Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language

by McCulloch, Gretchen
ISBN: 9780735210943
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Used - Trade Paperback - 9780735210943

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Overview

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 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.

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: McCulloch, Gretchen
  • ISBN: 9780735210943
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.10 x 1.00
  • Number Of Pages: 336
  • Publication Year: 2020

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  • Word nerds will love this!

    Elizabeth N. - 5 years 10 months ago

    If you enjoy linguistics, this is a really interesting read. The author writes in an informal and easy-to-read style, even given the data and studies she references. It includes history of how technology was introduced and even looks at the social impacts the internet has had on language. One of my favorite quotes from the book was "Language is humanity's most spectacular open source project." #summerreading

  • Why are memes and emojis so popular? Because Internet!

    Tatiana P. - 6 years 6 months ago

    Gretchen McCulloch's Because Internet is a love letter to our modern methods of communication. If you've ever found yourself thinking that the internet is destroying modern language, or if you've struggled to communicate with other generations because you use punctuation differently, this is the book you want to turn to. Language is the most revelatory way to understand a culture and what is important to the people within in. Because Internet is friendly and inviting to the sociolinguistics newcomer, with plenty of meat to chew on for people who are already familiar with the field but want to deepen their knowledge. You'll look at internet communication, and your own typing habits, differently after reading this one!

    HPB Staff Review