Grumpy Cat meme, 245, 247
gun emoji, 194
Hacker’s Dictionary, The, 71
Hale, Constance, 87
hallways as third places, 221
Hancock, Jeffrey, 149
Harrison, George, 96–97
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Rowling), 192–93
Hartzog, Woodrow, 230–31
Harvard Dialect Survey, 20
hashtags, 38, 55–56, 128–30, 145
hate speech, 234
Heath, Maria, 115
“hella,” 23
“hello” (greeting), 200–202
Herring, Susan, 34–35, 102, 185–87
“hey girl” meme, 245, 247
High Expectations Asian Father meme, 257
high school cliques, linguistic distinctions in, 27–28
Hitler/Nazi comparisons on the internet, 239, 251
homepages, personal, 78, 79
Houseparty, 235
HTML, 69
humor, characters marking, 176–77
Hwang, Tim, 247
hyphens as separation characters, 113
IBM, 151
Icelandic, 36–38, 270–71
“ICQ” (I seek you), 78, 213, 226
ICT (information and communications technologies), 84
identity, online, 74, 80–81
“ikr” (I know, right?), 23–24
IM (instant messaging), 78, 80
iMessage, 100, 213
“imho” (in my humble opinion), 73
in-groups
and acronyms, 123
and memes, 230, 249–50, 258
tone-of-voice humor of, 126–27
in-jokes
and in-group status, 133, 247, 249–50, 258
and irony, 133
of previous technological eras, 255–57
pseudo-code as vehicle of, 126–27
Indonesia, 56
infinitive splitting, 44, 48
informal language/writing, 1–15
acronyms in, 10–11
on behalf of another, 153
chat messages as pure form of, 215–16
conveying emotion in, 74–75
effects of, on formal standards, 58
gesturing in, 12
and informal/formal language mix among youth, 59–60
and personal communication, 56
positive effects of, 61
in postcards and recipe cards, 96–99
separation characters in, 96–98, 107–8, 111–12
utterances in, 110
initial caps, 145
Instagram, 81–82, 100, 185, 222, 228
instant messaging programs, 226. See also chat messaging
internet culture
and in-group status, 249–50, 258
and macros for posting images, 241
and memes, 239–41, 250, 252, 258–59, 263–64
popular culture’s overlap with, 272
and ROFLCon internet culture conference, 246–47
Internet Linguistics (Crystal), 144
internet people, 63–108. See also Full Internet People cohort; Old Internet People cohort; Post Internet People cohort; Pre Internet People cohort; Semi Internet People cohort
Internet Relay Chat (IRC), 68, 212
commands, 69
internet writing genre, 60
interruptions in conversations, 209, 214–15, 219
IRC commands, 69
“irl” (in real life), 272
Ironic Capitals, 134, 138, 147
irony
ironic punctuation, 117, 133–35, 137–38, 149–51, 152
minimalist typography, 139, 145, 146–48
risk/rewards with, 148–49
and sincerity, 148
It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens (boyd), 81–82
Jackson, Lauren Michele, 165
Japan
and emoji, 180–82
and kaomoji, 179–80, 184
lengthening of words in Japanese, 131, 137
and poo emoji, 162–63
Jargon File, 71–73, 87, 117, 255–56
Jewish identity, 50
Johnson, Samuel, 266, 269
Joyce, James, 152
Jurafsky, Dan, 31
kaomoji, 179–80, 184
Kare, Susan, 254
Kelly, Ryan, 189–90
Kendon, Adam, 187
keyboards, 51–55
keysmash practices, 6–7
Khalil, Muhamed Al, 54
“Kilroy Was Here” meme, 240
Kitchen Table Lingo (Crystal), 26–27
Know Your Meme website, 250
Kurita, Shigetaka, 180
Labov, William, 34, 41–42, 50
Lamontagne, Jeffrey, 120
language
book metaphor for, 265–69, 273–74
changes in, 272–73
displacement of non-English languages, 270–71
and diversity of dialects, 19
network metaphor for, 267–69, 274
young women’s ability to disrupt, 34
Latin, 10, 44–47, 269
laughter, conveying, 106. See also “lol”
leetspeak, 125
lengthening of words, expressive, 59, 119–21, 131, 152
Leslie, Jess Kimball, 225
Library of Congress, 22–23
Licklider, J. C. R., 204
liking social media posts, 188–89
linebreaks in messaging, 107, 111–13, 114, 152
listservs, 68, 224, 228
“lit,” 51
LiveJournal, 78
“lol”
early documentation of, 75
evolution of meaning, 91, 104–6
and Full Internet People cohort, 83, 90–91
in Jargon File, 72
origins of, 75
and Post Internet People cohort, 104–6
and Pre Internet People cohort, 95
and Semi Internet People cohort, 90–91
social lubricant function of, 125
Urban Dictionary on, 136, 137
Wired Style’s discussion of, 87
lolcats, 241–44, 246
Lost Memories Dot Net, 79
lowercase. See case
Lowth, Robert, 44
Luther, Martin, 257–58
macros for posting images, 241
manicules, 174
mapping dialects, 18–26
marginalized populations, language elements of, 50–51
marriages resulting from internet dating, 64
Martha’s Vineyard, 50
Mastodon, 74
McKean, Erin, 259
McSweeney, Michelle, 104–5
McWhorter, John, 116
memes, 237–64
Advice Animals memes, 244–47, 250, 257
Behold the Field meme needlework of author, 252–54, 259
characteristics of, 240
controversy surrounding, 242–43
Dawkins’s concept of, 238–39, 260
debate memes, 247
distinctive visual/linguistic styles of, 260–61
doge and snek memes, 248–49, 250
explaining, 258
and faxlore/Xeroxlore, 255–57
and in-group status, 230, 249–50, 258
and internet culture, 239–41, 250, 252, 258–59, 263–64
and Know Your Meme website, 250
lolcats, 241–44, 246
and macros for posting images, 241
and presidential election of 2016, 250–5
1
scholarly studies of, 250, 259–60
shifting to next generational cohort, 251–52
sites for generating, 242–43, 244–45, 250
stock characters populating, 257
technology’s relationship with, 255
Memes in Digital Culture (Shifman), 240
Messina, Chris, 129
Metcalf, Allan, 203
Microsoft Word’s grammarcheck function, 45–46
Milner, Ryan, 250
Milroy, James, 36, 37, 43–44, 260
Milroy, Lesley, 36, 37
Miltner, Kate, 243
Mina, An Xiao, 259
minimalist typography, 139–50, 152, 249
mirrored question marks, 133
Montgomery, L. M., 116, 121
Morse code, 117
MSN Messenger, 78, 213, 226
Mufwene, Salikoko, 65
multiplayer online gaming, 224
Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), 68
MySpace, 78, 81–82, 99, 103
Nazi comparisons on the internet, 239, 251
Neopets, 78, 79
netiquette, 87, 239
networks, 26–39
clusters in, 35
difficulty of analyzing offline, 32–33
and gender, 33–35
lingo of friends and family groups, 26–27
as metaphor for language, 267–69, 274
and newcomers in communities, 31–32
and spread of language among cities, 31
strong/weak ties in, 36–39
among youth, 27–30
Nevalainen, Terttu, 33
New Hacker’s Dictionary, The, 71
New York, accents in, 41–42
Ngai, Sianne, 165
Non Internet People cohort, 92
Northern Ireland, 36
observer’s paradox, 21
Ohaeri, Justina, 121–22
Old Internet People cohort, 68–75
and code-based in-jokes, 127
and early internet era, 92
ellipsis points used by, 98
email usage trends, 92–93
and Facebook, 89
“lol” used by, 91
and memes, 246
social function of internet for, 68–69, 70, 73–75
Oldenburg, Ray, 220, 223, 227
“on fleek,” 51
Onion, The, 124
online dating, 64
Overly Attached Girlfriend meme, 257
Oxford Common Room, 44
Oxford English Dictionary, 24–25, 266
Palfreyman, David, 54
Paolillo, John, 34–35
parenting in a digital world, 82–83
patterns in language, 3–7
Pavalanathan, Umashanthi, 55, 185
Pearson, Wayne, 75, 80
Pepe the Frog meme, 251
periods, 113–14, 136–37, 152, 271
personal communication, 56
Petz.com, 79
phatic expressions in conversations, 200–207
Phillips, Whitney, 250, 260
Philosoraptor meme, 245, 257
photocopied jokes, 255, 256
Plath, Sylvia, 175
polite hedges in communication, 122–23
political aspects of grammar attitudes, 47
poo emoji, 162–63, 172–73
Post Internet People cohort, 99–108
and context collapse issue, 103
internet experience of, 93
“lol” used by, 92, 104–6
and memes, 252
social function of internet for, 100, 103, 107
technological skill levels of, 106–7
three strategic principles of, 104
postcards, 98–99
power and politeness, 123
Pre Internet People cohort, 92, 93–99
predictable vs. unpredictable words, 10
predictive text, 45, 49, 141, 151
prepositions, ending sentences with, 44
presidential election of 2016, 250–51
Preston, Michael J., 255
printing presses, 114–15, 174, 262
privacy/obscurity management online, 230–34
private messaging, 82
problem solving with technology, 88–89
profanities, 24
profile pages, 78, 79
pronunciations, 25–26
pseudonyms, 74, 80
punctuation
expressive, 59
of formal language, 152
ironic, 134–35, 149, 150–51
and minimalist typography, 139–50
repeated punctuation marks, 96–97, 125
for sarcasm/irony, 133–38
separation characters, 96–98, 107–8, 111–12
sparkle punctuation, 127–28, 131, 132, 135
standardization of, 114–15
verbalizing, 129–30
puppy images, 190
question marks, mirrored, 133
R sounds in accents, 41–43
RateBeer, 31
Raumolin-Brunberg, Helena, 33
“real life,” 272
recipe cards, 98–99
Reddit, 69, 224, 234
regional language variation, 18–26
repeating letters, 59, 119–21, 185
respellings, creative
in chat, 215
in early drafts, 61
emoji used in lieu of, 185
hospitality conveyed by, 60
in Indonesia, 56
in personal vs. public messages, 56
and pronunciations, 25–26
used with purpose, 26
Riordan, Monica Ann, 186
ROFLCon internet culture conference, 246–47
Roman forum, 44
“rotf” (rolling on the floor), 73
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 133
Ruhl, Molly, 144, 145
Sankoff, Gillian, 205
sarcasm, 133–38, 149
Sato, Atsuko, 248
Scanlon, Jessie, 87
scare quotes, 134, 138
Schnoebelen, Tyler, 113, 120, 178
Schuyler, Philippa, 116
screennames, 74, 80
Scumbag Steve meme, 245
Second Life virtual world, 156
Second Wave of internet users, 76–77. See also Full Internet People cohort; Semi Internet People cohort
Semi Internet People cohort, 77, 85–91, 92–93, 95, 98
seniors on the internet, 93. See also Pre Internet People cohort
separation characters, 96–98, 107–8, 111–12
Shady Characters (Houston), 133
Shakespeare, William, 192
Shifman, Limor, 240, 260
SHOUTING on the internet, 11. See also all caps
shruggie, 179, 184
silent letters added to words, 45
skill levels with technology
of Full Internet People cohort, 83–84
of Old Internet People cohort, 69, 70–71, 73
of Post Internet People cohort, 106
of Pre Internet People cohort, 94
relationship with internet socialization and, 84
of Semi Internet People cohort, 88
Skype, 94
Slack, 217
slang
adolescents’ use of, 59–60
in chat messaging, 216
exposure to terms, 30, 58
Jargon File, 71–73, 87
leetspeak, 125
and Pre Internet People cohort, 95
/> and Semi Internet People cohort, 90
use of outdated, 149
and variant definitions, 135–36
smartphones, 7, 141, 216, 235
smileys
in court cases, 194
as cues about intention, 186–88
and friendships via chat, 74–75
noses on, 178–79
origins of, 176–78
and Pre Internet People cohort, 95
as social lubricants, 125
See also emoticons
Smirnov, Ivan, 57–58
“smol” (small), 22
Snapchat, 164, 216, 222
snek meme, 249, 250
Snow Crash (Stephenson), 156
social function of internet
for Full Internet People cohort, 77, 78, 82, 100, 103
for Old Internet People cohort, 68–69, 70, 73–75
as perceived by different cohorts, 77, 82
for Post Internet People cohort, 100, 103, 107
for Pre Internet People cohort, 99
for Semi Internet People cohort, 85, 89–90
social identity, 50
social media
age requirements for, 101
and age of user, 85
and context collapse issue, 103
disappearing content on, 104, 222–23
editing of posts on, 215
and Full Internet People cohort, 78, 83
and hashtags, 128–30
hate speech on, 234
lack of visible cues on, 229
liking posts, 188–89
losing track of time on, 223
managing group behavior on, 234–35
in non-English languages, 270
and platform switching, 103
popularity of, 222
posts, similarities with postcards and recipe cards, 98–99
and Pre Internet People cohort, 93
privacy/obscurity management on, 230–34
status updates on, 222, 227, 229–35
strong/weak ties in, 39
third-place functions of, 223, 227, 228
and Third Wave of Internet People, 93
time spent on, 222
and youth, 29–30, 226
See also memes; specific platforms, including Facebook
Socially Awkward Penguin meme, 257
space-stretched typography, 145, 146
sparkle punctuation
sparkle enthusiasm, 127–28, 135
sparkle sarcasm, 137–39, 149
spellcheckers, 46–47, 49, 61
spelling standards, 46–47, 49–50. See also respellings, creative
Spiegel, Rob, 76
Stamper, Kory, 266
status updates, 222, 226–27, 229–35
Stephenson, Neal, 156
stream-of-consciousness style, 152
strong/weak ties in networks, 36–39
Stutzman, Frederic D., 230–31
subtweeting practices, 232–33
Sun, Jonny, 60, 146
Sundén, Jenny, 67
Because Internet Page 35
