Topic awaiting preservation: Word of the Day (Page 1 of 1)

Been a while. Twist your tongue around this one.

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Batrachomyomachy (Noun)

Pronunciation: [bæ-trê-kê-mI-'om-ê-ki]

Definition 1: A fight over nothing; a storm in a teacup.

Usage 1: Although its usage seems not to be attested, "batrachomyomachian" [bæ-trê-kê-mI-o-'mæ-ki-ên] is a well-constructed adjective and someone given to batrachomyomachy might well be called a "batrachomyomachist" [bæ-trê-kê-mI-'om-ê-kist].

Suggested usage: Fights over nothing are regrettably common: "The noise from upstairs suggests that the children have started a new batrachomyomachy." And those prepared to fight about nothing are even more common: "I see you already have five e-mails from Gordon, our office batrachomyomachist." Those willing to wait for you to finish uttering today's 7-syllable word may be less common—best rattle if off trippingly.

Etymology: The Greek word means "The Battle of Frogs and Mice." It is the title of a mock-heroic epic poem that recounts a tiny struggle around a small pond using overblown terms that recall the siege of Troy. Originally attributed to Homer, it probably dates from the fifth century BC and contains batrachos "frog," mus "mouse," and "machia" fighting. Batrachos gives us "batrachian," pertaining to a frog or toad and "batrachophagous," a synonym for a previous Word of the Day, "ranivorous." Mus, via Latin, gives us "murine," pertaining to mice; Latin musculus "little mouse" gives us "muscle," presumably a reference to the rippling of a powerful forearm. Finally, Greek machia comes from Proto-Indo-European *magh, meaning "power," which has also given us "mighty," "machine," "magic," "magus" and "dismay."


—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

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=)

damn, that's quite the dinosaur of a word. aaaaaaahaha-trippingly said.

antidisestablishmentarianism - noun
- opposition to the disestablishment of the Church or England (Oxford English Dictionary)
- a rare British term meaning "opposition to removing the tie between the Church of England and the state"

floccinaucinihilipilification - noun
the action or habit of estimating something as worthless - invented by William Shenstone in 1741

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - noun
fear of long words

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a 1,913-letter chemical name for tryptophan synthetase A protein, an enzyme consisting 267 amino acids

Pretty long, eh?



[This message has been edited by Rameses Niblik the Third (edited 07-26-2003).]

^^^ Holy smokes !!! are you sure there are no - _' :" or anything in this word?????

Heard of the chemical name for that enzime. Damn scary.

Never heard of that long word phobia, das very cool.

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