Mulleres na Lexicografía / Women in Lexicography

Erin Mckean

English

Born 1971 in the United States

Erin McKean is a distinguished American lexicographer whose illustrious career spans traditional lexicography to tech entrepreneurship. Armed with a BA/MA in Linguistics from the University of Chicago, Erin contributed to the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary during her undergraduate years. She later held significant roles as the editor-in-chief of US Dictionaries for Oxford University Press and as the Principal Editor of The New Oxford American Dictionary. She is also the editor of Verbatim: The Language Quarterly, the only magazine for word geeks. Erin co-founded Reverb, the company behind Wordnik.com, the world's largest online dictionary, by number of words. Wordnik stands as a testament to her commitment to making every English word "lookupable" in the digital age. Beyond lexicography, Erin ventured into the literary world, authoring the best-selling novel "The Secret Lives of Dresses" and a captivating field guide, "The Hundred Dresses." Her Weird and Wonderful Words book series showcases her love for the quirks and intricacies of language. Erin McKean has made notable appearances in various talks and interviews, showcasing her expertise in lexicography and language. In addition to her interview on Wordsmith.org in 2005, she has been a speaker at several General Talks, Technical Talks, and audio appearances. Some of her prominent talks include TED in 2007, iSummit in 2008, Big Ideas Fest in 2011, TEDYouth in 2014, TED in 2015 and 2016. Erin actively contributed to the academic and digital communities, serving on the advisory board of the Wikimedia Foundation and as an advisor to Credo Reference. Her TED talk in 2007, "Redefining the Dictionary," laid the foundation for Wordnik.com.

Erin's roots in Charlotte, North Carolina, and her academic journey at the University of Chicago shaped her perspective on language and culture. Her engagement with the University's Regenstein Library and her role in organizing the dictionary-themed exhibit, "The Meaning of Dictionaries", underscore her commitment to the cultural and academic aspects of language. Published Works: 8. Weird and Wonderful Words (Oxford, 2002) 9. More Weird and Wonderful Words (Oxford, 2003) 10. Totally Weird and Wonderful Words (Oxford, 2006) 11. That’s Amore (Walker & Company, 2007) 12. The Secret Lives of Dresses (Grand Central, 2011) 13. Aftercrimes, Geoslavery, and Thermogeddon: Plus 157 More Words From a Lexicographer's Notebook (TED Books, 2011) 14. The Hundred Dresses (Bloomsbury, 2013)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201834.Weird_and_Wonderful_Words

Press: “A Chat With Erin McKean”, Wordsmith 2005: https://wordsmith.org/chat/mckean.html “ERIN MCKEAN, AMERICAN LEXICOGRAPHER”, Seattle Star 2012: https://www.seattlestar.net/2012/01/erin-mckean-american-lexicographer/ “ERIN MCKEAN: THE DICTIONARY EDITOR WHO WANTS YOU TO INVENT MORE WORDS”, Ozy.com 2014: https://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/erin-mckean-the-dictionary-editor-who-wants-you-to-invent-more-words/31794 “The Setup: Erin McKean”, The Setup 2015: https://usesthis.com/interviews/erin.mckean/ General Talks: “TEDxYouth@Castilleja - ERIN MCKEAN”, TEDxYouth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzt3vV2rmHI “Go ahead, make up new words!”, TEDYouth 2014: https://www.ted.com/talks/erin_mckean_go_ahead_make_up_new_words “Erin McKean: If the Word is the Answer Then What is the Question”, bigideasfest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN6E77RJfUc “Erin McKean, Wordnik/Reverb”, XOXO Festival 2014: https://xoxofest.com/2014/videos/erin-mc-kean “Words worth knowing from TED2015 | Erin McKean”, TED Archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVDNZa1OTJk&list=PLxDd4cs49DCuKBP2NFvcUDPBFCHG8NZOs&index=8 “Words worth knowing from TED2016 | Erin McKean”, TED Archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pMDUWhztKk&list=PLxDd4cs49DCsyRKYZ9B6x3T9AQUYNnV0o&index=6 Technical Talks: “The Linguistics of Javascript”, Fluent 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sNUzqrhQqY “LoopBack at Wordnik”, JSLA 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPj8krIJNm4&ab_channel=DevRel “5 simple things you can do to improve OSS docs”, Google Open Source Live 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32_5ytpE91s “Documentation makes a difference: how to create and maintain documentation in OSS”, Upstream 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS-q-DEZrMw Interviews: “New Words of 2005 and Beyond”, Morning Edition 2005: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5075545 “Intentional Jargon and Technical Documentation” API The Docs Podcast 2020: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xZjExNDc3NC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/ZjFmZjE1ZDEtZTY2ZC00YTZmLTljMmMtOTg0OWI0MDg4MDQy?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo497JisftAhWGkVkKHQOmAUoQkfYCegQIARAG Clips de television / TV clips “Redefining the Dictionary”, Press Here TV 2011: https://www.pressheretv.com/ep-101-redefining-the-dictionary/ “World of Weird Words”, WTTW 2015: https://news.wttw.com/2015/04/01/world-weird-words

• Erin McKean expressed a desire to be a dictionary editor as early as age 8. • Her goal is to make every word in the English language “lookupable” – including the 52% of unique English words that aren’t currently in any dictionary. • In 2010, McKean was named an honorary fellow of the Society for Technical Communication. • Despite her mastery of language, Erin McKean is surprisingly bad at Scrabble. • Erin is an advisor at the Planet Word Museum, showcasing her commitment to preserving language and promoting cultural awareness.

Picture: http://www.igkirill.com/ [11.01.2024] Wordnik dictionary: https://www.wordnik.com/about [11.01.2024] Autobiography: https://erinmckean.com/about/ [11.01.2024] Biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_McKean [11.01.2024] Who is Erin Mckean: https://blog.oup.com/2006/09/who_is_erin_mck/ [12.01.2024]

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