Karen Stollznow

Karen Stollznow
February 2010
Born	(1976-08-12) 12 August 1976 (age 48) Australia
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	University of New England
Known for	Writing, Linguistics, Podcasting, Skepticism of the paranormal, Research Fellow for JREF[2] and CSI[3]
Scientific career
Fields	Linguistics
Institutions	San Francisco State University University of California, Berkeley[1] University of New England Cal Poly Metropolitan State College of Denver Griffith University
Website	http://www.karenstollznow.com

Karen Stollznow (born 12 August 1976^{[citation needed]}) is an Australian-American author, linguist, public speaker, and podcaster. Her books include Bitch: The Journey of a Word, Missed Conceptions: How We Make Sense of Infertility, On the Offensive: Prejudice in Language Past and Present, The Language of Discrimination,^[4] God Bless America: Strange and Unusual Religious Beliefs and Practices in the United States,^[5][6] Haunting America,^[7] Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic,^[8] Hits and Mrs,^[9] and Would You Believe It?: Mysterious Tales From People You'd Least Expect.^[10] Stollznow also writes short fiction, including the title Fisher's Ghost and Other Stories, and she is a host on the podcast Monster Talk with Blake Smith. She has written for many popular publications, including The Conversation and Psychology Today. Stollznow has also appeared as an expert on many TV shows, including the History Channel's History's Greatest Mysteries and Netflix's Files of the Unexplained.

Career

A student of linguistics and history at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales, she received First Class Honors in Linguistics,^[11] and went on to a PhD in the area of Lexical Semantics. She graduated with her doctorate in 2007.^[12] In 2004, she relocated to California to become a Visiting Student Researcher with the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2005, she became a Researcher for the Script Encoding Initiative, a joint project between the UC Berkeley Department of Linguistics, and the Unicode Consortium.^[1] She is currently a researcher in the Department of Linguistics at Griffith University and also affiliated with the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research.^[13]

From 1997 to 2009, Stollznow was a prominent investigator and writer for the Australian Skeptics^[14] and served as Editor of their magazine The Skeptic^[15][16] for which she also wrote many articles.^[17][18][19] She has also written for publications such as Australasian Science,^[20][21][22] Neucleus,^[23][24] Skeptical Inquirer,^[25][26][27] and others.^[28]

Karen Stollznow Presents at TAM 2012

Between 2009 and 2011 she wrote the Naked Skeptic column for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI),^[29] now rebranded as The Good Word for Skeptical Inquirer.^[30] In 2010 she began as the Bad Language columnist for Skeptic.^[31][32][33] She has been a host of the Skeptics Society's MonsterTalk podcast^[34] since its beginning in 2009^[35] and in 2010 she became a host of the Center for Inquiry's Point of Inquiry podcast as well.^[36] In 2011 she presented a talk at the Colorado Springs SkeptiCamp on Making (Up) History,^[37] and at the Denver/Boulder SkeptiCamp on Braco the Gazer.^[38] In 2012 she was a speaker at The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas, giving a talk titled "Prediction and Language",^[39] and in 2013 giving a talk titled "What an Excellent Day for an Exorcism".^[40]

Stollznow was also a Research Fellow for the James Randi Educational Foundation.^[2][41] She is a Contributing Editor for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.^[3]

Selected publications

• Stollznow, Karen (2017). The Language of Discrimination. Lincom GmbH. ISBN 978-3862887903
• Stollznow, Karen (2017). Would You Believe It?: Mysterious Tales From People You'd Least Expect. Amazon Digital Services. ASIN B01MQVE2Z5
• Stollznow, Karen (2016). Hits and Mrs. Amazon Digital Services. ASIN B01BJGUCXI
• Stollznow, Karen (2014). Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic. ISBN 978-1137404855
• Stollznow, Karen (2013). God Bless America: Strange and Unusual Religious Beliefs and Practices in the United States. ISBN 978-1939578006
• Stollznow, Karen (2013). Haunting America. James Randi Educational Foundation. ASIN B00DSQVBAQ.
• Stollznow, Karen (2010). Skepticism and the Paranormal: A Rose By Any Other Name. In Bonett, W. (Ed.) The Australian Book of Atheism. Scribe Publications ISBN 1921640766 OCLC 653346301
• Stollznow, Karen (June 2009), "The Writing's on the Wall for the World's Endangered Writing Systems", The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Technical Communication Southern Communicator (17): 12–13
• Stollznow, Karen (2009), "Keith Allan & Kate Burridge, Forbidden words: Taboo and the censoring of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.", Language in Society, 38 (1): 135–136, doi:10.1017/s0047404508090234, OCLC 4668942846, S2CID 145114519
• Stollznow, Karen (2008), "Dehumanisation in language and thought", Journal of Language and Politics, 7 (2): 177–200, doi:10.1075/jlp.7.2.01sto, OCLC 535670348
• Stollznow, Karen (2007), "Key Words in the Discourse of Discrimination: A Semantic Analysis", PhD Dissertation University of New England, OCLC 277175055
• Stollznow, Karen (2005), "When Opposites Attract: The Re-appropriation and Amelioration of Words in Australian English", Society of North America, Boston
• Stollznow, Karen (2004), "Whinger! Wanker! Wowser! 'Aussie English insults: deprecatory language and the Australian Ethos'" (PDF), Proceedings of the 2003 Australian Linguistic Society, Australian Journal of Linguistics: 11
• Collins, Anne ed. Stollznow, Karen (2004), "Who You Gonna Call?", English Express 2: 33–38, ISBN 0123602432
• Stollznow, Karen (2003), "The semantics and usage of abusive epithets in Australian English. Conference paper proceedings", New Zealand Linguist Society Wellington
• Stollznow, Karen (2002), "Terms of Abuse in Australian English: An analysis of abusive and insulting epithets in Australian English", University of New England BA Honors Thesis

Personal life

Stollznow is an expatriate Australian and formerly lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Born in the Sydney suburb of Manly, she grew up in Collaroy, on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.^{[citation needed]}

Stollznow lives with her husband Matthew Baxter and their son in Denver, Colorado.^[42]

References

1. "Script Encoding Initiative – About Who We Are". Department of Linguistics University of California, Berkeley. 24 September 2006. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
2. "Dr. Ray Hall Appointed as New JREF Research Fellow". JREF Swift blog. James Randi Educational Foundation. 1 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
3. "CSI Announces New Fellows". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. 7 February 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
4. Stollznow, Karen (2017). The Language of Discrimination. Lincom GmbH. ISBN 978-3862887903.,
5. Stollznow, Karen (2013). God Bless America. Pitchstone Publishing. ISBN 978-1939578006.
6. Stedman, Chris (20 February 2014). "Santeria, Scientology, Satanism — oh my! Atheist author explores minority religions". Religion News Service. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
7. Stollznow, Karen (2013). Haunting America. JREF. ASIN B00DSQVBAQ.
8. Stollznow, Karen (2014). Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1137404855.
9. Stollznow, Karen (2016). Hits and Mrs. Amazon Digital Services LLC. ASIN B01BJGUCXI.
10. Stollznow, Karen (2017). Would You Believe It?: Mysterious Tales From People You'd Least Expect. Amazon Digital Services LLC. ASIN B01MQVE2Z5.
11. Faculty of Arts, Humanities; Social Sciences (December 2006). "Honors in Linguistics" (PDF). University of New England. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
12. "UNE Linguistics Postgraduates". University of New England. Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
13. "Our researchers: Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research". Retrieved 27 March 2024.
14. "20 Questions with Karen Stollznow". Haunted America Tours. 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
15. "A Brief History of the Skeptic". Australian Skeptics. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
16. Jones, Zoie (13 March 2009). "Most people in the dark about Black Friday, say sceptics". The World Today. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
17. Edwards, Harry; Stollznow, Karen (1998), "Alternative Consultations", The Skeptic, 18 (2): 10–14
18. Stollznow, Karen (2003), "Medium Rare but not Well Done", The Skeptic, 24 (1): 36–41
19. Stollznow, Karen (2008), "Inside the JREF HQ", The Skeptic, 28 (4): 20–21
20. Stollznow, Karen (2004), "What's in a Name?", Australasian Science, 25 (7): 46
21. Stollznow, Karen (2006), "Preserving the World's Endangered Writing Systems", Australasian Science, 27 (7): 47–49
22. Stollznow, Karen (May 2009), "Fire and Brimstone", Australasian Science, 30 (4): 46
23. Stollznow, Karen (2002), "Weird Wide Websites", Neucleus (1)
24. Stollznow, Karen (2004), "Hand Out and Foot in Mouth", Neucleus (1): 22–23
25. Stollznow, Karen (May–June 2008), "Anonymous versus Scientology", Skeptical Inquirer, 32 (3)
26. Stollznow, Karen (May–June 2009), "A Modern Witch Craze in Papua New Guinea", Skeptical Inquirer, 33 (7)
27. Stollznow, Karen (November–December 2009), "Skepticism and Blogging", Skeptical Inquirer, 33 (6): 41–42
28. Stollznow, Karen (June 2005), "Berkeley Riot: The Freak Accident and Nomeansno", Ricochet Magazine
29. "Special Articles – The Naked Skeptic". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
30. "The Good Word". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Inquiry. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
31. Stollznow, Karen, "Bad Language: The Accidental Accent", Skeptic, vol. 16, no. 2, Skeptics Society, retrieved 10 July 2011
32. Stollznow, Karen, "Bad Language: Turn On, Tune Out, Drop Off", Skeptic, vol. 16, no. 1, Skeptics Society, retrieved 10 July 2011
33. Stollznow, Karen, "Bad Language: Not-so-Linguistic Programming", Skeptic, vol. 15, no. 4, Skeptics Society, retrieved 10 July 2011
34. "About the Hosts of MonsterTalk". Skeptics Society. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
35. Stollznow, Karen (18 July 2009). "Monster Talk". Skepchick.org. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
36. "About Point of Inquiry". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
37. "SkeptiCamp Colorado Springs 2011". Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
38. "SkeptiCamp Denver/Boulder 2011". Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
39. "The Amazing Meeting (TAM) 2012". 11 July 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
40. "The Amazing Meeting (TAM) 2013". 20 July 2013. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
41. "JREF Appoints Two Research Fellows". James Randi Educational Foundation News and Updates. JREF. October 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
42. "Dr. Karen Stollznow". 14 April 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Karen Stollznow on Twitter
• MonsterTALK – cryptozoology podcast she co-hosts
• The Good Word – past Skeptical Inquirer column