Lovers of words and languages will share my delight at the arrival of harm•less drudg•ery, a new language blog from Kory Stamper.
Kory is a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster; you might remember her from such videos as Slang, Octopus, and Christmas vs. Xmas (or from comments she has left on Sentence first). Her working day consists of “reading citations and trying to define words like ‘Monophysite’ and ‘bodice ripper.’”
In her introductory post, Kory writes with wit and insight about how she fell into the world of dictionaries, what lexicography is and is not, and how deep is her love of words (the phrase coke fiend appears in this context). But a love of words is not enough:
a love of words—even the unloved, unlovely bastard ones—does not guarantee that one will excel at, or even enjoy, lexicography. The two primary requirements for my job are a good grasp on the rules, requirements, and idioms of your target language, and a willingness to throw two-thirds of that out the window in the face of cold, hard facts about usage.
Go read, bookmark, subscribe.
Ta muchly, Stan! Readers of Sentence First, I will try not to cuss too much. After all, you are used to classy and informative commentary on language.
Thanks for the post. It will have to become a regular blog-stop from now on!
You’re welcome, Kory! I don’t think anyone with a passionate but dispassionate interest in words will be bothered by the occasional cuss.
Jams: My pleasure. How regularly I visit Kory’s blog will depend chiefly on how regularly she writes!
Thank you for sharing, will hurry to check out this new blog, sounds promising! All the best for the New Year!
You’re welcome, Nelida; I’m sure you’ll enjoy Kory’s blog, which has a new entry since I wrote this post. Many happy returns for 2012!