The 86,800 Commonest English Words

Are these, apparently.

by acilius on October 23, 2008  •  Permalink
Posted in Language
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Posted by acilius on October 23, 2008

https://losthunderlads.com/2008/10/23/the-86800-commonest-english-words/

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4 Comments

  1. CMStewart's avatar

    cymast

     /  October 24, 2008

    138- “erm”? What?

    Besides “erm,” the first really substantive word is “government,” at 140.

  2. acilius's avatar

    acilius

     /  October 24, 2008

    There are also a lot of proper names, which is weird. It’s based on the “British National Corpus,” which implies some limits. For example, number 86,800 is “conquistador”- if it had been based on a corpus that included usage in the western hemisphere, I strongly suspect that word would rate higher.

  3. CMStewart's avatar

    cymast

     /  October 24, 2008

    Ah yes, it’s British. So it obviously doesn’t tally words played on classic rock radio stations in the USA, which would almost explain why “erm” is 138 and “conquistador” is 86,8000.

  4. CMStewart's avatar

    cymast

     /  October 24, 2008

    Give or take a 0.