Kory Stamper

Kory Stamper
Alma materSmith College
OccupationsLexicographer, editor
Notable workWord by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries (2017)
WebsiteHarmlessdrudgery.com

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) and True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color – From Azure to Zinc Pink (Penguin Random House, 2026).

Early life

Stamper grew up in Colorado.[1] 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."[1]

Career

Stamper worked in a college development office before applying for an editorial assistant position with Merriam-Webster in 1998.[1] She left Merriam-Webster after working there for nearly 20 years.[2] She was associate editor at Merriam-Webster for more than ten years.[3] As of 2019, Stamper worked freelance with Cambridge University Press.[4] As of December 2023, she was senior editor of lexicography at Dictionary.com,[5] where she worked until April 2024.[6]

In addition to her editorial duties, she presented many of Merriam-Webster's "Ask the Editor" videos,[7] 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[8][9] and provides expert advice and response to general enquiries on language and lexicography from the public.[10] Stamper drew attention as the associate editor responsible for explaining the addition of the term "F-bomb" into the dictionary.[1]

Stamper also provides lexicographical and language-related commentary for various media outlets including the Chicago Tribune[11][12][13][14][15][16] and has written on other, non-language-related topics.[17]

External videos
video icon Presentation by Stamper on Word by Word, March 22, 2018, C-SPAN

Stamper's first book, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, was released by Pantheon in March 2017.[18][19][20]

Stamper appears in all six episodes of the 2021 Netflix series History of Swear Words,[21] providing commentary on the linguistic histories of various obscenities. The Hollywood Reporter described Stamper as "probably the breakout among the expert talking heads".[22]

Stamper's second book, True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color – From Azure to Zinc Pink, was released by Penguin Random House in March 2026.[23][24]

Personal life

Stamper is married with two children. She lives in Collingswood, New Jersey.[1]

Works

  • Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, Pantheon, 2017. ISBN 978-1101870945
  • True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color – From Azure to Zinc Pink, Penguin Random House 2026. ISBN 978-1524733032

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Rubin, Daniel (August 23, 2012). "Daniel Rubin: The editor who dropped an F-bomb on Merriam-Webster". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  2. ↑ Stamper, Kory (19 September 2011). "Who?". harm·less drudg·ery. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  3. ↑ Pfarrer, Steve (July 20, 2017). "The secret life of dictionaries: Kory Stamper on her new book 'Word by Word'". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  4. ↑ Stamper, Kory (December 4, 2019). "Interview with an Editor: Kory Stamper". ACES: The Society for Editing. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  5. ↑ "The Dictionary.com Word of the Year is hallucinate". Dictionary.com. December 12, 2023. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  6. ↑ 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. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Merriam-Webster - Ask the Editor". Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  8. ↑ "English: The mongrel language". Chicago Tribune. 4 April 2012. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  9. ↑ "Kory Stamper Plenary Speaker Illinois Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages 2012 convention". Archived from the original on 2012-04-23. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  10. ↑ "Examples of Stamper providing expert advice to public".
  11. ↑ "Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  12. ↑ Stevens, Heidi (February 15, 2012). "Word crushes". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  13. ↑ "Chicago Tribune". 14 March 2012. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  14. ↑ "Chicago Tribune". 9 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  15. ↑ "Chicago Tribune". 9 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  16. ↑ "Columbia News Service article published in the Chicago Tribune". 29 March 2006. Retrieved 2012-06-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  17. ↑ "Alma Mater - an article published in www.brainchildmag.com an online parenting magazine". Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  18. ↑ Garber, Megan. "The Case Against the Grammar Scolds". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  19. ↑ Schuessler, Jennifer (2017-03-22). "A Journey Into the Merriam-Webster Word Factory". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  20. ↑ "Nonfiction Book Review: Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  21. ↑ History of Swear Words (Documentary, Comedy), Nikki Glaser, London Hughes, Elvis Mitchell, Melissa Mohr, B17 Entertainment, Funny or Die, 2021-01-05, retrieved 2021-01-24{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  22. ↑ "'History of Swear Words' Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 2021-01-05. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  23. ↑ "True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color – From Azure to Zinc Pink". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2026-04-02.
  24. ↑ Mask, Deirdre (2026-04-04), Does This Come in Pink Margarine? A Surprising History of Color Names., ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved 2026-04-26
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.