Ammon Shea is an American writer, known for his nonfiction books about the
English language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
. With Peter Novobatzky, he wrote ''Depraved English'' (1999) and ''Insulting English'' (2001), which highlight obscure and unusual English words. Shea later read the entire ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'', and documented his observations in ''Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages'' (2008). He was subsequently hired to work at
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
as a consulting editor of American dictionaries. Shea has also contributed to the "On Language" column in Sunday's ''New York Times''. Shea is also the author of ''The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads'' (2010) and ''Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation'' (2014)
A dictionary collector, Shea had already read ''
Webster's Second International Dictionary'' in the 1990s. During his life, he has worked as a
gondolier
The gondola (, ; , ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a scul ...
, a mover, and a
busker.
[Jeffrey Gantz.]
Words, Words, Words
". ''Boston Phoenix''. August 11, 2008. Retrieved on June 4, 2010.
References
External links
Ammon Shea's official website
American non-fiction writers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Gondoliers
{{US-nonfiction-writer-stub