Because Internet

Understanding how language is changing

336 pages

English language

Published Jan. 3, 2020 by Penguin Random House.

ISBN:
978-1-5291-1282-5
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4 stars (4 reviews)

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 …

7 editions

Fun, open-minded, mind-opening

4 stars

A great, breezy read on internet language history and culture, from stopping people SHOUTING ON USENET to the lolcat bible. With an important message: Language isn't static; it's not passed down from elders to children, but grown collectively, with each generation taking it in a new direction. This is not corruption. It's evolution.

Overwrought, didn't quite land for me

3 stars

I can see why for many this is a beloved book, but it didn't capture me in the same way.

The writing style often felt plodding and overwrought, instead of evocative and touching. And this novel is all scene and style and very little story, so there was not very much else to go on.

I found myself wishing this had been a short story instead of a novel.

I'm in this and I do like it

4 stars

The chapter on "Old Internet People" is definitely about me. The epic flame wars between Unix and VMS users no longer matter -- we're all from the "Old Internet".

The e-book version I read had a hilarious formatting error in the chapter on emoji where EVERY EMOJI had its own full page presentation. At first funny, but it because hard to read.

Subjects

  • Sociolinguistics
  • Internet, social aspects

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