Library's review
Every last syllable of this book is utterly delightful. You should seek it out and read it immediately. The End.
OK, that's not much of a review. Let's try again.
Kory Stamper is a lexicographer for Merriam-Webster, which means, essentially, that she and her colleagues write the dictionary. She's
Stamper has cleverly constructed the book as a series of chapters, each focused on one particular dictionary word. But she uses a word's story to tell her own, in the process highlighting all the aspects of lexicography that go far beyond writing definitions. The word "but" is the jumping-off point to discuss how grammar figures into dictionary writing, and the tremendous difficulty sometimes of pinning down just what part of speech a particular usage of a particular word actually is — and how none of that is what most people mean when they talk about grammar: To them, "grammar" is a loose conglomeration of stylistic word choices that get codified into right and wrong, misspellings that every English speaker has made at some point in their life and yet are branded as "bad grammar," half-remembered "rules" about usage shamed into them by their middle-school English teachers, and personal, sometimes irrational dislikes. This is the grammar that shows up on Internet memes about "your" and "you're," the sort of grammar people are referring to when they claim you can't end a sentence with a preposition, the grammar that is invoked when people claim that the "10 items or less" sign at the grocery store is "bad grammar."
That excerpt probably gives you a clue that Stamper — indeed all lexicographers and the dictionaries they create — are descriptionist rather than prescriptionist. Despite years of claims to the contrary (including the marketing materials of those self-same dictionaries!) the purpose of a dictionary is to describe and define language as it is being used by ordinary people right now, not to settle bets or teach anyone the One True Way. A similar message is conveyed in the chapter about "it's," wherein I learned that in fact the possessive and plural forms of that word were pretty much interchangeable for hundreds of years, including in the King James Bible and much of Shakespeare.
Other chapters use a specific word as the basis for illuminating the myriad different tasks that a lexicographer performs every day: searching written materials to find new citations for new words as well as new ways of using old words; the tricky considerations that go into defining the word "surfboard," which seems deceptively obvious until you try to pin it down; how small, ordinary words like "take" and "set" are the hardest to pin down because they have so many senses and subtleties of meaning (Stamper refers to them as "semantically oozy").
A chapter on revising the entry for "bitch" expands into a discussion of how dictionaries treat words that are considered vulgar or derogatory, and the problems that arise when not everyone agrees that certain words or sub-senses of words deserve to be labeled as such (including the problem that the majority of the people making those calls are still older white men of relative privilege who have not experienced having those words hurled at them in very personal ways).
There are chapters on the challenges of nailing down a word's etymology, and how a good anecdote ("posh" is shorthand for "port out, starboard home") is no substitute for actual documentation; the never-ending search to find the earliest known written use of each word; and the tricky business of conveying pronunciation that can accommodate dialect differences (this is why dictionaries use phonemic alphabets so that i is pronounced like the vowel in pin,whatever that may sound like in your dialect). Again Stamper makes the point that the dictionary's focus is on describing usage, not judging right and wrong.
The final chapter details how all hell broke loose in 2009, when some evangelicals noticed that the dictionary had added a sub-sense to the word "marriage" that described relationships between people of the same sex. (That the definition had changed six years earlier with no fanfare did not stem the outrage.) It's a thoughtful intro to discussion of how people often get very angry about specific dictionary entries because they feel the dictionary is instigating societal changes that make them uncomfortable instead of simply describing how society has already changed.
I no longer have any illusions that being a lexicographer is like getting to have ice cream for breakfast every day. It's a difficult, demanding, and rewarding endeavor that requires skills that go beyond just "loving words". Loving words is definitely a prerequisite, though, and this book will give you an even greater appreciation of the nutty ways that English has developed and evolved over the centuries. If I had my life to live over, I could think of much worse ways to spend it than writing a dictionary.
OK, that's not much of a review. Let's try again.
Kory Stamper is a lexicographer for Merriam-Webster, which means, essentially, that she and her colleagues write the dictionary. She's
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long been one of my favorite word-nerd Twitter follows, because she is smart and profanely witty and even more in love with language than I am. More than once, as she has shared some wry observation about the lexicographical life, I've thought, "Man, that would be my dream job." And now, she's written a book for all of us who have ever thought, "How on earth do you write a dictionary, exactly?"Stamper has cleverly constructed the book as a series of chapters, each focused on one particular dictionary word. But she uses a word's story to tell her own, in the process highlighting all the aspects of lexicography that go far beyond writing definitions. The word "but" is the jumping-off point to discuss how grammar figures into dictionary writing, and the tremendous difficulty sometimes of pinning down just what part of speech a particular usage of a particular word actually is — and how none of that is what most people mean when they talk about grammar: To them, "grammar" is a loose conglomeration of stylistic word choices that get codified into right and wrong, misspellings that every English speaker has made at some point in their life and yet are branded as "bad grammar," half-remembered "rules" about usage shamed into them by their middle-school English teachers, and personal, sometimes irrational dislikes. This is the grammar that shows up on Internet memes about "your" and "you're," the sort of grammar people are referring to when they claim you can't end a sentence with a preposition, the grammar that is invoked when people claim that the "10 items or less" sign at the grocery store is "bad grammar."
That excerpt probably gives you a clue that Stamper — indeed all lexicographers and the dictionaries they create — are descriptionist rather than prescriptionist. Despite years of claims to the contrary (including the marketing materials of those self-same dictionaries!) the purpose of a dictionary is to describe and define language as it is being used by ordinary people right now, not to settle bets or teach anyone the One True Way. A similar message is conveyed in the chapter about "it's," wherein I learned that in fact the possessive and plural forms of that word were pretty much interchangeable for hundreds of years, including in the King James Bible and much of Shakespeare.
Other chapters use a specific word as the basis for illuminating the myriad different tasks that a lexicographer performs every day: searching written materials to find new citations for new words as well as new ways of using old words; the tricky considerations that go into defining the word "surfboard," which seems deceptively obvious until you try to pin it down; how small, ordinary words like "take" and "set" are the hardest to pin down because they have so many senses and subtleties of meaning (Stamper refers to them as "semantically oozy").
A chapter on revising the entry for "bitch" expands into a discussion of how dictionaries treat words that are considered vulgar or derogatory, and the problems that arise when not everyone agrees that certain words or sub-senses of words deserve to be labeled as such (including the problem that the majority of the people making those calls are still older white men of relative privilege who have not experienced having those words hurled at them in very personal ways).
There are chapters on the challenges of nailing down a word's etymology, and how a good anecdote ("posh" is shorthand for "port out, starboard home") is no substitute for actual documentation; the never-ending search to find the earliest known written use of each word; and the tricky business of conveying pronunciation that can accommodate dialect differences (this is why dictionaries use phonemic alphabets so that i is pronounced like the vowel in pin,whatever that may sound like in your dialect). Again Stamper makes the point that the dictionary's focus is on describing usage, not judging right and wrong.
The final chapter details how all hell broke loose in 2009, when some evangelicals noticed that the dictionary had added a sub-sense to the word "marriage" that described relationships between people of the same sex. (That the definition had changed six years earlier with no fanfare did not stem the outrage.) It's a thoughtful intro to discussion of how people often get very angry about specific dictionary entries because they feel the dictionary is instigating societal changes that make them uncomfortable instead of simply describing how society has already changed.
I no longer have any illusions that being a lexicographer is like getting to have ice cream for breakfast every day. It's a difficult, demanding, and rewarding endeavor that requires skills that go beyond just "loving words". Loving words is definitely a prerequisite, though, and this book will give you an even greater appreciation of the nutty ways that English has developed and evolved over the centuries. If I had my life to live over, I could think of much worse ways to spend it than writing a dictionary.
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Description
"Brimming with intelligence and personality, a vastly entertaining account of how dictionaries are made - a must read for word mavens. Have you ever tried to define the word "is?" Do you have strong feelings about the word (and, yes, it is a word) "irregardless?" Did you know that OMG was first used in 1917, in a letter to Winston Churchill? These are the questions that keep lexicographers up at night. While most of us might take dictionaries for granted, the process of writing dictionaries is in fact as lively and dynamic as language itself. With sharp wit and irreverence, Kory Stamper cracks open the complex, obsessive world of lexicography, from the agonizing decisions about what and how to define, to the knotty questions of usage in an ever-changing language. She explains why the small words are the most difficult to define, how it can take nine months to define a single word, and how our biases about language and pronunciation can have tremendous social influence. Throughout Stamper brings to life the hallowed halls (and highly idiosyncratic cubicles) of Merriam-Webster, a surprisingly rich world inhabited by quirky and erudite individuals who quietly shape the way we communicate. A sure delight for all lovers of words, Harmless Drudges will also improve readers' grasp and use of the English language"--… (more)
Media reviews
Library Journal
Hungry word lovers will find this book a delicious, multicourse meal of word lore, the personal story of the author’s life and career, and detailed backstory of the harrowing process by which dictionaries are produced.
Publishers Weekly
Stamper . . . has drawn up a witty, sly, occasionally profane behind-the-scenes tour aimed at deposing the notion of "real and proper English" and replacing it with a genuine appreciation for the glories and frustrations of finding just the right word.
Booklist
Word by Word offers marvelous insight into the messy world behind the tidy definitions on the page.
Awards
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Nonfiction — 2017)
The A.V. Club best books (2017)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Non-Fiction — 2017)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2017)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2017-03-14
Local notes
review posted at An American Bluestocking
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