Are emoji words? Should "Pokémon," "genderqueer," or "Brexit" be added to the dictionary? What word best sums up 2016? Lexicography is a venerable profession that's changed a lot with new technology: now we can crowdfund a million new free-range definitions, find the exact person who first tweeted a new word and see in real time which words people are looking up and why. Join this panel of linguistic decision-makers for a behind-the-scenes look into how a new word makes it into the dictionary, where Words of the Year come from, how dictionaries use social media to engage the public and more.

This panel was presented at South by Southwest Interactive 2017. 
Moderator: Gretchen McCulloch. 
Panelists: Erin McKean, Jane Solomon, Ben Zimmer.

Word Curation: Dictionaries, Tech and the Future at SXSW 2017

All Things Linguistic