YvonneThere has been a suitably lengthy time between my WWW posts for me to have discovered some great ‘new to me’ words to share with you all – although, perhaps some of you are already familiar with my selection and it will be fun to know how you discovered them …
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1. – From coverage of our recent UK General Election campaign …
John Curtice, the UK’s most prominent psephologist and the man behind the general election exit poll, says there is not now “any way at all that the Conservatives can get to the 326 mark” and win an outright majority.
PSEPHOLOGIST – A person who studies how people vote in elections.
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2. – From a BBC local online news broadcast …
A 16-year-old boy who used a 45-letter word in Parliament has missed out on making a House of Commons record. Michael Bryan said the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis at a Youth Select Committee meeting on 14 July. However, as it was not a parliamentary proceeding it will not be officially recorded in Hansard. MP Jacob Rees-Mogg’s use of 29-letter floccinaucinihilipilification in 2012 remains the longest recorded. A House of Commons spokeswoman said although Mr Bryan’s use of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis would not appear in Hansard, it would appear on the British Youth Council website.
PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS – An invented long word said to mean a lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand dust.
FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION – The action or habit of estimating something as worthless.
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3. – From a book I have recently received for promotion and review …
Spike Sanguinetti walked alone up Engineer Road, scuffed leather briefcase swinging from one hand. His destination – Her Majesty’s Prison, Windmill Hill – had replaced the old gaol at the Moorish Castle, a medieval fortress whose crumbling walls had proven a little too porous to criminals intent on escape. Though it was under a mile from Spike’s office, most of the journey was uphill, and the levanter breeze laden with moisture from its passage up the Mediterranean, brought the usual film of sweat to his high tanned brow.
LEVANTER – An easterly wind in the W Mediterranean area, especially in the late summer
LEVANTER – An inhabitant of the Levant – The Levant has been described as the “crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and northeast Africa”, and the “northwest of the Arabian plate”. The populations of the Levant share not only the geographic position, but cuisine, some customs, and a very long history. They are often referred to as Levantines.
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WONDROUS WORDS WEDNESDAY
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a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading. It is hosted by Kathy, over at ‘BermudaOnion’s Weblog’. You can either stop by and leave a link to your own ‘mystery’ words of the week, or just browse the eclectic mix of words that others have discovered, there is always a great selection.
Don’t forget that Kathy and the rest of us, all love to read your comments as well, so that we can visit and share your words of the week!
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The two political words are completely new to me but I have heard of the Levant and knew where it was as I’m sure you had. But the word ‘Levanter’ is new to me. In Cornwall there was a tin mine near Pendeen called ‘Levant’ (now owned by the NT) and I wonder why they chose that name. Is it because the Phoenicians came to Cornwall to trade in tin and they were from part of the Levant? All very interesting.
Hi Cath,
We have taken the Levant mine tour, although that was some years ago now and to be honest I can’t remember them ever discussing how the mine came by its name.
I was intrigued enough by your comment to check out all the NT and historical information that I could find about Levant, but once again drew a blank about the name’s origin, as this short extract makes no mention of any Medterranean connections …
“The first Levant Mine was begun around 1743, but the current mine was founded in 1820 by a consortium under the directorship of Lewis Charles Daubuz and Mr John Batten. Levant Mine originally mined copper, but in 1835 a large tin deposit was discovered, and the mine expanded to include both substances.”
… I wonder if it might have something to do with the mine stretching out under the sea as it did – or maybe the name Daubuz has some Mediterranean connection?
I love mysteries like this 🙂
Those are all great words and new to me! I don’t think I can even begin to pronounce any of the words from the BBC online broadcast.
Hi Kathy,
The second word from the BBC broadcast has been around for several years and I used to be able to say it straight off, although I never really bothered finding out what it meant. I tried a repeat performance when I was editing the post and I couldn’t even begin to get my tongue around it – an age thing?
Thanks for hosting 🙂
Levanter sounded vaguely familiar to me, but I couldn’t have put a definition to it. The first two didn’t even ring a bell. Good job on stumping me this time!
Political commentators always come up with some excellent and often obscure words, which work a treat for this particular meme!
MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who came up with the now infamous ‘f’ word mentioned above, has a very eccentric personality, a razor sharp wit and a brain the size of a football!
The clouds formed by a Levanter wind are pretty amazing …
“The wind rises in the central Mediterranean or around the Balearic Islands and blows westwards reaching its greatest intensity through the Strait of Gibraltar. The winds are moist carrying fog and precipitation in the eastern side of the Strait, but dry in the western side, as the moisture rains on the mountains between Algeciras and Tarifa. The winds are well known for creating a particular cloud formation above the Rock of Gibraltar; In Almería, the winds are well known for making the temperatures rise as the wind blows across the desert interior of the province. The Levanter winds can occur at any time in the year, but are most common from May to October.”
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=levanter+wind&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHroLiqs3VAhUmKcAKHWweBRUQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=659
I can’t remember ever learning about this during my geography lessons at school 🙂
Never heard of either of these,great words.
Hi Mary Ann,
I was sure I had come across both ‘levanter’ and ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’ before, but I couldn’t have told you what either of them meant, so it made me look up the definitions so that I could share them with you all. Not that I shall ever use any of my selection this week in regular conversation!
Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your comment 🙂
Interesting and long words this week Yvonne, all new ones to me 🙂 Happy weekend.
Hi Naida,
I’m never sure whether people who come out with such long or intellectual words, are secretly hoping that their vocabulary will amaze listeners and readers and make them sound particularly clever, or whether that is genuinely how they discourse in everyday life?
Many are really intriguing words with interesting definitions, but would I ever really use them myself? – probably not!
Great to have you stop by and I hope that all is well 🙂