Grant Barrett

Grant holds a degree in French from Columbia University and has studied at the Université Paris Diderot and the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he was the editor in chief of the student newspaper, The Maneater (1990–91).

He was an early blogger with the website World New York,{{Cite web |date=2003-01-24 |title=World New York |url=http://www.worldnewyork.org:80/ |access-date=2022-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030124000705/http://www.worldnewyork.org:80/ |archive-date=2003-01-24 }} which has been archived by the Library of Congress as part of its September 11 Web archive{{Cite web |title=World New York |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwaN0022046/ |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}} to preserve the blog's collection of responses to the 9/11 attacks.

In 2007, following the retirement of Richard Lederer from the radio show A Way with Words, Barrett became a co-host and eventually a co-producer of the public radio show, which is broadcast nationally in the United States.{{Cite web |date=2022-01-08 |title=Column: 15 years later, San Diego's 'A Way with Words' still brings a world of listeners together |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/columnists/story/2022-01-08/column-15-years-later-san-diegos-a-way-with-words-still-brings-a-world-of-listeners-together |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=About A Way with Words |url=https://www.waywordradio.org/about/ |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language |language=en-US}}{{Cite magazine |date=2020-04-28 |title="A Way with Words" Is "Car Talk" for Lexiphiles |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/comma-queen/a-way-with-words-is-car-talk-for-lexiphiles |access-date=2022-10-27 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}} He co-hosts the show with writer/public speaker Martha Barnette. The caller-based radio show takes a sociolinguistic perspective towards language.{{Cite web |last=Barrett |first=Grant |date=2019-04-06 |title=How Did Martha and Grant Develop Their Attitudes Toward Language? |url=https://www.waywordradio.org/how-did-martha-and-grant-develop-their-attitudes-toward-language/ |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language |language=en-US}}

Barnette, Barrett, and senior producer Stefanie Levine founded the 501(c)(3) organization Wayword, Inc., to fund and produce A Way with Words after KPBS-FM, which had originally produced it, withdrew support.{{Cite web |title=About A Way with Words |url=https://www.waywordradio.org/about/ |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Garin |first=Nina |date=2013-03-23 |title=One-on-one with Grant Barrett |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/lifestyle/people/sdut-one-on-one-grant-barrett-2013mar23-story.html |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}

Barrett is the author of the books Perfect English Grammar (Zephyros Press, 2016, {{ISBN|978-1623157142}}) and The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English (McGraw Hill Professional, 2010, {{ISBN|0071491635|9780071491631}}). Perfect English Grammar is a 238-page book on writing and speaking the English language.{{Cite web |last=Globe |first=The Boston |title=2016 Words of the Year |url=https://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/ideas/graphics/2016/12/words-of-the-year |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=BostonGlobe.com |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Barrett |first=Grant |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZmfjwEACAAJ |title=Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking |date=2016-03-29 |publisher=ZEPHYROS Press |isbn=978-1-62315-714-2 |language=en}} The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English is based on his Double-Tongued Dictionary and World New York websites, and includes new and unusual words.{{Cite journal |last=Peters |first=Mark |title=No Word Left Behind |date=2008-02-01 |url=https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-2008-007 |journal=American Speech |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=109–112 |doi=10.1215/00031283-2008-007 |issn=0003-1283|url-access=subscription }}

As an editor and lexicographer, he compiled the Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang (Oxford University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-19-517685-5}}), originally titled Hatchet Jobs and Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang, and the award-winning web site Double-Tongued Dictionary.{{Cite web |last=Polston |first=Pamela |title=Lovin' on Language: 'A Way With Words' Cohost Has More to Say |url=https://www.sevendaysvt.com/LiveCulture/archives/2016/09/07/lovin-on-language-a-way-with-words-cohost-has-more-to-say |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=Seven Days |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Make no bones about it |url=https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/make-no-bones-about-it.php |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=Columbia Journalism Review |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2009-10-11 |title=The Devil's Dictionary by Mark Peters - Nerve.com |url=https://www.nerve.com/regulars/lifeswork/thedevilsdictionary |access-date=2022-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091011030042/https://www.nerve.com/regulars/lifeswork/thedevilsdictionary |archive-date=2009-10-11 }}

In 2008, he was an emcee in the finals of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament alongside Merle Reagle.{{Cite web |title=Capsule History of the Tournament |url=https://www.crosswordtournament.com/info/history.htm |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=www.crosswordtournament.com}}

He is the vice president of communications and technology for the American Dialect Society, a former member of the editorial review board for the academic journal American Speech, former contributor and editor of the journal's "Among the New Words" column, and a co-founder of the online dictionary Wordnik.{{Cite web |title=Word Of The Year |url=http://www.americandialect.org/2009-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf}}{{Cite journal |last1=Zimmer |first1=Benjamin |last2=Carson |first2=Charles E. |last3=Solomon |first3=Jane |date=2016-11-01 |title=Seventy-Five Years among the New Words |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/american-speech/article/91/4/472/5480/Seventy-Five-Years-among-the-New-Words |journal=American Speech |language=en |volume=91 |issue=4 |pages=472–512 |doi=10.1215/00031283-3870163 |issn=0003-1283|url-access=subscription }}

Between 2004 and 2014, Barrett created an annual words-of-the-year list which has been featured in The New York Times and The Dallas Morning News.{{Cite web |title=Weekend America: Word of the Year |url=https://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/04/words/index.html |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=weekendamerica.publicradio.org}}{{Cite news |last=Barrett |first=Grant |date=2006-12-24 |title=Glossary |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/weekinreview/24barrett.html |access-date=2022-10-27 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Barrett |first=Grant |date=2007-12-23 |title=All We Are Saying |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/weekinreview/23buzzwords.html |access-date=2022-10-27 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |date=2014-12-20 |title=Grant Barrett: Top buzzwords and phrases of 2014 |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2014/12/20/grant-barrett-top-buzzwords-and-phrases-of-2014/ |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=Dallas News |language=en}}

Barrett frequently comments on language matters in the popular press, as a radio and podcast guest, as a writer, and as a quoted source.{{Cite book |last=Keyes |first=Ralph |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1194873368 |title=The hidden history of coined words |date=2021 |isbn=978-0-19-046676-3 |location=New York, NY |oclc=1194873368}}{{Cite book |last=Zaleski |first=Philip |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/894149486 |title=The fellowship : the literary lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams |date=2015 |others=Carol Zaleski |isbn=978-0-374-15409-7 |location=New York |oclc=894149486}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1195822012 |title=Words, music and gender |date=2020 |others=Michelle Gadpaille, Victor Kennedy |isbn=978-1-5275-5843-4 |location=Newcastle upon Tyne, UK |oclc=1195822012}} He has been a frequent public speaker with his radio partner and on his own, including for TEDxAmericasFinestCity in 2011 and TEDxSDSU in 2012.{{Citation |title=Everybody Should Talk Like This: Grant Barrett at TEDxAmericasFinestCity 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmH1ZXeExhI |language=en |access-date=2022-10-27}}{{Citation |title=The long bleep: Grant Barrett at TEDxSDSU |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA0hRiLRQfc |language=en |access-date=2022-10-27}}

Besides the publications given above, he has also written for The Washington Post{{Cite news |last=Barrett |first=Grant |date=2006-09-13 |title=Apples Flavor the Language, Too |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091200413.html |access-date=2022-10-27 |issn=0190-8286}} and The Malaysia Star.{{Cite web |date=2010-10-05 |title=Time for a cougar? |url=http://thestar.com.my/english/story.asp?file=/2007/10/17/lifefocus/19059904&sec=lifefocus |access-date=2022-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005082024/http://thestar.com.my/english/story.asp?file=/2007/10/17/lifefocus/19059904&sec=lifefocus |archive-date=2010-10-05 }}

• Perfect English Grammar (Zephyros Press, 2016, {{ISBN|978-1623157142}})
• The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English (McGraw Hill Professional, 2010, {{ISBN|0071491635|9780071491631}})
• Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang (Oxford University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-19-517685-5}})

• Cambridge Dictionary of American English (second edition, 2008, {{ISBN|9780521691970}})
• Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary (2008, {{ISBN|0521871433|9780521871433}})
• Collins British English Advanced Dictionary (2008, {{ISBN|978-1424008254}})
• Collins Cobuild English/Japanese Dictionary of Advanced English (2008, {{ISBN|1424000793}})
• Collins Spanish Intermediate Dictionary (2008, {{ISBN|0007260547|9780007260546}})
• Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus (first edition, 2004, {{ISBN|0195342844|9780195342840}})
• New Oxford American Dictionary (2001, first edition, and 2005, second edition, {{ISBN|0195170776}})
• Concise Oxford American Thesaurus (2006, {{ISBN|0195304853}})
• Concise Oxford American Dictionary (2006, {{ISBN|0195304845|978-0195304848}})

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.grantbarrett.com/ Personal website]
• [http://www.waywordradio.org/about/hosts-and-staff/ Grant Barrett's bio on the A Way with Words web site]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131003222354/http://3rdspace.co/interview-with-grant-barrett Interview in 3rd Monthly October 3, 2013]

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