Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-06-14
Words m COMMON USE.
,,.r,ec Man Use 700 Words or
poe, Tue 1000:

\ 80 ihe A'et'N ,ans
1,e3Honal meeting held few
E"A,@a noeed professor made the
y rr statement; "lIie pesl euu-
''".I --..n I'm this room VIII not use
u!' ,.o SO or 200 words. He also
aa 'I'a ~, smaller number to persons
S...J education, stating that an
o a| man would not use more than
s51uaul,. had before seen state
similar import inpublicprint.
p'f,,t.,t their correctness began an
'.l ir,tiau Of the matter.
w., -nbiect was brought anew to my
I9 5y observing an article ia the
gnu ,.s,,gq some months ago in
praf Bancroft remarked: 1t
'l'- .', estimated that an English
ah e.rd has vocabulary limited to
l- r',rd.. An American workman
.r.d. the newspapers may COM
WY G,,r 700 to 1000 words. Five
,.snJ f,a large number, even for
.l9.srad reader or speaker. ~ This
avon is much nearer the truth than
~ frc iustitute-conductor men
For the benefit Of those who
Ls interested | offer the result Of
.wi, 90 the subject An intelli-
.r..>ln can make the same exam
'f.o and will arrive at substantially
n. same results.
ina, Wr5.trr's high school diction-
edition 1875, containing i34 pages
,arabulary, and examined each
-.-I I'm the book. I made a note of
,... words which | supposed had
a.a at some time either in speaking
,rtfnr. | counted the primitive
mr, AID those derivatives whose
n,.srio.- is most at variance with the
r-m.f,c. Thus. ! count fright and
KIN bn, not frightened, tightful
r~t.u.lyuorfruitage fruiterer, fruit
n. fuittuncss, fruition, and fruit
,.. emitted most Of the compound
,,rls asurciallv when the component
vr. directly indicated the meaning,
,.mgs-pah Westinghouse, ra@-mln,
Iatram'cd those whose significance
MI. mot directly indicated, rs crowbar,
,r.l,aad. dnfoiL As the result of
+, examination had 1928 words,
Witch thiuk myself have used.
There were 4l9 in A, 52S in b, 7G6 in
C. ..5ia p, 23J in E. 500 in F, 279 in
q. g,5 i'm II, $50 in l. 81 in j. ~ in X
gamL. 476 in NJ. IA in n, 2l7 in @,
T5mP !. ~ IN q. 397 in II, 954 in 5,
A. in T, 47in L. l4S in V, 202 in W,
%mN and y, and 10 in 4.
Had | counted the various deriya-
five, loo common use. it is probable the
number would hc nearly double.
Tomakc further test Of words at
nv command spent about two hours
writing from memory words in A.
was able 10 note down J31 words that
could use if occasion required. This
sSjprr cent more than had counted
from the dictionary. Should the same
proportion hold good in all the letters
hwould follow that can recall from
memory 1000 words, all of which are
familiar
Imade another count, and came to
the conclusion that | could give Il fair
definition of at least $4,000 words in
that book, and would understand their
significance in a printed article or
spoken address
The above estimates are based upon
my own cy aricnce and knowledge,
because it Was convenient to make the
experiment. with myself. Every we'll |
informed man will be as competent, if
no. more so. Either professor men
toned will have "A more extended vo-
@6uIary than | have.
then took at random in the same
dictionary a page in each letter, and
counted the words in common use On
,Wea'y-fow pages there were 254 such
words This would give $500 words
muse by persons Of the most ordinary
WellIgcucc None of these lists IN
c0de aue proper names.
AZ The time of making this study one
Of nus children was years and ?
months of are | noted down (aud
,a have the lisD 2l3 words used by
hrr 'a one day. They were words that
any intelligent child would use, chiefly
names Of household articles and com
mon things. with the most ordinary
'e,qs and palticiples. ! did not hear
al. 'hesajd during the day. nor do |
ll1nk she used all the words she knew,
] estimated her vocabulary at 400
words. and She did not know enough
'oearry on any except childish CONVEX
a''ru
From all of the foregoing obscrva-
1.9> ] drew the following conclusions:
h'e.F wcll-rcad man of fair ability
a.a be- ablo to define or understand
~. ny Or 2J.000 primitiyes and princi-
r.. aeryatve words.
lae same man in his conversation
'0i writing, will use not less than g.
. y 1000 words. If he is n literary
.'"4 ae Will command 1000 or 5000
Common people use from 5000 TO
'.. words, according TO their general
NEE and conversational power.
a.Iieratc man Gone who cannot
~. VII. use from l,j0o TO $500
= .r-au who has not at command
1000 words is an ignoramus.
' ". find difficulty in expressing
..' "a-Ht>. il. indeed, ne have any to
express. Literature
New Southern Words.
q .r''a from q gentleman of this city
.r,l to the ARTICLE an Miss Mur-