Show r Ord Orda o u uI I a V 4 YouR I f 1 I II I II I OBLONGATA MEDULLA i ETC ETC- I Re Rec c vit t f I vi I 1 1 1 A Av T visas f 7 By Dy y PROEHL HALLER JAKLON Drawing by Ray Walters Valters OW man many words do you you know Shakespeare used about words A year sIx year six old child knows nearly a thousand An uneducated f person knows to Y k words The era n average e person person per- per perA A son knows to v v A college graduate knows more than Lawyers doctors and Il ministers know upwards of words An editor knows 40 40 40 Woodrow Wilson used more than r In three of ot his books Do words Interest you Have you Do any any Idea of ot the number of ot them In American speech or In the English language Come Corne along then and have a chat with a word expert Dr Frank Prank II H managing editor of Punk Funk R New Kew Standard Diction Diction- Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary ary Th Doctor who Is re- re responsible re responsible for tor the figures In lu the tore fore foregoing foro-coing foro going pnra paragraph has had brought to his attention In the last fifteen years more than words He lie does not of ot course to remember the me of ot all of ot them but It Js Is probable that he be has a fairly good working vocabulary The range of ot a mans man's vocabulary depends on his occupation Doctor says A churchman fa- fa fa familiar with the Bible DIble will know the meaning of ot different Hebrew words In the Old Testament and ot of Greek words In tho New Testa Testa- Testament Testament Testament ment or 14 a words In all with withBorne some somo duplicates duplicates of ot course This Is Isan Isan laan an exceptional case The physician or surgeon knows more than this number Take a arou rou rough h summary of ot the matters with which lie he must be familiar There are In the tho body of ot man arteries 71 bones 79 convolutions muscles nerves nen-cs 85 plexuses and veins total total 1708 In addition to this there are 1800 1300 bacteria diseases pigments poisons 83 88 sl s and symptoms of ot diseases tests tests and tumors or a total ot of matters relating to his Lis profession profession sion slon alone Then there are arc the names of ot about chemicals and drugs of ot which he be must have moro more than a passing r total knowledge total 3 In all and we have not referred to the tho science ot of hygiene or to allied professions as dentistry etc or to his home life his motor car or airplane and the world at large of or which ho Is so 60 Important a figure These can barely be bo covered cov cov- covered covered ered by more approximately more words The lawyer also Is an nn exception The most popular law dictionaries list approximately terms peculiar to the legal profession and compre compre- comprehensive comprehensive comprehensive as the law Itself ma may be It does not In general embrace the yo- yo vocabulary vo of ot the home for which add words or ur In alL aiL How many words does a newspaper newspaper I per editor know One estimated the extent of his vocabulary by the aid of ot I a o D DS 3 0 0 I ATuS sc ono S San an abridged dictionary Under each letter of ot the tho alphabet a pa page e or more of words was selected at random and counted He TIe kept a record of primi primi- primitive primitive tive and derivative words That Is among the former was put meas ure among the latter measurable measured meas and unmeasured Compound words whose hose meanings were clearly Indicated by their component were omitted as work clock draft dratt horse draft horse hard earned Counting this way he found an average of ot 20 primitive words and 35 3 derivative words on each page This would make there being pages of ot vocabulary In this thle dictionary a total of 10 of the former and of ot the latter or In all aU Next he took a page pago In each letter and on It lie he counted the words whIch It seemed any person of If average Ine In Intelligence would be able to use and understand On 24 4 pages es there were 3 primitive e words and derIvative or nearly In la nIl ot of the f former and more than of the latter And And lastly ho he made a count of ot very Cry common words such as oven a poorly educated person could hardly escape knowing and they were found to number primitive e and derivative The department of ot psychology ot of otone one of ot our learned bo bodies es recently In- In In Investigated the matter of ot vocabulary acquisition and disclosed the fact that the average child of ot from four to five fhe years of ot a age e makes use of ot 1700 words In Its first year the child acquired a vocabulary of ot from 10 to 20 words During Its second year year this total was Increased to or words depending entirely upon en- en envIronment environment en environment Before the close of ot the third year the lar larger er of ot these totals was more than doubled so that the vocabulary at command aggregated from GOO COO to 1000 words vocabulary has been put at or and the apologist for tor a limited vo- vo vocabulary vo vocabulary 0 exclaims What did he not achieve with them I Had Hall Shakespeare lived In our time he would have hare advanced ad with our progress and und the strength th of ot his we- we vo vocabulary would have e been double the number of words he used but please remember that many of ot Shakespeare's words are now archaic Mall Many words fell feU Into disuse when archery gave way to the gun and things which were very ery useful when knighthood was In flower eventually were discarded The passing of ot the tournament and Jousts witnessed the tho burial of ot a large largo collection of ot me me- medieval terms even eyen as the passing ot of armor did the same When falconry became a dead sport Its specific vocabulary was soon forgotten Alchemy and superstition had bad a host of o friends but with advance of our culture their lingo has been driven out of existence Every well-read well person of education education education tion and fair ability Is able to define or understand as used nearly or per per- perhaps perhaps perhaps haps more than words The same person In conversation and writ writ- writing writing ing will wUl command not fewer ver than 15 15 to while a person who can can- cannot cannot cannot not read but who has a go good de degree ee ot of native mental ability will command terms But let It lt be clearly understood that It if a n new Dew war breaks out tomorrow whether It be between capital and la- la laI labor labor la labor I bor or between races of different I hue or between the upper world and the lower world the editors editor's vocabulary vocabulary lary lury will keep pace with the events as they develop Every social upheaval al even en as every social reform brIn brings s with It t the means with which to describe Its varIous phases and our speech Is like the tIde ever tide ever at ebb and flow What Is the longest word In th the En English lIsh langua language e Who knows Here are however a few that have bave posed for tor the time being as the longest words In the lan language ua e The word most frequently cited Is which Is to be found In Shakespeare's Loves Labor Lost act 5 scene 1 line 44 To the Puritan divine Byfield we owe I Doctor Benson Is credited with lans Ians ians To William E Gladstone we owe An examination of any treatise on chemistry will reveal several sc like the these s e parao zene and I 1 Among modern German words of cumbersome formation Is which which contains thirty-five thirty letters to express what the English Indicate by the word tank In Its military sense There Is also the Turkish Asso Asso- Association Association elation of ot Bagpipe Makers which Is designated In fn Ger Ger- German Ger- Ger German German man by sac sch att t A word commonly attributed to Bismarck Is said to have been the re- re result result re result sult of ot his Ills hatred of ot everything for for- forel foreign foreign el eign particularly everything French For Por this reason he offered as a sub sub- substitute substitute substitute for the French word vord caire caire the term s tell u n I t 1 sch r er which he preferred prE to apotheker Leading them all however er Is a Greek word denoting a dish consisting ot of all aU kinds of ot dainties fish flesh fowl and sauces Take a d deep p breath and try to pronounce ost p rim pot o 0 t- t tr tr r I 1 in bomel l umeno kl ch 1 ep Ik a t r- r ra a I e k t o Which In the vernacular Is just plain hash The Flemish word for motor car cur Is 18 t rol- rol ri Now arent aren't you OU glad Iad Indeed that you ou dont don't have to speak German or Greek or Flemish ThirL how much hun hungrier ler a man would get while ask ask- asking ask asking ing for hash In a Greek restaurant I |