Years ago, after ordering pancakes at a diner in St. Augustine, I glanced at the coffee news tucked in the napkin holder on the table.
Under the heading Worthless, one of the longest words in the dictionary caught my eye.
floccinaucinihilipilification
It turns out, trying to wrap your tongue around floccinaucinihilipilification isn't worth a penny. The meaning of the word is the act of estimating something to be worthless.
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At home, for curiosity's sake, I looked it up in Webster's collegiate dictionary. But it wasn't there.
I did find it in the Cambridge dictionary on-line. But, you can see how much time I spent in search of nothing couched in a big word.
I'm not sure why I saved that table news tidbit, but the irony of using such an extraordinarily lengthy word to convey zero, something not having any real value was amazing.
Why it isn't worth the breath or time it takes to read it, much less say it. It was, after all, about nothing.
We all know people who are overly extravagant with impressive words in an effort to flex their intellectual acumen and keep us guessing. Less is often more in the art of communication. Say what you mean and mean what you say, but do it with kindness and love. And, no one will be left to unpack the fluff, and find out it was all about nothing. Real communication comes from the heart, and not from the head.
Love and peace,
Rae Karen
