylceucylserylarginylalanylglycylvalylthreonylglycyialanylglutamylasparaginylarginylanylalanylleucylprolylleucylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparaginylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylserylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylaianylisoleucylaspartylaianylglycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanylisoleucylbalyllysylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylprolylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylieucylisylvaphenyllyalanylvalylglutaminylprolylmethionyllsylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine." or "Tryptophan Synthetase A-Protein" for short, is probably the least used word in the medical dictionary. (I am not making this up)