A regional parliament in Germany voted to retire the longest word in the German language after the European Union eliminated a recommendation to test beef for disease.
Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, which means “law for the delegation of monitoring beef labeling” according to The Telegraph, was created in 1999 to label beef in the wake of mad cow disease scares. Like other compounded German words, the cumbersome term was usually abbreviated to “RkReÜAÜG.”
Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften, meaning insurance companies that provide legal protection, will now take the coveted title of longest with 39 letters total.
The longest word in the English language, clocking in at 45 letters, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis — a lung disease casued by inhaling very fine ash and sand dust.