Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Advanced
Title details for Word by Word by Kory Stamper - Wait list

Word by Word

by Kory Stamper
ebook
Read a sample Read a sample
"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.
Expand title description text
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Kindle Book

  • Release date: March 14, 2017

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9781101870952
  • File size: 6803 KB
  • Release date: March 14, 2017

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9781101870952
  • File size: 7510 KB
  • Release date: March 14, 2017
Loading
Loading

Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

Biography & Autobiography Language Arts Reference Nonfiction

Languages

English

Levels

Lexile® Measure:1170
Text Difficulty:8-9

"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.
Expand title description text
Biography & Autobiography Language Arts Reference Nonfiction