Because Internet

Understanding the New Rules of Language

mass market paperback

Published May 12, 2020 by Riverhead Books.

ISBN:
978-0-593-18956-6
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4 stars (3 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

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.