Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, by Gretchen McCulloch

BecauseInternet 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.

REVIEWS:

Rather than obsessing about what the internet is doing to language, [Because Internet] largely focuses on what can be learned about language from the internet. . . . McCulloch’s book is about the birth of a new medium. The Economist

A well-researched retort to grumpy grammarians who think technology is turning kids into lazy, inarticulate drivelers. Time

A compelling narrative rich with examples from her own online activities, a healthy dose of humor, and plenty of cat memes the breadth of topics coveredfrom conversation analysis to meme culture to the development of texting as we now know itmakes this book useful, engaging, and enjoyable. Science

Gretchen McCulloch is the internets 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. Jonny Sun, author ofeveryone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gretchen McCullochwrites about linguistics for a general audience, especially internet language. She writes the Resident Linguist column atWired(and formerly atThe Toast). McCulloch has a masters in linguistics from McGill University, runs the blogAll Things Linguistic, and cohostsLingthusiasm,a podcast thats enthusiastic about linguistics. She lives in Montreal, but also on the internet.