Kory Stamper

Kory Stamper is a lexicographer and editor for the Merriam-Webster family of dictionaries. In addition to her editorial duties, she presents many of Merriam-Webster's "Ask the Editor" videos, a series on the publisher's website and YouTube that discusses the English language, especially unusual or controversial words and usages. She undertakes speaking engagements on behalf of Merriam-Webster and provides expert advice and response to general enquiries on language and lexicography from the public. Stamper has recently enjoyed some notoriety as the Associate Editor responsible for explaining the addition of the term "F-Bomb" into the dictionary.
Stamper also provides lexicographical and language related commentary for various media outlets including the Chicago Tribune and has written on other, non-language-related topics.
Stamper was educated at Smith College, where she undertook an interdisciplinary major that involved studying Latin, Greek, Old English, Norse, and Middle English after enrolling in a course on Icelandic family sagas of the 13th and 14th centuries. She says "I loved the style, the rhythm. They're very bleak, but they have this black humor."
She graduated with a BA in medieval studies, with a focus on language & literature.
Her first book, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, is due to be released in March 2017.