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Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries - Kory Stamper

I spent a lot of time writing and editing a review for Word by Word because I wanted to be eloquent in my expression of admiration for both the book and its author. Before posting it, though, I looked at other reviews of the book and immediately found many of my words and phrases in them, so I decided against posting mine. I had nothing new to offer in terms of praise for this book that I'd so enjoyed reading. If you read all the raving reviews posted online, you'll know what I mean.

All I will say is this book resonated with the nerdy word-loving grammarian that I am. I recommend it to all my fellow writers and word lovers. I took my time reading the book, savoring every word, enjoying every chapter, and delighting in the author's sense of humor. Some passages and footnotes made me laugh out loud.

Reading Word by Word also brought back many memories of my childhood and adolescence. As the daughter of an etymologist and lexicographer, I spent fifteen years of my life in the middle of stacks of books and piles of paper and boxes filled with index cards. From that period of my life, most memories I have of my father involve him sitting at his desk, a red pencil in his hand, either underlining words in books or reviewing semantic variations of words based on evidence.

I'm glad Kory Stamper “authored” this book (see the footnote on p.187 of the book), and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Living in the Woods: 10 Fun Facts

Living in the woods requires certain behaviors that can be unfamiliar to people such as myself who have never had the experience and have never even gone camping. These new behaviors become habits after a while, of course. I've been living in the woods for over sixteen months now. I've learned a lot and I'm still learning about the changes in the weather, all the animals around here, and even the language used by locals. It's true that culture affects language. I haven't moved to a new country, but I'm learning so many new words. My first year here, I was writing daily in my journal about life in the woods. Early this morning, I was looking for a piece of information in my journal to add to my WIP and I came across a page I'd titled “10 Fun Facts” and it's dated June 29^th, 2018, which is exactly one month after I arrived at the cabin.

1. No matter who the president is, here, the insects rule.

2. Cortisone has become my new body lotion.

3. I have to inspect my body for ticks at least twice a day, every day. If a tick stays on a human body more than a few hours, it can be deadly. I have to check the dogs every night before they go to bed.

4. I'd never seen ninja squirrels before.

5. These tiny frogs are so very cute.

6. I have learned about insects and reptiles a lot more than I ever wanted to, and now I have to unlearn all of it just so I can sleep at night.

7. I have to be careful not to step on snakes or they'll make me regret it in the worst way, and they're hard to see.

8. Fireflies make the evenings beautiful.

9. At night, the only sounds I hear are those of nature, and they're loud.

10. A beautiful cedar tree has been my carport for a month now, and I haven't seen a single bird poop on my car yet. Either the birds here have manners or they are constipated.

Four hundred and fifty five days later, all these facts remain true. I have, however, learned to reduce the number of insect bites by covering myself better, so although I use Cortisone regularly, it is, thankfully, no longer my “body lotion.”

Before & After

Before I moved to the woods in the Natural State, I was a college professor in California, a very active one. My typical day consisted of teaching and driving. I was teaching three classes, three hours each, every day, at three different colleges, and the total commute time between each college and home added to about four to five hours a day. I left the house at 6:30am and got home at 10pm, but I also returned home after each job to take the dogs out and give them something to eat, little treats during the day and a meal in the evening. I felt guilty every time I left the dogs, but it was inevitable. When I got home at 10pm, I spent every minute with the dogs: no work, no phone. After their evening walk, we wrestled and played, and then we went to bed together.

Now, living in the woods, I tutor a few students online, working no more than an hour a day. I also do some proofreading when I get an assignment. In between these jobs, I read, write, cook, clean, mow and treat the lawn, and watch movies. I go to town once a week to buy groceries and pay a visit to the library, where I borrow lots of books and movies. I'm never apart from the dogs. They are always with me, everywhere I go. I only leave them inside the cabin when I need to mow the lawn because they'll get in front of the mower and it's not safe. When I go out to mow the lawn, I see their three little heads in the window frame watching me through the screen. If I leave their range of sight, the three of them start howling like little wolves and they only stop when I reappear, and this goes on until I've finished the whole area around the cabin.

Being a workaholic, I loved my active life in California. My schedule was set for me, but I loved teaching and I enjoyed every minute of my job. Reading a book for pleasure only happened in the form of listening to it during my commute, though, and all the rest of my time outside the classroom was spent planning lessons and grading papers. I never had enough time to sit down and write. I could only write if I stole five minutes here and ten minutes there from my very busy schedule.

Now, I have my own schedule. I don't have to feel guilty anymore; I can spend all my time with my dogs. Also, I'm glad I have time to read all the books I want, and I can set aside a couple of hours to sit down and write every day. It's a completely new way of living for me, and it took me a whole year to get used to it, but looking back, I realize that, since I moved out here, I have read more than a hundred books and I'm close to finishing the first draft of my book that seemed interminable before. I make time to do all the things my previous lifestyle didn't allow me to do, and I do everything when I want. I'm enjoying every minute of my new life and feeling grateful.