# Vocabulary Article
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary-article/628209
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [July 14, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary-article/628209 "2012-07-14T15:25:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tnbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnbob)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary-article/628209/1 "2012-07-14T15:25:35Z")
Cecil,
In your piece on “Does the average American student have less vocabulary today than in days gone by” (September 7, 2007), second paragraph, 4th line. Did you mean entomologist (one who studies insects) or etymologist (one who studies word origins)?
tnbob
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### Author:  [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary-article/628209/2 "2012-07-14T15:34:15Z")
> **[Does the average American student have less vocabulary today than in days...](https://www.straightdope.com/21343836/does-the-average-american-student-have-less-vocabulary-today-than-in-days-gone-by)**
Blame it on little Ed.🙂
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary-article/628209/3 "2012-07-14T16:11:28Z")
Even if he had in fact meant “entomologists,” it wouldn’t have really changed the point. When people start telling you what the “average vocabulary” of a person is, you have to immediately question how he has arrived at such a figure.
An etymologist is going to be just as suspect as an entomologist, in my book.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary-article/628209/4 "2012-07-14T17:03:28Z")
> [@tnbob](#):
>
> Cecil,
> In your piece on “Does the average American student have less vocabulary today than in days gone by” (September 7, 2007), second paragraph, 4th line. Did you mean entomologist (one who studies insects) or etymologist (one who studies word origins)?
>
> tnbob
Hard to say. Cecil has made his bones as a world-class wise-ass, and is perfectly capable of saying such a thing deliberately.
But it’s probably little Ed’s fault.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary-article/628209/5 "2012-07-14T23:19:29Z")
This question has come up before. Cecil meant what he said. See [this post by Dex](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13115205&postcount=3). Or I’ll just quote from that thread so you don’t have to click
> [@Does the Avg. American Student Have a Smaller Vocabulary . . .](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-avg-american-student-have-a-smaller-vocabulary/559879/3):
>
> No, Cecil said and meant entomologists. Note the word “even” – it wouldn’t be surprising if the factoid were attributed to etymologists, but it IS surprising that it was attributed to insect-ologists.
>
> You’re not alone in thinking that Cecil goofed (Cecil NEVER goofs), so I actually have the source: the entomologist was named Cole Gilbert. He was cited in Harper’s August 2000 (when the factoid was again published), but for a different nearby fact on the luminescence of fireflies. An article in the Oct. 2000 in the _Vancouver Sun_ cites him as the source of the vocabulary figures. So it was a goof on the part of the Vancouver Sun, but an amusing one.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary-article/628209/6 "2012-07-15T12:50:42Z")
Thanks, **bibliophage** , saved me the time and effort of looking it up again. I really wish that, when Cecil made these little jokes, he was more obvious – people ask about this one fairly often.