Whenever you try and simplify how people speak, it's just hard to squish them into a simple rule. Language doesn't work that… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child.… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“It is best, in fact, to assume that every verbal illustration you write will offend someone, somewhere, at some point.” — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“It wasn’t story (good or bad) that pulled me in; it was English itself, the way it felt in my braces-caged mouth… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
I make the case in the book that Standard English, that language we all aspire to live and move and have our… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“Person, Place, Thing (Noun); Describes Action (Verb); Modifies Nouns (Adjective); Answers the W Questions (Adverb); Joins Words Together (Conjunction); Things We Say… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
Words have always been political, and that means that, in many people's minds, dictionaries are political. Because that's what dictionaries do: they… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“It’s not all “molly” and “asshat.” The etymologies of some words are, for the lexicographer and average joe alike, boring.” — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
Language is the primary way we communicate with each other, and we have really strong feelings about what words mean, and about… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“Most words come into being first in speech, then in private writing, and then in public, published writing, which means that if… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
It's very easy, when things like the gay marriage write-in happen, to get sick of how people view language and say, "ah,… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“Nouns can act like adjectives (“chocolate cake”); adjectives can act like nouns (“grammarians are the damned”); verbs can look like verbs (“she’s… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
There's a measure of prescriptivism and descriptivism in every dictionary. Prescriptivism believes that the language should mirror the best practices of English,… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
The initial 18th-, 19th-century intention was to give the less-educated lower classes a way to move up into this new, rising middle… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
It's difficult to sit down and write a letter back saying, "you know what, even if we remove the word from the… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
You will hear people say the C-word. Except, it's a regional language: in British English, c - t has much less of… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
I certainly self-police my language depending on who I'm talking to. I try to be very careful about using filler words, about… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“use words that fit the context, to learn when to use high-flown language and when to use down-home words, and generally quit… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
Most people, if they think at all about the dictionary, think of it as this fixed object given to us from on… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“He offered a better paraphrase one day when I was complaining about an entry: “Words are stubborn little fuckers.” — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
Language is a signifier - it points to something. But those somethings change sometimes. Where the line comes down is that change… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“Think about any foreign language you’ve learned (or attempted to). What’s the first thing you learn? Usually how to say “Hello, my… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
I think when dictionaries define words, there's a sort of hair-splitting that to most people doesn't make any sense, which is we're… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“Under ordinary circumstances, we learn to speak before we learn to read, and anyone who has tried to learn a foreign language knows that… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“Like many things that are claimed as Western inventions, grammar was first practiced in the East. According to scholars, there is a rich tradition… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
Whenever you try and simplify how people speak, it's just hard to squish them into a simple rule. Language doesn't work that way. — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child. We love… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“It is best, in fact, to assume that every verbal illustration you write will offend someone, somewhere, at some point.” — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“It wasn’t story (good or bad) that pulled me in; it was English itself, the way it felt in my braces-caged mouth and rattled… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“Removing racial slurs from the dictionary will not eliminate racism; removing “injustice” from the dictionary will not bring about justice. If it were really… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
What makes autocorrect really interesting for a lexicographer is we read in a very weird way. A lot of times we'll catch things that… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
I make the case in the book that Standard English, that language we all aspire to live and move and have our being within,… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“bor·bo·ryg·mus \ˌbȯr-bə-ˈrig-məs\ n, pl bor·bo·ryg·mi \-ˌmī\ : intestinal rumbling caused by moving gas (MWC11)” — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
“Person, Place, Thing (Noun); Describes Action (Verb); Modifies Nouns (Adjective); Answers the W Questions (Adverb); Joins Words Together (Conjunction); Things We Say When We… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
