Grant Barrett

Current

Editor of Among the New Words and Chair of the New Words Committee at American Speech
Editorial director at Wordnik
Co-host at A Way with Words

Vice President of Commmunications and Technology at American Dialect Society
Lexicographer, Chief Editor at Double-Tongued Dictionary

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2 more...

Past

Director of Information Technology at Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners
Project Editor at Oxford University Press
IT Director at Berlin Cameron United

Information Systems Contractor at Booz Allen & Hamilton

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1 more...

Education

Columbia University in the City of New York
University of Missouri-Columbia

Recommended

1 person has recommended Grant

Connections

190 connections

Industry

Publishing

Websites

Grant Barrett’s Summary

I am editorial director of Wordnik.com, a new online dictionary.

I have co-hosted the language-related public radio show A Way with Words since January 2007. It is broadcast nationwide via radio, streaming, and podcast to hundreds of thousands of listeners every week.

I am also an American lexicographer and dictionary editor, editor of the Among the New Words column in the academic journal American Speech, and chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society.

I am also the compiler and editor of the Official Dictionary of Unofficial English (2006, McGraw-Hill) and of the Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang (2004, Oxford University Press), and am known for the award-winning online Double-Tongued Dictionary <http://doubletongued.org>, which tracks slang, jargon, and neologisms from the fringes of English.

Besides being a widely quoted in the media, I write about language for such newspapers as the Washington Post and the New York Times, have contributed to the British book series The Language Report, and am a public speaker about dictionaries and slang. I also write a fortnightly column about English-language slang for the 1.2-million-circulation Malaysia Star and have worked as a business and music journalist.

I serve as vice president of the American Dialect Society, an academic organization devoted since 1889 to the study of English in North America. I am also a member of the journal’s editorial board and help organize the society’s annual “word of the year” vote. I am a member of the Dictionary Society of North America and the Linguistic Society of America. I hold a degree in French from Columbia University and have studied at the Université Paris Diderot.

I was an editor of the four-volume Historical Dictionary of American Slang (2003-2006, Oxford University Press) and have contributed as a lexicographer to other dictionaries for Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Collins.

Grant Barrett’s Specialties:

Lexicography, broadcasting, language, slang, new words, neologisms, radio hosting, emceeing, interviewing, compiling dictionaries, managing lexical projects, building online communities, conducting primary research, writing, editing, news writing and editing, journalism, user experience, online marketing, online promotions, newspapers, freelancing, fact-checking, proofing, copy-editing; public speaking on slang, new words, language change, and dictionaries.

Grant Barrett’s Experience

Editor of Among the New Words and Chair of the New Words Committee

American Speech

(Publishing industry)

January 2009 — Present (11 months)
Editorial director

Wordnik

(Privately Held; Publishing industry)

February 2008 — Present (1 year 10 months)

I oversee the lexical and editorial content of the vast new online dictionary Wordnik.com.
Co-host

A Way with Words

(Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Broadcast Media industry)

January 2007 — Present (2 years 11 months)

Co-host of “A Way with Words,” a language-related public radio show produced by Wayword LLC. This question-and-answer show is broadcast across North America via radio and to the world via online streaming and podcasts. In 2005, I occasionally guest-hosted as a fill-in for Richard Lederer.
Vice President of Commmunications and Technology

American Dialect Society

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Publishing industry)

January 2006 — Present (3 years 11 months)

I oversee many of the public relations and media outreach functions for this 117-year-old academic organization devoted to the study of the English language. I am also on the editorial review board for its journal, American Speech. The American Dialect Society publishes the journal American Speech and the supplement called the Publication of the American Dialect Society. Every January it holds the world's oldest English-language words-of-the-year vote.
Lexicographer, Chief Editor

Double-Tongued Dictionary

(Publishing industry)

April 2004 — Present (5 years 8 months)
Director of Information Technology

Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners

(Public Company; 201-500 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

September 2006 — April 2007 (8 months)
Project Editor

Oxford University Press

(Non-Profit; 501-1000 employees; Publishing industry)

August 2003 — September 2006 (3 years 2 months)

Editor and lexicographer for the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, and editor in the U.S. Dictionaries department.
IT Director

Berlin Cameron United

(Public Company; Publishing industry)

1999 — 1999 (less than a year)
Information Systems Contractor

Booz Allen & Hamilton

(Publishing industry)

1994 — 1995 (1 year )

Grant Barrett’s Education

Columbia University in the City of New York

BA , French, Literature , 1999 — 2001

Activities and Societies:

Graduated with honors.
University of Missouri-Columbia

Journalism 1988 — 1991

Activities and Societies:

Editor of the student newspaper, the Maneater, and general manager of the student radio station, KCOU 88.1 FM.