Word of the Week
Created | Updated Jun 18, 2003
In the dim dark recesses of h2g2 history
before we moved lock, stock and barrel to our new BBC
home there used to be a front page feature The h2g2 Word of the Day. It was
a way to highlight some of the lesser occurring or
largely obscurer words in the English language. Sadly
this feature was discontinued.
Until now...
Word for the Week
Some words seem to be invented just so as to
express their meaning. This weeks words is one of
those and thanks to The Phantom Slug for suggesting it
on 5 February 2000. The slug, sadly, has left the
building - probably enjoying a long lunch on a lettuce
leaf somewhere.
hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian
adj : pertaining to a very, very long word
For a site full of word-smiths I was shocked to
find that the only occurrence of this word in the
entirety of h2g2 is in its suggestion for 'Word of the
Day'. So I trust that seeing its use in this column
will inspire you all to use
hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian and other multisyllabic
words.
From the Archive
This week, in honour of the subject of my 45 words
column, this weeks archive classic is a word that sums
Garfield up very well.
It was suggested by Ioreth, who has been on hiatus for
just over a year now, on the 27 February 2000. We
suspect Ioreth is still caught up in all the publicity
that Peter Jackson's films are bringing her way.
Hellion
n. A mischievous or unrestrainable person, esp. a
youth.
As for its use on site it has cropped up in the
thread 'what is wrong with h2g2 researchers' post
1322. Possibly in response to the post above about
Emmi's legs or possibly Purple was
summing us all up on 7 December 2002 as being such.
Who knows?
Ioreth celebrates the inclusion of her suggestion
for Word of the Day in her journal on 28 February 2000
which shows a very quick turnaround at the time by the
italics. Odradek muses at
Ioreth's going away party how she got a reputation as
a hellion. Someone asks in a thread about Warhammer
4000 what is a Hellion? Well now you know. However the
word has also be brandished about as a good humoured, I
trust, intellectual insult on a number of occasions on
site.
How can you
contribute?
- Go and check out words in the archive to
avoid duplication. - Check out the discussion threads and nominate a
word that you feel was
overlooked before discontinuation. - Suggest a new word or your forgotten word in the
word of the week archive
conversation.
