Kory Stamper Explained

Kory Stamper
Alma Mater:Smith College
Occupation:Lexicographer, editor
Notable Works:Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries (2017)

Kory Stamper is a lexicographer and former associate editor for the Merriam-Webster family of dictionaries. She is the author of Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries (Pantheon, 2017).

Early life

Stamper grew up in Colorado. She attended Smith College, where she undertook an interdisciplinary major that involved studying Latin, Greek, Norse, Old English, and Middle English after enrolling in a course on Icelandic family sagas of the 13th and 14th centuries. She says, "I loved the style, the rhythm. They're very bleak, but they have this black humor."

Career

Stamper worked in a college development office before applying for an editorial assistant position with Merriam-Webster in 1998. She left Merriam-Webster after working there for nearly 20 years.[1] She was associate editor at Merriam-Webster for more than ten years.[2] As of 2019, Stamper worked freelance with Cambridge University Press.[3] As of December 2023, she was senior editor of lexicography at Dictionary.com,[4] where she worked until April 2024.[5]

In addition to her editorial duties, she presented many of Merriam-Webster's "Ask the Editor" videos,[6] a series on the publisher's website and YouTube that discusses the English language, especially unusual or controversial words and usages. She undertook speaking engagements on behalf of Merriam-Webster[7] [8] and provides expert advice and response to general enquiries on language and lexicography from the public.[9] Stamper drew attention as the associate editor responsible for explaining the addition of the term "F-bomb" into the dictionary.

Stamper also provides lexicographical and language-related commentary for various media outlets including the Chicago Tribune[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] and has written on other, non-language-related topics.[16] Stamper's first book, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, was released by Pantheon in March 2017.[17] [18] [19]

Stamper appears in all six episodes of the 2021 Netflix series History of Swear Words, providing commentary on the linguistic histories of various obscenities. The Hollywood Reporter described Stamper as "probably the breakout among the expert talking heads".[20]

Personal life

Stamper is married with two children. She lives in Collingswood, New Jersey.[21]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Stamper. Kory. Who?. harm·less drudg·ery. 19 September 2011 . March 1, 2021.
  2. News: Pfarrer. Steve. July 20, 2017. The secret life of dictionaries: Kory Stamper on her new book 'Word by Word'. Daily Hampshire Gazette. March 1, 2021.
  3. News: Stamper. Kory. December 4, 2019. Interview with an Editor: Kory Stamper. ACES: The Society for Editing. March 1, 2021.
  4. Web site: The Dictionary.com Word of the Year is hallucinate.. Dictionary.com. December 12, 2023. May 1, 2024.
  5. Web site: Kory. Stamper. April 13, 2024. I always said I'd ride the dictionary train until the terminus; the train will pull into the station April 30, which is my last day at dictionary.com. What a magical and unlikely career this has been. I'll miss it! HMU if you ever need an editor who knows more about grammar than is safe! . Bluesky. May 1, 2024.
  6. Web site: Merriam-Webster - Ask the Editor. 2012-06-05.
  7. Web site: English: The mongrel language . 2012-06-05. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120418065357/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-04/features/ct-tribu-words-work-language-history-20120404_1_mongrel-language-second-language-english . Chicago Tribune . 4 April 2012 . 18 April 2012.
  8. Web site: Kory Stamper Plenary Speaker Illinois Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages 2012 convention. 2012-06-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20120423085616/http://www.itbe.org/convention.php. 2012-04-23. dead.
  9. Web site: Examples of Stamper providing expert advice to public.
  10. Web site: Chicago Tribune . 2012-06-06. . 15 February 2012 .
  11. News: Word crushes. Stevens. Heidi. February 15, 2012. Chicago Tribune. 2017-06-01. en-US.
  12. Web site: Chicago Tribune. 2012-06-06. 14 March 2012 .
  13. Web site: Chicago Tribune. 2012-06-06. 9 May 2012 .
  14. Web site: Chicago Tribune. 2012-06-06. 9 May 2012 .
  15. Web site: Columbia News Service article published in the Chicago Tribune. 2012-06-06. 29 March 2006 .
  16. Web site: Alma Mater - an article published in www.brainchildmag.com an online parenting magazine. . 2012-06-05 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110824050025/http://www.brainchildmag.com/essays/fall2007_stamper.asp . August 24, 2011 .
  17. News: The Case Against the Grammar Scolds. Garber. Megan. The Atlantic. 2017-06-01. en-US.
  18. News: A Journey Into the Merriam-Webster Word Factory. Schuessler. Jennifer. 2017-03-22. The New York Times. 2017-06-01. en-US. 0362-4331.
  19. News: Nonfiction Book Review: Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper. PublishersWeekly.com. 2017-06-01. en.
  20. Web site: 2021-01-05. 'History of Swear Words' Review. 2021-01-24. The Hollywood Reporter. en.
  21. News: Rubin. Daniel. Daniel Rubin: The editor who dropped an F-bomb on Merriam-Webster. 1 June 2017. The Philadelphia Inquirer. August 23, 2012.

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