Why so many words in English?

[Hotteok]

English seems to have such a large vocabulary and slang words.

I think it's because English has been divided in different versions, like British, Scottish, American, Australian..??

As different people speak English, new words are being born every day.

 

For example, I've been learning English for more than 2 decades but I've never known a word 'flippant.'

It might be because I only get exposed to written English, instead of spoken English.

 

Think about how many words will be born after 10,000 years of using Hebrew as the only mother tongue on Earth?

Will I be able to communicate with someone from the other side of the planet? : - )

 

 

 

 

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

English as a language has waaaay too many words. It has collected words from surrounding nations for centuries.

I expect in the New System we will all eventually speak one tounge as well as the 'pure language'.
And while we will speak a language, I expect we will still have local dialects and words, much like British, US, Australian etc 'English'.
https://wordcounter.io/blog/how-many-words-are-in-the-english-language/

Just Older

[jayrtom]

Interesting article about this question:

https://curiosity.com/topics/what-language-has-the-most-words-curiosity/

 

...

If you haven't picked up on it yet, counting words is hard work. Yes, English does have a lot of words, thanks in no small part to its hybrid origins in Romance and Germanic languages, plus its tendency to seamlessly steal words from other sources. But each and every language has its own difficulties when it comes to counting words — or, for that matter, when it comes to making up words in the first place.

 

Take German. Almost anything can be a word. All you have to do is plug known words together, and voila — you've got vocabulary terms like "die Brillenbrillanz," or "the clarity experienced upon putting on a new pair of glasses." So ... does German have infinite words?

Turkish has the same issue, only more so. Entire sentences like "Were you one of those people whom we could not make into a Czechoslovak?" transform into a single word. How is English supposed to compete?...

[carlos]

Another reason why English is so rich in vocabulary has to do with its origins. Ancient peoples living in England spoke Anglo Saxon, a language related to Dutch and German. Then, when the Normans conquered England from 1066, they imposed their own language, which was an old variety of French. So for most concepts in English you have at least two words: one Anglo Saxon and one French. Like anger/ire, kingly/royal, weird/strange, foe/enemy, hopelessness/despair and so on. That means that English has, from its origin, at least the double of words than any other European language.

 

While the lower classes spoke mostly Anglo Saxon, the higher classes spoke French. An interesting consequence of that are the names of foods. For example, "pork" is the French word for swine or pig, but since the rich only saw pigs when they were served on their table, "porc" came to mean "pig meat". The same with "beef" (French for ox), "veal" (French for calf), "mutton" (French for sheep), "poultry" (French for chicken) and so on.

[pnutts]

13 hours ago, NobleEndeavours said:

English has been divided in different versions, like British, Scottish, American, Australian

Don't forget Canadjan, Eh

 

American is English?

Scottish - you ever hear someone with a thick Brogue? Almost not understandable.🏌️‍♂️

Same for Newfanese - grant what do you expect, they are descendants of Irish & Scottish Pirates 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

British - depends what part of London & area you are from if you are understandable.

[pnutts]

5 hours ago, carlos said:

Another reason why English is so rich in vocabulary has to do with its origins. Ancient peoples living in England spoke Anglo Saxon

When I went to high school ( 2ndary ) English was 60% Romance  ( from Rome ) language - that is Latin derived. That is no longer the case.

Now as for French - it is classed as a Romance language which Gaul's the French to no end.☣️

Vikings from Denmark & area are a Teutonic people as in Germanic & other Barbarians ( according to Rome )

My father-in-law's family can trace their family back thru Germany to Denmark - just slightly different spelling.

That is ok since my mom's family used 3 different spellings among siblings.

Edited June 4, 2019 by pnutts

[Tortuga]

5 hours ago, carlos said:

That means that English has, from its origin, at least the double of words than any other European language.

Personally I think that American can be reduced to two words. For the men, "Dude!", for the women, "No!"

Most conversations can be had using just those two words...

 

Dude!!!!

[pnutts]

23 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Dude

Or even Dud!!!!! 🤣

 

Or Duhhhhh

Edited June 4, 2019 by pnutts

[Tortuga]

1 minute ago, pnutts said:

Or even Dud!!!!! 🤣

 

Or Duhhhhh

....Dude!....