# Vocabulary
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [September 7, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358 "2007-09-07T14:54:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BillBC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BillBC)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/1 "2007-09-07T14:54:05Z")
You write "At times it’s been attributed to Gallup polls or even entomologists. "
What would bug scientists know about the matter? I’d think you’d made a mistake, except that you are omniscient, so I suppose you must be testing us.
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### Author:  [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/2 "2007-09-07T14:56:12Z")
No, no, no!
Link to column: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070907.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070907.html)
"Despite being plainly absurd, your factoid has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and even science journals, each typically citing other such appearances as backup. At times it’s been attributed to Gallup polls or even entomologists. "
This is subtlelty people–you put the stealth funny out there, but you don’t point a giant glowing finger at it. It is much better when you get to think how smart you are by “discovering” it.
BTW, what’s the proper factoid about Latin v. English vocab? Didn’t Cicero and those other old toga-wearing dudes have only about xx% of the vocab words of modern English (not counting words they had to make up to translate Pooh and Harry Potter into it, I mean)?
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/3 "2007-09-07T15:56:06Z")
I get it. Heh. And I are a gud English speeker.
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### Author:  [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/4 "2007-09-07T16:03:30Z")
This was a really good column. Top shelf.
It did, however, cause me to retrace my day’s browsing - I was sure I’d seen someone use the word _desuetude_ on 7/9/07. Sure enough, it was in Gideon Haigh’s [Shorter, simpler, sillier](http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/twenty20wc/content/current/story/309625.html). In a further coincidence, I read Cecil’s column whilst eating a sandwich containing (rutabaga-heavy) Branston pickle.
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/5 "2007-09-07T16:34:35Z")
Damn. All these years my mind has been seeing that word as dis-use-itude. Which fits the meaning well enough, I guess, but is still embarassing. Maybe I can pretend that that was the word being used? Any chance of that flying?
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/6 "2007-09-07T17:53:40Z")
Classical Latin and Hebrew are, in fact, noted for their unusually small vocabularies (in the case of Hebrew, of course, it’s partly because the corpus is so small and specialized), and English for its unusually large one.
Still can’t help thinking that people are getting dumber, though.
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### Author:  [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/7 "2007-09-07T18:49:52Z")
[QUOTE=John W. Kennedy]
Classical Latin and Hebrew are, in fact, noted for their unusually small vocabularies (in the case of Hebrew, of course, it’s partly because the corpus is so small and specialized), and English for its unusually large one.
[/quote]
Latin does indeed have a small vocabulary, even more stunning when you remember the wordsmithing Greeks were right next door. Still, a large percenage of English words are derived from Latin (many via other Romance languages), which is why I was able to recognize _desuetude_ (_de- +suetus_) without ever recalling having seen it in print before…
> [@](#):
>
> Still can’t help thinking that people are getting dumber, though.
I have a theory that this is because as you age the average age of the general population remains more or less the same, so you’re knowledge-base draws from a larger time period than that of the average person as you age. In short, you’re getting smarter (at least as to basic recall of facts), but the “average” person remains at the same intelligence.
**BTW** , let me echo that this is one of the best articles I’ve seen from Cecil in a while; a general-enough question involving research beyond a Google search, not to mention entertaining all the way thru. Four stars.
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### Author:  [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/8 "2007-09-07T18:55:32Z")
[QUOTE=CJJ\*]
**BTW** , let me echo that this is one of the best articles I’ve seen from Cecil in a while; a general-enough question involving research beyond a Google search, not to mention entertaining all the way thru. Four stars.
[/QUOTE]
I was thinking the same thing – a real bang up job. Also liked seeing _Harper’s_, the official magazine of the pseudo-intellectual, being shown how fact-checking works.
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### Author:  [@rickane58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rickane58)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/9 "2007-09-07T23:09:46Z")
I think this is a double-plus good idea. “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/10 "2007-09-08T00:36:30Z")
Good article, and, yes, very subtle humor. Entomologists indeed. \
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/11 "2007-09-08T02:01:48Z")
Well, in fact, Cecil said entomologists and that’s what he meant. It was a goof on the part of a distinguished newspaper, but apparently they attributed some vocabulary statistics to a guy who wrote, in fact, about fireflies.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2007, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/12 "2007-09-08T07:56:51Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven]
It was a goof on the part of a distinguished newspaper, but apparently they attributed some vocabulary statistics to a guy who wrote, in fact, about fireflies.
[/QUOTE]
Hey – was that the same entomologist who also dis some research and wrote a couple of books on Sexual Behavior in Humans?
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### Author:  [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/13 "2007-09-08T16:05:17Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven]
Well, in fact, Cecil said entomologists and that’s what he meant. It was a goof on the part of a distinguished newspaper, but apparently they attributed some vocabulary statistics to a guy who wrote, in fact, about fireflies.
[/QUOTE]
So it’s funny twice. 🙂
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/14 "2007-09-08T23:30:01Z")
If we may cease chortling for a moment, I agree that the english vocabulary could stand _some_ paring. On the other hand, we are deficient in ways. There are times that I’m at a loss for words. A couple examples;
Suppose I’m ambivalent (itself not very apt) about something. I don’t care one way or the other. I can’t find a casual word to express that indifference. “I don’t like opera” implies dislike, which isn’t true. Same for sports. It’s there is all. It keeps people off the streets, I guess. A single word between “love” and Hate" would be nice.
Also, the famous “he/she” conundrum. We cop out and say “they”, but that doesn’t work for only one person.
Even Cecil backed away from that one.
There are more, but I’ll stop now. I, uh, I’m not, I don’t, uh, care to continue.
mangeorge
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/15 "2007-09-09T00:46:20Z")
What’s wrong with the word “indifferent”? Seems to me it’s an ideal word with which to express indifference.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/16 "2007-09-09T01:11:33Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable]
What’s wrong with the word “indifferent”? Seems to me it’s an ideal word with which to express indifference.
[/QUOTE]
I tried “indifferent”. I asked mangeorge “What about them Raiders?” I answered “I’m indifferent about (towards, in regard to, regarding, etc) them”. I dunno, just doesn’t seem to slide smoothly off the tongue. Not like "I hate (love) them.
It’s me, isn’t it? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/17 "2007-09-09T01:19:18Z")
I guess. To each his own.
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### Author:  [@Papy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papy)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/18 "2007-09-09T05:41:05Z")
Sorry for abruptly changing the topic at hand people, but when Cecil wrote that “Grand Guignole” should be pronounced “Gron Geen-yole”, I have to disagree with the first part of it (Gron).
I’m a French speaker (first language) and “grand” (mute “d”) seems much closer to genuine French pronunciation than “Gron” …well, maybe with a thick parisian accent “Gron” would be closer, but as for international French I guess it would be somewhere between the two.
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### Author:  [@Papy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papy)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/19 "2007-09-09T05:51:30Z")
Oops, wrong thread sorry (I wish I could edit my post: not possible at this time).
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### Author:  [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/418358/20 "2007-09-09T09:40:20Z")
Never mind…
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