Writing, marketing and technology
A while ago I wrote that short words are best. Now, according to a BBC report from the Oxford University Press, they are also the most popular. The top ten nouns are:
According to an OUP expert, 90% of the top 100 words were one syllable.
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It makes sense if you think about it. If you look at the most popular words, they all refer to things that you have to talk about everyday, and are usually hard off to not mention. If the word time was something longer, like the imaginary word “darmulfactor”, it would make English much more difficult to speak.
I saw the CNN report on this study and went to the askoxford.com site for a fuller report. Not only are all the top-ranked words short, they’re all Anglo-Saxon in origin. Fascinating stuff! See my “High Time” post for my own take on it.
How about “Love”, is that not popular?
Nice!