Verbatim: The Language Quarterly was a literary magazine aimed at reporting language and linguistic issues for non-specialist readers. It was established in 1974.^[1] These matters are announced in the magazine's advertised slogan: "Language and linguistics for the layperson since 1974".^[2] The founding editor was Laurence Urdang and the final editor was Erin McKean. Verbatim was administered from Chicago, with a UK office in Chearsley, Aylesbury Vale. Until the end of the 1980s, it was distributed in the United States and Canada by the independent publisher Stein & Day.