New Britain Herald Newspaper, April 29, 1926, Page 19

o>—o@o<o Dr. Frank H. Vizetelly, who has made a lifework of col- lecting and classifying words, has almost half a million at his command By Carol Bird How many words do you know? How many do you uge? How many words do you hear and fail to understand? How many words are there in the English language? What are the longest and shortsst words? How many words does the average man use daily ? F YOU want to know everything thers is to know about words, seek out Dr, Frank H. Vizetelly, lexicographer, one of the world’s greatest authorities on words. He pos: s what is probably the largest vocabulary in the world. For the Standard Dictionary, upon which he {s continuously at work, is reputed to contain the greatest number of words— more than 455,000. Dr. Vizetelly is man- aging editor of Funk & Wagnalls’ New Standard Dictionary of the English lan- guage, This famous philologist plays around with words daily. Finding new ones, discarding obsolete ones, tracing the his- tory of words, their origin, their exact meaning, their use. He trails them to their lairs and drags them out for vivi- section. While the compilation of die- tionaries may seem a ponderous business to some, to lovers of words it is the job of jobs! To Dr. Vizetelly, who has been working with words since his youth, it must be a glad and gay business, Ior he is a man of buoyant spirits, an opti- mist, full of fun and full of laugh. Even if you meet him on a day and at an hour which would seem far from propi- tious—the occasion of breaking in a stiff pair of shoes—he i3 all good nature and willingness to discuss words with you. Words! Dr. Vizetelly thinks and talks and lives words, Even the bright brown new shoes mean, in addition to a pinch, a collection of words to him. Leather. Vamps. Counter. Laces. Eyelets, Tan- ning. Toe. Stitching, HEN you meet him, you hurl at him a leading question: How many words are there in the English language? And almost immediately he is off on the all-absorbing subject of combinations of vowels and consonants, “No one knows how many words there are in American speech or in the English language, and no one ever will know, for no one can compute them,” he says, “not even the 2000 aides who helped the English Philological Society to com- pute the words for their New English Dictionary, edited by Dr. Murray—any more than one can compute how many grains of sand there are on the seashore, how many stars there are in the firma- ment or how many drops of water there are in the seven scas, “As to how many a worker in words may know is another matter, but is one that has not yet been computed. In the making of dictionaries many thousands of terms more than are actually in- cluded in the works themselves come be- fore the attention of the editors in charge. In my own case more than 515,000 words have been brought to my attention in one way or another during the last fifteen years. Do I know them all? “Well, T have an intimate knowledge of some; friendships with many, a nod- ding acquaintance with more, and some familiarity with the vernacular, col- loquial and slang. C(INTELLIGENT artisans have a vo- cabulary of not fewer than 5000 words, while educated persons—church- men, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc.— are familiar with, if they do not use, from 8000 to 10,000 words, and many more. Consider first the term ‘business man. The Standard Dictionary inter- prets the words as ‘one engaged in mer- cantile pursuits or transactions,’ and these pursuits embrace many occupa- tions: rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, to the doctor, lawyer, merchant chief, including also the tinker, the tailor, the soldier and the sailor. Well, which of these does the ‘average busi- ness man’ mean? “The little man who sells roasted chestnuts on the street corner does not need correspondence, and may not use more than 200 words in conducting his business. Bl “Dr. John C. French, of Johns Hopkins University, said a year ago that the average man in business knows about 50,000 words. I do not know any one which the characteriza- tion ‘average business man’ would fit who commands 50,000 words or anything like it. The highly educated American business or professional man—a captain of industry, a physician, a minister or a lawyer—may command such a vocabu- lary, but the average man in business— and I take him to be a salesman—if he commands 10,000 words may be said to have a full vocabulary. “The department of psychology of one of our learned bodies recently investi gated the matter of veoecabulary acqu tion, and disclosed the fact that average child of from 4 to 5 year of age makes vse of 1700 words. In i first year the child acquired a vocabulary of from ten to twenty words. During its second year, this total was increased to 300 or 400 words, depending irely upon environment. Before the close of the third year, the larger of these totals was more than doubled, so that the vocabulary at command aggregated from 600 to 1000 words. “A churchman, familiar with the terminology of the Bible, will know the® meaning of 8674 different Hel in the Old Testament and of 4 Greek words in the New Testament, or 14, words in all, with some du course. This is an exceptional “The physician or surgeon k S than this number. Take a rough sum- mary of matters with which he must be familiar. There are in the body of man 7 arteries, 71 bones, 7 103 veins—total, 1711, this there are 1300 b: mic diseases, 500 pigmen 88 eponymic signs and symptoms of dis- eases, 744 tests and 109 tumors, or a total of 4968 matters relating to his profession alone. “Then there are the¢names of some 10,000 chemicals and drugs of which } must have more than mere passing knowledge—total 14,968 in all, and we have not referred to the science hygiene, or to allied professions, as der tistry, etc., or to his home s mo- torcar or airplane, and the world at large, of which he is so im nt a figure These can barely be covered by 10,000 more—approximately 25,000 words.” R. VIZETELLY then referred tc masters of words, now since passed away. He said “In the seventy-five speeches addre: to the people of America betw years 1913 and 1918, the late President Woodrow Wilson made use of 6221 dif- ferent words, but this does not by any means reflect the total vocabular; his command. Compare his ‘The Sta ‘Congressional Government’ and his ‘History of the United States’ with the Interesting Things About This English Language of Ours and Our Various Conversational Attainments social reform, brings with it the means with which to describe its various Ycu Tcll ’F ' phases, and our speech is like the tide— ) sl m! ever at ebb and flow, i trouble with most of us is that lo . wve do st think of the words we INTELLIGEN L i tisansihave®amvocabularylof B MNE SLIE S ERo LR g AReE s 1 5000 words matter of our vocabulary. Let me sug- Gt v gest a ‘Daily Dozen’ for improving it. A minister knows 14,296 words. for example, the words recalled 1 a4 man or a woman sees, A child of 5 uses 1700 words. e e L soleti A physician knows 25,000 words. up in the morning and Woodrow Wilson knew 62,210 wor: Shakespeare’s vocabulary was 24,000 words. The lawyer knows 23,000 words. A newspaper editor knows 45,000 words. eve the time they leave their homes for their office, occupation or profession, or the matinee or movie,” MMHEN came a bewildering avalanche of words —words descriptive of known object under the sun, Dr. discussed in more or less y form the number of words a meets during a day's existence. It is interesting to note their number and their variety. “The man leaps out of bed, puts on robe over his pajamas and goes hroom, losing a slipper on the ay and hitting his elbow on the door. He turns the hot and cold water faucets to fill the bathtub, and, after using tooth powder and toothbrush, shaves while his tub is filling, using razor, shaving brush, ing soap or cream. Perhaps he razor, perhaps he cuts a pim- h case he swears and awak- wife, who is irritated at having her morning snooze broken up. In the bathtub he uses a shower and a bath- brush. His wife, through the crack in the door, warns him not to wet the bath rug. He pulls out a plug or valve, dr his body with a towel, if he is igh to find one on the rod, or ts one from the clothes ) words. Average business man commands from 3000 to 10,000 words. Average college man or woman uses 5000 words, and knows 8000 more. Average literary person uses 12,000. The scholar knows and uses about 20,000. Dr. Frank H. Vizetelly has an actual knowledge of more than 455,000 words—the largest vocabulary possessed by any person in the world. list of 6221 words used in these sp at a glance sily multiplic and you ¢ pends on 0 differ notes neck, throa pper arm, forearm, houlders, ceps, wrist, , Joints, sockets, mb, knuckles, nails v them knee, knee- le, foot, toes and se into underwear iside out is a nuisance, likely as not the laundress armholes together. soliloquize: ‘If the wife e shopping, there wouldn't missing or frayed but- ¢ would be at least one s around. Where is shoelace is s a rip in the upper of a hole in the sole of the own behind. Where Children gist for a limited v ‘What did he not Had Shake would have ad and the st would ollection of 1 ng of armor You haven’t t collect When v going to bring some Now I've got to wear the ne I wore yesterday. There goes the collar button under the bureau. Con- lary of the home, for 10,000 pace I words, or 23,000 in all.” Every social S doYOU USE ¢ “The Man With the Largest Vocabulary in the World,” Dr. Frank H. Vizetelly, Renowned Lexicographer, Tells You Some Very CLERGYMAN 1S 000 WORDS found these soft cuffs! made for links. “He puts on his vest or waistcoat, which is getting too tight for him, and makes a final adjustment of his necktie, which he ties in a four.in-hand. He notices a spot on one of the lapels of his coat and he brushes it. He is ready for breakfast, which reminds him that he ha ¢ senses, seeing, hearing, smell- ing, tasting and feeling. So far he has used at least 208 words, “He has dressed in a room containing four walls, floor, ceiling, wallpaper, win- rug or carpet, chairs, win- sills, door jamb, closet, hooks, coat s, lintels, glass, pictures, hair- , combs, chiffonier, bureau, chair, sheets, pillows, pillowcases, bedspread, casters, curtains, handles, locks and panels. “He steps from this room into the din- ing room, sits at the table and takes up his newspaper while breakfast is served. He may casually note that there is a side- board in which there is a clock and china, silver and cut glass, it contains more of the same, a tablecloth, napkins, napkin rings, various dishes, coffee pot, plates, cups, knives, forks, rpoons, sugar, salt pepper, saucers, platters, mats, butter plates and butter spreaders. He may have breakfast cereal, fruit, bread, toast, milk, ham and eggs and mustard and potatoes and coffee. “As he puts on his hat and takes his cane, without counting the words used in conversation with his wife, with whom, for the purposes of this illustration, he is still on speaking terms, he has noted 288 different words. These words he used in one hour's time, from 7 to 8 o'clock. He still has at least fourteen hours to spend before bedtime. And he hasn't looked at the weather yet or caught his train, mingled with his fellows to dis- cuss affairs of business or the news of the day, much less dictated to his secre- tary. After business he may go to the theatre, or sit up with a sick friend, and get home late to a lecture and forget to wind up his watch or to turn off the radio.” They weren't ND now try that out if you want to add a daily dozen or ten dozen to your vocabulary! If you want to do trick stuff with yords, go on a scouting trip for the long- You'll find plenty of compound and there are a good many long ones which are names of chemical com. pounds, such as, for example, “paraoxy- metamethoxyallylbenzense.” The word frequently cited from English litera- ture as the longest word is “honorifi- tudi which is to be found in Shakespeare's “Love's Labor's Lost.” William Gladstone is supposed to have coined the twenty-four-letter word “dis- establishmentarianism.” i While you are playing ar: word lexicographer, words es words, ill the science of He has to know all the words in the dictionary, and when you pause to realize that it took more than 200 per- sons four years to get up the latest edition of the dictionary of which Dr. Vizetelly is managing editor, you can get some s t idea of how deep he wades Copuright by Pudlic Ledger