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| 4 out of 5 stars |
Language is humanity's most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. What's more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch language evolve in real time.
Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. She explains how your first social internet experience influences whether you prefer "LOL" or "lol," why ~sparkly tildes~ succeeded where centuries of proposals for irony punctuation had failed, what emoji have in common with physical gestures, and how the artfully disarrayed language of animal memes like lolcats and doggo made them more likely to spread.
Because Internet is essential reading for anyone who's ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from. It's the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that's a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are.
Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. She explains how your first social internet experience influences whether you prefer "LOL" or "lol," why ~sparkly tildes~ succeeded where centuries of proposals for irony punctuation had failed, what emoji have in common with physical gestures, and how the artfully disarrayed language of animal memes like lolcats and doggo made them more likely to spread.
Because Internet is essential reading for anyone who's ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from. It's the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that's a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are.
I found this author’s joy in her research to be contagious. She obviously loves linguistics and her interactions on the internet. In these days when there is so much contention and negativity on the interwebz, this is great to read.
As she points out, the use of slang presupposes that the writer knows the correct usage that they are deviating from and therefore is enjoying the process. And there have been panics about telephone use, among other technologies. Language evolves and someday in the not too distant future, people will look back at the situation today the way we look back at WWII terms entering the lexicon.
I loved how she traced the origins of certain internetisms or ways of expressing oneself, treating them as issues worthy of research. I also found her classification of people interesting, as I’m a Post Internet Person (I didn’t really engage in the world of the internet until after such sites as Facebook became things). My horizons were certainly expanded as I learned about facets of the net that I wasn’t aware of before.
If you are a closet linguistic like myself and you enjoy your playtime on the internet, you may find this book to be quite entertaining.
As she points out, the use of slang presupposes that the writer knows the correct usage that they are deviating from and therefore is enjoying the process. And there have been panics about telephone use, among other technologies. Language evolves and someday in the not too distant future, people will look back at the situation today the way we look back at WWII terms entering the lexicon.
I loved how she traced the origins of certain internetisms or ways of expressing oneself, treating them as issues worthy of research. I also found her classification of people interesting, as I’m a Post Internet Person (I didn’t really engage in the world of the internet until after such sites as Facebook became things). My horizons were certainly expanded as I learned about facets of the net that I wasn’t aware of before.
If you are a closet linguistic like myself and you enjoy your playtime on the internet, you may find this book to be quite entertaining.
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