New Britain herald., 1926-04-29

By Carol Bird
 Ho,U many aoords do you kno,O9
 Hoao many do you use' ,. Ho1O many rords do you hear and fail
 to understand?
 HoO many WordS are there in the
 English lunguage2
 What are the longest aud shortest
 ,Uords?
 How many ,cords does the average man
 use datly l?
 IF YOU want to know everything there A is to know about words, seek out Dr. Frank II. Vizetelly, Photographer, one of the worlds greatest authorities on words. He possesses what is probably the largest vocabulary in the world. For the Standard Dictionary, upon which he Is continuously at work, is reputed to contain the greatest number of words more than 455,000. Dr. Vizetelly is man. aging editor of Funk & Wagnalls' New Standard Dictionary of the English lan- guage.
 This famous philologist plays around with words daily. Finding new ones, discardng obsolete ones, tracing the his- tory of words, their origin, their exact meaning, their use. He trails them to their lairs and drags them out for vivi- section. While the compilation of dic- tionaries may seem a ponderous business to some, to lovers of words it is the job of jobs! To Dr. Vizetelly, who has been working with words since his youth, it must be glad and gay business. For he is man of buoyant spirits, an opti mist, full of fun and full of laugh. Even If you meet him on day and at an hour which would seem far from propi- tious-the occasion of breaking in stiff pair of shoes-he Is all good nature and willingness to discuss words with you. Words! Dr. Vizetelly thinks and talks and lives words. Even the bright brown new shoes mean, in addition to pinch, collection of words to him. Leather. Vamps. Counter. Laces. Eyelets. Tan ming. Toe. Stitching.
 WHEN you meet him, you hurl at him W leading question: How many words are there in the English language? And almost immediately he is off on the all-absorbing subject of combinations of vowels and consonants.
 "No one knows how many words there are in American speech or in the English language, and no one ever will know, for no one can compute them," he says, "not even the 2000 aides who helped the English Pathological Society to com pute the words for their New English Dictionary, edited by Dr. Murray-any more than one can compute how many grains of sand there are on the seashore, how many stars there are in the tirma- ment or how many drops of water there are in the seven seas.
 "As to how many a worker in words may know is another matter, but is one that has not yet been computed. In the making of dictionaries many thousands of terms more than are actually in- cluded in the works themselves come be- fore the attention of the editors in charge. In my own case more than 515,000 words have been brought to my attention in one way or another during the last fifteen years. Do I know them all?
 "Well, have an intimate knowledge of some; friendships with many, nod ding acquaintance with more, and some familiarity with the vernacular, col loquial and slang,
 UTNTELLTGENT artisans have a vo-
 cabulary of not fewer than 5000 words, while educated persons-church- men, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. are familiar with, if they do not use, from 5000 to 10000 words, and many more. Consider first the term business man. The Standard Dictionary inter prets the words as one engaged in mer- cantile pursuits or transactions and these pursuits embrace many occupa- tions: rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, to the doctor, lawyer, merchant chief, including also the tinker, the tailor, the soldier and the sailor. Well, which of these does the average busi- ness man mean?
 "The little man who sells roasted chestnuts on the street corner does not need correspondence, and may not use more than 200 words in conducting his business.