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Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett recording his radio show A Way with Words
Born1970 (age 53–54)
Missouri, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materColumbia University
Occupation(s)Lexicographer, author, radio show host
Websitegrantbarrett.com

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.

Education

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).

Career

He was an early blogger with the website World New York,[4] which has been archived by the Library of Congress as part of its September 11 Web archive[5] to preserve the blog's collection of responses to the 9/11 attacks.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

Author

Lexicographer

References

  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ Letchworth, Dan (16 January 2019). "Q&A: 'A Way with Words' Goes on Tour". San Diego Magazine. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  3. ^ "Big Night: Stanley Tucci Eats Hollywood". Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  4. ^ "World New York". 2003-01-24. Archived from the original on 2003-01-24. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  5. ^ "World New York". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "About A Way with Words". A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  8. ^ ""A Way with Words" Is "Car Talk" for Lexiphiles". The New Yorker. 2020-04-28. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ "About A Way with Words". A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  11. ^ Garin, Nina (2013-03-23). "One-on-one with Grant Barrett". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  12. ^ Globe, The Boston. "2016 Words of the Year". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  13. ^ Barrett, Grant (2016-03-29). Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking. ZEPHYROS Press. ISBN 978-1-62315-714-2.
  14. ^ Peters, Mark (2008-02-01). "No Word Left Behind". American Speech. 83 (1): 109–112. doi:10.1215/00031283-2008-007. ISSN 0003-1283.
  15. ^ Polston, Pamela. "Lovin' on Language: 'A Way With Words' Cohost Has More to Say". Seven Days. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  16. ^ "Make no bones about it". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  17. ^ "The Devil's Dictionary by Mark Peters - Nerve.com". 2009-10-11. Archived from the original on 2009-10-11. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  18. ^ "Capsule History of the Tournament". www.crosswordtournament.com. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  19. ^ "Word Of The Year" (PDF).
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ "Weekend America: Word of the Year". weekendamerica.publicradio.org. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  22. ^ Barrett, Grant (2006-12-24). "Glossary". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  23. ^ Barrett, Grant (2007-12-23). "All We Are Saying". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  24. ^ "Grant Barrett: Top buzzwords and phrases of 2014". Dallas News. 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  25. ^ 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)
  26. ^ 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)
  27. ^ 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)
  28. ^ Everybody Should Talk Like This: Grant Barrett at TEDxAmericasFinestCity 2011, retrieved 2022-10-27
  29. ^ The long bleep: Grant Barrett at TEDxSDSU, retrieved 2022-10-27
  30. ^ Barrett, Grant (2006-09-13). "Apples Flavor the Language, Too". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  31. ^ "Time for a cougar?". 2010-10-05. Archived from the original on 2010-10-05. Retrieved 2022-10-27.

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