Scan barcode
A review by hiveretcafe
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch
4.0
I was a little scared going into this book because while this book covers a topic that deeply interests me, I don't have much of a background in linguistics at all. However, rest easy because this book really only dips its toes into the waters of linguistic jargon.
Reading it, a lot of it felt familiar to me as well thanks to a course I took on the anthropology of language and media. Not only does Because Internet look at how the way we use language has changed, but also the reasons and its deeply social roots. Language is interconnected with everything. We acquire it through others and so it is only natural that it is through our communities and social circles that it changes and evolves.
As someone who is on the cusp of Full Internet Person and Post Internet Person and is incredibly Online, this book gave me great insight into why I speak the way that I do online and the way that I use language online as well. There's an entire chapter on memes, which was very historical memeage as it covered the era of the lolcat speak and the classic Impact font atop set images. (I would like to note that reading the lolcat speak was very cringe though it reminded me of uwu speak).
Perhaps the most interesting portion of the book and one that I would have loved to read more of, is the chapter on typographical tone of voice. It was a fascinating chapter and really resonated with me and the way I "speak" on social media platforms and what not.
Reading it, a lot of it felt familiar to me as well thanks to a course I took on the anthropology of language and media. Not only does Because Internet look at how the way we use language has changed, but also the reasons and its deeply social roots. Language is interconnected with everything. We acquire it through others and so it is only natural that it is through our communities and social circles that it changes and evolves.
As someone who is on the cusp of Full Internet Person and Post Internet Person and is incredibly Online, this book gave me great insight into why I speak the way that I do online and the way that I use language online as well. There's an entire chapter on memes, which was very historical memeage as it covered the era of the lolcat speak and the classic Impact font atop set images. (I would like to note that reading the lolcat speak was very cringe though it reminded me of uwu speak).
Perhaps the most interesting portion of the book and one that I would have loved to read more of, is the chapter on typographical tone of voice. It was a fascinating chapter and really resonated with me and the way I "speak" on social media platforms and what not.