4 ms·

>That ignores the fact that ... and it ignores the existence of dictionaries.

• Someone1234 12y ago
  I'm not sure I follow. The author was citing the number of words different groups of people typically know, this is a good starting point as few people know (or use) every single word in the English dictionary. The 8K figure is a low, but realistic baseline (worst case).
  • foxhill 12y ago
    yes, i understand that. what i meant was that, if you wanted to use less common words, all you would have to do is look up a word in the dictionary. besides, whilst many people may only know 8000 or so words, the set of 8000 would vary significantly, i'd imagine.