Tag: Ken Burns



Gather round language nerds! An analysis of 30 notable commencement speeches delivered this month, including Ken Burns’ speech at Wash U., provides some linguistic trivia on the words speakers used to inspire the Class of 2015.

The most commonly used word in speeches?  KNOW

The least commonly used word?  FUTURE

WORK was used 110 times in the 30 speeches.

The analysis, available on the Fusion.net website, also found that that speakers talked about their audience (the graduates), only slightly more than they talked about themselves.

Image: Fusion.net