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The following is a sample of some words that are at least three times as frequent (per million words) in the soap opera corpus as they are in the spoken part of either the BNC or COCA. As this list indicates, the soap opera corpus has a lot more words dealing with everyday life and personal relationships, than the more formal spoken in COCA and the BNC. Click on any of these
words to see them in the corpus. If you click on the entry in
the frequency listing (the frame above this), you will see the
word in context. Just click the BACK button in your browser to
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| Number of tokens | Per million words | |||||
| SOAP | COCA | BNC | SOAP | COCA | BNC | |
| VERBS | ||||||
| damn | 10415 | 472 | 19 | 104.2 | 21.1 | 54.6 |
| blackmail | 2998 | 166 | 14 | 30.0 | 17.3 | 21.3 |
| ruin | 11619 | 1337 | 45 | 116.2 | 8.3 | 25.7 |
| overhear | 2012 | 239 | 10 | 20.1 | 8.0 | 20.0 |
| kiss | 12816 | 1694 | 128 | 128.2 | 7.2 | 10.0 |
| screw | 6542 | 865 | 105 | 65.4 | 7.2 | 6.2 |
| ditch | 1093 | 145 | 13 | 10.9 | 7.2 | 8.4 |
| swear | 14696 | 1981 | 291 | 147.0 | 7.1 | 5.0 |
| mess | 9369 | 1267 | 249 | 93.7 | 7.1 | 3.7 |
| calm | 8404 | 1252 | 142 | 84.0 | 6.4 | 5.9 |
| kid | 14298 | 2140 | 87 | 143.0 | 6.4 | 16.4 |
| relax | 9355 | 1406 | 122 | 93.6 | 6.4 | 7.6 |
| trust | 36264 | 5476 | 291 | 362.6 | 6.3 | 12.4 |
| forgive | 14860 | 2304 | 162 | 148.6 | 6.2 | 9.1 |
| excuse | 26854 | 4214 | 566 | 268.5 | 6.1 | 4.7 |
| promise | 34301 | 5725 | 289 | 343.0 | 5.7 | 11.8 |
| pretend | 10100 | 1692 | 183 | 101.0 | 5.7 | 5.5 |
| marry | 39420 | 6687 | 136 | 394.2 | 5.6 | 28.9 |
| upset | 15077 | 2592 | 179 | 150.8 | 5.6 | 8.4 |
| hate | 36320 | 6480 | 818 | 363.2 | 5.4 | 4.4 |
| trick | 2074 | 378 | 24 | 20.7 | 5.2 | 8.6 |
| baby-sit | 1054 | 194 | 11 | 10.5 | 5.2 | 9.5 |
| jerk | 831 | 156 | 19 | 8.3 | 5.1 | 4.4 |
| fuss | 370 | 72 | 10 | 3.7 | 4.9 | 3.7 |
| fake | 2687 | 538 | 14 | 26.9 | 4.8 | 19.1 |
| deserve | 21391 | 4380 | 177 | 213.9 | 4.7 | 12.0 |
| betray | 4070 | 864 | 16 | 40.7 | 4.5 | 25.3 |
| hurt | 53446 | 11674 | 603 | 534.5 | 4.4 | 8.8 |
| busy | 752 | 165 | 16 | 7.5 | 4.4 | 4.7 |
| love | 171520 | 37914 | 1831 | 1715.2 | 4.3 | 9.3 |
| kidnap | 5801 | 1312 | 28 | 58.0 | 4.2 | 20.6 |
| sleep | 24167 | 5507 | 788 | 241.7 | 4.2 | 3.1 |
| disappoint | 2143 | 489 | 20 | 21.4 | 4.2 | 10.7 |
| faint | 654 | 151 | 14 | 6.5 | 4.1 | 4.7 |
| wait | 115121 | 27245 | 2606 | 1151.2 | 4.0 | 4.4 |
| care | 52968 | 12666 | 681 | 529.7 | 4.0 | 7.7 |
| wreck | 1446 | 356 | 30 | 14.5 | 3.9 | 4.8 |
| sneak | 3864 | 958 | 43 | 38.6 | 3.9 | 9.0 |
| bust | 2751 | 685 | 34 | 27.5 | 3.8 | 8.1 |
| breathe | 8150 | 2055 | 150 | 81.5 | 3.8 | 5.4 |
| worry | 48639 | 12478 | 1080 | 486.4 | 3.7 | 4.5 |
| regret | 5861 | 1512 | 84 | 58.6 | 3.7 | 6.9 |
| listen | 86908 | 22998 | 2108 | 869.1 | 3.6 | 4.1 |
| bribe | 1008 | 267 | 16 | 10.1 | 3.6 | 6.3 |
| scare | 7958 | 2108 | 48 | 79.6 | 3.6 | 16.5 |
| lie | 38798 | 10519 | 649 | 388.0 | 3.5 | 6.0 |
| wake | 15474 | 4232 | 431 | 154.7 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| spare | 2316 | 690 | 64 | 23.2 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| poison | 2162 | 647 | 20 | 21.6 | 3.2 | 10.8 |
| apologize | 9010 | 2821 | 127 | 90.1 | 3.1 | 7.1 |
| fool | 3169 | 996 | 56 | 31.7 | 3.0 | 5.6 |
| stop | 91566 | 28820 | 2728 | 915.7 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
| ADJECTIVES | ||||||
| okay | 57929 | 1916 | 1328 | 579.3 | 28.9 | 4.3 |
| damn | 12187 | 717 | 189 | 121.9 | 16.2 | 6.4 |
| sorry | 146285 | 12167 | 4452 | 1462.9 | 11.5 | 3.3 |
| selfish | 4284 | 426 | 53 | 42.8 | 9.6 | 8.1 |
| ungrateful | 367 | 38 | 10 | 3.7 | 9.2 | 3.7 |
| jealous | 6160 | 778 | 46 | 61.6 | 7.6 | 13.3 |
| stubborn | 2016 | 261 | 14 | 20.2 | 7.4 | 14.3 |
| fine | 84542 | 11380 | 1965 | 845.4 | 7.1 | 4.3 |
| pathetic | 2813 | 393 | 86 | 28.1 | 6.8 | 3.3 |
| alone | 29477 | 4217 | 295 | 294.8 | 6.7 | 10.0 |
| lucky | 27085 | 3966 | 594 | 270.9 | 6.5 | 4.5 |
| hurt | 7118 | 1212 | 41 | 71.2 | 5.6 | 17.3 |
| miserable | 3663 | 637 | 104 | 36.6 | 5.5 | 3.5 |
| glad | 30910 | 5786 | 525 | 309.1 | 5.1 | 5.9 |
| relieved | 888 | 172 | 28 | 8.9 | 4.9 | 3.2 |
| handsome | 2753 | 564 | 41 | 27.5 | 4.7 | 6.7 |
| sweet | 15278 | 3169 | 295 | 152.8 | 4.6 | 5.2 |
| thrilled | 904 | 188 | 27 | 9.0 | 4.6 | 3.3 |
| lousy | 2098 | 450 | 21 | 21.0 | 4.5 | 10.0 |
| crazy | 27724 | 6118 | 142 | 277.2 | 4.3 | 19.4 |
| pushy | 314 | 70 | 10 | 3.1 | 4.3 | 3.1 |
| twisted | 1206 | 280 | 15 | 12.1 | 4.1 | 8.0 |
| weird | 10186 | 2414 | 279 | 101.9 | 4.0 | 3.6 |
| paranoid | 1723 | 409 | 35 | 17.2 | 4.0 | 4.9 |
| pregnant | 14704 | 3711 | 196 | 147.0 | 3.8 | 7.5 |
| merry | 2980 | 814 | 35 | 29.8 | 3.5 | 8.5 |
| sane | 1010 | 277 | 15 | 10.1 | 3.5 | 6.7 |
| ok | 21724 | 5990 | 57 | 217.2 | 3.5 | 38.0 |
| precious | 3859 | 1065 | 37 | 38.6 | 3.5 | 10.4 |
| romantic | 4804 | 1350 | 39 | 48.0 | 3.4 | 12.3 |
| fancy | 2349 | 670 | 76 | 23.5 | 3.4 | 3.1 |
| happy | 62418 | 17892 | 1933 | 624.2 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| mad | 11281 | 3239 | 366 | 112.8 | 3.3 | 3.1 |
| upset | 8567 | 2527 | 201 | 85.7 | 3.2 | 4.2 |
| perfect | 22644 | 6860 | 299 | 226.4 | 3.2 | 7.5 |
| dizzy | 814 | 250 | 27 | 8.1 | 3.1 | 3.0 |
| scared | 12486 | 3863 | 139 | 124.9 | 3.1 | 8.9 |
| creepy | 935 | 290 | 14 | 9.4 | 3.1 | 6.7 |
| NOUNS | ||||||
| sweetheart | 19057 | 655 | 82 | 190.6 | 27.8 | 23.1 |
| honey | 45850 | 1888 | 108 | 458.5 | 23.2 | 42.3 |
| bitch | 5324 | 437 | 131 | 53.2 | 11.6 | 4.0 |
| hell | 52329 | 4512 | 1217 | 523.3 | 11.1 | 4.3 |
| wedding | 31816 | 3873 | 405 | 318.2 | 7.9 | 7.8 |
| idiot | 4892 | 644 | 115 | 48.9 | 7.3 | 4.2 |
| fault | 18719 | 2870 | 452 | 187.2 | 6.2 | 4.1 |
| baby | 112241 | 18497 | 1161 | 1122.4 | 5.8 | 9.6 |
| fool | 4886 | 837 | 101 | 48.9 | 5.6 | 4.8 |
| kiss | 5720 | 1064 | 167 | 57.2 | 5.1 | 3.4 |
| love | 59021 | 13688 | 1188 | 590.2 | 4.1 | 4.9 |
| liar | 4997 | 1281 | 49 | 50.0 | 3.7 | 10.2 |
| excuse | 6814 | 1814 | 195 | 68.1 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| pal | 2385 | 737 | 62 | 23.9 | 3.1 | 3.8 |
| secret | 15465 | 4813 | 68 | 154.7 | 3.1 | 22.7 |
| truth | 40669 | 12720 | 514 | 406.7 | 3.1 | 7.9 |