My wandering mind recently wondered…how many words were in the English language. The answer, like so many, is … it depends. If you count every technical and archaic word, the number is around 600,000 according to co-pilot. The number in use is more like 200,000-300,000 with individuals using about 10% of that. (I’m pretty sure I don’t know 20,000 words, but we’ll go with it). So then I asked, “Hey AI, using 200,000 as the number of commonly used words in modern English, how many words could be added if a 27-letter alphabet was used?”
Now, I’m not buying either answer literally. BUT, adding a 27th letter opens up mind blowing possibilities. Maybe it can solve problems like having too many to’s. It makes you think.
TG Wolff 