Dragaera

OT: Subjectivity vs. Objectivity (was: bois...)

Mon Aug 26 09:32:49 PDT 2002

David Dyer-Bennet responding to my question:
> > What's the count on Shakespeare's vocabulary vs the average
> > well educated speaker of American English?
>
> You're expecting our vocabulary to be as larger or larger, I presume?
> Could be.

No.  Actually, I expected it to be quite a bit smaller despite the vast
number of words introduced over the intervening four centuries.  Perhaps
"working vocabulary" would be a better measure, since I'm certain that I use
many fewer words than I know.

> Of course, it's not how big it is; it's what you *do* with it that
> matters.

Natch.