• Question: what is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?

    Asked by aamnaraza to Dalya, Derek, Sarah, Tim, Tom on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Tim Millar

      Tim Millar answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      A disease of the lungs with a very long name. Really the disease should be called silicosis but this is a fun way to make it sound more important.

      Silicosis is a disease associated with inhaling fine (ultramicroscopico) silica (silico) dust which causes problems in the lung (pneumono). The volcanoconiosis is from the dist that volcanos produce

    • Photo: Derek McKay-Bukowski

      Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      I had to look this one up. It turns out that word is also contrived. It was made up in the 30’s just to be a long name.

    • Photo: Tom Crick

      Tom Crick answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      A top-scoring word in Scrabble!

      Derek is correct; according to the Oxford English Dictionary it is “a factitious word alleged to mean a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs.“

    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      I’d just like to add that we use silica a lot in the lab and we have to wear a mask when we are pouring it. It looks like a really fine white powder and when you pour it you get little puffs of it floating in the air.

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