The Longest Word

[steveinbsas]

When I was a youngster (I think at the age of thirteen) I "learned" (probably in Sunday school) that the longest word in English contains 12 syllables:

The word antidisestablishmentarianism contains 28 letters and 12 syllables (an-ti-dis-es-tab-lish-ment-ar-i-an-is-m).

And it can be found at dictionary.com

Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words

The world's leading online dictionary: English definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more. A trusted authority for 25+ years!

www.dictionary.com

Apparently, it is not in the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.

The longest word in the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary is actually acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene,

"The longest word in the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary is currently acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, which refers to "a tough rigid plastic used especially for automobile parts and building materials," also helpfully known as ABS."

No, Antidisestablishmentarianism Is Not in the Dictionary

But we'll tell you the real 'longest word'

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[FrankPintor]

It certainly is pleasant to see everyone getting into the spirit of this thread!

It's interesting how the ubiquitous cell phone camera has changed the world. If you had told us 40 years ago that it would be possible to pack such a powerful camera into such a thin package, we would have called BS, thinking there just wasn't room for the necessary lenses. But now they are as common as coffee. The changes this old world has seen in my lifetime!

I congratulate you on one of the most innocuous thread hijacks ever.

I would say that the optics are the same as ever. That’s why comparatively ancient companies like Carl Zeiss still exist today.

What’s changed is the sensor. Before it was a film frame and it was damn big. The optics, required for focusing were correspondingly big.

My first steps in the medium were with a 64 element CCD “bucket brigade” sensor.

It was good for a postgrad project but meh.

Now you have minuscule sensors in all dimensions, and your mobile phone software needs to interpolate and average the data to provide you with a photo you can use. The optics are the same.