Friday, July 04, 2008

Yesterday, Someone Told Me That "Screeched" Is The Longest One Syllable Word In English

Last night as we were riding to Eagle River for an Independence Day celebration, I already had that vocabulary tip at hand when I saw a bear next to the trail, and said, "LOOKABEAR!" Screeched, actually.
The bear was right next to the new Target store parking lot on Elmendorf Air Force Base property. It looked over its shoulder when it heard me, then ambled away, unconcerned with the news I had just imparted. We were separated by a low fence that he could have stepped over, but he didn't. I had meant to bring a camera in case we saw a bear, but it would have been hard to take a picture at the speed we were going, especially after we saw a bear.
On the way back home, I stopped where we had seen the bear. I didn't see a bear, but I did see the problem with eyewitness accounts. The fence was taller than I remembered it. It was over my head. I also hadn't noticed the barbed wire at the top.

1 comment:

  1. Hm--"screeched" is arguably tied for longest when it comes to spelling the longest one-syllable word in English, but it's not the longest in terms of sounds: /s + k + r + i +tch + t/ (only six sounds). A word like "sprints" is actually longer in terms of consonant and vowel sounds (seven separate sounds).

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