Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch: ‘I’m still figuring out what’s going on with the comma ellipsis’ Gretchen McCulloch is an internet linguist who analyses the ways we communicate online.
Her debut book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language explores the acronyms, memes, punctuation, and emoji that make up our modern discourse. In your book, you talk about a game you played in high school where you would answer “Not much” to the question “How are you?” And “Good, how’re you?” To “What’s up” – you quickly realised no one noticed. Millennials destroyed the rules of written English – and created something better. The spelling and grammar rules do not apply on the Millennial Internet™.
That's because millennials have created a new rulebook for a variant of written English unique to social media. A rulebook which states that deliberately misspelled words and misused grammar can convey tone, nuance, humour, and even annoyance. Grammar on the move: Is the comma splice the new normal? 30 Trendy Internet Slang Words and Acronyms You Need to Know to Fit In. The language of the internet evolves on a daily basis.
Which means the internet can be a confusing place, even for someone who is using it every day. In fact, internet slang words have transformed language, so it’s crucial to learn the common phrases. Sure, you could refer to online slang dictionaries, but it’s difficult to stay clued in that way. Instead, we whipped up a quick crash course of trendy internet acronyms and phrases. What It Means: Ask Me Anything is a series started on Reddit, where an authority on a subject fields open questions. The Best Reddit AMAs Of All Time [Weird & Wonderful Web] The Best Reddit AMAs Of All Time [Weird & Wonderful Web] Under the IAmA subreddit, you'll find informal interviews with all sorts of interesting people. 2.
‘Reattaching for convenience’: nine passive-aggressive email phrases that must end now. A poll by Adobe has uncovered the most annoying phrases to receive in a work email.
It is a poll rammed with all manner of passive-aggressive neediness and belligerence, but what do the phrases really mean? Here are the nine most annoying, decoded: ‘Not sure if you saw my last email’ The Absurd Truth Behind Collective Animal Nouns – Naturalish. We’ve all heard of a “murder of crows,” which to be honest, is pretty remarkable.
Some nouns in the English language, I’m relieved to say, make logical sense in referring to a group or collection of animals. I before E.… 3 Surprising Ways Wikipedia Can Help Improve Your Vocabulary. If Wikipedia were printed on paper, you’d need an aircraft hangar to contain it.
The English Wikipedia alone is currently equivalent to 2,570 volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica. Ninja Numeracy - VOCABULARY NINJA. 7 Subtle Language Differences that will Improve Your Mindset. “Words are free.
It’s how you use them that may cost you.” 10 Unusual But Critical Edit Checks Before You Hit Publish. Home. Lexicon of Lies: Terms for Problematic Information. Propaganda, disinformation, misinformation: The words we choose to describe media manipulation can lead to assumptions about how information spreads, who spreads it, and who receives it.
These assumptions can shape what kinds of interventions or solutions seem desirable, appropriate, or even possible. This guide is intended to inform commentators, educators, policymakers, and others who seek appropriate words for describing the accuracy and relevance of media content. How Merriam-Webster became the star of Twitter – ThinkProgress. The art of modern writing. Learning to write is one of the fundamental skills we gain from our time at school.
Writing is one of the cornerstones of learning and we devote significant time and energy towards its mastery. Skilled writing is a mark of an educated individual and a skill required for academic success. But in the modern world what makes a skilled writer? What has changed about writing and what literary skills should we focus our attention on. Clearly writing has changed since the time of Shakespeare. Allow me to womansplain the problem with gendered language. Online language – What does it look like? - Inspiring learning. It’s an exciting time for online language – it’s been an evolution from the beginning of communication on the internet in the 1960s, the development of ASCII through text speak and into tweets, instant messages, Snapchats, status updates, memes, likes and omg, lol… This new language is creeping into all aspects of our lives whether we socialise on Facebook, text our kids and grandkids, or email for work.
Our digital capability skills, knowledge and experience has to be broad and flexible – and part of this involves understanding and communicating using new kinds of language. Image from: Pixabay.com There are many different forms to this language and I have divided them into four main ones for this blog. A Bit of Fry and Laurie - Flexibility of Language. No, No That’s Not How You Say It – John DeVore – Medium. Americans talk funny. We don’t think we do, but we do. We’re usually too busy talking at or over or directly through each other to notice. Every so often, though, we stop long enough to listen to one another and then laugh and point. 20 Useful Words and Phrases for Top-Notch Essays Infographic.
Higher Education Infographics. The Wrong Way to Teach Grammar. A century of research shows that traditional grammar lessons—those hours spent diagramming sentences and memorizing parts of speech—don’t help and may even hinder students’ efforts to become better writers. Yes, they need to learn grammar, but the old-fashioned way does not work. There is a real cost to ignoring such findings. In my work with adults who dropped out of school before earning a college degree, I have found over and over again that they over-edit themselves from the moment they sit down to write. The Day the Internet Became “internet” — The Ringer. How Typography Can Save Your Life — Pacific Standard. How Typography Can Save Your Life What words look like matters — in some cases, a whole lot. BBC Learning English - Learning English.
Ten of the most commonly confused words in the English language. The English language is full of confusing words and overlapping meanings, which can make ensuring (or should that be insuring?) That you’ve picked the right word for the right context a minefield. The wonderful world of words that are their own opposites. 13 writing habits that are making you look bad. 13 writing habits that are making you look bad. Punctuation in novels. Punctuation in novels. Use Humor to Teach Your Students About Careful Communication. Where's Me a Dog? Here's You a Dog: The South's Most Unusual Regionalism. Idioms are Dying: Should we mourn them? — The Writing Cooperative.