Here's more interesting tidbits about our English tongue, statistically
speaking, according to A Man of My Words, Reflections on the English
Language by Richard Lederer.
Number of countries or territories in which English has official
status: 87
Percentage of people in the European Union who are fluent in English: 75
Percentage of all books in the world printed in English: 50%
Percentage of global E-mail in English:68%
Percentage of all English words throughout history that no longer
exist: 85%
Number of words listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, not including
supplements: 616,500
Average number of words added to English language each year: 1,000
Number of words in the largest dictionaries of German, the world's
second largest language: 185,00
Number of words in the largest dictionaries of Russian, the world's
third largest language: 130,000
Number of words in the largest dictionaries of French and Spanish (tied
for fourth largest language): 100,000
Number of languages in the English vocabulary: 300
Number of words the average English speaker actually recognizes: 10,000
to 20,00
Percentage of the average English speaker's conversation made up the
most frequently used 737 words: 96%
Rebecca Martin-Richardson
Library Media Specialist
Kathleen E. Goodwin Elementary
Old Saybrook, CT
rdrich@oldsaybrook.k12.ct.us
On Friday, June 25, 2004, at 07:24 PM, Sybil Finemel wrote:
> From: New on LLRX.com for June 21, 2004:
>
> http://www.llrx.com/columns/grammar12.htm
>
>
>
> Wisdom From the Grammar Goddess
>
> Breaking the Spell
>
> By Diane Sandford
>
> "The English language has the worst system of spelling of any major
> language. Since English spelling is so hard, it is used as a test, a
> rather
> unfair test, of a person's carefulness and literacy. Check every word
> that
> looks phunny."
>
>
>
> - Robert C. Pinckert, Pinckert's Practical Grammar (Writer's Digest
> Books, 1986), pages 220-23.
>
>
>
>
> Sybil Finemel
> Library Director MLIS.CIO.
> Los Angeles CA
> Contributor, lii.org, Librarians' Index to the Internet
> http://lii.org/
> Virtual Reference Desk Volunteer
> 24/7 Reference Librarian.
> sfinemel@comcast.net
>
>
>
>
>
> "Manners are of more importance than laws. Manners are what vex or
> soothe,
> corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a
> constant,
> steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe
> in."
>
> Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
>
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