No doubt the net is often a fruitful source of data, as we are frequently reminded here on Language Log, but not only does it turn up misspellings, errors, and things that aren't what you were looking for, sometimes things that really ought to be there for some reason aren't. As a lark, I looked for the word sesquidecennium. This is a perfectly fine English word, of transparent meaning, which I have actually used in print. Curiously, it isn't listed in the Merriam-Webster Online nor in One Look. Google produces only two hits. Either Google isn't searching the right pages, or people aren't getting their money's worth out of this fine word. It has been a sesquidecennium since I used this word. I think its about time I did it again.
Posted by Bill Poser at March 2, 2004 02:00 AM