Monday, May 11, 2020

May A-Z Challenge: A Pair of Favourite English Words [H]

Blog entry #36

Happy | Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia


Happy
The best state of mind to be in IMHO. Whenever you see someone at peace or with a serene face, they are happy. When you find someone content with what they have, they are happy. When you find someone not getting easily agitated by circumstances, they are happy. This is one question I ask myself every night - am I happy? When the answer to that is a yes, I am happy. Boy, when I say "I’m happy" so many times, I am reminded of Happy Singh! That’s Akshay Kumar’s character in Singh is Kinng. He goes around Australia repeating "I’m happy", puzzling the onlookers.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Over 36 letters long, this word refers to the fear of long words. What an irony! Apart from watching and being mesmerised by spelling bees, where contestants are not necessarily asked long words, I am fascinated by long words, their spelling, meaning and pronunciations. Two of the other words I like to remember are pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a 45-letter word, also the longest word found in any of the major English language dictionaries, and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I didn’t know this was a Mary Poppins song until I heard Mike Ross say it in Suits. It's such fun learning words :) 

Image courtesy: Google ©

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