Each year, we speak about 338 fewer words per day. [An unexpected research opportunity] was recently afforded to us when analyzing several data sets. These data feature estimates of daily spoken words for 2,197 participants aged 10 to 94 based on a careful analysis of passively sampled ambient audio recordings of their daily lives.. The report yielded an estimate for the average number of spoken words per day of 12,792, an estimate noticeably lower than what a prior study from 2007 yielded using the same method (M = 15,959). After verifying that this was not a mathematical error, we decided to put the hypothesis that we had lost wordsover time to the test. By relating the estimates of participants' daily spoken words to the year their data were collected, we discov– ered that for each year between 2005 and 2019 an average of 338 fewer words were spoken per day, as estimated using Bayesian multilevel modeling. At first glance, 300 or so words seems like a small, insignificant loss, as if it would not make much of a difference. But, as trivial as 338 words a day may feel, the loss of these daily spoken words unavoidably adds up. It means that, each year, we speak more than 120,000 words fewer than in the previous year. From 2005 to 2019, the reduction in the estimated number of words spoken per day was about 28%. While putting a number to the loss, there is much about those lost conversations that these data cannot answer. Were they lost with friends, or family, or with strangers? Were they lost equally for everyone, or just for a select few? What were those conversations about? Although the time period of our data collection coincides with the rise in digital communication, such as texting, emailing, or social media, it is currently unclear whether digital conversations contribute to, and can make up for, a loss of spoken words.