Word by WordWord by Word

"While most of us might take dictionaries for granted, the process of writing dictionaries is in fact as lively and dynamic as language itself ... Stamper cracks open the complex, obsessive world of lexicography, from the agonizing decisions about what and how to define, to the knotty questions of usage in an ever-changing language. She explains why the small words are the most difficult to define, how it can take nine months to define a single word, and how our biases about language and pronunciation can have tremendous social influence. Throughout Stamper brings to life the hallowed halls ... of Merriam-Webster, a ... world inhabited by quirky and erudite individuals who quietly shape the way we communicate"--