Ben Zimmer in the News

Interview on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” about recent “On Language” columns (cool, social, fraught). (May 27, 2010)

Linguist, lexicographer and the new “On Language” columnist for the New York Times Magazine Ben Zimmer talks about the latest in language.

(Show page, streaming audio, download)

Part of the interview is available on YouTube:

Reveries Magazine, Cool News of the Day, May 5, 2010:

“All too often, a business stakes a claim to a common term based solely on romantic corporate mythmaking,” writes Ben Zimmer in the New York Times (5/2/10).

Read the rest here.

Nicole LaPorte, “Hollywood Busts a Taboo” (The Daily Beast, Apr. 14, 2010)

The outrageous new film Kick-Ass ventures into uncharted four-letter-word territory, from the mouth of an 11-year-old girl—and it’s causing a stir.

Read the rest here.

Interview on “The Conversation” with Ross Reynolds (KUOW Seattle) about taking over the “On Language” column. (Apr. 8, 2010)

Ben Zimmer has taken over the William Safire’s ‘On Language’ column for The New York Times, making him one of the nation’s preeminent word mavens. Zimmer joins us to talk about his favorite and least favorite words and phrases in current use.

(Show page, MP3, download)

Interview on CNN Newsroom about the heated rhetoric after the passage of health care reform.

(Show page, transcript)

Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner, “Ben Zimmer Hits the Big Time” (Editorial Emergency, “Editorializing” newsletter, Mar. 26, 2010)

We’ve known and cherished Ben Zimmer for some time as the editor of word-nerd destination The Visual Thesaurus; in that capacity he’s done us the honor of syndicating material originally created for “Editorializing” — and taught us a thing or two via both his published articles and delightful correspondence. We’re not alone in recognizing the man’s prose-writing prowess, editorial acumen and garrulous grace, however: Ben has been tapped to succeed the legendary William Safire as the New York Times Magazine’s “On Language” columnist. Safire launched “On Language” in 1979, and his departure for The Great Reference Library in the Sky left huge shoes to fill. But we feel confident that Ben has big feet. We wish him great success.

Interview on “The Walt Bodine Show” (KCUR Kansas City) about “The Birth and Life Cycle of Words” (Mar. 25, 2010)

How does a new word get born? How would you know that something had gone from being someone’s off-hand expression to becoming a legitimate part of the language? Why do some words take root while others never catch on? And how do words change over time? Today, we are joined by one of our regular wizards of words, as well as Ben Zimmer, who just this week succeeded the legendary William Safire as the writer of the weekly “On Language” column in The New York Times Magazine.

(Show page, audio)

Clay Lambert, “On Language Moves On” (The Kicker, Wick Communications, Mar. 25, 2010)

There is a new word sheriff in town. And it’s that guy on the left.

His name is Ben Zimmer. (By the way, the guy on the right is the late William Safire.) He is executive producer of vocabulary.com and something called “the visual thesaurus.” That last one is pretty incredible. Take a look for yourself.

The New York Times Magazine has announced that Zimmer will take over for the Safire and begin to write the iconic “On Language” column. Those are some mighty big shoes and I don’t envy Zimmer the task, but I guess someone who studied linguistics at Yale and is a consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary is probably up to the task.

Read the rest here.

Slate’s Culture Gabfest No. 79 (Mar. 24, 2010)

In this week’s Culture Gabfest, our critics Mike Pesca, Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner discuss the death of Big Star front man Alex Chilton, the Boston Globe‘s recent attack on music criticism, and Ben Zimmer, William Safire’s replacement at the New York Times.

(Show page, streaming audio, download, segment runs from 26:20 to 35:20)