Vocabularies

1895

Shakespeare's vocabulary is said to have been the largest used by any English writer, and he had not 25,000, but 15,000, and of these 500 were used only once. Milton's vocabulary comprised about 8,000 words. That of the average educated writer is said to include about 3,000 words, while the average business man uses only about 1,000 words. The average English laborer has about 400 words at his command. These estimates are of British origin and are not recent. We're inclined to think that the business man and the mechanic in this country have rather more extensive vocabularies than these estimates suggest. — New York Sun.


A Concert

Jobson — Hello, Dobson. See the piano factory fire last night?
Dobson — Yes. Firemen worked like beavers.
Jobson — No, they didn't. They had a regular concert.
Dobson —I don't see how you make that out.
Jobson — Weren't they playing on the pianos? — London Tit-Bits.