by Kory Stamper
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Permissions Acknowledgments
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Excerpt of “An Archivist Mines the Usage Ballots,” published on the American Heritage® Dictionary blog, “The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language” (http://ahdictionary.tumblr.com/) on January 28, 2014; excerpt of entry for “marriage,” from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company; and excerpt of entry for “marriage,” from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Summarization of “ain’t” from the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt archives, in-house balloting summary, Usage Panel (December 1964); summarizations of usage notes for “dilemma,” “irregardless,” and “decimate” from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Reprinted and summarized by permission from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Merriam-Webster: Merriam-Webster definitions, correspondence, and in-house material including notes. Reprinted by permission of Merriam-Webster.
Public Affairs: Excerpt from “Going Nucular” by Geoff Nunberg, copyright © 2002 by Geoff Nunberg. Reprinted by permission of Public Affairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group.
Portions of this book originally appeared on the author’s blog, “Harmless Drudgery” (www.korystamper.com).
A Note About the Author
Kory Stamper is a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, where she also writes, edits, and appears in the “Ask the Editor” video series. She blogs regularly on language and lexicography at www.korystamper.com, and her writing has appeared in The Guardian, in The New York Times, and on Slate.com. She lives with her family and her books in New Jersey.
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