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Grant Barrett (born 1970) is an American lexicographer, 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.[1][2] He has made regular appearances on Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Radio,[3] is often consulted as a language commentator, and has written for The New York Times and The Washington Post, and served as a lexicographer for Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press.
Grant Barrett | |
|---|---|
 Grant Barrett recording his radio show A Way with Words | |
| Born | 1970 (age 53–54) |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Occupation(s) | Lexicographer, author, radio show host |
| Website | grantbarrett |
Education
editGrant 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).
Career
editHe was an early blogger with the website World New York,[4] which has been archived by the Library of Congress as part of its September 11 Web archive[5] to preserve the blog's collection of responses to the 9/11 attacks.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.[6][7][8] He co-hosts the show with writer/public speaker Martha Barnette. The caller-based radio show takes a sociolinguistic perspective towards language.[9]
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.[10][11]
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.[12][13] The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English is based on his Double-Tongued Dictionary and World New York websites, and includes new and unusual words.[14]
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.[15][16][17]
In 2008, he was an emcee in the finals of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament alongside Merle Reagle.[18]
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.[19][20]
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.[21][22][23][24]
Barrett frequently comments on language matters in the popular press, as a radio and podcast guest, as a writer, and as a quoted source.[25][26][27] He has been a frequent public speaker with his radio partner and on his own, including for TEDxAmericasFinestCity in 2011 and TEDxSDSU in 2012.[28][29]
Besides the publications given above, he has also written for The Washington Post[30] and The Malaysia Star.[31]
Bibliography
editAuthor
edit- 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)
Lexicographer
edit- 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)
References
edit- ^ "Martha Barnette | Grant Barrett | A Way With Words | America :: American Way Magazine". 2014-12-15. Archived from the original on 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
- ^ Letchworth, Dan (16 January 2019). "Q&A: 'A Way with Words' Goes on Tour". San Diego Magazine. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
- ^ "Big Night: Stanley Tucci Eats Hollywood". Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
- ^ "World New York". 2003-01-24. Archived from the original on 2003-01-24. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ "World New York". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ "Column: 15 years later, San Diego's 'A Way with Words' still brings a world of listeners together". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2022-01-08. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ "About A Way with Words". A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
- ^ ""A Way with Words" Is "Car Talk" for Lexiphiles". The New Yorker. 2020-04-28. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ Barrett, Grant (2019-04-06). "How Did Martha and Grant Develop Their Attitudes Toward Language?". A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ "About A Way with Words". A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ Garin, Nina (2013-03-23). "One-on-one with Grant Barrett". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ Globe, The Boston. "2016 Words of the Year". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
- ^ Barrett, Grant (2016-03-29). Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking. ZEPHYROS Press. ISBN 978-1-62315-714-2.
- ^ Peters, Mark (2008-02-01). "No Word Left Behind". American Speech. 83 (1): 109–112. doi:10.1215/00031283-2008-007. ISSN 0003-1283.
- ^ Polston, Pamela. "Lovin' on Language: 'A Way With Words' Cohost Has More to Say". Seven Days. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ^ "Make no bones about it". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
- ^ "The Devil's Dictionary by Mark Peters - Nerve.com". 2009-10-11. Archived from the original on 2009-10-11. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ "Capsule History of the Tournament". www.crosswordtournament.com. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ "Word Of The Year" (PDF).
- ^ Zimmer, Benjamin; Carson, Charles E.; Solomon, Jane (2016-11-01). "Seventy-Five Years among the New Words". American Speech. 91 (4): 472–512. doi:10.1215/00031283-3870163. ISSN 0003-1283.
- ^ "Weekend America: Word of the Year". weekendamerica.publicradio.org. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ Barrett, Grant (2006-12-24). "Glossary". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ Barrett, Grant (2007-12-23). "All We Are Saying". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ "Grant Barrett: Top buzzwords and phrases of 2014". Dallas News. 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ Keyes, Ralph (2021). The hidden history of coined words. New York, NY. ISBN 978-0-19-046676-3. OCLC 1194873368.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Zaleski, Philip (2015). The fellowship : the literary lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams. Carol Zaleski. New York. ISBN 978-0-374-15409-7. OCLC 894149486.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Words, music and gender. Michelle Gadpaille, Victor Kennedy. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. 2020. ISBN 978-1-5275-5843-4. OCLC 1195822012.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Everybody Should Talk Like This: Grant Barrett at TEDxAmericasFinestCity 2011, retrieved 2022-10-27
- ^ The long bleep: Grant Barrett at TEDxSDSU, retrieved 2022-10-27
- ^ Barrett, Grant (2006-09-13). "Apples Flavor the Language, Too". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
- ^ "Time for a cougar?". 2010-10-05. Archived from the original on 2010-10-05. Retrieved 2022-10-27.