A Play on Words

MIKE: Which is the longest word in the English language?

HARRY: I don’t know. Do you?

MIKE: Yes, I do.

HARRY: Well, what is it?

MIKE: Smiles.

HARRY: That isn’t very long. Only six letters.

MIKE: Ah, but there’s a mile between the first and the last letters.

HARRY: Which word is shorter, if you put another syllable on the end?

MIKE: Oh, there’s no answer to that question. You can’t make a word shorter by putting a syllable on the end.

HARRY: Oh, yes, you can. It’s the word “short”. If you put the syllable -er on the end, it’s “shorter”.