Entirely Erwin

The Bare Minimum

Did you know:

* There is over 250,000 words in the English language.

* About 170,000 words are used somehow in everyday language.

* Approximately 50,000 words are considered obsolete.

* The remaining 30,000 words are words derived from other words.

* The vocabulary of an average person is 5,000 - 6,000 words.

So isn't it kinda strange how you can keep a conversation going with certain people for a long period of time just by using the same 7 words (Yay, yup, ok, uh-huh, really, right, cool) over and over? For example (and cookies for you if you know who "Anonymous" is):

Anonymous: You're gay
Me: Yay
Anonymous: Yay for the gay
Me: Yup
Anonymous: I've got somethin' to tell ya
Me: OK
Anonymous: Ramble, ramble, ramble, blah, blah, blah
Me: Uh-huh
Anonymous: Ramble, ramble, blah, blah, ramble, blah
Me: Right
Anonymous: Ramble, blah, blah, ramble, ramble, blah
Me: Really? Cool <---- (Extra points for using a multiple word combo)

This continued on for a good 20-30 minutes. So why bother with 250,000 or 170,000 or even 5,000 words when we really only need these 7?