English language has doubled in size in the last century

Telegraph ^ | December 16, 2010 | Richard Alleyne

[SunkenCiv]

Researchers at Harvard University and Google found that the language was expanding by 8,500 words a year in the new millennium and now stands at 1,022,000 words.

The rate of increase over the years is shown by the fact the language has grown by more than 70 per cent since 1950, according to the study.

The previous half century it only grew by a tenth.

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.

The findings came from the computer analyse of 5,195,769 digitised books (approximately four per cent of all the books ever printed) published between 1800 and 2000.

[SunkenCiv]

Don’t worry, when the time comes, ALL books will be forbidden and it will be a moot point. ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

We’re divided by a common language (Wilde and/or Shaw, but usually attributed to Churchill). :’)

[Quix]

Thankfully, God is a VERY good librarian.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!

[Stoat]

Very interesting! Thank you for the ping as well as for linking to the other thread :-)

Happy New Year to all :-)

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure, Happy New Year Stoat!