“Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”—a word that puzzlers and lexicographers call “P45”—sure looks like and sounds like the name of a great disease, and it is entered in our Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, but it does not have any meaningful use. In fact, it appears to have been coined by the president of the National Puzzlers’ League in 1935 just to see if dictionaries would fall for it. We did. We’re a little more careful now.
This takes the lead as my favorite nugget so far, ha!
