I think when dictionaries define words, there's a sort of hair-splitting that to most people doesn't make any … - Kory Stamper

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Kory Stamper

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 not describing what a thing is.

Describing, Dictionary, People, Thinking, Words

Same Author Quotes

I make the case in the book that Standard English, that language we all aspire to live and move and have our being within, is actually based on a fiction. It's not anyone's native way of speaking or writing. That's why we have to take classes in it. Language is just really squishy.

Book, Fiction, Moving, Speaking, Take, Writing

Most people, if they think at all about the dictionary, think of it as this fixed object given to us from on high. It is the thing that legitimizes language and makes language real. You never think that it's actually compiled by living, breathing nerds like me. When you realize that it's compiled by people, it becomes a different thing, a different kind of document.

Becomes, Compiled, People, Real, Think, Thinking

We're not saying that marriage, the thing, is now open to anyone of any gender. We are saying, when the word marriage is used in this particular context, this is what it means. And it was the same with "alternative facts. " That was a big one. "Feminism" was a big one. And when people came to the "marriage" entry, because we live in the Internet age, they either immediately fire off an email to us saying they're horrified at how commie-pinko-liberal we are, or they fire off an e-mail saying thank you so much for speaking truth to power.

Age, Feminism, Mean, Open, People, Thank

It's very easy, when things like the gay marriage write-in happen, to get sick of how people view language and say, "ah, come on it's just a dictionary. " But then you hear from people who say if you take out "retarded" it won't exist anymore, and there will be no slurs for people to call my child. And that's just heartrending.

Call, Children, Dictionary, Easy, Gay, People

Lexicographers may be nerds who don't like human contact, but we're still people.

Contact, Human, Lexicographers, Nerd, People