“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’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
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
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
“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
“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
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
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
“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
“Good” has been used for almost a thousand years as an adverb, even though usage commentators and peevers have condemned this use.… — Kory Stamper Copy Share Image
Back in the 19th century, our marketing folks decided to play up the refined usage angle because prescriptivism was very popular: our… — 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
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
“Most lexicographers had no clue that such a career path existed until they were smack in the middle of it. Neil Serven,… — 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
“Like many things that are claimed as Western inventions, grammar was first practiced in the East. According to scholars, there is a… — 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
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
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
“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
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
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
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
Lexicographers may be nerds who don't like human contact, but we're still people. — 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
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
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
“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
![“Think about any foreign language you’ve learned (or attempted to). What’s the first thing you learn? Usually how to say “Hello, my name is [Kory]. How are you?” You don’t learn the word for “name,” and the learn the conjugation of “be” (and good thing, too, because it is stubbornly irregular in…” quote by Kory Stamper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/22d/kory-stamper-11455_foreign-language_think-about-any-foreign-language-you-ve_2635008.jpg)
