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A review by amanizaha
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch
5.0
I understand this is a highly delusional, self-absorbed claim, but: this book was absolutely written for me. I'm sure McCulloch caught onto highschool-me raving about the many quirks and peculiarities of Internet Language — like the transformation of "lol" from acronym to almost a word of its own, the nuanced uses of memes and emojis in informal communication, along with a number of other phenomenons I myself partook in as a person who was (and is) chronically Online — and decided to write a book that touches on exactly those things. I mean: this book is so perfectly suited to my interests, it's uncanny.
Because Internet is such a delight: it's entertaining and informative, as well as highly relatable for anyone who regularly uses the internet to socialise or is aware of internet culture. McCulloch, who has a master's in linguistics and is particularly interested in internet linguistics, clearly knows what she is talking about; but more than that, it's her enthusiasm, awe and curiosity that shine through in her narration and make this book so enjoyable.
Her tone is lighthearted and playful, never taking herself too seriously, while also providing research (both peer-reviewed studies and more informal Twitter polls she's conducted herself) to back up and/or concretise her claims. Also, it is So refreshing to hear someone speak about internet culture and the internet's effect on language without any pretentiousness or condescension.
And the things she writes about!! There's the evolution of internet culture; minimalist punctuation; the expression of sarcasm, and tone in general, via text; emojis as semantic expressions of gestures; the ominous "..." often prevalent in text messages from older generations; the emphatic use of repeating letters. There's also the history of memes, generational characteristics in Internet behaviour, linguistic displays of politeness online — all of this and more within about 320 pages (of which the last 20% consist of an index, references and acknowledgement).
I very rarely choose to read non-fiction (not counting course literature), so the fact that I finished this book within two days is very telling for how engrossing it was. Of course, any reader's experience will depend on their interest in the subject matter and how exciting they find, say, a detailed exploration of why the ~ symbol is often used to convey sarcasm, or a description of the history of the hashtag. I'm biased, but I also genuinely think McCulloch has done a terrific job with this book.
My complaints are few:
* The chapter about memes was very much just a detailing of the history of memes, followed by musings on the outskirts of the concept of memes? The semantic use of memes was one of the things I most looked forward to reading about, but I feel like McCulloch skipped over a huge chunk of this fascinating subject and instead went off on multiple tangents. Granted, the book covers enough ground for this to be a minor complaint of mine, and the topic of memes and language probably warrants a book of its own, but the chapter doesn't really touch on how memes are used, text-based memes (as opposed to images) or the way meme phrases/words often infiltrate the rest of language online. Like how the Spongebob meme was used to indicate sarcasm, both typographically by alternating upper- and lowercase within a word, and also just by referencing the image itself.
* Personally, more subheadings throughout the text would've been very helpful lol.
Anyway: this book gets 5 stars - for McCulloch's expertise, her warm, enthusiastic narration, and the sheer number of fascinating things she touches on in regards to internet linguistics – not to mention how the content seems to be almost tailored to my interests.
Thank u Gretchen McCulloch!! Now please write a book on memes!
When we thought of language like a book, we thought of it as an unruly mess of words that had to be kept in order, like a Victorian gardener constantly retrimming the hedges into spirals and globes. When we think of language like a network, we can see order as a thing that emerges out of the natural tendencies of the individuals, the way that a forest keeps itself in order even though it doesn't get pruned and weeded.
Because Internet is such a delight: it's entertaining and informative, as well as highly relatable for anyone who regularly uses the internet to socialise or is aware of internet culture. McCulloch, who has a master's in linguistics and is particularly interested in internet linguistics, clearly knows what she is talking about; but more than that, it's her enthusiasm, awe and curiosity that shine through in her narration and make this book so enjoyable.
Her tone is lighthearted and playful, never taking herself too seriously, while also providing research (both peer-reviewed studies and more informal Twitter polls she's conducted herself) to back up and/or concretise her claims. Also, it is So refreshing to hear someone speak about internet culture and the internet's effect on language without any pretentiousness or condescension.
And the things she writes about!! There's the evolution of internet culture; minimalist punctuation; the expression of sarcasm, and tone in general, via text; emojis as semantic expressions of gestures; the ominous "..." often prevalent in text messages from older generations; the emphatic use of repeating letters. There's also the history of memes, generational characteristics in Internet behaviour, linguistic displays of politeness online — all of this and more within about 320 pages (of which the last 20% consist of an index, references and acknowledgement).
I very rarely choose to read non-fiction (not counting course literature), so the fact that I finished this book within two days is very telling for how engrossing it was. Of course, any reader's experience will depend on their interest in the subject matter and how exciting they find, say, a detailed exploration of why the ~ symbol is often used to convey sarcasm, or a description of the history of the hashtag. I'm biased, but I also genuinely think McCulloch has done a terrific job with this book.
My complaints are few:
* The chapter about memes was very much just a detailing of the history of memes, followed by musings on the outskirts of the concept of memes? The semantic use of memes was one of the things I most looked forward to reading about, but I feel like McCulloch skipped over a huge chunk of this fascinating subject and instead went off on multiple tangents. Granted, the book covers enough ground for this to be a minor complaint of mine, and the topic of memes and language probably warrants a book of its own, but the chapter doesn't really touch on how memes are used, text-based memes (as opposed to images) or the way meme phrases/words often infiltrate the rest of language online. Like how the Spongebob meme was used to indicate sarcasm, both typographically by alternating upper- and lowercase within a word, and also just by referencing the image itself.
* Personally, more subheadings throughout the text would've been very helpful lol.
Anyway: this book gets 5 stars - for McCulloch's expertise, her warm, enthusiastic narration, and the sheer number of fascinating things she touches on in regards to internet linguistics – not to mention how the content seems to be almost tailored to my interests.
Thank u Gretchen McCulloch!! Now please write a book on memes!