Erin McKean
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lexicographer. Erin is a founder and the CEO of the online dictionary Wordnik. She was previously the Principal Editor of The New Oxford American Dictionary
New Oxford American Dictionary
The New Oxford American Dictionary is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press....
, second edition.
McKean is also the editor of Verbatim
Verbatim (magazine)
Verbatim: The Language Quarterly is a literary magazine aimed at reporting language and linguistic issues for non-specialist readers. It was established in 1974. These matters are announced in the magazine's advertised slogan: "Language and linguistics for the layperson since 1974".The editor is...
: The Language Quarterly and the author of Weird and Wonderful Words, More Weird and Wonderful Words, Totally Weird and Wonderful Words, and That’s Amore. She has a novel, The Secret Lives of Dresses, coming out from Grand Central. She writes about dresses in her blog, A Dress A Day, and about lexicography at Dictionary Evangelist. She is currently a member of the advisory board of the Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...
and of Credo Reference. She has written "The Word" column in The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
during times when Jan Freeman has been on leave.
McKean has formulated 'McKean's law', a variation on Muphry's law
Muphry's law
Muphry's law is an adage that states that "if you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written"...
: "Any correction of the speech or writing of others will contain at least one grammatical, spelling, or typographical error."
External links
Biographies- “Official biography” at Dictionary Evangelist
- McKean’s speaker profile for Wikimania 2007 Taipei
- McKean’s biography as member of the Wikimedia Advisory Board
- McKean’s biography at Stokefire
Blogs
- A Dress A Day
- Dictionary Evangelist
- McKean’s posts at Powells.com
Talks
- Video of a speech by Erin McKean at Google
- TED Talks: Erin McKean redefines the dictionary at TEDTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
in 2007 - Gel videos: Your daily lexicographer quota at GelGel conferenceGel is a conference focused on experience in all its forms -- business, art, society, technology, and life.The conference has been held annually in New York City since 2003, and the first European counterpart, euroGel 2006, took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 1 September 2006...
in 2006
Profiles and interviews
- New York Times: “In Land of Lexicons, Having the Last Word”
- Chat at Wordsmith.org
- NPR: “Googling for New Words”
- iCommons: "A word or two with Erin McKean"
- Portfolio.com: "A Woman of Many Words"
Other