Aug 13, 2020

NPR Linguist Geoff Nunberg, Who Explored Our Ever-Changing Language, Dies At 75

From NPR

Linguist Geoff Nunberg, Who Explored Our Ever-Changing Language, Dies At 75

By Terry Gross

Fresh Air's longtime language commentator Geoff Nunberg died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 75.

Geoff was a regular contributor to Fresh Air since 1987, when we made the transition from a local radio program to a daily NPR show. I met him even before that, when he was the usage editor at The American Heritage Dictionary, and I interviewed him about the new edition.

I loved the way he talked about language in that interview. He wasn't interested in scolding people for not following the rules of grammar. He was interested in following and reporting on how language changes over time...

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Last updated:

August 20, 2020