Kory Stamper

Stamper grew up in Colorado. She attended Smith College, where she undertook an interdisciplinary major that involved studying Latin, Greek, Norse, Old English, and Middle English after enrolling in a course on Icelandic family sagas of the 13th and 14th centuries. She says, "I loved the style, the rhythm. They're very bleak, but they have this black humor."

Stamper worked in a college development office before applying for an editorial assistant position with Merriam-Webster in 1998. She left Merriam-Webster after working there for nearly 20 years.{{cite web|last=Stamper|first=Kory|url=https://korystamper.wordpress.com/about/|title=Who?|work=harm·less drudg·ery|date=19 September 2011 |access-date=March 1, 2021}} She was associate editor at Merriam-Webster for more than ten years.{{cite news|last=Pfarrer|first=Steve|date=July 20, 2017|url=https://www.gazettenet.com/The-Secret-Life-if-Dictionaries-Lexicographer-Kory-Stamper-talks-about-her-work-with-Merriam-Webster-and-the-quirks-of-the-English-language-11268612|title=The secret life of dictionaries: Kory Stamper on her new book 'Word by Word'|work=Daily Hampshire Gazette|access-date=March 1, 2021}} As of 2019, Stamper worked freelance with Cambridge University Press.{{cite news|last=Stamper|first=Kory|date=December 4, 2019|url=https://aceseditors.org/news/2019/interview-with-an-editor-kory-stamper|title=Interview with an Editor: Kory Stamper|publisher=ACES: The Society for Editing|access-date=March 1, 2021}} As of December 2023, she was senior editor of lexicography at Dictionary.com,{{cite web|url=https://content.dictionary.com/word-of-the-year-2023/|title=The Dictionary.com Word of the Year is hallucinate.|work=Dictionary.com|date=December 12, 2023|access-date=May 1, 2024}} where she worked until April 2024.{{cite web|last=Kory|first=Stamper|date=April 13, 2024|url=https://bsky.app/profile/korystamper.bsky.social/post/3kpxgzhx7eo2l|title=I always said I'd ride the dictionary train until the terminus; the train will pull into the station April 30, which is my last day at dictionary.com. What a magical and unlikely career this has been. I'll miss it! HMU if you ever need an editor who knows more about grammar than is safe! 💜|work=Bluesky|access-date=May 1, 2024}}

In addition to her editorial duties, she presented many of Merriam-Webster's "Ask the Editor" videos,{{cite web| url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/index.htm|accessdate=2012-06-05|title=Merriam-Webster - Ask the Editor}} a series on the publisher's website and YouTube that discusses the English language, especially unusual or controversial words and usages. She undertook speaking engagements on behalf of Merriam-Webster{{cite web| url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/04/04/english-the-mongrel-language/|access-date=2012-06-05| url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120418065357/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-04/features/ct-tribu-words-work-language-history-20120404_1_mongrel-language-second-language-english | title = English: The mongrel language | website = Chicago Tribune | date = 4 April 2012 | archive-date = 18 April 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.itbe.org/convention.php|accessdate=2012-06-05|title=Kory Stamper Plenary Speaker Illinois Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages 2012 convention|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423085616/http://www.itbe.org/convention.php|archive-date=2012-04-23|url-status=dead}} and provides expert advice and response to general enquiries on language and lexicography from the public.{{cite web| url=http://www.learnersdictionary.com/blog.php?action=ViewBlogArchive&monthyear=02-2010| title=Examples of Stamper providing expert advice to public}}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Stamper drew attention as the associate editor responsible for explaining the addition of the term "F-bomb" into the dictionary.

Stamper also provides lexicographical and language-related commentary for various media outlets including the Chicago Tribune{{cite web| url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/tribu/ct-tribu-words-work-crush-20120215,0,1758115.story |accessdate=2012-06-06|title=Chicago Tribune |website=Chicago Tribune |date=15 February 2012 }}{{Cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-tribu-words-work-crush-20120215-story.html|title=Word crushes|last=Stevens|first=Heidi|date=February 15, 2012|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=2017-06-01|language=en-US}}{{cite web| url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-14/features/ct-tribu-words-work-eponyms-20120314_1_bogart-names-jionni | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315103142/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-14/features/ct-tribu-words-work-eponyms-20120314_1_bogart-names-jionni | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 15, 2012 |accessdate=2012-06-06|title=Chicago Tribune|date=14 March 2012 }}{{cite web| url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-09/features/ct-tribu-words-work-wheelhouse-20120509_1_star-power-business-cruise=| archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119025849/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-09/features/ct-tribu-words-work-wheelhouse-20120509_1_star-power-business-cruise=| url-status=dead| archive-date=January 19, 2013|accessdate=2012-06-06|title=Chicago Tribune|date=9 May 2012 }}{{cite web| url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-09/features/ct-tribu-words-work-wheelhouse-20120509_1_star-power-business-cruise | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119011408/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-09/features/ct-tribu-words-work-wheelhouse-20120509_1_star-power-business-cruise | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 19, 2013 |accessdate=2012-06-06|title=Chicago Tribune|date=9 May 2012 }}{{cite web| url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-03-29/news/0603290358_1_hot-slang-meanings | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119044832/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-03-29/news/0603290358_1_hot-slang-meanings | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 19, 2013 |accessdate=2012-06-06|title=Columbia News Service article published in the Chicago Tribune|date=29 March 2006 }} and has written on other, non-language-related topics.{{cite web|url=http://www.brainchildmag.com/essays/fall2007_stamper.asp/ |accessdate=2012-06-05 |title=Alma Mater - an article published in www.brainchildmag.com an online parenting magazine. |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824050025/http://www.brainchildmag.com/essays/fall2007_stamper.asp |archivedate=August 24, 2011 }}{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?442657-1/word-word Presentation by Stamper on Word by Word, March 22, 2018], C-SPAN}}

Stamper's first book, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, was released by Pantheon in March 2017.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/03/the-case-against-the-grammar-scolds/519552/|title=The Case Against the Grammar Scolds|last=Garber|first=Megan|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2017-06-01|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/books/merriam-webster-dictionary-kory-stamper.html|title=A Journey Into the Merriam-Webster Word Factory|last=Schuessler|first=Jennifer|date=2017-03-22|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-06-01|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-101-87094-5|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper|work=PublishersWeekly.com|access-date=2017-06-01|language=en}}

Stamper appears in all six episodes of the 2021 Netflix series History of Swear Words,{{Citation|title=History of Swear Words|date=2021-01-05|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13617060/|type=Documentary, Comedy|others=Nikki Glaser, London Hughes, Elvis Mitchell, Melissa Mohr|publisher=B17 Entertainment, Funny or Die|access-date=2021-01-24}} providing commentary on the linguistic histories of various obscenities. The Hollywood Reporter described Stamper as "probably the breakout among the expert talking heads".{{Cite web|date=2021-01-05|title='History of Swear Words' Review|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/history-of-swear-words-tv-review|access-date=2021-01-24|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en}}

Stamper is married with two children. She lives in Collingswood, New Jersey.{{cite news|last1=Rubin|first1=Daniel|title=Daniel Rubin: The editor who dropped an F-bomb on Merriam-Webster|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20120823_Daniel_Rubin__The_editor_who_dropped_an_F-bomb_on_Merriam-Webster.html|accessdate=1 June 2017|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=August 23, 2012}}

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Category:Living people

Category:American lexicographers

Category:Lexicographers of English

Category:People from Collingswood, New Jersey

Category:Smith College alumni

Category:Women lexicographers

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:21st-century lexicographers

Category:Writers from Colorado