Surprising fact learnt today

[EuroTroll]

(I'm sure that the Corpus study is to do with the size of a person's vocabulary rather than the amount they speak anyway, although I have no idea how you measure that objectively either.)

I was under the impression that the English language is generally estimated to have about 200,000 words...

[RaceFanStan]

..... This makes being gay an even more preferable option.

Is that a confession ?

[edv]

I was under the impression that the English language is generally estimated to have about 200,000 words...

Yes, I heard the same thing...perhaps 250,000.

And the average person's vocabulary is somewhere around 10,000 words, except for politicians and lawyers. The smart ones have up to 12,000 words IIRC.

I wonder if bilingual people only know half the words....

[Storm]

Is that a confession ?

you are not keeping pace with the forums then :

[Sleeper]

Whoever said that clearly hasnt met my sister.

[Donney]

Well coming to think about it, it makes sense doesn't it?

It has traditionally been said that women have better communicative abilities than men, therefore it is only logical that they need less words to communicate.

I don't particularly agree with any of the mentioned studies though, I think it is an individual matter.

[Alexamateo]

Whoever said that clearly hasnt met my sister.

Nor my wife!

[martinbalmer]

I remember a similar study a few years ago, which concluded that women nag their partners more in the evenings because they use up fewer words over the course of the day. This makes being gay an even more preferable option.

How does it fare for lesbian couples? :

Many years ago my maths teacher said that with gay partners, one tended to be more feminine and the other maybe slightly more towards masculine.

I don't think Kerry talks any greater amount than I do, and she doesn't nag. So, I'm lucky there..

[BDunnell]

How does it fare for lesbian couples? :

I believe they tend to be largely silent throughout the day.

[jso1985]

So women talk 3 times more than men but they use less words?

My sisters proves it I think, the only words I hear from her are "stupid" "gimme that" and "where's the cat" :