Words

I really like words. I got this from an "AMA eVoice" (some sort of online newsletter thing) and it is written by the president Ronald M. Davis.

"The longest words containing the six vowels in alphabetical order are pancreaticoduodenostomy and pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Arteriosum (as in ligamentum arteriosum) and arteriosus (as in ductus arteriosus) are among the few words in which the five vowels (excluding y) occur once each and in alphabetical order. Subpopliteal contains the five vowels in reverse alphabetical order.

Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism contains each vowel at least twice.

Asthma is one of the few words (with six or more letters) that begin and end with a vowel, but have no vowels in between.

There are seven consecutive consonants in Hirschsprung's disease. Postphrenic, postsplenic, and postsphenoid contain five consonants in a row.

Cytomegaloviruses, hypovitaminoses, paramyxoviruses, parasitological, tenosynovitides, and heterozygosity are among the longest words consisting entirely of alternating vowels and consonants.

Vesiculography (radiological examination of the seminal vesicles) is one of the longest isograms (words or phrases without a repeating letter).

Among the longest words that do not contain an e (the most frequently occurring letter in English) are uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, supradiaphragmatically, and macracanthorhynchiasis.

Only three words have as many as six c's, and two of them are medical terms-cholangiocholecystocholedochectomy and pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a 45-letter word coined to be the longest English word, meaning lung disease caused by inhaling very fine silica dust found in volcanoes."