Childhood Memories five
I was in the fifth grade, and I had
Mr. Roop for spelling and english.
He was a great teacher, but there
is something I’ll never forget from
his class. You see, he had this
honors spelling team called the
“tough ten” and once we had to
learn the word “pneumonoultra-
microscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”
It was a form of black lung disease,
the longest word in the english
language, the second largest in the
world. I still remember it to this
day. And when giving us weekly
spelling tests, he would say a word,
then use it in a sentence. Whenever
the word “doctor” came up, he
would say the word, then recite
the lyrics: “doctor, doctor, give me
the news, I’ve got a bad case of...”
and he’d get embarrassed and laugh
and wouldn’t be able to say “loving
you.” And we’d laugh too, write the
word down, and wait for him to say
the next word.