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A review by travisjlund
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch
5.0
I picked up this (audio)book primarily hoping for a look at how different generations are inclined to write (think: emailing with students vs. older colleagues), and how miscommunications can happen. There was a bit of that, but SO much more.
For starters, the author points out that, while spoken language has always has formal (speeches, TV newscasters, etc) and informal (fast conversations among friends) versions, writing has always been extremely dominated by more formal versions. Even personal letters in the pre-digital era usually exhibited a certain level of formality and "thoughtful composition" that don't really mirror an animated conversation among close friends. Truly informal, rapid-fire, unedited, conversational writing (think: texting, IM/chatting, etc) essentially only became prominent in the last couple decades, and along with it a fairly new, pressing need to efficiently communicate tone and gestures and other nonverbal cues. A good chunk of this book explores those techniques and norms and shortcuts, taking them seriously from a linguistic perspective. She also turns this perspective on emoji, memes, and other "internet culture" topics.
This book was fun, funny, fascinating, and fast-paced enough for my short attention span (never lingering over-long on any topic). The author read the audio version – she did fantastic (with authentic nerdy enthusiasm), and I can’t imagine it succeeding any other way (with all the silly voices and internet jokes, and even some authorial asides/tidbits specific to the audio version).
Highly recommended!!
For starters, the author points out that, while spoken language has always has formal (speeches, TV newscasters, etc) and informal (fast conversations among friends) versions, writing has always been extremely dominated by more formal versions. Even personal letters in the pre-digital era usually exhibited a certain level of formality and "thoughtful composition" that don't really mirror an animated conversation among close friends. Truly informal, rapid-fire, unedited, conversational writing (think: texting, IM/chatting, etc) essentially only became prominent in the last couple decades, and along with it a fairly new, pressing need to efficiently communicate tone and gestures and other nonverbal cues. A good chunk of this book explores those techniques and norms and shortcuts, taking them seriously from a linguistic perspective. She also turns this perspective on emoji, memes, and other "internet culture" topics.
This book was fun, funny, fascinating, and fast-paced enough for my short attention span (never lingering over-long on any topic). The author read the audio version – she did fantastic (with authentic nerdy enthusiasm), and I can’t imagine it succeeding any other way (with all the silly voices and internet jokes, and even some authorial asides/tidbits specific to the audio version).
Highly recommended!!