@bluescreen - you were close but not quite there with the chiasmus. It has to be the same words or sentence structure reversed. So an example would be:
"Are you working hard or hardly working?"
As you can see, the word 'work' and 'hard' changed order in the second part of the sentence, leading to a very different meaning.
I didn't have to look this one up since I have been able to spell it since I was in primary school :D
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - 45 letters.
But a word that even less people know about is the word chiasmus - curious what it means?
Nice to see you. Yes, I read what this means - strange:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
chiasmus means https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiasmus it is strange too. sorry for my bad english, i speak german but I learn english.
Don't worry, I don't know much German at all :p Just out of interest though, do you know any chiasmuses in German?
Yes;
Ach Gott! Die Kunst ist lang;
Und kurz ist unser Leben.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Faust I
der Herr brach das Brot,
das Brot brach den Herrn.
Paul Celan : Fadensonnen
Eng ist die Welt, und das Gehirn ist weit.
Friedrich Schiller: Wallensteins Tod
@bluescreen - you were close but not quite there with the chiasmus. It has to be the same words or sentence structure reversed. So an example would be:
"Are you working hard or hardly working?"
As you can see, the word 'work' and 'hard' changed order in the second part of the sentence, leading to a very different meaning.
Dr Mardy Grothe has lots of examples on his website if you are interested to find out more: http://www.drmardy.com/chiasmus/book
This is what I got from Google Translate for your German phrases, is it about right?:
Oh God! The art is long;
And short is our life.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust I
the Lord broke the bread,
the bread broke the Lord.
Paul Celan: Thread suns
Tight is the world, and the brain is far.
Friedrich Schiller: Wallenstein's death