Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language

3.5 stars. A little dryer than I was expecting, maybe targeted more to fellow linguists than the general public. I enjoyed the sections about memes, emojis and the history of hashtags, but the theory part was a bit of a slog to get through. Basically Gretchen McCulloch is diametrically opposed to those snobs who think the Internet is destroying our sacred English language. She believes, instead, that it is a great opportunity to watch English (not to mention other languages) continue to evolve via the unique combination of written word and informal communication. I'm less interested in this argument than I am learning about lolcats, so maybe I'm not exactly the intended audience. Not to mention I felt like a very old, unnecessarily formal Baby Boomer!