Erin McKean
Erin McKean
Erin McKeanis an American lexicographer, based in the San Francisco Bay Area...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEditor
CountryUnited States of America
believe conscious demands recycle
I think we would all like to believe that every new event demands a new word. But we're environmentally conscious with our words. We recycle words we've got.
people
What I'm interested in is how people are reading and writing English.
restore using verb
We've been using 'rejuvenate,' meaning to restore youth, to make young again, as a verb for at least 200 years.
annoy dictionary guaranteed habit starting
If anything is guaranteed to annoy a lexicographer, it is the journalistic habit of starting a story with a dictionary definition.
bad jargon people shortcut
People say jargon is a bad thing, but it's really a shortcut vocabulary professionals use to understand one another.
creativity ecosystem engine entire extend interact platform power showing signs sites twitter
Twitter has already birthed an entire ecosystem of other sites that extend its power or interact with it. But Twitter isn't just a platform for technological innovation: It's showing signs as an engine of creativity for the language, too.
exactly wishing
Twitter is like overhearing people's conversations, which is exactly what dictionary editors have been wishing we could do for years.
lexicographer language reporters
Lexicographers are language reporters.
nice way remember
Language is a nice way to remember things.
serendipity difficult findings
Serendipity is when you find things you weren't looking for because finding what you are looking for is so damned difficult.
nice littles being-nice
You can weaponize nice... Being nice can make you be a little underestimated.
few good publicity ways
There are very few good ways to get publicity for a dictionary.
donuts everybody mean promoted synergy twice
If you're talking about how you promoted synergy in an organization, that could mean you just got everybody together for donuts twice a week.
happen intended uniforms
Uniforms are intended to make the wearer look as strong as possible. Soldiers could fight in leotards, but that's never going to happen because leotards aren't intimidating.