The wealth of our vocabulary

I UNDERSTAND from the Global Language Monitor (GLM) that as of Dec. 30, 2006, at precisely 10:34 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, the English language hit the 991,833-word mark. The California-based language watchdog says that it has been using a proprietary algorithm, the Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), to measure the wealth of English words as currently found in print and electronic media as well as on the internet and in blogs. It has been tracking English since 2003 despite dismissive criticism from such eminent language authorities as the Oxford English Dictionary, which stood pat at this time on its official count of 615,000 entries for English.*

Now, no matter what the exact figures are, English has such an astoundingly large vocabulary to pack into one's brain, and I really think that unless we are aspiring to become Spelling Bee or Scrabble champions, we don't need to get to know even a fifth or much less of that huge cavalcade of English words. After all, some language experts say, only about 200,000 of those words are in common usage, and all that a typical native-English-speaking college graduate needs to be functionally literate in English is about 20,000-25,000 words.