120 pointsby firloop7 hours ago29 comments
  • PetitPrince39 minutes ago
    Fun false fact that I just invented : the Monty Python briefly considered to have Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein-nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitzweimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönendanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm to mutter Lopado­temacho­selacho­galeo­kranio­leipsano­drim­hypo­trimmato­silphio­karabo­melito­katakechy­meno­kichl­epi­kossypho­phatto­perister­alektryon­opte­kephallio­kigklo­peleio­lagoio­siraio­baphe­tragano­pterygon, but John Cleese, who play the man interviewing the last descendent of Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein-nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitzweimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönendanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm, being a fervent Latin teacher opposed the idea because he thought that was Greek nonsense.
  • dmje2 hours ago
    What’s mainly annoying is how this has broken HN layout. There’s some CSS for that.
    • whiteboardr11 minutes ago
      It will go down in HN-history as the one exception, where it was ok to not use the page title verbatim.
    • blauditore2 hours ago
      Seems okay on mobile, how does it look for you?
      • Etherytean hour ago
        Jfyi the title has been edited now, it was the actual word previously which was not broken and just made the page super wide on mobile.
        • omnicognatean hour ago
          It was fine on my iOS Safari with a small screen. It automatically hyphenated it, differently depending on orientation.

          Presumably not on other browsers, though, as lots of people were complaining.

        • dmje31 minutes ago
          Ta!
      • Y-bar2 hours ago
        Especially not working on mobile because the long word pushes for wider column and therefore a more zoomed out view.
    • red_Seashell_322 hours ago
      `word-break: break-all;` would solve that.
  • pankajdoharey5 hours ago
    I think the ingredient Silphium described in this dish (Now considered extinct) could be Sea Holly (Eryngium spp). Its highly debated as many authors think it is some extinct variety of fennel, but from the images on the coins it doesnt look like a Fennel.
  • userbinator5 hours ago
    HN cut it off at "karab" and I thought this was the generic name of some new drug.
  • vunderba5 hours ago
    This should have been an April Fools clue on Wheel of Fortune with Vanna White just about to die at the end of having to turn over all the letters.
  • alentred2 hours ago
    The two words that struck me are this chemical compound [1] (quite artificial as a name if you ask me, but apparently considered as a word), and this perfectly real hill name [2]

    [1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Protologisms/Long_wo...

    [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taumatawhakatangi%C2%ADhangako...

  • rednafian hour ago
    Oh I come across German words bigger than that every now and then.
  • curious_af4 hours ago
    How to never have anyone play Hangman with you again
    • yallpendantools3 hours ago
      "Well actually..."

      As the word-setter this might be an own-goal. As a word guesser, a random haphazard tactic might get you the word.

      I'll Monte-Carlo my point but I have a warm bath tub waiting...

  • treetalker5 hours ago
    Legend has it that someone posted the recipe years ago, but the double-whammy of the long title and the HN need to remove "How to make …" broke the site.
  • cromulent5 hours ago
    > is the longest word ever to appear in literature

    Thank goodness Joyce doesn't have the record with his invented words in Finnegans Wake.

  • gpvos2 hours ago
    I'm mostly, and pleasantly, surprised that Firefox's hyphenation algorithm handles this reasonably.
  • dvrp5 hours ago
    Dang, you should change it to "Lopado­temacho­selacho­galeo­kranio­leipsano­drim­hypo­trimmato­silphio­karabo­melito­katakechy­meno­kichl­epi­kossypho­phatto­perister­alektryon­opte­kephallio­kigklo­peleio­lagoio­siraio­baphe­tragano­pterygon" via your admin superpowers!
    • bryanrasmussen4 hours ago
      I doubt that can happen because that would go over the length limit, probably it should be "The Longest Word In Literature"

      as for it screwing with mobile site width, on desktop FF putting width small seems to work fine as the word seems to have soft hyphens in it? Because it splits at the window edge with a hyphen in place.

  • sapphicsnail2 hours ago
    I wonder if this is in meter? I know Philoctetes' pain noises are.
  • KellyCriterion2 hours ago
    The "context" section of this article is very interesting!
  • eucyclos3 hours ago
    I thought it was German and had an awful time trying to parse it. Makes so much more sense once one knows it's Greek.
  • astrobe_an hour ago
    AKA L181n.
  • crm91256 hours ago
    This is why I quit linguistics, Too many syllables.
  • m4636 hours ago
    antidisestablishmentarianism

    supercalifragilisticexpialadocious

    • austinallegro4 hours ago
      Well observed, sir. I’m felicitous, since, during the course of the penultimate solar sojourn, I terminated my uninterrupted categorisation of the vocabulary of our post-Norman tongue.

      I hope you will not object if I also offer my most enthusiastic contrafribularities.

      Thus, I’m anaspeptic, frasmotic, even compunctuous to have caused you such pericombobulations.

      May I offer you a pendigestatery interludicule? Anything I can do to facilitate your velocitous extramuralisation.

      • nvader4 hours ago
        Just make sure you return interfrastically.
        • austinallegro2 hours ago
          Vincent Hana, Country Gentleman's Pig Fertiliser Gazette.
    • DrBazzaan hour ago
    • hahahahhaah6 hours ago
      Is antidisestablishmentarianism supercalifragilisticexpialadocious?

      Also this may be a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googlewhack :) well back in the day

  • 6 hours ago
    undefined
  • JodieBenitez2 hours ago
    An I thought it was about another obscure PHP error.
  • dartharva5 hours ago
    I want to taste it
  • 6 hours ago
    undefined
  • imwally6 hours ago
    Well this certainly mucked with the width of the mobile HN site.
    • whycome4 hours ago
      A css fix would prevent this.

      Also make the damn upvote buttons bigger on mobile.

      • MagnumOpus3 hours ago
        Hckrnews.com is a far better frontent. Implemented the long line fix, and also preserves topics that were upvoted to the top and subsequently flagged to death by bot farms or the owners.
    • 4 hours ago
      undefined
    • compounding_it6 hours ago
      I was wondering what’s wrong with the HN site on mobile today. I thought something from my other safari settings carried over thinking is this another macOS / iOS problem. Good to know this time Apple is not to blame. Interesting psychology here how easy it was for me to go there.
    • NSPG9116 hours ago
      Have you checked out Harmonic? It's an amazing Hacker News android client!
      • Guestmodinfo3 hours ago
        Opera browser can render any page in word wrapping mode
    • twhb2 hours ago
      This is an iOS 26 regression. There are a bunch of soft hyphens in there, which is why it works on other browsers and in previous versions of iOS.
    • roansh3 hours ago
      Brain figured out this title being the culprit of horizontal scroll today. Brain predicted this being the top comment in this thread. Not disappointed.
    • RobotToaster2 hours ago
      It automatically hyphenates on Firefox mobile, must be a safari issue.
    • sonu275 hours ago
      Can someone fix this? I don’t believe it is the first time
    • cubefox5 hours ago
      Not on Chrome or Firefox for me. So I assume you are using Safari.
    • phendrenad24 hours ago
      The long words must continue until word wrap increases.
  • maximgeorge2 hours ago
    [dead]
  • terminalg6 hours ago
    [flagged]
  • jzellis4 hours ago
    I thought this was a news site for tech, not a Red Hot Chili Peppers lyrics repository
  • ttul4 hours ago
    I had ChatGPT spend a few kWh coming up with Algorithmo­startupo­venturecapito­open­sourco­licensio­privacy­securito­rustigo­golo­kuberneto­cloudio­saaso­distributedo­databaso­latencyphobo­showhn­askhn­commento­pedanto­longformo­ai­llmo­promptomancy­ethico­regulatio­controversio­burnoutikon, which apparently describes the vibe here on HN.