History Main / Antidisestablishmentarianism

You see, this infamously long-winded word is more famous for being long, unwieldy, and taking a heck of a long time to type. If anybody needs a go-to big word, this is the one they usually pull out. (Especially if it's at a SpellingBee.) It's not even [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_word_in_English the longest word in the English language, though it is the longest one that is neither a scientific term nor specifically coined to make a huge word.]] Why this word? While it's long, it's really just "establish" with a bunch of fairly standard prefixes and suffixes tacked on. It's not even hard to spell, since it's spelled exactly as it's pronounced, without any of English's 1001 special spelling exceptions or oddities.[[note]](You might note it still contains two different ways to pronounce the letter "a"; three to pronounce "s", in one of which it is combined with another letter; depending on whether one is speaking British or American, two to three ways to pronounce "i", the third of which is as a diphthong; and two different ways to pronounce "e"; all within the same word. And a couple of the vowel sounds are written with a different letter in different places. But by the standards of English, that's "spelled exactly as it's pronounced", [[SincerityMode seriously.)]][[/note]] Possibly because it's [[InherentlyFunnyWords Inherently Funny.]] A favorite form of SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.

"Antidisestablishmentarianism", as a word, technically refers to a specific political movement which would have opposed removing the Church of England from its status as the "official" church of Ireland. (Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidisestablishmentarianism has some information,]] if you're curious.) A more modern definition is that it refers to the movement to dissolve the legal separation between church and state.[[note]]or sometimes as opposing the removal of the C of E from its status as the official church of England itself.[[/note]] That's what the Burma Shave quote was referring to. This is not about that movement, however. This is about the word.

"Antidisestablishmentarianism," as a word, technically refers to a specific political movement which would have opposed removing the Church of England from its status as the "official" church of Ireland. (Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidisestablishmentarianism has some information,]] if you're curious.) A more modern definition is that it refers to the movement to dissolve the legal separation between church and state.[[note]]or sometimes as opposing the removal of the C of E from its status as the official church of England itself.[[/note]] That's what the Burma Shave quote was referring to. This is not about that movement, however. This is about the word.

"Anti-", meaning against, "dis-," meaning to negate, "establishment," a structure, "-arianism," a sect or schism surrounding said establishment. Taken together, it means "A position counter to dismantling the establishment." Since that's a double-negative, it can be generalized even further to simply "pro-establishment".

* Netflix runs a series of radio ads based on a fictional quiz show with borderline {{Calvinball}}-esque NonSequitur answers. One of the questions is "What word comes next in this sequence? Crustacean, kumquat?" and the answer, of course, is "Antidisestablishmentarianism."

* In an early episode of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', "One of A Kind," look closely: [[http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w80/Zthese6/OoaK02a/OoaK02a-177.png the test]] Danny receives back has "antidisestablishment" as the entire first line.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' where Twister has to spell "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis."

* Huey, Dewey, and Louie use this at one point in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017''. Despite being "unique snowflakes," they momentarily SpeakInUnison, causing them to say it in an attempt to stop doing so.

* Floccinaucinihilipilification is "the act or habit of calling something worthless." It's actually one letter ''longer'' than the TropeNamer.

You see, this infamously long-winded word is more famous for being long, unwieldy, and taking a heck of a long time to type. If anybody needs a go-to big word, this is the one they usually pull out. (Especially if it's at a SpellingBee.) It's not even [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_word_in_English the longest word in the English language, though it is the longest one that is neither a scientific term nor specifically coined to make a huge word.]] Why this word? While it's long, it's really just "establish" with a bunch of fairly standard prefixes and suffixes tacked on. It's not even hard to spell, since it's spelled exactly as it's pronounced, without any of English's 1001 special spelling exceptions or oddities.[[note]](You might note it still contains two different ways to pronounce the letter "a"; three to pronounce "s", in one of which it is combined with another letter; depending on whether one is speaking British or American, two to three ways to pronounce "i", the third of which is as a diphthong; and three different ways to pronounce "e"; all within the same word. And a couple of the vowel sounds are written with a different letter in different places. But by the standards of English, that's "spelled exactly as it's pronounced", [[SincerityMode seriously.)]][[/note]] Possibly because it's [[InherentlyFunnyWords Inherently Funny.]] A favorite form of SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.

In one podcast on Radio/TheRickyGervaisShow [later adapted as part of the animated series], Ricky and Steve ask Karl what book he would choose if he were on "Desert Island Disks", with Karl choosing a dictionary. Karl, Being [[CloudCuckooLander Karl]] tries to justify this by saying having a better vocabulary would be helpful when he is rescued.

* {{Eminem}} uses this in his song 'Almost Famous' in reference to the word length being similar to how well endowed he is.

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}:'' "I'll be back before you can say Antidisestablishmentarianism." Since the "you" in question is [[TheDitz Prince George]], he's right. Although he needs two days.

* Other than the chorus, the final word in LemonDemon's [[WordSaladLyrics Word Disassociation]] is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0FbfSSdxhI "Antidisestablishmentarianism."]]

"Antidisestablishmentarianism," as a word, technically refers to a specific political movement which would have opposed removing the Church of England from its status as the "official" church of Ireland. (TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidisestablishmentarianism has some information,]] if you're curious.) A more modern definition is that it refers to the movement to dissolve the legal separation between church and state.[[note]]or sometimes as opposing the removal of the C of E from its status as the official church of England itself.[[/note]] That's what the Burma Shave quote was referring to. This is not about that movement, however. This is about the word.

* There used to be on TheOtherWiki instructions for adding elements to this word, producing "propseudocontraneoantidisestablishmentarianistically" ("in a manner favouring false opposition to a new form of antidisestablishmentarianism").

* One series on Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom (largely a parody of the ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' films) featured pirates commanding a ship called the ''Pseudoantidisestablishmentarian''. The logic being that by the time the enemy lookout has finished yelling the ship's name to his captain, they're already halfway through the boarding action.

* Shows up in ''DaveBarry's Money Secrets'' when showing the proper way to write a resume:

* In Switzerland, the captain of the company driving steamships on the Vierwaldstättersee (Lake of the four forest counties) is called a Vierwaldstätterseedampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftkapitän. And since German allows you to add any number of nouns to that word, you can extend it to just about any lenght you like.

* Finnish language is well known for almost endless possibilities on combining long compound words, such as ''Pientalokolmivaihevaihtovirtakilowattituntimittari'' (Small house three-phase alternative current kilowatt-hour meter) or ''Lentokonesuihkuturbiiniapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas'' (Aircraft turbojet engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student). Those are actual, but seldom used, words.

** The Sherman Brothers also came up with "[[Film/SnoopyGoHome Fundamentalfrienddependability]]."

* One series on AlternateHistoryDotCom (largely a parody of the ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' films) featured pirates commanding a ship called the ''Pseudoantidisestablishmentarian''. The logic being that by the time the enemy lookout has finished yelling the ship's name to his captain, they're already halfway through the boarding action.

->''Church and state are like light in a prism: \\

establishmentarianism.'' \\
-- ''Advertising/BurmaShave''

* One episode of ''WaltDisneyPresents'' focused on DonaldDuck, including a scene of a psychological examination conducted by Ludwig von Drake. Von Drake starts a word-association exercise with "antidesestablishmentarianism", but can't pronounce it after several tries, and simply rips off the first letter and starts with "A" instead.

** Canadian Icelanders in Gimli have their own similar variant - [[http://www.icelandicfestival.com Islendingadagurinn]]. Germanic languages have a tendency to mash words together, with strange and lengthy results.

* The longest word in the [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]] in the original Hebrew is וְהָאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנִים (''vehaakhshdarpenim'', ‘and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satrap satraps]]’). While far more modest in length, it’s often used as a nice tidbit of trivia.

* Other than the chorus, the final word in LemonDemon's [[WordSaladLyrics Word Disassociation]] is "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0FbfSSdxhI Antidisestablishmentarianism]]."

"Antidisestablishmentarianism," as a word, technically refers to a specific political movement which would have opposed removing the Church of England from its status as the "official" church of Ireland. (TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidisestablishmentarianism has some information]], if you're curious.) A more modern definition is that it refers to the movement to dissolve the legal separation between church and state[[note]]or sometimes as opposing the removal of the C of E from its status as the official church of England itself[[/note]]. That's what the Burma Shave quote was referring to. This is not about that movement, however. This is about the word.

"Antidisestablishmentarianism," as a word, technically refers to a specific political movement which would have opposed removing the Church of England from its status as the "official" church of Ireland. (TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidisestablishmentarianism has some information]], if you're curious.) A more modern definition is that it refers to the movement to dissolve the legal separation between church and state. That's what the Burma Shave quote was referring to. This is not about that movement, however. This is about the word.

* In an episode of ''{{Second Noah}}'', there is a scene where the 2-3 year old Ben wants the twins to let him up into the tree house. All he can say is "Me up!" One of the twins agrees to let him up if he can say "Antidisestablishmentarianism".
* ''TheHoneymooners'' episode "The $99,000 Answer''

* On ''TheDrewCareyShow'', Drew asks Mimi to take a letter and begins with this word, followed by [[Film/MaryPoppins "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"]].