AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!! Named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Amazon, and The Washington Post A Wired Must-Read Book of Summer “Gretchen McCulloch is the internet’s favorite linguist, and this book is essential reading. Reading her work is like suddenly being able to see the matrix.” —Jonny Sun, author of everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too Because Internet is for anyone … author of everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too
Because Internet is 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.
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.
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This was so, so enjoyable. Informative, witty, and observational, too. As a testament to how much I appreciated it, I’ll tell you this: It’s one of the few books that actually made me SAD when I realized it was ending and the rest of the pages were notes and citations rather than more material. If you’re into analyzing language and culture, don’t let this one pass you by.
I’m still waging my personal campaign to become less curmudgeonly around language, so the next logical step was for me to read linguist Gretchen McCollough’s new book, Because Internet. “Rather than thinking of books as a way of embalming language, of rendering it fixed and dead for eternity,” she writes, “we can think of them as maps and guidebooks to help people navigate language’s living, moving splendor.”
And I’m learning a lot. Example? What is apparently now known as a “Full Internet Person” might read annoyance or anger into a sentence that ends with a period. Who knew? I was surprised to learn that the dot-dot-dot of ellipsis in emails and texts, which I usually associated with a simple pause in thought, is “especially perilous.” Younger people indicate a simple pause with a line break or a new message; they “infer emotional meaning” from an ellipsis because they wonder what it’s doing there, and what it might be insinuating.
As I said, I’m learning a lot! If you like language and want to see its development in action, this is a good place to start.
Gretchen McCulloch an internet linguist shares with us the ways we communicate with each other by the internet.She writesThe internet did not create informal writing but it did make it more common changing some of our previously spoken interactionsShe quotes sociologist Ray Oldenburg who seems pleased about the hours people spend on social media rather than on television consumption .The writer has created connections forged online by helping counteract suburban isolationThe author reminds us that we can think of language like the internet,it’s clear there is space for innovation,space for many other languages besides,space for linguistic playfulness and creativity.There is space in this glorious linguistic web for you The author has provided us a wonderful landscape to flourish in this wonderful world of words and communication
Captures the chaos but doesn’t always explain reasons…powerful insight
English’s great strength is its informality and the internet has created a golden age for studying this flexibility: McCulloch’s lively and delightful survey of these new findings is a must for anyone who loves language in all its expressive forms.
Gretchen McCulloch is the internet’s favorite linguist, and this book is essential reading. Reading her work is like suddenly being able to see the matrix. She explains the hows and the whys of the ways we talk online with the deepest empathy, understanding, and compassion.
Gretchen McCulloch has pulled off the feat of answering every question anyone today of any age has about how the internet has transformed the way we use language every day. Just try putting this book down.
Because Internet is the most up-to-date and comprehensive guide to the way informal internet language has evolved and is evolving. Its historical perspective will illuminate every generation of internet users: oldies will get a clear picture of what young people are up to; younglings will discover the origins of their latest linguistic fashions. Gretchen McCulloch writes with great common sense, an eye for the apt illustration, an appealing sense of humour, and a real concern for explanation. She doesn’t just describe language trends: she investigates why they’ve taken place, and it’s her insightful interpretations that give this book its special appeal.
Because Internet is a rare gem: a groundbreaking scholarly study that’s also approachable, personable, and funny. McCulloch guides the reader through the seeming disorder of internet-influenced communications and deftly contextualizes all of it: memes and gifs, emoji and emoticons, weird punctuation and no punctuation. Her enthusiasm for language is matched by her command over the subject; if you’re worried that the internet has killed language, McCulloch’s extensive examination will convince you otherwise. Because Internet is an absolute unit: a unique linguistic study, a history of the internet, a how-to, and an encouragement that the omgs and cat pictures have only brought us closer together.