Words, words, so many words

Thanks to ESPN the Scripps National Spelling Bee has become a May television "sporting" event alongside the Kentucky Derby, Indianapolis 500 and the French Open. The last week of the months hundreds of middle school kids with squirm and fidget and spell, round after round, until the pressure and precision whittle it to one champion, crowned in prime time on ABC.

13-year-old Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas was this year's winner. She won by correctly spelling the word Laodicean, which has two distinct meanings: of or relating to Laodecia, or indifferent in matters of religion. Laodicean is also the title of an 1881 a novel by Thomas Hardy.

As I watched the Bee, I sat glassy-eyed as many of the words had never entered "my" English language. Sure there were a few multi-syllabic gems that I knew - you know the words you use when trying to impress someone - but for the most part word after word were unknown to me. Which made me question my comprehension and use of the English language - at least until today, and the milestone the language reached.

The English language added its millionth word early Wednesday, according to the Global Language Monitor, a Web site that uses a math formula to estimate how often words are created.

The site estimates the millionth English word; "Web 2.0" was added to the language Wednesday at 5:22 a.m. ET. The term refers to the second, more social generation of the Internet. The site says more than 14 words are added to English every day, at the current rate.

Using a computer model computer model, the web site checks a total of 5,000 dictionaries, scholarly publications and news articles, as well as billions of Web sites, to see how frequently words are used. A word must make 25,000 appearances to be deemed legitimate. According to the site, the English language has more words than any other language on earth. Mandarin Chinese comes in second with about 450,000 words.

Psychologists estimate that the average human being learns 5,000 words a year through the age of 21 - that's a total of 105,000 words or 10% of the language. Post 21 - humans acquire another 5,000 words every ten years. So at 42, my grasp of the English language is approximately 120,000 words. Compare that with man's best friend. The average dog recognizes 150 - 200 words total in their lifetime, 75% of which are learned before age three.

There is a vast (85%) unknown in my life when it comes to my use and understanding of the English language. In some ways that simple fact is dumb-founding. The average person (I am average) functions at 10% capacity of the language, and by all standards communication is the most vital psycho-social element of our society. Are we not achieving capacity or potential?

Or is it a societal flaw, that we create and utilize some many words on a daily basis to describe life in the 21st century. Do we create new words in order to be cute or cutting edge when existing words in the language already exist? Do we need to really "tweet" when we already "message" our friends. Is there something to be learned from my dog - which seems to function and thrive in his 150 word world?