“Language is the primary way we communicate with each other, and we have really strong feelings about what words mean, and about good language and bad. Those things are really based on sort of an agglutination of half-remembered rules from high school or college, and our own personal views on language and the things we grew up saying, the things we grew up being told not to say.” MeanFeelingsSchoolLanguageStrongCollegeHigh SchoolCommunicateStrong Feeling Author:Kory Stamper
“Words have always been political, and that means that, in many people's minds, dictionaries are political. Because that's what dictionaries do: they do words.” MindMeanPoliticalDictionary Author:Kory Stamper
“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.” PeopleMeanAgeFeminismInternetGenderSaying Thank You Author:Kory Stamper
“With "marriage," the word gets applied to same-sex marriages by proponents and opponents alike. That means the word itself is changing, and we reflect this change. But because of the idea that the dictionary is the objective voice of authority over culture and knowledge, it reads like approval. It's not a helpful way of looking at lexicography.” MeanCultureAuthorityHelpfulDictionary Author:Kory Stamper
