# Your Favorite Multi-syllabic Word **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427 "2017-09-27T14:58:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/1 "2017-09-27T14:58:46Z")
Why use a whole sentence when one word will do…even if that one word is longer than the original sentence. 😃 A guy by the name of Michael Longcor introduced me to this one-[_Rhinotellexomania_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lapxKZ9VVY) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/2 "2017-09-27T15:42:35Z")
[_Pneumonoultramiscroscopicsilicovolcanoconioisis_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis); been a favorite of mine since I discovered it in the dictionary when I was like 10 years old. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/3 "2017-09-27T16:45:27Z")
Sesquipedalian. First of all, it describes itself. Second, I like the way it sounds and tastes. Third, it’s perfect for Clerlihews. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/4 "2017-09-27T16:49:59Z")
Linguistically, I’m rather fond of [poronkusema](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/poronkusema): > [@](#): > > Compound of poron (“reindeer’s”) +‎ kusema (“peed by”); the distance a reindeer could travel without stopping to urinate. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > A guy by the name of Michael Longcor introduced me to this one-[_Rhinotellexomania_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lapxKZ9VVY) It’s bad enough to link to a seven-minute video with no explanation. Even worse is a really annoying seven-minute video. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/5 "2017-09-27T16:55:27Z")
Don’t know if they’re my favorites, but I have a weakness for the names of complex mathematical solids Even the relatively simple **Dodecahedron** and **Icosahedron**. But then the **Cuboctahedron** and **Rhombicuboctahedron** and the **Rhombicosidodecahedron** and other Archimedean solids that can be described with a single word. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/6 "2017-09-27T17:03:53Z")
Can I list a second one? It’s a word I learned a couple of decades ago that I have never once seen used in anything not written by me; I’ll use it in a sentence and y’all can see if you can guess the meaning from the context: President Donald Trump is a fucking **snollygoster**. [snollygoster](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/snollygoster): a shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/7 "2017-09-27T17:06:32Z")
I’ve always been sentimental about _antidisestablishmentarianism_ and _coprophagia_. Wait, let me rephrase that… ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/8 "2017-09-27T17:08:28Z")
Koyaanisqatsi. ---
**Author:** ![justmeinsb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8dc957/32.png) [@justmeinsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justmeinsb)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/9 "2017-09-27T17:18:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why use a whole sentence when one word will do…even if that one word is longer than the original sentence. 😃 > > A guy by the name of Michael Longcor introduced me to this one-[_Rhinotellexomania_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lapxKZ9VVY) Deliquescence. I just learned this word yesterday in a poem on that poetry site Garrison Keillor does the podcast for. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/10 "2017-09-27T17:24:18Z")
While it is not a long word, it has four syllables, which I suppose makes it sufficiently polysyllabic. Since I was a young lad, I have been a fan of _suffonsify_, meaning satisfied. My grandfather often would use it as follows after an inquiry if he wanted more food at dinner, “My sufficiency has been suffonsified; any more would be a copious redundancy.” I learned years later that the word was used mainly in Canada and Michigan, an area from which he hailed. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/11 "2017-09-27T17:27:23Z")
I’m going with [tintinnabulation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintinnabulation) for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/12 "2017-09-27T17:29:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Sesquipedalian. First of all, it describes itself. Second, I like the way it sounds and tastes. Third, it’s perfect for Clerlihews. Have you met my friend [hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian)? Me, I like [susurration](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/susurration). ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/13 "2017-09-27T17:43:59Z")
Diabolical. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/14 "2017-09-27T17:54:11Z")
[antidisestablishmentarianism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidisestablishmentarianism_(word)) is always a good one. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/15 "2017-09-27T17:58:48Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Koyaanisqatsi. Good word; great film! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/16 "2017-09-27T18:10:57Z")
Obviosity. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/17 "2017-09-27T18:13:55Z")
[quote=“Snowboarder\_Bo, post:6, topic:797427”] President Donald Trump is a fucking **snollygoster**. And a twitterguffer ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/18 "2017-09-27T18:16:34Z")
“Absquatulate,” which was a mock-Latin word in pre-Civil War America meaning “to get the hell out of here.” “Defenestration,” meaning the throwing of something out of a window. When I was teaching rowing and canoeing at Scout summer camp many years ago, I put up a sign at the waterfront reading “Absolutely no defenestration allowed.” In those pre-cellphone days, no one knew what it meant but me. (There are even two historical examples, both in Prague: [Defenestrations of Prague - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague)). ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/19 "2017-09-27T18:28:17Z")
Callipygian ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427/20 "2017-09-27T18:37:47Z")
\*Prestidigitation \*is the first thing that came to my mind. I’m also partial to _exsanguination_, _defenestration_, _mendacity_, and _corpulence_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-multi-syllabic-word/797427.md?page=2)