Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Ten-Hundred Most Used Words

There is a new way of writing, using only the ten hundred most used words. I can’t tell you the full name of this new way of writing because its name uses words that aren’t allowed (which I don’t think is right, to tell you the truth). But if you go here you can read all about it.

This new way of writing—which I learned about from my wife’s brother (go here)—comes from a drawing you can see here.

I’m writing this piece using only the ten hundred allowed words. And I can tell you it takes some thinking, because so many of the words I want to use I can’t. Which makes me think about our mother tongue.



I am very happy that I grew up speaking the tongue used in the land where I live, because it is—or so say most people who study these things—the tongue with the most words in the world. The guy who wrote As You Like It used almost twenty ten-hundred words in his plays, and over ten ten-hundred new words arrived in our tongue around the time that he lived. (I wrote about this here, if you want to read it.)

Think about our tongue, and how many different ways there are to say things like “cool!” or “great!” or “wow!” I speak some other tongues, and know that none of them have as many ways to say these things as does ours.

my wife speaking in a different tongue
(guess which one!)

But I don’t speak any of those other tongues nearly as well as this one, and so when I talk in those tongues I often don’t know the right word for something I want to say. So I use other, simple words to explain what I mean. It’s often strange-sounding, but it gets the job done.

It’s just like using this new way of writing, as a matter of fact.

Okay: So your job is to try this out too (go here), and put what you wrote in the place under this piece so we can all read what everyone wrote. Good fun!

7 comments:

  1. Well, here was from the text editor:

    "Happy 27 and one half years together, dear. It has been the best 27 and one half years of my life. I love you!"

    No problems with that one!

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  2. So sweet! (I didn't know numbers were allowed. But then again, they're not actually words, I guess.) I love you, too!

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  3. Below is my entry, as submitted to Russ's group. (I don't know whether you will have seen it.)

    I write to explain a game which I may not name. A group of men are on each f two teams. A em will try o get a man home by making a hit and then other hits to move him and the others on the team from one corer of the in-field to another so that he will get "home." This is called a run, and the team with more runs than the other team will be happy a the end. Many men and women follow this game and are happy when their teams do well in a great may of such games. Too ad that I can not name it; it is such a god game.

    Well, that is it; now I must lie down. Much love to you and your wife.

    Dad

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  4. It's the very best game of them all! And you were the one who showed it to me first. Thank you, Dad!

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  5. Thanks for sharing that Leslie. I think I'll try and write up Finnegans Wake that way. Oh, wait. That might actually kill me.

    I like Anonymous Dad's attempt, although I must admit that the game that cannot be named sounds a bit, well, violent.

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  6. Dad that is very very very good and I like the game and your picture of it very much.

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