Dot Wordsworth

Chrononhotonthologos

Henry Carey’s play, in which the characters have comically long names, has had a lengthy – if not always correctly spelt – afterlife

issue 20 August 2016

When I ran out of space last week, I was about to mention the way in which some people relish long names. It may be childish but they enjoy it. In Dorothy L. Sayers’s detective world, characters unashamedly cap obscure quotations and references. There is an exchange in Murder Must Advertise between an ad man and Lord Peter Wimsey:

‘Anyway how do you spell Chrononhotonthologos?’

‘Oh! I can do that.

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