Word By Word
Author: Stamper, Kory
ISBN: 9781101970263
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE US
Year first published: 28 May 2018
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback / softback
Where do dictionaries come from? In this must-read for word mavens, a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster explores how the English language is formalized.
Plt;iPgt;P#8220;We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child. We love and nurture it into being, and once it gains gross motor skills, it starts going exactly where we donP#8217;t want it to go: it heads right for the goddamned electrical sockets.P#8221;Plt;/iPgt;Plt;brPgt; Plt;iPgt;P#160;Plt;/iPgt;Plt;brPgt; With wit and irreverence, lexicographer Kory Stamper cracks open the obsessive world of dictionary writing, from the agonizing decisions about what to define and how to do it to the knotty questions of ever-changing word usage. Plt;brPgt; P#160;Plt;brPgt; Filled with fun factsP#8212;for example, the first documented usage of P#8220;OMGP#8221; was in a letter to Winston ChurchillP#8212;and StamperP#8217;s own stories from the linguistic front lines (including how she became AmericaP#8217;s foremost P#8220;irregardlessP#8221; apologist, despite loathing the word), Plt;iPgt;Word by WordPlt;/iPgt; is an endlessly entertaining look at the wonderful complexities and eccentricities of the English language.
ISBN: 9781101970263
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE US
Year first published: 28 May 2018
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback / softback
Where do dictionaries come from? In this must-read for word mavens, a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster explores how the English language is formalized.
Plt;iPgt;P#8220;We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child. We love and nurture it into being, and once it gains gross motor skills, it starts going exactly where we donP#8217;t want it to go: it heads right for the goddamned electrical sockets.P#8221;Plt;/iPgt;Plt;brPgt; Plt;iPgt;P#160;Plt;/iPgt;Plt;brPgt; With wit and irreverence, lexicographer Kory Stamper cracks open the obsessive world of dictionary writing, from the agonizing decisions about what to define and how to do it to the knotty questions of ever-changing word usage. Plt;brPgt; P#160;Plt;brPgt; Filled with fun factsP#8212;for example, the first documented usage of P#8220;OMGP#8221; was in a letter to Winston ChurchillP#8212;and StamperP#8217;s own stories from the linguistic front lines (including how she became AmericaP#8217;s foremost P#8220;irregardlessP#8221; apologist, despite loathing the word), Plt;iPgt;Word by WordPlt;/iPgt; is an endlessly entertaining look at the wonderful complexities and eccentricities of the English language.
