Although McCrum, Cran & MacNeil (1986) refer rather uncritically to the spread of English as a 'remarkable success story', it has not been without many paradoxes and ironies. Robert Louis Stevenson drew attention to at least one of these when he observed... 

Given such ffuctuation in what we mean by the 'vocabulary' of English and the problems in counting it, any estimate of its increase in size since 1776 must be viewed sceptically. Yet it seems certain that the vocabulary has increased significandy. In... 

Abolitionism Active movement to end slavery in the U. S. North before the Civil War in the 1860s.  Read More →

Change in vocabulary also involves ffuctuations in the faddishness, voguishness, popularity, or centrality of words. The stylishness of words is difficult to attest objectively, but some words are clearly a mirror of the times in which they are used.... 

He is a southerner born in Columbus, Missouri, where his grandfather was the Episcopal clergyman. When he was 12 his father who was a travelling salesman moved with his family to St. Louis, & both he & his sister found it impossible to settle...