Short And Not So Sweet

I think commonly used words are usually pretty short for a reason. Up, down, in, out, give, take, sit, nap, walk, run, eat, drink, here, there, them, us, you, me; and numbers. Nothing there over five letters and not a whole lot of spare syllables. (Why is seven the only number, in the all important one-to-ten, with two syllables? Was it to make that Sesame Street song scan properly? Discuss.)

Primary concerns and basic ideas get the short, easily understood sounds. You could just about survive with only the words above. You won't debate ontology, but you're not going to die.

I think it says bundles about the difficult history of China that the word for 'hungry' in Mandarin is 'E'.