Grant Barrett (born 1970) is an American

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

, specializing in slang, jargon and new usage, and the author and compiler of language-related books and dictionaries. He is a co-host and co-producer of the American weekly, hour-long public radio show and podcast ''A Way with Words.'' He has made regular appearances on Christopher Kimball's ''Milk Street Radio'', is often consulted as a language commentator, and has written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', and served as a

for

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

Education

Grant holds a degree in French from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and has studied at the

Université Paris Diderot Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (french: Université Paris Diderot), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 197 ...

and the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he was the editor in chief of the student newspaper, ''

The Maneater The Maneater is the official, editorially independent student news publication of the University of Missouri. The Maneater editorial and advertising staffs are composed entirely of students, with the exception of a professional business adviser. ...

'' (1990–91).

Career

He was an early blogger with the website World New York, which as been archived by the Library of Congress as part of its September 11 Web archive to preserve the blog's collection of responses to the 9/11 attacks. In 2007, following the retirement of

Richard Lederer Richard Lederer (born May 26, 1938) is an American linguist, author, speaker, and teacher. He is best known for his books on the English language and on wordplay such as puns, oxymorons, and anagrams. He has been dubbed "the Wizard of Idiom," ...

from the radio show ''

A Way with Words ''A Way with Words'' is an American weekly public radio program discussing the use of language (mainly American and Canadian English, with other languages earning more occasional mention) in everyday life, along with linguistics, lexicology and ...

,'' Barrett became a co-host and eventually a co-producer of the public radio show, which is broadcast nationally in the United States. He co-hosts the show with writer/public speaker Martha Barnette. The caller-based radio show takes a sociolinguistic perspective towards language. Barnette, Barrett, and senior producer Stefanie Levine founded the

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of t ...

Wayword, Inc., to fund and produce ''A Way with Words'' after

KPBS-FM KPBS-FM is a non-commercial public radio station broadcasting in San Diego on 89.5 MHz, affiliated with National Public Radio (NPR). It is owned by San Diego State University as part of KPBS Public Media, and is a sister station to PBS member ...

, which had originally produced it, withdrew support. Barrett is the author of the books ''Perfect English Grammar'' (Zephyros Press, 2016, ) and ''The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English'' (McGraw Hill Professional, 2010, )''.'' ''Perfect English Grammar'' is a 238-page book on writing and speaking the English language. The ''Official Dictionary of Unofficial English'' is based on his Double-Tongued Dictionary and World New York websites, and includes new and unusual words. As an editor and lexicographer, he compiled the ''Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang'' (Oxford University Press, 2004, ), originally titled ''Hatchet Jobs and Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang'', and the award-winning web site Double-Tongued Dictionary. In 2008, he was an emcee in the finals of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament alongside Merle Reagle. He is the vice president of communications and technology for the

American Dialect Society The American Dialect Society (ADS), founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society ...

, a former member of the editorial review board for the academic journal ''

American Speech ''American Speech'' is a quarterly academic journal of the American Dialect Society, established in 1925 and currently published by Duke University Press. It focuses primarily on the English language used in the Western Hemisphere, but also publis ...

'', former contributor and editor of the journal's "Among the New Words" column, and a co-founder of the online dictionary

Wordnik Wordnik, a nonprofit organization, is an online English dictionary and language resource that provides dictionary and thesaurus content. Some of the content is based on print dictionaries such as the ''Century Dictionary'', the ''American Heritage ...

. Between 2004 and 2014, Barrett created an annual words-of-the-year list which has been featured in ''

'' and ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

''. Barrett frequently comments on language matters in the popular press, as a radio and podcast guest, as a writer, and as a quoted source. He has been a frequent public speaker with his radio partner and on his own, including for TEDxAmericasFinestCity in 2011 and TEDxSDSU in 2012. Besides the publications given above, he has also written for ''

'' and '' The Malaysia Star''.

Bibliography

Author

* ''Perfect English Grammar'' (Zephyros Press, 2016, ) * ''The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English'' (McGraw Hill Professional, 2010, ) * ''Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang'' (Oxford University Press, 2004, )

Lexicographer

* ''Cambridge Dictionary of American English'' (second edition, 2008, ) * ''Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary'' (2008, ) * ''Collins British English Advanced Dictionary'' (2008, ) * ''Collins Cobuild English/Japanese Dictionary of Advanced English'' (2008, ) * ''Collins Spanish Intermediate Dictionary'' (2008, ) * ''Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus'' (first edition, 2004, ) * ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' (2001, first edition, and 2005, second edition, ) * ''Concise Oxford American Thesaurus'' (2006, ) * ''Concise Oxford American Dictionary'' (2006, )

References

External links

Personal website

Grant Barrett's bio on the ''A Way with Words'' web site

Interview in 3rd Monthly October 3, 2013
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