When U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms baffled journalists by proclaiming the "floccinaucinihilipilification" of an international nuclear test ban treaty in the late 1990s, Matthew Fargo instantly figured out what he meant.
The 29-letter word, which loosely means rendering something meaningless, comprises four Latin words — flocci (floccus), nauci (worthless), nihil (nil), and pili (fur) plus the compound suffix "fication."
"How pompous of him! When you're interested in language, you can really get angry at a time like this," Fargo, 27, says in his Manhattan home.