Offline
Some guy put together a list of the Ten Hundred most commonly used words. I haven't been able to find out where he got the information whether it's from books, media print, 4th grade book reports, or what.
Offline
Assuming it wasn't done multiple times, "some guy" is probably Randall Munroe, of xkcd, for his book Thing Explainer, which explains complicated things using only those words.
Offline
OK, where I found the upgoer5 (which of course I can't remember) there was a link to the program that uses the ten hundred words and a link to the words. I went there and some guys name was on it and it was 10 years old. I was trying to find out how the list was made, from books? From anything published including periodicals? But I couldn't find a clue. Checking just now I see the up goer 5 was 2012 so that jibes with the timeframe.
Offline
The name was Theo Anderson.