HARMLESS DRUDGERY.

Via Sentence First comes news of a brand-new blog by lexicographer Kory Stamper, harm·less drudg·ery. So far there’s only one post, An Introduction to Harmless Drudgery, but it’s lively enough I’m looking forward to future ones:

I almost literally fell into lexicography: I tripped over a book and landed on the newspaper which held the “Editorial Assistant” want-ad I eventually answered. I had a (fun and tremendously useless) degree in Medieval Studies and worked a menial job that was slowly and steadily killing my will to live. Publishing was a field that held some appeal—not because it was high-paying, glamorous, or easy to get into. It is none of those things.
You see, I love words. I love all of them, even the nasty bastardized ones—yes, I even have a love/hate thing for “irregardless.” Their histories, who they’ve been with, where they came from, where they are going. Reading is not just an escape or a hobby; it is a compulsion. I am that person you see on the subway who, upon finishing her newspaper or magazine, begins carefully reading all the ads and graffiti on the train and then moves on to the receipts in her pockets. If I run out of reading material, I start fidgeting like a coke fiend needing a line or ten. Do not come between me and my words.

I suspect many of us can relate to that.

Comments

  1. Comments: I followed you here from a tweet.
    Her first post, and she’s got 20 comments in one day. I suspect Twitter is the future.

  2. I wish people would stop misspelling “irregar’less”.

  3. Why do Canada geese need jackets? Bloody silly idea – if it gets too cold they should just migrate. Why else did God give them wings?

  4. Terry Collmann says

    They need the jackets so they can put their iPhones in the jacket pockets. Otherwise they’ll drop the iPhone into a lake somewhere out over Alberta.

  5. Couldn’t God teach them to juggle?

  6. Canada Geese May Drop iPhones Into Registry. Must be a mnemonic for something.

  7. My favorite bit of the currently undeleted spam comment is “Shop your home-baked goodies and leftovers that need to have refrigeration in square or rectangular-shaped storage containers.” But I also like the part about cooking Canada goose jackets.

  8. Properly, this camera saved your slacks and the tops of her site visitors.
    Personification, metaphor, synecdoche. Gettin’ clever, these spammers.

  9. Donn Hackney: hidden cams overseeing the outdoors bedrooms where exactly you have got highly-priced gadgets
    Where do you live, Donn?

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