Erin McKean on Wordnik

def.: "A place to unleash your inner word nerd."

Self-proclaimed word geek Erin McKean, editor-in-chief of U.S. Dictionaries for Oxford University Press, is on a mission to debunk common misconceptions and elevate the use—and cool factor—of dictionaries. And what’s this about dictionaries being “the vodka of literature”? see video

From Pop!Tech blog:

Erin McKean knows a lot of fancy words. As a lexicographer, she’s not only using them, but she’s now sharing them with all of the Internet via a new project called Wordnik.

As she revealed at last year’s PopTech, this project has been a long-time labor of love for McKean and her partners. A self-proclaimed Dictionary Evangelist and a former editor of Oxford University Press, she understands first-hand what it takes to get a word street legal.

Pop!Tech 2008 - Erin McKean by Pop!Tech.

Erin McKean introduces Wordnik, her online dictionary aimed at defining words in a contextual manner rather than by simple association with other words. photography by kris krüg