Mark A Mandel wrote: || 2. The words introduced in the past four centuries have mostly been || highly technical words that most of us wouldn't even recognize, let || alone use. Lessee... pharyngealization, cytochrome, || intertextuality... well, maybe in THIS crowd, but not to the average || English speaker. Not all technical words are "highly" technical. Car, plane, radio, radar, stereo, etc. are words that are not considered technical but have been added to common parlance in the last century due to certain technologies becoming common. I expect some of the computer jargon that professionals use will seep into everyday use (like 'logging on' has). Balanced against this addition must also be considered the words lost due to technology gains. The profession of cooper, for example, is not as important now as in Shakespeare's time and most people today would not even know what a cooper did. Wainwright is another example of the same. ______________ Adam Heyman aheyman at rcn.com 1000 Lexington St. #48 Waltham, MA 02452 781 642 6917