As you go back in history, do you think that people had less vocabulary than they do today?

Question

Qwyrx, I take your point, although just thinking about it, I've heard that Eskimos have LOADS of words describing different types of snow, and different shades of white. Maybe this idea would also apply to societies in the past.

Answer 1

In a very practical sense, there is no doubt that we have access to larger vocabularies then today. This is due to the vastly larger number of scientific and technical terms, for which there were no major counterparts historically. Now, I don't know if we have any way to compare the working vocabulary of people, particularly people of comparable social status, but it also seems likely that modern working vocabularies would be larger for the same reason. Think about it this way: how many tools do you have in your house (and I'm including things like televisions, micorwaves, cars, etc. in the category of tools). Now, how many parts to these tools can you name? Two hundred years ago, yes, people had tools, but far less, and the tools they had consisted of fewer parts and generally less complexity.

Answer 2

Have you ever read Jane Austen, Shakespeare or writings of people like Rousseau? People several centuries back definitely had an expansive vocabulary. There have always been classes of people who have had a richer and more varied vocabulary than others of their era. I think, perhaps, that in the past, those who were lucky enough to be well educated had a rich and varied vocabulary and put it to good use.
On the other hand, nowadays, while more people have access to education and are able to progress further in education than even a century ago, people seem reluctant to use the vocabulary they have, I think afraid of being seen to use "big words" or getting above themselves.
Our modern vocabulary seems to consist of an unhealthy number of "Likes" and swear words are used to express feelings or opinions rather than actually using varied vocabulary.

Answer 3

The illiterate people, obviously yes. 100 yrs ago and less, a lot of people never got very far in school because they were sent out to work from childhood. But with today's public school system there is no excuse for the decimation of the English language caused the media and text-message culture.

Answer 4

Absolutely. Humans have gone from grunts, groans and hand gestures, to using smoke signals,to having such a large vocabulary that we need an ever expanding dictionary to contain said vocabulary, and we have additional words and gestures which aren't allowed in the dictionary to prove that we haven't progressed very far in the conveyance of the thoughts and acts consistent with the use of that vocabulary.
Have you noticed that I, typically, have used a lot of words to say practically nothing?

Answer 5

If you read old war letters I think you'll find beople were far more verbose in the past. People are so afraid to express themselves eloquently nowadays that we dumb down everything we say. I blame the rampant anti-intellectualism in today's profit-driven entertainment industry.

In an attempt to get the dollar from the pocket of the lowest common denominator we mass-produce crap films and TV shows that have all the vocabularic diversity of the back of a cereal box.

Damn the man.

Answer 6

Based on the way I have heard some people speak and how many ask questions on Y!A I would have to say that they didn't necessarily have less vocabulary but they used what they had better than people today.

Answer 7

Absolutely. Just remember that our great grandparents, half of them didn't finish school past the 6th grade. It wasn't a requirement and dropping out to get jobs wasn't a big thing.

Now to get a job at McDonalds you have to practically have a bachelor's degree.

All in all, we have a much larger vocabulary than our ancestors and others in history.

Answer 8

According to the daily vocabulary seen on here, the vocabulary back in history was probably better.

Answer 9

Well I was going to say yes, but then I thought about it some more and maybe not. They did use different words than we use today. Actually yes, I am going to stick with my original answer.

Answer 10

i think people who were educated read more then the people who are living today...our library is sponsoring a federal granted program to get people to read more...there is no difference in a person who can't read and a person who can read but don't

Fahrenheit 451..tells of a society that burns books

its science fiction...but we don't have to burn books today..we just ignore them as a culture..tv, movies.and the computer cut into peoples book reading...