Throwback Thursday: The Etymology of Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

This week we thought we'd go multi-Throwback Thursday to a past Throwback Thursday where we looked at the magnificent word 'sesquipedalian'. Never one to shy away from a chunky word, so we went full tilt, and went with one of the biggest:

Etymology

From hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian, an extension of sesquipedalian with monstrum ‎(“monster”) and a truncated, misspelled form of hippopotamus, intended to exaggerate the length of the word itself and the idea of the size of the words being feared; combined with phobia.

Noun

hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

1. The fear of long words.

Alternative forms: hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is arguably a common misspelling, perhaps on purpose, to make the word even longer, as most dictionaries consider one ‘P’ to be standard.

Used in a sentence: “Paul has a propensity for perpetuating his hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia and thusly, he rarely uses a lexicon consisting of more than three component syllables.” ‎

Vernacular: Rarely used in the day to day, and it is unlikely that this 15-syllable contrivance is ever used purely for its meaning. The term sesquipedalophobia is recognized in formal writing, while the four-syllable phrase fear of long words is certainly worth considering as a more widely accepted yet far more boring option.

As always, do please head on over to the beautiful blog site to see this in its full, stunning, Karen embellished glory. Same place as always. You know you want to:

http://blog.theprose.com/2015/12/tbt-the-etymology-of-hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia/