University of Chicago, “Telling the Life Stories of Words”

December 6, 2010

Debra Kamin, “Telling the Life Stories of Words” (University of Chicago News Office, Dec. 6, 2010)

Getting people excited about the inner lives of words is the distinctive mission for a trio of University alumni who have become ambassadors of lexicography. Harnessing their Chicago educations in linguistics and English, the three “wordinistas” are putting a public face on modern language studies.
A passion for word usage and dictionaries animates all three—Jesse Sheidlower, AB’89, Ben Zimmer, AM’98, and Erin McKean, AB’93, AM’93. All of them are helping to shape perceptions about the importance of language, each with a slightly different bent.
For Zimmer, who writes the “On Language” column for the New York Times Magazine, understanding a word means delving into its biography. He likens his work to that of an investigative reporter, unearthing stories that a broad audience would find engaging.

Read the rest here.

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