LINGUIST List 4.721

Sat 18 Sep 1993

Misc: woof tickets, word number, Wang

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Beth Lee Simon, woof tickets
2. David Fay, Re: Query - How many words do people know?
3. HUGH SORRILL, RE: 4.683 More cross-cultural fun
4. "don l. f. nilsen", Re: 4.706 Last posting: cross-cultural fun

Just a quick response: a colleague here says that there was a Newsweek
article on playing/talking the dozens, selling woof tickets, and so
on, several years ago.

Beth Simon
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dictionary of American Regional English
blsimonmacc.wisc.edu

>I've been looking for some literature pointing to the vocabulary
>of the 'average' native speaker of English. The Oxford English
>Dictionary contains 616500 meanings (including derivatives and
>phrases), but I know most people don't know nearly this many.
>
>Can anyone give me some figures?
>
>Matt Adams.

Donald Broadbent, I believe, estimated the recognition vocabulary of
undergraduates in the late 1960's or early 1970's. If I remember correctly,
his estimate was around 100,000. The original article can be found in
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, if memory serves.

David Fay
GTE Laboratories
40 Sylvan Rd.
Waltham, MA 02254
email: daf1gte.com
voice: +1.617.466.2675
fax: +1.617.290.0627

Message 3: RE: 4.683 More cross-cultural fun

When I worked in the Customer service department of Hewlett Packard in England
a brochure announcing the arrival of a rival company's after-sales care
organisation landed on my desk. The firm in question was WANG and their
support organisation was called WANGCARE. I'm told that the misinterpret-
ation which certainly arises in British English has to be explained to those
users of American English who haven't come into contact with British
expletives. The British arm of Wang Customer Services was hastily renamed.

Hugh Sorrill
University of York, UK.

Message 4: Re: 4.706 Last posting: cross-cultural fun

 Here is the bilingual English-Spanish punchline. What is the joke?
S.O.C.K.S.!
 Here are some Spanish riddles:
?Que es como oro, pero plata no es? (Platano es!)
?Cuantas estrellas hay en los cielos? (Cinquenta--Sin cuenta!)
?En que se parecen una manzano y un tren? (No es pera! No espera!)
TRANSLATE: "He brings his suit, but never swims."
 ANECDOTE: I was once playing tennis with a Spanish tennis player.
When I asked the score, she responded "Without elbows." At that time the
score was 5 to 2. I later discovered that "without elbows" (sin codos)
is homonymous with "5 to 2" (cinco dos).

Don L. F. Nilsen {^=^}
<ATDFNASUACAD.BITNET>, (602) 965-7592
Executive Secretary
International Society for Humor Studies
English Department
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-0302