Has anybody else seen the Geico commercial with the kids at the spelling bee, trying to spell this word? (Funny, no?) Anyone else wondered what it means? It means “the estimation of something as worthless,” and is usually used only as an example of a very long word, sometimes held to be the longest. The Oxford English Dictionary labels it “humorous” and gives the following citations for it:

I loved him for nothing so much as his floccinaucinihilipilification of money.
–William Shenstone, Letters

They must be taken with an air of contempt, a floccinaucinihilipilification of all that can gratify the outward man.
–Sir Walter Scott, Journal

So, I thought I’d just give you some humorous yet worthless items for today.

First, my favorite: Did you know that the “Frownie” is trademarked?

But the international outcry of rage and sorrow was too much even Despair to handle. Hundreds of emails from countries all around the globe have poured in, begging us to reconsider our controversial decision. Even a member of the perpetually cheerful citizenry of America’s happiest metropolis, New York, took time to register a dignified complaint through our voicemail. Behind each outcry in every tongue, the same sentiment. An impassioned entreaty to us, that we reconsider our plans to ban the beloved symbol from the Internet.

More importantly, though, you must visit the despair.com website. You know those motivational posters, the ones with some really lovely photography and some pithy blurb underneath about goals, dreams, hard work, or some such thing? We’ll all seen them. But this place, well, they do DEmotivational posters, and they are simply hilarious. And you can get them in calendars, mugs, sticky pads, notecards . . . but the entire site is just one laugh after another. The commentary, the photos . . . they even sell Valentine’s Day candy for pessimists. Now, I’m a bona fide optimist, but this site? Hilarious. Not to mention a gold-mine for potential office-grab-bag gifts come December, so don’t say I didn’t give you any good ideas when you’re trying to find something unique for your boss!

Then there’s the time-waster, pie-eating game.

Better, my favorite site for daily word games. (Dictionary Devil is my favorite)

Dave Barry on low gas prices.

A stress test for the new iPod Nano . . . it takes a lot to kill that little thing!

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For funny but not meaningless, go see what Risa’s twins were doing this weekend.

And, to throw in a “serious” one:

A nice article on CNN’s Anderson Cooper, whose Hurricane Katrina coverage has been excellent, I think. Who here knew he was Gloria Vanderbilt’s son?

Lastly, drop by Rose‘s. She just literally lost her best friend.

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