image by Steve Buissinne on pixabay
After remarking yesterday that I love words, I remembered this post from back in January 2013. So here’s giving it another airing
Like all writers words cast a spell upon me, a fascination. But, I swear, I didn’t go looking for hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. It found me. But it started me thinking. This is the result.
For the writer words are his wattle and daub, (‘he’ because we women can be magnanimous and I’d rather be a he than they), they’re his bricks and mortar, his steel and cement. His raw materials. And like all raw materials they can be divided into classes.
- Verbs and nouns: the stones, the wood, the bricks, aforesaid.
- Conjunctions, prepositions and other small bits: the nuts and bolts, the nails and mortar.
- Adjectives and adverbs: the softening curves and the decorative, non-functional pieces. That which turns Bauhaus into Baroque.
All of which is my rococo way of introducing
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
Yes, you’ve guessed the meaning. That suffixed phobia gave it away. The fear of long words.
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crispina kemp 
Ironic the term describing the fear of long words is a long word itself.
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Part of its amusement factor… 🙂
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And here I started off thinking it had something to do with fear of hippopotami.. Well either that or a slur to ones chosen weight…. Excellent read the original article as well. I had no idea there were so many words to be feared….
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Yea, I could have subtitled it: We and our Phobias.
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And here I thought it was the fear of a monstrous cross between a hippo, a squid, and a dahlia: a large flowering beast with tentacles and big jaws, best known for killing Hollywood actresses.
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No, easy mistake though. What you describe in a hippopotomonstrosesquipettaliophila. 🙂
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Ah, um, well, isn’t that a mistake anyone could make? 😉
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Absolutely. I wouldn’t have known if someone hadn’t drawm my attention to it (it was actually a typo I’d made… oops)
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Ah.
I feel better.
Crispina made a mistake.
That cancels out my mistake.
I’m still in the running for the apotheosis. (“There can be only one.”)
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Yea, those typos. But I’m glad you’ve found a way out of my really nasty meany slap down.
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My obtuseness is up to any challenge!
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This, I have noticed over the years; I wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Hippo…what? LOL.
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Yep. It’s a real word. And a real fear. 🙂
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Indeed. I read the reblog. Some words like “Neologism”, “Homonyms” and the “-logue”s are familiar, the rest are an entirely new territory for me! Good stuff though 🙂
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Pulled from a run-of-the-mill dictionary, not even a psychology manual. 🙂
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