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How Many Words Do You Know?
Topic Started: Jul 25 2011, 05:43 PM (863 Views)
Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
OK, so the average intelligent, educated person knows from 30,000 to 40,000 words. Or claims to.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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plays88keys
Pisa-Carp
What is this, some kind of contest to see who knows the most words? Everyone here is smart, so who cares if you know 500 more words than someone else?
You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy.
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big al
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Bull-Carp
plays88keys
Jul 26 2011, 09:43 AM
What is this, some kind of contest to see who knows the most words? Everyone here is smart, so who cares if you know 500 more words than someone else?
I was curious to see IT's result. He causes me to reach for the dictionary more than any other poster here. I think part of the reason is that some of his areas of interest and expertise are almost orthogonal to mine, but he's probably better read and educated than me too.

I registered 37,800, but I think that could easily vary. Plays, don't feel bad if you only know 34,4000 words, 500 less than Mik, or 38,000, 500 less than IT. As has been said in another context, it's not as important how big it is as what you do with it. It also suggests that you're simply younger than some of us, by reference to this chart HERE.

I ran through it once checking every box to see what it would calculate and got 45,000. It was interesting to me that it mixed words from the first and second list, a few of which I remembered because I couldn't define them and had looked them up for learning's sake. I wonder if they will derive any significant research results from this.

One of my favorite studies of this sort was the Dialect Study conducted by Professor Bert Vaux when he was at Harvard. He's since moved on and the validity of internet surveys is in question, but I find the results interesting nonetheless. I'm also fascinated by how many times people insist their pronunciation is the correct one, not simply what they grew up with. Then again, that's true of a lot of our opinions.

Big Al


Location: Western PA

"jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen."
-bachophile
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Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
20,000 :dead:
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
31000.

On the bright side, I ordered a Kindle yesterday so I should be doing some actual reading Any Day Now.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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The 89th Key
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big al
Jul 26 2011, 10:53 AM
I was curious to see IT's result. He causes me to reach for the dictionary more than any other poster here.
Me too.

Quote:
 
I think part of the reason is that some of his areas of interest and expertise are almost orthogonal...


And now YOU'RE making me reach for the dictionary. :P
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
The 89th Key
Jul 26 2011, 12:35 PM
big al
Jul 26 2011, 10:53 AM
I was curious to see IT's result. He causes me to reach for the dictionary more than any other poster here.
Me too.
To swat the bug? :confused: That's just his avatar, guys.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Horace
Jul 26 2011, 12:41 PM
The 89th Key
Jul 26 2011, 12:35 PM
big al
Jul 26 2011, 10:53 AM
I was curious to see IT's result. He causes me to reach for the dictionary more than any other poster here.
Me too.
To swat the bug? :confused: That's just his avatar, guys.
Don't do it, you might crack your screen. I learned the hard way. :hat:
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Maybe I am biased as non-native speaker, but I personally hate it when people use "sophisticated" words. In most cases, they make something simple more complicated and ambiguous, or hide that something is apparent nonsense.

"What can be said at all can be said clearly" (Wittgenstein).

I once heard a talk where the speaker started only with single syllable words - these were the only words he assumed to be known. Every other word was defined during the talk using single syllable words and previously defined words.

It was one of the best talks I've ever heard. The clarity was amazing.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
39 500. I speak English goodly.

I suspect that some of us who are familiar with technical terms from engineering, music or medicine would know more words than the test would indicate.
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Klaus
Jul 26 2011, 12:47 PM

"What can be said at all can be said clearly" (Wittgenstein).
I wish he had taken his own advice.... :lol2:
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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George K
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Finally
Klaus
Jul 26 2011, 12:47 PM
Maybe I am biased as non-native speaker, but I personally hate it when people use "sophisticated" words. In most cases, they make something simple more complicated and ambiguous, or hide that something is apparent nonsense.

"What can be said at all can be said clearly" (Wittgenstein).
Eschew obfuscation.
Red Rice
 
some of us who are familiar with technical terms from engineering, music or medicine would know more words than the test would indicate.

First day of medical school, we were told that the first year would be spent learning vocabulary. It was remarkable how true that was.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
ivorythumper
Jul 26 2011, 01:03 PM
Klaus
Jul 26 2011, 12:47 PM

"What can be said at all can be said clearly" (Wittgenstein).
I wish he had taken his own advice.... :lol2:
Did you ever read the "Tractatus"? I did, and I think he uses rather simple and clear language. It is "deep" stuff, but because of the subject he writes about (as opposed to superficial depth due to "sophisticated language").
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Klaus
Jul 26 2011, 01:31 PM
ivorythumper
Jul 26 2011, 01:03 PM
Klaus
Jul 26 2011, 12:47 PM

"What can be said at all can be said clearly" (Wittgenstein).
I wish he had taken his own advice.... :lol2:
Did you ever read the "Tractatus"? I did, and I think he uses rather simple and clear language. It is "deep" stuff, but because of the subject he writes about (as opposed to superficial depth due to "sophisticated language").
No, I know about it only casually, and frankly the analytical philosophers leave me cold and I never really got into their whole project.
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
30,800 - several I thought I "might" know them, but I don't use those words and wasn't sure so I left them unchecked.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
Reminds me of a favorite parlor game - "Fictionary". (Someone sells the game under the name "Balderdash" but you can play it just using a dictionary). You take turns passing around a dictionary and one person, the "picker", selects a word and writes down the definition. Everyone else is given the word and writes a fake definition. The picker reads the definitions out loud. Points are awarded to the picker if no one picks the correct definition. If someone picks a fake definition as correct that person that created that definition gets a point.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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musicasacra
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HOLY CARP!!!
big al
Jul 26 2011, 10:53 AM
plays88keys
Jul 26 2011, 09:43 AM
What is this, some kind of contest to see who knows the most words? Everyone here is smart, so who cares if you know 500 more words than someone else?
I was curious to see IT's result. He causes me to reach for the dictionary more than any other poster here.
+ 1
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Klaus
Jul 26 2011, 12:47 PM
Maybe I am biased as non-native speaker, but I personally hate it when people use "sophisticated" words. In most cases, they make something simple more complicated and ambiguous, or hide that something is apparent nonsense.
+1. It's a point of pride to me to try to express myself as simply and clearly as possible.

That's probably why I've never been drawn to poetry - the ideas aren't as important as the way they're expressed. Poetry is no more interesting to me than word puzzles are.

One of my favorite quotes:

Blaise Pascal
 
The letter I have written today is longer than usual because I lacked the time to make it shorter.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
38,700.
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Jolly
Jul 26 2011, 06:13 PM
38,700.
at least one of us had to be an sedulous opsimath. :lol2:
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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apple
one of the angels
sed·u·lous   /ˈsɛdʒələs/ Show Spelled
[sej-uh-luhs]
–adjective
1. diligent in application or attention; persevering; assiduous.
2. persistently or carefully maintained: sedulous flatter

opsimath (ˈɒpsɪˌmæθ)


a person who learns late in life

... I love it that i can still read modern Greek.. hee hee.
it behooves me to behold
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apple
one of the angels
Horace
Jul 26 2011, 05:58 PM
Klaus
Jul 26 2011, 12:47 PM
Maybe I am biased as non-native speaker, but I personally hate it when people use "sophisticated" words. In most cases, they make something simple more complicated and ambiguous, or hide that something is apparent nonsense.
+1. It's a point of pride to me to try to express myself as simply and clearly as possible.

That's probably why I've never been drawn to poetry - the ideas aren't as important as the way they're expressed. Poetry is no more interesting to me than word puzzles are.

One of my favorite quotes:

Blaise Pascal
 
The letter I have written today is longer than usual because I lacked the time to make it shorter.
"The letter I have written today is longer than usual because I lacked the time to make it shorter."

What an excellent quote.. I don't like reading poetry so much as I do writing it. it is such a great way to communicate obscure and funny thoughts... and very efficient.
it behooves me to behold
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big al
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Bull-Carp
ivorythumper
Jul 26 2011, 11:07 PM
Jolly
Jul 26 2011, 06:13 PM
38,700.
at least one of us had to be an sedulous opsimath. :lol2:
Or as an old Pennsylvania Dutch say goes, " Why are we grown so soon old and so late smart?"

Big Al
Location: Western PA

"jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen."
-bachophile
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Claude Ball
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Middle Aged Carp
62,783.
Dain bramage caused my peach imspediment.
Tooth? Tooth? You can't handle the tooth!
Remember: He who laughs last, thinks slowest.....
DON'T BEND OVER IN THE GARDEN, MARGARET - THEM TATER'S GOT EYES!
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Claude Ball
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Middle Aged Carp
Ok.....

23
Dain bramage caused my peach imspediment.
Tooth? Tooth? You can't handle the tooth!
Remember: He who laughs last, thinks slowest.....
DON'T BEND OVER IN THE GARDEN, MARGARET - THEM TATER'S GOT EYES!
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