all, animal, ashes, back, bark, belly, berry, big, bird, bite, black, blood, bone, breast, breathe, brother, burn, child, claw, clothing, cloud, cold, come, cook, count, cry, day, die, dig, dirty, dog, drink, dry, dull, dust, ear, earth, eat, egg, eight, eye, fall, fat, father, fear, feather, fight, fire, fish, five, float, flower, fly, fog, foot, four, full, freeze, give, good, grass, green, guts, hair, hand, he, head, hear, heart, heavy, here, hold, horn, how, hundred, hunt, husband, I, ice, if, kill, knee, know, lake, last, laugh, leaf, left, leg, lie, live, liver, long, louse, man, many, meat, moon, mother, mountain, mouth, name, near, neck, new, night, nine, nose, not, old, one, other, play, pull, push, raid, rain, red, right, river, road, root, rope, rub, salt, sand, say, scratch, sea, see, seed, seven, sew, sharp, shoot, short, sing, sister, sit, six, skin, sky, sleep, small, smell, smoke, smooth, snake, snow, speak, spit, split, squeeze, stab, stand, star, stick, stone, straight, sun, swell, swim, tail, ten, that, there, they, thick, thin, think, three, throw, tie, tongue, tooth, tree, turn, two, walk, warm, wash, water, we, wet, what, when, where, white, who, wide, wife, wind, wing, wipe, woman, woods, warm, work, year, and yellow.

The 200 words chosen by linguist Morris Swadesh as the basic vocabulary template for all human languages (as reported in John D’Agata’s endlessly fascinating About a Mountain, which I devoured on a three-hour bus ride home from Calgary earlier today).

Notice that why isn’t included. Nicely echoes a statement made elsewhere in D’Agata’s study of Las Vegas, nuclear waste disposal, and suicide: “We don’t ask ‘why.’”

Also, louse?

(via booksinthekitchen)

This is a crazy thing to think about. 

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    A quiet little echo of
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