RESEARCHERS at Oxford University Press have combed through thousands of short stories submitted by children only to find the most popular word was very close to home.
Lexicographers analysed 40 million words in 90,000 stories to find that mum, and regional versions of the word, came up more than 115,000 times.
The researchers were looking at entries for BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words contest, and found huge numbers of children writing about fairy tales, magic, dragons, monsters and giants.
Cinderella was the most popular female character, while James Bond turned up more than 1,000 times.
Vineeta Gupta, head of children’s dictionaries at Oxford University Press, said: “Children are true innovators with words and language and have produced such creative and powerful stories.
“It is wonderful to see how children are taking traditional themes, words and stories and transforming them into tales for the 21st century audience.”
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