This book would still be an idea I wistfully forced on strangers at parties, were it not for a formidable crew of smart and huge-hearted people to whom I’ll be forever grateful.
My agent, Ted Weinstein, patiently helped turn a pile of directionless notes into a proposal and found a home for it at Harper Perennial. My editor, Hannah Robinson, made invaluable contributions and answered a thousand questions with grace and good humour as that proposal became a manuscript. Thanks to them both, and to everybody at Harper—particularly Leydiana Rodriguez, who has the patience of a saint. Thanks also to copyeditor Julie Hersh, who is quite possibly superhuman.
Austin Kleon introduced me to Ted and gave advice generously. Erin McKean sat down with me to talk dictionaries and pointed me in a thousand fascinating directions. Robin Sloan, together with Austin and Erin, wrote extraordinarily kind things about the book in its infancy. I am enormously grateful to all three of them.
Having skulked around on its periphery for a few months, I was warmly welcomed into the lexicography community by Jane Solomon, Kory Stamper, Katherine Connor Martin, and Ben Zimmer. Thanks to them for their time, expertise, support, and for teaching me the secret handshake.
Thanks to Kenny Meyers for technical expertise and friendship; Daniel Levin Becker for a burrito lunch and a book’s worth of inspiration; Tom Rosenthal and Phil Smith for musical accompaniment; Daniel Agee, Matt Buchanan, and Dan Cassaro for making me look good; and the staff of San Francisco’s Mechanic’s Institute Library for their assistance.
Thanks to Anna Hurley, for love and patience.
Thanks to my family, friends, and anybody who supported the project, or had the misfortune to spend time with me in the months when the book was being written—there are entirely too many of you to list, but I’ll make sure you know who you are the next time I see you, and every time thereafter.
Finally, thanks to the intrepid lexicographers responsible for the dictionaries referenced in this book—it truly would not exist without your diligent drudgery.