Weird Wurd for May 19, 2010

Floccinaucinihilipilification:
(Flock-sin-ow-sin-hill-ih-pilla-fah-kay-shun)
Remember, there's no I in team. But there are plenty in floccinaucinihilipilification to make up for it. 9 letters out of the 29-letter word are I's.
If you ever wanted your word to become a mainstream, often-used word, make it short. Obviously whoever coined this word had absolutely no knowledge of this law that I just stated.

So, what's floccinaucinihilipilification mean anyway? Well, it's just a very fancy (or is it annoying?) way to say "worthless." Actually, sometimes you'd think floccinaucinihilipilification would be easier to say that getting your point across when you want to say worth less. Too bad the poor soul who invented this weird word couldn't have made it a bit shorter.
So did some moron on a mountaintop just invent this new crazy word? Like most words in the English language, it came from Latin. It literally means "I do not make a straw of..." Now what does that have to do with worthlessness? Well, back in the day, straw was pretty cheap. So, if you don't make a straw of something, you wouldn't make a straw's worth of money off something that's floccinaucinihilipilification.

Weird Wurd for May 18, 2010

Pneumatophore:

(new-mat-oh-fawr)

These are not four different types of Pneumato. Actually, pneumatophore (and yes, I did copy and paste the word) is a fancy word for aerial roots, which are in themselves a fancy word. These roots are ones that appear above ground, unlike most roots (remember anything from biology?) Specifically, pneumatophores are trees that have aerial roots to breathe air. These are common in swamps, where the soil is very spungy and air cannot be gathered easily from the ground.

The origin of this word is obviously Latin. How is it obvious? Could you spell pneumatophore by hearing it being pronounced? Okay then. It's Latin. Anyway, pneumatophore comes from two Latin words:

-pneumato: Air, breathe, spirit

-phore: "Bearer of"

So to remember what this word is, think:

"New Matt was 0 and 4."

Have fun trying to fit that into conversation today!