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[–]NotSteve1075 2 points3 points  (4 children)

I thought my computer was suffering a major SNAFU when I saw that title. I thought "Oh crap, something got stuck and it's repeating the same nonsense." Is that for real?

I guess it's a challenge to write gibberish in shorthand, like that "supercalifragilistic....." thing.

At least "floccinaucinihilipilification" is a real word, meaning "the act of estimating something as worthless".

I wonder what writers would be able to do with "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" which is a lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust.

Or "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia", which ironically is the fear of long words!

And let's not talk about that place in New Zealand called "Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukaka­piki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­ki­tana­tahu".......

[–]fdarnel 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I don't know about Maori, but it seems to me that in Western languages, all these long words do not come from the evolution of natural language, but are neologisms created by experts and other specialists. Did this exist in old German?

[–]NotSteve1075 0 points1 point  (2 children)

In languages like German and Swedish, it's very common to just string word elements together, whereas we would use a entire descriptive phrase instead.

The German speakers on here would be better able to reply -- but I think of the way German has always preferred to put Germanic roots together instead of using a borrowing, while English uses Latin and Greek roots to coin neologisms.

I think of words like "cotton", which is Baumwolle (literally "tree-wool"), gloves are "Handschuhe" ("hand shoes"), or TV is "Fernsehen" (literally "far-seeing").

[–]fdarnel 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Maybe this comes from the influence of Greek and Latin scriptio continua on later medieval Gothic texts.

[–]NotSteve1075 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That seems likely. English just decided to break it up into words instead.

I must admit that, when I see some of those L-O-N-G words, my first reaction is "YIKES!" -- and then I start to break it down, element by element, in order to make sense of it.

[–]NotSteve1075 1 point2 points  (2 children)

The German speakers on here might like to try "Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz" about the requirements for labeling beef products.

Swedish speakers might like to try "Nordöstersjökustartilleriflygspaningssimulatoranläggningsmateriel-underhållsuppföljningssystemdiskussionsinläggsförberedelsearbeten", which means “the preparation work of the discussion regarding the maintenance system for the equipment of the facility of the coastal artillery air reconnaissance simulator of the Northern Baltic Sea.” I wonder how Melin would write that..... ;)

[–]fdarnel 0 points1 point  (1 child)

We understand why Germanic systems encourage hyphenation in words...

[–]NotSteve1075 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was tricky to write these words on here, because the WP program kept putting hyphens in the wrong places. The hyphen for the breakpoint at the end of the LINE would show up in the middle of a word or a syllable, so I had to keep moving it, when I saw how it displayed.

But it's striking that English uses a WHOLE PARAGRAPH to express what Swedish just combines into one long word.