Project 210 . Discuss Word Changes.   Has English changed over the years such that different words would be selected if Ogden were working today?

Scope
    Purely discussion at this time. There is a common expression of out-datedness, "That when out with the buggy whip". The meaning is that buggy whips are no longer in common use now that the horse drawn buggy has been replaced with the automobile. Yet, "whip"< is a Basic English word. The elimination of whip would free a space in the 850 word list for an more currently useful word.
    Discussion of modernization of Basic gives ammunition to opponents of quick learning of the world language (teacher's unions) and opportunistic journalists finding a ready made article.
   
Status
    Idea stage.
   
   
Discussion
1 . 06Dec01. A fun approach is http://www.googlefight.com. This site shows in an amusing way the frequency (word magic) of pairs of words searched for on Google. Some results, numbers are in millions of queries.
,

apparatus	82.6	buggy	20	cart	647
instrument	155	automobile	128	truck	157
device	237	auto	764	lorry	5
thing	535	car	616	wagon	37.8
things	638	carriage	30.4	air plane	91.4
stuff	155
horse	176	tractor	29.3
rail road	96.2	rail way	20	railway	59.6	railroad	52.6
		airplane	49.8	air plane	91.4
passenger train	1.93	freight train	1.52	train	194
subway	32.4	underground	147
trolley	17.6	trolly	0.98	tram	20.9
trolley car	1.47	trolly car	0.18	subway car	2.41
elevated	56.9	elevated car	1.14	elevated train	1.13
electric train	18.2	electric car	2.26	electric tram	1.94
electric trolley	1.2	electric trolly	0.08	electric cart	19.1
steam engine	2.11	locomotive	10.3
ship	283	ships	319	shipping	783
trains	3.76	train	194	training	419


    auto and auto- are the same in GoogleFight. Both may be considered less reliable indicators than automobile.
Car has more applications than the more specific automobile.
Cart is both a noun and a verb, therefore is inflated? This is no help in determing if the dog cart, farm cart are outdated. Can the noun forms be replaced with car? Or, is cart still in wide use in golf cart, handicapped cart?
    After initial enthusiasm, we begin to see the problems that frequency analysis imposes. Training overwhelms the railroad train.
    This child-like analysis suggests that ' device ' can indeed replace apppratus ; that carriage can go away without loss and to consider ' truck ' as a replacement. ' Car ' vs cart is a toss up -- is a ' car ' a cart with an engine or is a cart a small ' car '? The latter is more nearly correct today because the carts now mostly have engines, thus are 'small cars.'. There is nothing to compare with whip, so it can eliminated apriori.

2 . 06Dec05 . Procedure There may be two or more categories.
(1). Where a more modern, general purpose word is available -- apparatus ==> device ; possibly, carriage ==> truck ; then make the substitution.
(2). Where a word is deleted because it is considered obsolete -- whip == ?? Two approaches come to mind.
a . The new word should be selected from Ogden's the "Subsequent Addenda" of 350 words. These represent Ogden's method of selection.
b . But, so too are the Special word lists. The new word should be selected from most frequently repeated words from Special word lists.
Greater considereation should be given to the "Special, general" word lists because more persons learn the general lists than the detail lists. That is, more persons learn from General Science than from Geology Detail. This suggestion will make general those words that most learners will be learning anyway. And make available space in multiple Special word lists for the addition of other words. Example : column , cross , reference , supply are words in three or more special word lists. One upgraded word frees three lower level lists for new words. "Supply" is my recommnedation for first replacement, in place of "whip" This will free space in Science, Busness, and Addenda. Sixty-four other words are used in at least two Special wordlists. Give priority to selection to use in "general", rather than "detail" lists and rank subsequent addenda words on the same level with "Special, detail". Fifty-eight of the subsequent addenda words also exist in special lists.

Suggestions : Semi-conclusions ready for discussion.

References :
The Basic Dictionary by C. K. Ogden
The Basic Words by C. K.
Subsequent Addenda (350)


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