Project proposal created for Lisa Strausfeld and Christian Marc Schmidt's <a>Mainstreaming Information</a> class at ITP, March 2009. The project was provisionally called “Vocabulap” (<em>vocabulary</em> + <em>overlap</em>. More info: <a>A2Z midterm: Vocabu-lame</a>

1. “Average number of words
in the written vocabulary
of a 6- to 14-year-old
American child in 1945: 25,000
“Average number today: 10,000”

2. 1 Index, Harper’s, August 1990, http://is.gd/iWaF
2 “Does the average American student have less vocabulary today than in days gone by?” Cecil Adams, The Straight
Dope, September 7, 2007, http://is.gd/iWbZ
So reported Harper’s in August 1990.1
The validity of this comparison has been called
into question as being one of not apples to apples, but rutabegas to rutabegas,2
yet our
curiosity about the matter remains: How has our vocabulary changed over time?
“Average number of words
in the written vocabulary
of a 6- to 14-year-old
American child in 1945: 25,000
“Average number today: 10,000”

3. http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/bookscraper/
My project is to compare the aggregated vocabulary of at least twenty early-twentieth-
century 20 novels from Project Gutenberg with that of the same number of novels from
the current century, and—in a manner informed by data visualizations such as those at
Wordnik and Book Scraper—to present the words that are shared between the two sets,
as well as those that are exclusive to one or the other.
Sample visualization from Book Scraper Sample visualization from Wordnik of the word “vanity”
http://www.wordnik.com/

4. Source 9 × 20th-century
novels
10 × 20th-century
novels
11 × 20th-century
novels
9 × 21st-century
novels
Characters 4,073,597 4,890,959 5,289,988 5,867,188
words 744,278 901,221 973,583 1,063,695
unique words 28,792 30,527 31,831 34,767
unique words/total words 0.039 0.034 0.033 0.033
characters/word 5.47 5.43 5.43 5.52
words/book 82,698 90,122 88,508 118,188
Preliminary Data

5. 1908–1920
{ Vocabulap }
2000–2009
Red words unique to that set
of books (divided into
two groups roughly a
century apart)
Gray words shared by both
sets of books (but not
necessarily all individual
books
{ 56,789 }
{ 973,583 }
{ 22,345 }
{ 1,063,695 }

6. Prester
John
The Side of
Paradise
The
Mysterious
Affair at
Styles
Emma
McChesney
Co.
Song of the
Lark
The Brother
of DaphneLaddie
Desert Gold
Zuleika
Dobson
The Sam
Gunn
Omnibus
KOPMascara
An Irish
Country
Doctor
FallingOutsourcedWyoming
Spirit Gate
The Serpent
and the
Rose
1908–1920
{ Vocabulap }
2000–2009
Red words unique to that
book
Blue words unique to that set
of books (divided into
two groups roughly a
century apart)

7. The Sam
Gunn
Omnibus
KOPMascara
An Irish
Country
Doctor
FallingOutsourcedWyoming
Spirit Gate
The Serpent
and the
Rose
1908–1920 Song of the Lark
{ Vocabulap }
2000–2009
Song of the Lark
buckwheat archie entbluht nosegay auriferous titter themes downed rak-
ing catalpa rhythmus frio fricka Kronborg gerome molar wonniger half-
closed weh trainer acte flurried slicker grabe meines deuce paste
brushing nathanmeyers volsung Moonstone moods acquisition tawny
Swede becalmed coin stepped refuse innocence wet reaches paths acci-
dentally cuff quaver shiver rancher solitary accommodate necks consti-
tutes vigorous superfluous magnified brisbane wales management
tights belted anaemic catches trustworthy buried hinges sunk equipped
lassitude voted among beans grotesquely consult boughs glee definition
contribution final loosening pivot farewell terrifying persistent reason-
able shine impetuously art fumed emergencies composure riches shows
butter clicking preceded pumped argued delivers fairness glowered sen-
timentally strewn tired flying born miles features stove wanderer com-
plicated frequently eagerness dreary studied equally sand product
trembling pry contemplative discourage foothold unspent workers buck
etc struck breathe rasping instead inhuman relaxing enviously agreeably
curiosity demolish barbered treacherous fortieth strangest absurdities
servant doc suit tormenting shady scowling preacher fasten traveled
scarecrow weeds tenant doing telegrams attentively key eyebrows dig
footstep echo mechanic something stiffest cryptic half secondarily song
lives whiter golden sitting luxuriance crumpled foaming charged min-
utes thickness color regularly curl breasts claim mammoth plaster road
storage feckless mourned disorder streams cake evidently discreet ease
disbanded primarily moistness published accorded lots guided funeral
sweeter particularly bleeding reins rough critically undersized above
pine loser obligations excite sluggish wonderful sore faintly evanston
schools panic mormons anticipating slower replied butcher misbehave
bewildered burden fragment complained moisture novels detail blocked
absentminded refuge enjoy wood gale nervous culture bad sandstorms
stern skull journal kindest hugging matters un depended wish encoun-
ters stimulus camp kept tried consistently fun story awakes convincing
date apology vaudeville blossom unpacked loneliness explain tiny rats
layers bye narrative mirthless insistent dear stemmed sleeved manifests
lids penetrated bonnets ball du chill quit coffeeroom stop reappearance
Red words unique to that
book
Blue words unique to that set
of books
Black words shared by both
sets of books (though
not necessarily all indi-
vidual ones)
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8. The Sam
Gunn
Omnibus
KOPMascara
An Irish
Country
Doctor
FallingOutsourcedWyoming
Spirit Gate
The Serpent
and the
Rose
1908–1920 Song of the Lark Archie
{ Vocabulap }
2000–2009
Moonstone. His offices were in the Duke Block, over the drug store. Larry, the
Dr. Howard Archie had just come up from a game of pool with the Jewish
clothier and two traveling men who happened to be staying overnight in
As the doctor in New England villages is proverbially old, so the doctor in
small Colorado towns twenty-five years ago was generally young. Dr. Archie was
barely thirty. He was tall, with massive shoulders which he held stiffly, and a
Denver tailor.The doctor was always well dressed.
Dr. Archie turned up the student’s lamp and sat down in the swivel chair before
his desk. He sat uneasily, beating a tattoo on his knees with his fingers, and
smelling of warming flannels.
At three o’clock in the morning Dr. Archie was in the parlor putting on his
cuffs and coat--there was no spare bedroom in that house. Peter Kronborg’s
tongue.
“Now, be still, I want to count.” Dr. Archie reached for her hand and took out
his watch. When he put her hand back under the quilt he went over to one of the
When she heard the front door open, it occurred to her that the pleasant thing
which was going to happen was Dr. Archie himself. He came in and warmed his
hands at the stove. As he turned to her, she threw herself wearily toward him,
and so milky white.Thea must have got her hair and her silky skin from her
mother. She was a little Swede, through and through. Dr. Archie could not help
thinking how he would cherish a little creature like this if she were his. Her
caressed her there and left a cryptic promise. Her brows were usually drawn
together defiantly, but never when she was with Dr. Archie. Her affection for
him was prettier than most of the things that went to make up the doctor’s life
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