What is the most repeated word in history?

[john70t]

I thought about the parameters and decided to include all humanity all the way back to paleolithic caveman days. To be as general as possible. Some words are more regional and some to specific time periods but with intense concentrations to daily life, i.e. they were said hundreds of times a day by large populations which that might make up for that. Many societies have or had different customs for daily speech and times focused on different scenarios.
(And feel free to add any I've not considered!)


So here it goes:
1). "Food" which would include Gohan/Mi/Baifan(rice) and other standard meal descriptions, but not specific terms such as meat or vegetables or hunting.

2). "God" which would include all monolithic names but not more generalized terms like the heavens/spirits/karma/fate/etc.

3). "Hello" which would include all regional specific proximity greetings, but not hey you/other vague forms of getting someone's attention.

4). "Hurry" which would include terms for working faster or walking terms like run.

5). "I/Me/We/Us" which would include individual or a group.

6). "You" which would include you all and plural forms.

7). "Mother" or "Father" which would not include terms such as patriarchal government leader or homeland or a form of controlling entity over all.

8). "Dear/honey/etc" which would include all terms for affection not just familial pet names or enamourous advances.

9). "Caesar/Hitler/Mao/Khan/King/Emperor/etc" and all titles not just specific to one person.

10). "For sale" which would include generic words for offering something for trade

[Amail]

Whenever I travelled somewhere I didn't speak the language, first things to figure out are Yes and No. Follow that up with Thank You and the numbers 1-10. Finally, Where is the bathroom.

I'd put Yes an No high on your list.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Amail

I'd put Yes an No high on your list.

And more than likely, No would surpass Yes in any language.

[masraum]

You left out "sex" or whatever term has been used to indicate the act of attempting procreation.
I feel like that should be above #10 for sure.

1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, I can definitely imagine them being in the list.

5 and 6 may not be as high on the list as you think. Not every language/culture uses pronouns as much as we do in English. For instance, in Japan, there are pronouns, but most of the time, they aren't used, and instead context is the key.

8 also may not be that high. I have no specific reason to say that, but I can see a term of endearment not being universal.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

And

Another word to add weight to a person's perspective and include other related topics.
(bonus ginsu knife set with free shipping not included)

[Superman]

5 seems like it would top the list. I get tired of listening to people whose first word in every statement is "I." It happens a LOT. I did this. I think that. I don't like this. As if everything is about them. Tell them a story and they will match or exceed your story with one of their own. Starting with "I."

[john70t]

Originally Posted by masraum

You left out "sex" or whatever term has been used to indicate the act of attempting procreation.
I feel like that should be above #10 for sure.

I initially thought that would not be quite as relevant after the good old paleolithic howler monkey days.
Men talking about women and visa-versa to pass times of boredom is pretty universal by nature. Most societies even primitive ones have customary restraints on doing so overtly in public. Women are usually fond of indirect approaches using local customs that keep a male around and give her options.
I included that in #8, but there is usually no specific word used during courtship other than horny. idk.

A general swear word should be on the list.
We use a certain one beginning with f for everything, but there is usually a multitude of them.

[Seahawk]

"It's too big."

[herr_oberst]

"No! It's too big!"

[red-beard]

"I have a Headache!"

[MBAtarga]

"literally" - its use in the past 10 years has outnumbered the use of any other word in history.

[flatbutt]

The most frequently used word has to be "the".

[masraum]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

"literally" - its use in the past 10 years has literally outnumbered the use of any other word in history, literally.

I just literally FIFY!

[Bill Douglas]

Possibly the word please. Other than the fact it goes a long way, lots of languages have it built into their terminology.

[GH85Carrera]

Probably a Chinese word. With a long history and a huge population some common word from the many Chinese dialects.

[Gretch]

hello

[TimT]

OK

and or Hao

Overhearing my ex-wife talk to family in China,,, one phrase rings true hao hao hao. Which apparently is similar to good good good or OK OK

When I was in the sandbox, you could stop at a roadside shawarma joint...and point to thinks you wanted and hear OK as a response..



https://www.digmandarin.com/use-hao-in-chinese.html

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Gretch

hello

[Rodsrsr]

I don't know about a single word but the phrase "I feel like" seems to be at the start of every sentence lately.

Mainly women who start off trying to express themselves with "I feel like". I guess they're in their feelings.

[HobieMarty]

"Where's the bathroom"?

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