What Happens When You Try to Put All The Words Online

Lexicographer Erin McKean’s interactive ‘Wordnik’ is projected to be the largest online dictionary ever.
CHICAGO — Erin McKean doesn’t look much like a revolutionary. She speaks softly. She sews her own skirts and writes a daily blog entry about vintage patterns. She does work out of a basement, but it’s got carpeting and good lighting and roughly 1,500 books, many of whose titles involve the word “words.” Her suburban Chicago home is not exactly the picture of subversion.