Word By Word
  • Published: 28 May 2018
  • ISBN: 9781101970263
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $36.99

Word By Word

The Secret Life of Dictionaries

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Where do dictionaries come from? In this must-read for word mavens, a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster explores how the English language is formalized.

“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 don’t want it to go: it heads right for the goddamned electrical sockets.”
 
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.
 
Filled with fun facts—for example, the first documented usage of “OMG” was in a letter to Winston Churchill—and Stamper’s own stories from the linguistic front lines (including how she became America’s foremost “irregardless” apologist, despite loathing the word), Word by Word is an endlessly entertaining look at the wonderful complexities and eccentricities of the English language.
  • Published: 28 May 2018
  • ISBN: 9781101970263
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $36.99
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Praise for Word By Word

  • "Excellent.... An erudite and loving and occasionally profane history of the English language.... A cheerful and thoughtful rebuke of the cult of the grammar scolds." --The Atlantic
  • "Mixes memoiristic meditations on the lexicographic life along with a detailed description of the brain-twisting work of writing dictionaries." --The New York Times Book Review
  • "[Stamper is] foul-mouthed, opinionated and funny." --The Economist
  • "A fascinating peek behind the process.... Part memoir, part workplace chronicle and part history lesson." --New York Post
  • "Entertains as much as it instructs.... Informal, funny." --The Baltimore Sun
  • "A witty, sly, occasionally profane behind-the-scenes tour aimed at deposing the notion of 'real and proper English.' Stamper corrals words to her purpose with such aplomb that readers might just feel like applauding. For those who love language, this debut will be a delectable feast." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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