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Visualizzazione dei post da dicembre, 2012

My interview with Erin McKean

I had the pleasure to interview for TermCoord my favourite lexistar Erin McKean . I have her quote on my blog, I’m enjoying Wordnik since its creation (when it had the colourful bricks falling down from the top of the home page), loved her TEDVideo and enjoying her articles and tweets ! I Iike her enthusiasm and love for words and her disruptive approach to lexicography.   I dare to say that her answers represent a break from traditional lexicography by destroying the two milestones of lexicography: the definition and the authority of the dictionary. The end of definition: Erin says “ I think a good definition is like a good poem: beautiful and worthwhile in itself .”  We don’t need definitions anymore, they can even limit our understanding of the word: “when you limit your knowledge of a word to just the definition, you limit your understanding as well”. They were suitable for paper dictionaries, where the available space was limited: “Definitions are still helpful