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I don’t know exactly when or where, but at some point in the past few years, I stopped putting punctuation at the end of sentences. Why? The internet made me do it
Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch, cohost of Lingthusiasm podcast and the author of the new book Because Internet, explains how the internet changes the rules of language.
There are several Allusionist episodes that go well with this one: The Space Between, about how words got spaces and punctuation; Across the Pond, about how and why British and American Englishes differ, and the role of style guides; Mixed Emojions, about whether emoji could become a universal language, and their medieval precedents; and The Authority, about how dictionaries actually work (ie gathering language as it is used rather than dictating use).
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
‘I invented the iPhone’s autocorrect. Sorry about that, and you’re welcome.’
Read Gretchen’s columns for WIRED about internet language.
Lingthuisiasm recently did a video episode all about why we gesture when we talk, and in a few days’ time they’ll release a new (audio) episode about gesture in linguistics, so keep an eye on your podcast feed and lingthusiasm.com for that.
The history of the full stop (AKA period).
^ In fact the English Project spent a year going into the history of punctuation - links to all their different posts are at the bottom of this page.
The transcript of this episode is at theallusionist.org/new-rules.
I’ve got several events coming up, including a London performance of the new touring show, and a children’s book chat in San Francisco with author and lexicographer Jane Solomon! Find out more at theallusionist.org/events, which I’ll keep updated with every new fixture.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
keraunograph
CREDITS:
Gretchen McCulloch is an internet linguist, the cohost of Lingthusiasm podcast and the author of the new book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, which I thoroughly recommend reading: I learned a lot about how online language use influenced what’s happening today, and about gesture and memes and what online writing can do that previous forms couldn’t. Find out more about her work at gretchenmcculloch.com, and follow her on Twitter at @GretchenAMcC.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Martin Austwick makes the music that you hear in every episode. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his new podcast Year of the Bird about the songs he writes.
Find me online at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.
