Teenagers 'only use 800 different words a day'

[Todd]

In the words of the Chez Quis Maitre D' in Ferris Bueller

"I weep for the future".

________________-


The real issue here is that people object to kids having a good vocabulary for hip-hop and not for politics


A generation of teenagers who communicate via the Internet and by text messages are risking unemployment because their daily vocabulary consists of just 800 words, the Government's new children's communication tsar has warned.

By Aislinn Laing (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/6960745/Teenagers-only-use-800-different-words-a-day.html)


Vicky Pollard's 'yeah', 'no' and 'but' are some of the words used by teenagers Photo: PA
Although, according to recent surveys, they know an average of 40,000 words, they tend to favour a "teenspeak" used in text messages, on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and in internet chat rooms like MSN.

One poll, commissioned by Tesco, revealed that while children had the vocabulary to be articulate, the top 20 words they used - including the Vicky Pollard lexicon of “yeah”, “no” and “but” - accounted for about a third of all the words they used.

According to Jean Gross, England's first Communication Champion for Children who started in the post this month, the lack of range will impact negatively on their chances of getting a job.

Miss Gross is planning to launch a nationwide campaign next year to ensure children use their full language potential and are not impeded in the classroom and later, the workplace, because they are inarticulate.

It will target children in primary and secondary schools and she intends to ask QI presenter, author and prolific Twitterer Stephen Fry to back it.

“Teenagers are spending more time communicating through electronic media and text messaging, which is short and brief," she told The Sunday Times. "We need to help today’s teenagers understand the difference between their textspeak and the formal language they need to succeed in life – 800 words will not get you a job.”

She plans to send children with video cameras into workplaces so they can see the range of words used by professionals and share what they have learned with classmates, and wants parents to limit the amount of children under two watch to half an hour a day, replacing it with conversation.

Her concern was raised, she said, by research conducted by Tony McEnery, a professor of linguistics at Lancaster University sponsored by Tesco, who examined 10m words of transcribed speech and 100,000 words from teenagers’ blogs.

As well as establishing that teens use their top 20 words in a third of their speech, he discovered words likely to be entirely alien to adults, including “chenzed”, which means tired or drunk, “spong”, which means silly, and “lol”, the shorthand version of “laugh out loud”.

Both Marks & Spencer boss Sir Stuart Rose and Tesco's Sir Terry Leahy have recently lamented the lack of school-leavers with the right skills for the workplace.

John Bald, a language teaching consultant and former Ofsted schools inspector, said the poor use of language was a deliberate, anti-establishment act.

“There is undoubtedly a culture among teenagers of deliberately stripping away excess verbiage in language," he said.

“When kids are in social situations, the instinct is to simplify. It’s part of a wider anti-school culture that exists among some children which parents and schools need to address.”

But David Crystal, honorary professor of linguistics at Bangor University in Wales, told The Sunday Times that experts simply did not understand the complexities of teen language and had judged it by their own standards.

“The real issue here is that people object to kids having a good vocabulary for hip-hop and not for politics," he said. "They have an articulate vocabulary for the kind of things they want to talk about. Few academics get anywhere near measuring that vocabulary.”

[Bruno]

The article fails to mention how many words per day the average adult uses for comparison. I found another article that claims the average adults speaks 16,000 words a day, so I find it difficult to believe the average teen talks 1/20th of the time that an adult does.

[Krugerrand]

The article fails to mention how many words per day the average adult uses for comparison. I found another article that claims the average adults speaks 16,000 words a day, so I find it difficult to believe the average teen talks 1/20th of the time that an adult does.

This isn't reporting a sum of all words but a sum of UNIQUE words used.

[Krugerrand]

the Government's new children's communication tsar has warned.

Let's not forget the sadness that our tax dollars are paying for a "children's communication tsar" that was not vetted through the Senate.

[Todd]

The article fails to mention how many words per day the average adult uses for comparison. I found another article that claims the average adults speaks 16,000 words a day, so I find it difficult to believe the average teen talks 1/20th of the time that an adult does.

Yes. As an adult and even in my daily life, it's difficult to try to build vocabulary. I refuse to text and try as little as possible to use internet jargon.
I get a "word of the day" subscription from dictionary.com just to keep on my toes.

[speciallyblend]

yeah but no way? :)

[MelissaWV]

This is not unique to teenagers. Even on this particular site, which boasts some smart cookies, you see the same words recycled ad nauseum. There's an almost willful lack of grammar, spelling, or punctuation awareness. The difference between writing something conversationally and authoring something that does little more than display one's careless ignorance is lost on a lot of people. This is generally waved off with an accusation of snobbery, or something along the lines of "I talk better than I type, okay?"

People use very basic words, and they're fed these words by the media... but also by parents, co-workers, and the hobbies they choose to engage in. If you are someone who putters about in their garage fixing up antique cars, your vocabulary on the subject will be varied, and the words you choose will be necessarily precise. Your vocabulary as it pertains to ballet, however, won't be anywhere near as colorful.

If the argument is that texting, television, and IRC have made people lazier overall, I'll buy that. If it's that teenagers are somehow the only examples of this, I am calling bullshit.

Texting/Tweeting presents someone with limited character space, which means learning to be succinct, and which should lead to a more articulate populace. The underlying problem is that people are learning to speak to the lowest common denominator among them. I've seen people afraid to "use big words" because it's going to make them come off as arrogant.

There are stronger forces at work, here.

[torchbearer]

I don't expand my vocabulary in the interest of communication.
try using an expanded vocabulary and see how many people will not understand what you are saying.

[MelissaWV]

I don't expand my vocabulary in the interest of communication.
try using an expanded vocabulary and see how many people will not understand what you are saying.

*sighs*

[Todd]

I try to expand my vocabulary not only to keep learning new things but to hopefully keep the onset of Alzheimer's at bay. :)

[Met Income]

Lol

[torchbearer]

*sighs*

this is how bad it gets for me on a daily basis-
When I forget myself and speak freely, people are so amazed they call me a "human encyclopedia", when in the context of vocabulary- they probably mean "human dictionary".
some people may ask me the meaning of the words i use when they don't understand. i can tolerate these kinds of people because they are seeking to learn. i can tell that others just nod their head and respond in such a way that tells me they didn't understand the words i am using.
SO i find myself translating my thoughts into simple words. Or I have to take the time to define a concept using simple words.
Try defining anomie in simple words.

[John Q. Revere]

Psalm 11:9

With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through
knowledge the righteous escape.

Message: Shut your mouth and open your mind ;)

[MelissaWV]

Social decay.

* * *

I had someone tell me I made the word "moue" up, and when I offered to find literary precedent for it... they informed me they could care less.

That, incidentally, is one of my pet peeves (sorry fellow RPF chatters!): it's "couldn't" care less. If you COULD care less, then you do care, which is actually the opposite of what you meant to convey.

*moue*

[coyote_sprit]

this is how bad it gets for me on a daily basis-
When I forget myself and speak freely, people are so amazed they call me a "human encyclopedia", when in the context of vocabulary- they probably mean "human dictionary".
some people may ask me the meaning of the words i use when they don't understand. i can tolerate these kinds of people because they are seeking to learn. i can tell that others just nod their head and respond in such a way that tells me they didn't understand the words i am using.
SO i find myself translating my thoughts into simple words. Or I have to take the time to define a concept using simple words.
Try defining anomie in simple words.

Morally Bankrupt.

[ScoutsHonor]

Yes. As an adult and even in my daily life, it's difficult to try to build vocabulary. I refuse to text and try as little as possible to use internet jargon.
I get a "word of the day" subscription from dictionary.com just to keep on my toes.

Since time immemorial, folks have improved both their vocabularies and their minds by...ta-dum- reading. ;)

[coyote_sprit]

Yes. As an adult and even in my daily life, it's difficult to try to build vocabulary. I refuse to text and try as little as possible to use internet jargon.

If it weren't for expanding languages computers couldn't do even close to the amount of things they do now? Ever heard of SSE, MMX, 3DNow? Don't be afraid to adopt new words.

[Todd]

Psalm 11:9

With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through
knowledge the righteous escape.

Message: Shut your mouth and open your mind ;)

Good advice *zips mouth*

[Todd]

Since time immemorial, folks have improved both their vocabularies and their minds by...ta-dum- reading. ;)

And that too. Absolutely...people just do not read any more.

Last year was a bad year. After getting through about a dozen books in 08', I back slid and read only 4 last year and left about as many half read.

[Son of Detroit]

As well as establishing that teens use their top 20 words in a third of their speech, he discovered words likely to be entirely alien to adults, including “chenzed”, which means tired or drunk, “spong”, which means silly

I'm 16 years old, and I consider myself fairly social and "hip".

I've never in my life heard of the words "chenzed" or "spong". Not once.

I do not believe that report. There is no way that those two words are among the top 20 used.

[tmosley]

IngSoc.

Doubleplusgood!

[speciallyblend]

I don't expand my vocabulary in the interest of communication.
try using an expanded vocabulary and see how many people will not understand what you are saying.

so true, when i am talking to older republicans. I try to keep it simple. If you use complicated language. It can confuse folks,because of the media. you have to almost use language that they hear.

If i were to use the word cannabis alot of older republicans would be clueless,but use marijuana and they are like ahhhhhh. just an example.

If you use words that are to complicated for the listener. they drift off in their heads singing britney spears;)

[Brett]

I'm 16 years old, and I consider myself fairly social and "hip".

I've never in my life heard of the words "chenzed" or "spong". Not once.

I do not believe that report. There is no way that those two words are among the top 20 used.

I'm 18 and I agree with this.

I doubt my vocabulary is constrained to just 800 words.

[ScoutsHonor]

I'm 16 years old, and I consider myself fairly social and "hip".

I've never in my life heard of the words "chenzed" or "spong". Not once.

I do not believe that report. There is no way that those two words are among the top 20 used.

Thanks for clearing that up. (I kind of suspected that) :)

[speciallyblend]

Social decay.

* * *

I had someone tell me I made the word "moue" up, and when I offered to find literary precedent for it... they informed me they could care less.

That, incidentally, is one of my pet peeves (sorry fellow RPF chatters!): it's "couldn't" care less. If you COULD care less, then you do care, which is actually the opposite of what you meant to convey.

*moue*

i disagree, just means new form of communication. that you do not use. you might not like it,but that is what happens. It doesn't mean social decay just means you must keep up with slang and change of definitions.

all words can have different meanings in the context they are said...

u under std. my fav is all my typos . i leave most just for the hell of it!!

i tink it wil b k lak of typ skls is t blame!!

i would assume alot of slang is helping the iranians communicate;) especially thru text and re defining what words mean. this would be a positive,even if we are like huh?? every generation always complains about the younger generations,but most of the progress is always driven forward by the younger generations,so something must be working. no matter what words are used!!

[hotbrownsauce]

hahaha, I just searched for "Teenagers Only Use 800 Different Words A Day" on bing.com and this thread was the first thing listed.

[ScoutsHonor]

And that too. Absolutely...people just do not read any more.

Last year was a bad year. After getting through about a dozen books in 08', I back slid and read only 4 last year and left about as many half read.

You have my sympathy...was this antipathy to reading caused by *public schooling*, do you think? I know phonics isn't "in style" with many authorities, alas.

[Dreamofunity]

I'm 16 years old, and I consider myself fairly social and "hip".

I've never in my life heard of the words "chenzed" or "spong". Not once.

I do not believe that report. There is no way that those two words are among the top 20 used.

At 21, I'd have to agree. I've never heard those words, and I have no desire to continue their use.

I generally use larger and more descripted words while on the internet oppose to in person. I'm a horrible speaker, and usually think faster than I can pronounce, which ends up in an array of half spoken and combined words. The internet, and all written word, allows for me to gather my thoughts a bit more and present it more clearly. If anything, my use of the internet has broadened my vocabulary.

Also, I'm a terrible speller. I'll usually know a word, but not exactly how to spell it, which causes me to use dictionary.com to find the correct spelling, which in return forces me to reenforce the proper definition. Then again, I don't have texts, I don't twitter, and I've been using proper sentences, spelling, and at least an attempt at proper grammar in IM's and forums since AIM even became popular.

[coyote_sprit]

7h1s 7)-(r34[) |5 f\_/|_|_ ()|= |=41L.

[TonySutton]

lol thats gay

[Dreamofunity]

7h1s 7)-(r34[) |5 f\_/|_|_ ()|= |=41l.

`/ () |_| /-\ |2 3 @ |\| 0 () |3

[MelissaWV]

i disagree, just means new form of communication. that you do not use. you might not like it,but that is what happens. It doesn't mean social decay just means you must keep up with slang and change of definitions.

all words can have different meanings in the context they are said...

u under std. my fav is all my typos . i leave most just for the hell of it!!

i tink it wil b k lak of typ skls is t blame!!

i would assume alot of slang is helping the iranians communicate;) especially thru text and re defining what words mean. this would be a positive,even if we are like huh??

"Social decay" was in response to something that torchbearer said. Also, I am neither under a sexually-transmitted disease, nor under short term disability.
"i tink it wil b k lak of typ skls is t blame!!" makes virtually no sense to me whatsoever.

I have noticed your errors, and I generally ignore them if I can understand your post (which is the point of posting on the forums; we're here to admire ideas, not syntax and spelling). The trouble comes in when you've said one thing, but meant another, or no one can understand what you've said at all. Slang has its own set of rules, whether or not people choose to codify it. If I told you that when I said "OMG" I meant "on my gingerbread," you'd look at me funny :) I like frosting OMG!

Standardizing spelling, grammar, punctuation, and other such language aspects is more about being able to convey meaning as simply and consistently as possible. As I said earlier, being able to do that succinctly via text or tweet is something I see as an advantage, not the collapse of our language.

[speciallyblend]

lol thats gay

so did you mean happy????;)

[speciallyblend]

"Social decay" was in response to something that torchbearer said. Also, I am neither under a sexually-transmitted disease, nor under short term disability.
"i tink it wil b k lak of typ skls is t blame!!" makes virtually no sense to me whatsoever.

I have noticed your errors, and I generally ignore them if I can understand your post (which is the point of posting on the forums; we're here to admire ideas, not syntax and spelling). The trouble comes in when you've said one thing, but meant another, or no one can understand what you've said at all. Slang has its own set of rules, whether or not people choose to codify it. If I told you that when I said "OMG" I meant "on my gingerbread," you'd look at me funny :) I like frosting OMG!

Standardizing spelling, grammar, punctuation, and other such language aspects is more about being able to convey meaning as simply and consistently as possible. As I said earlier, being able to do that succinctly via text or tweet is something I see as an advantage, not the collapse of our language.


haha i am glad you don't have one cause that is not what i said, if you cannot figure it out oo well.. but that was funny:)

I think it will be ok lack of typing skills is to blame;)

3 folks i know knew exactly what i had said;)

i understand what your saying;) english was never my best class;) I am more of an action kinda of guy;)

[coyote_sprit]

/* Defines what dreamofunity is. */

#include <stdio.h>

#define *** 1
#define STRAIGHT 0

int main(){
_____int dreamofunity;

_____dreamofunity = ***;

_____if (dreamofunity)
__________printf("Dreamofunity is a ***.");
_____else
__________printf("Dreamofunity is still a ***.");

_____return 0;
}

[Mini-Me]

I'm 16 years old, and I consider myself fairly social and "hip".

I've never in my life heard of the words "chenzed" or "spong". Not once.

I do not believe that report. There is no way that those two words are among the top 20 used.

The quote you're referring to doesn't actually say that those words are among the top 20 words used though. It just says that, in addition to the top twenty words comprising one third of teen speech, teens ALSO use words [not necessarily in the top twenty] that are alien to most adults...such as "chenzed" and "spong."

I have a feeling those two words in particular are pretty local phenomena though.


`/ () |_| /-\ |2 3 @ |\| 0 () |3
I could read coyote_spirit's message almost as quickly as English, but I had to stop and learn a slightly new dialect to comprehend yours. ;) I think that's mostly because of the forum spacing though. It comes across loud and clear within the quote tags above, as I'm typing this.

[Dreamofunity]

/* Defines what dreamofunity is. */

#include <stdio.h>

#define *** 1
#define STRAIGHT 0

int main(){
_____int dreamofunity;

_____dreamofunity = ***;

_____if (dreamofunity)
__________printf("Dreamofunity is a ***.");
_____else
__________printf("Dreamofunity is still a ***.");

_____return 0;
}

<html>
<body>
<h1> You win </h1>
<p> You are better than I am, I give up. I slept through my computer classes </p>
</body>
</html>

[squarepusher]

Social decay.

* * *

I had someone tell me I made the word "moue" up, and when I offered to find literary precedent for it... they informed me they could care less.

That, incidentally, is one of my pet peeves (sorry fellow RPF chatters!): it's "couldn't" care less. If you COULD care less, then you do care, which is actually the opposite of what you meant to convey.

*moue*

Melissa reveals her prudishness in this thread :eek:

as far as internet goes, I have mixed opinions. Internet has such a broad audience, typing in a very complicated or elaborate English may actually make your message more difficult to understand for the masses. Considering different education levels, ages, native languages, maybe a simple speak is more effective?

[speciallyblend]

i do not text, i feel if you have time to text,freakin make a phone call,but that is a generation thing i guess,but have been texted and then tried to figure out wtf they were saying,since most folks that text shorten everything... i find texting a waste of time,rather hit the vap.

[squarepusher]

/* Defines what dreamofunity is. */

#include <stdio.h>

#define *** 1
#define STRAIGHT 0

int main(){
_____int dreamofunity;

_____dreamofunity = ***;

_____if (dreamofunity)
__________printf("Dreamofunity is a ***.");
_____else
__________printf("Dreamofunity is still a ***.");

_____return 0;
}


i have problems with this code :)

[speciallyblend]

Melissa reveals her prudishness in this thread :eek:

as far as internet goes, I have mixed opinions. Internet has such a broad audience, typing in a very complicated or elaborate English may actually make your message more difficult to understand for the masses. Considering different education levels, ages, native languages, maybe a simple speak is more effective?

melisa is gona txt slap u:)

[speciallyblend]

`/ () |_| /-\ |2 3 @ |\| 0 () |3

ok please clarify:)

[Mini-Me]

i have problems with this code :)

What compiler are you using? :p

[Dreamofunity]

ok please clarify:)

You are a noob.

[speciallyblend]

<html>
<body>
<h1> You win </h1>
<p> You are better than I am, I give up. I slept through my computer classes </p>
</body>
</html>

my wife gets all this but i am like dam;)

[Bruno]

This isn't reporting a sum of all words but a sum of UNIQUE words used.

I thought that was a possibility, but the article didn't seem to make it clear one way or another. I've also heard that Americans use an average of 500 words in everyday language, still less than the teenagers. I'll have to look further.

[speciallyblend]

You are a noob.

still clarify??

[Mini-Me]

still clarify??

It's easier to read in the post editing box than on the forum itself.

`/ () |_| = YOU
/-\ |2 3 = ARE
@ = A
|\| 0 () |3 = NOOB

It's not a consistent dialect or anything, but it's legible at least when the words are spaced apart far enough.

[speciallyblend]

You are a noob.

still don't get it :) i am just bs in:)

[Dreamofunity]

It's easier to read in the post editing box than on the forum itself.

`/ () |_| = YOU
/-\ |2 3 = ARE
@ = A
|\| 0 () |3 = NOOB

It's not a consistent dialect or anything, but it's legible at least when the words are spaced apart far enough.

I had spaced them out a bit so it was easier, but alas, I am a noob with this forum format and all my spacing went away when I posted it.

[speciallyblend]

It's easier to read in the post editing box than on the forum itself.

`/ () |_| = YOU
/-\ |2 3 = ARE
@ = A
|\| 0 () |3 = NOOB

It's not a consistent dialect or anything, but it's legible at least when the words are spaced apart far enough.

i see it now, i couldnt see it the other way...

[speciallyblend]

I had spaced them out a bit so it was easier, but alas, I am a noob with this forum format and all my spacing went away when I posted it.

yeah the spacing made it very hard to figure out, of course i just worked 2 16 hr shifts with 8 off in between,so my brain is tired!!

[roho76]

OMG. Can you beleive Elvis is shaking his hips on stage and that Jim Morrison said higher on TV. What is this world coming too?

Old people bitching about young people. Blah blah blah.

[apropos]

The main thing that strikes me about this is that words are necessary for thought to be transmitted. Words are necessary abstractions. As vocabulary decreases, the nuances of thought start to level out and shades of grey turn to black and white.

This realization led the Roman Republic to incorporate as much Greek culture into their own as they could - the Greeks' thought processes of the time were much more highly developed, and new words had been coined to represent those findings accurately and concisely.

The opposite of all this is also true...newspeak, for example. Blot out the word of an abstract concept and the knowledge of that thing becomes much more difficult to hold onto...and even more difficult to accurately transmit said concept from generation to generation.

[Mini-Me]

OMG. Can you beleive Elvis is shaking his hips on stage and that Jim Morrison said higher on TV. What is this world coming too?

Old people bitching about young people. Blah blah blah.

I think the concern about this issue is a bit more serious than a bunch of old people complaining about young people though. tmosley's post alludes to the reason, and the post above mine expands on that.

[NYgs23]

People use "textspeak" as a sort of shorthand. In the old days, knowledge of Gregg shorthand was considered a useful skill, so why not knowledge of texting shorthand?

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

-Socrates, 400 BC

[t0rnado]

Members of every single 'generation' have castigated the previous generation in an attempt to preserve their own collective worth. The more I read articles like this, the more I realize that they're being written by insecure, old tools.

[Mini-Me]

Members of every single 'generation' have castigated the previous generation in an attempt to preserve their own collective worth. The more I read articles like this, the more I realize that they're being written by insecure, old tools.

If I were an old fuddy-duddy, I'd ask you if you actually meant "the subsequent generation." Since I'm young, I'll refrain. ;)

[t0rnado]

If I were an old fuddy-duddy, I'd ask you if you actually meant "the subsequent generation." Since I'm young, I'll refrain. ;)

Haha! Thanks for pointing that out! :o

[Andrew-Austin]

And we are worrying about this why? Those young punks took our jerbs!! Focus on the issues people!

YouTube - they took our jobs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brj2UkUPjCI)

[nobody's_hero]

Teenagers also create a variety of new words every day:

www.urbandictionary.com

(It has saved me many times from being totally clueless, and I'm only 23)

[TortoiseDream]

If I count from 1 to 801, then I'm above average! YAY!