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English language has doubled in size in the last century
Telegraph ^ | December 16, 2010 | Richard Alleyne

Posted on 12/30/2010 3:39:23 AM PST by SunkenCiv

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"The findings came from the computer analyse," which will also include that sentence in the next go-round.

1 posted on 12/30/2010 3:39:27 AM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: Stoat

2 posted on 12/30/2010 3:41:14 AM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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3 posted on 12/30/2010 3:42:12 AM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Who can refudiate such a finding?


4 posted on 12/30/2010 3:44:18 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
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To: SunkenCiv

Ebonics is not English. Remove Ebonics from the statistic, and the ‘growth’ would be small.


5 posted on 12/30/2010 4:11:33 AM PST by Moltke (Always retaliate first.)
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To: Moltke

6 posted on 12/30/2010 4:27:14 AM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Amber Lamps !"~~)
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To: ClearCase_guy
Who can refudiate such a finding?
Are you demanding a recount?
7 posted on 12/30/2010 4:35:39 AM PST by cartan
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To: ClearCase_guy
Who can refudiate such a finding?

Fo' shizzle...

8 posted on 12/30/2010 4:46:01 AM PST by Caipirabob ( Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: SunkenCiv

Interesting.

I knew we’d passed 1 million English words. Hadn’t had a recent count.

Sad to read of print dictionaries passing.

My new college library was deliberately small due to digitized files. I told them it was a big mistake. I asked them what provisions they’d made to hide and protect forbidden books when the time comes. They laughed nervously.


9 posted on 12/30/2010 4:46:23 AM PST by Quix (Times are a changin' INSURE you have believed in your heart & confessed Jesus as Lord Come NtheFlesh)
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To: SunkenCiv

“There is no such thing as ‘the Queen’s English’.
The property has gone into the hands of a joint
stock company and we own the bulk of the shares!”

- Mark Twain


10 posted on 12/30/2010 5:01:49 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Socialists are to economics what circle squarers are to math; undaunted by reason or derision.)
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To: SunkenCiv

The language is “growing much faster now” because before the advent of Webster’s Third International Dictionary, the big dictionaries were prescriptive. A word had to stay around a while before it became a dictionary word. Now if two people can be attested to have used a word more than once it is enshrined in the dictionary.It is part of the Deconstructionist mindset that says language is essentially meaningless anyway and expresses only power relationships between groups.


11 posted on 12/30/2010 7:20:18 AM PST by ThanhPhero (Khach hanh huong den La Vang)
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To: Moltke
"Yo,Yo,Yo" "Nuttin" "Mmmmmm, Mmmmm, Mmmmmm".

OK, I'm kind of kidding with those examples, but they do set the stage and give the flavor.

12 posted on 12/30/2010 7:24:51 AM PST by Lockbar (March toward the sound of the guns.)
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To: SunkenCiv

The argument could be made that the bar has been lowered.

13 posted on 12/30/2010 7:29:48 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim (Pablo lives jubtabulously!)
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To: ThanhPhero
If that is the criteria, and if James Joyce's impenetrable novel "Finnegan's Wake" was included in the survey (granted, it's what--80 years old?) it alone could account for a significant portion of the increase.

I think I'll write a simple computer program that cuts and dices existing English words, reassembles them in new forms, and arranges them along a basic scaffolding of grammar. I'll name it "Moor Finnegan's Nuncents." That'll bump the numbers up.

14 posted on 12/30/2010 7:38:08 AM PST by behzinlea
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To: behzinlea
Voynich Manuscript
15 posted on 12/30/2010 7:55:08 AM PST by null and void (We are now in day 707 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Bah, ! d0 n07 kn0w wh@7 7h3y @r3 7@1k!n9 @60u7


16 posted on 12/30/2010 9:42:20 AM PST by Raymann
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To: SunkenCiv
But nearly half of the new words are not included in any dictionary and are dubbed lexical "dark matter". They are either slang or invented jargon.

K.

17 posted on 12/30/2010 12:42:54 PM PST by colorado tanker
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To: SunkenCiv

The English language would not exist were it not for Greek. It owes its alphabet, its writing direction, and a major portion of its vocabulary to Greek.


18 posted on 12/30/2010 3:56:48 PM PST by eleni121 (Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise ye princes, and prepare the shield)
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To: behzinlea

I like it.


19 posted on 12/30/2010 5:35:16 PM PST by ThanhPhero (Khach hanh huong den La Vang)
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To: behzinlea

If those are the criteria.
If that is the criterion.


20 posted on 12/30/2010 5:37:38 PM PST by ThanhPhero (Khach hanh huong den La Vang)
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