Lake Webster

As we went through school, learning very long words was a thing that was always fun. Pulling them out may have been a little nerdy, but it was always a conversation starter. We learned "antidisestablishmentarianism," but that was just the start. The longest one we learned at the time was "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" – a lung disease, unfortunately. (Actually, from what we know, the longest word in English is a medical term that takes more than three hours to pronounce and would take pages just to show you. We won't do that.)

While we kids earned a whole quarter for memorizing the lung disease name, we were pleased to get a chance to also learn of a very long name for a large lake in Massachusetts. The Native American name is "Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg." The English had a little trouble with this 45 letter mouthful, so it became "Lake Webster."

In playing around with it, we found that these 14 great syllables fit nicely with some common songs, specifically, "Auld Lang Syne," which we borrowed accordingly. Our arrangement starts with a rich, more balladic setting of the song, much as you might sing on New Year's Eve, but once your singers are used to the word, it is stated as a rousing march to the end. Yes, the song only has one word in it, unless you count the syllable "Gogg!" used as the final stinger on the tune.

A Special Project - Consider letting students research their own long words and adapt them to songs they know. There are many long words to be found on the Internet, and once they have chosen a word they can remember, they can start playing with it against music they know. They could even construct their own songs or raps. Let us know what you try. We'd love to hear the results or see any videos.

And for tourists or schools in the area... You just might want to visit this lovely area near the Connecticut border where they have made a lot of their famous (infamous?) name. As a matter of fact, you may even learn that this longest version of the name was actually invented by the owner of the local newspaper around 1920. And, of course, you will find lots of trinkets and collectibles like the patch shown on this page. You might also find that there have been other songs written about the title. None are as much fun to sing, however, as the one we bring you. (Okay, the one with Ethel Merman and Ray Bolger is pretty cute.)