THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT CHALLENGE

I decided to give myself a writer’s challenge this morning and thought it would be fun to share it, so  you could have a go too.

Here’s the challenge: Write the longest word you can think of with one, two, three etc syllables (I went up to eight, but by all means go beyond that if you have the time/inclination) THEN write the shortest word you can think of with one, two, three etc syllables. Scientific words not allowed (by that I mean those words nobody but scientists/doctors commonly understand, such as xenobacteriology).

Give it a go yourself, or just take a look at mine (below). I’ll give you a clue to success: Vowels/vowel sounds – syllables are all about them.

MY LONGEST WORDS

I (one letter, one syllable)
Shorten (7 letters, two syllables)
Standardised (12 letters, three syllables)
Cannibalised (12 letters, four syllables)
Simplification (14 letters, five syllables)
Discombobulation (16 letters, six syllables)
Counterintuitively (18 letters, seven syllables)
Indistinguishability (20 letters, eight syllables)

MY SHORTEST WORDS

A (one letter, one syllable – all that’s possible!)
Ego (3 letters, two syllables)
Exited (6 letters, three syllables)
Academic (8 letters, four syllables)
Intolerable (11 letters, five syllables)
Identifiable (12 letters, six syllables)
Inaccessibility (15 letters, seven syllables)
Authoritarianism (16 letters, eight syllables)

If you’d like to share your words, drop me a message/email!