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Gretchen McCulloch
Writing & Creativity
Gretchen McCulloch is a Canadian linguist and author who analyzes how internet communication shapes language, from emoji and memes to instant messaging.
Biography
Gretchen McCulloch is a Canadian linguist whose work examines online communication. Through her blog and Lingthusiasm, the podcast she cohosts with Lauren Gawne, she offers linguistic analysis of internet memes, emoji and instant messaging. She writes regularly for Wired and previously wrote for The Toast.
In 2019, McCulloch published Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, a nonfiction book about internet linguistics. Her discussion explores how apps, platforms and online communities influence written English. Topics include the relationship between emoji and physical gestures, patterns behind internet slang, and how people's early experiences of social interaction online can shape their language preferences.
Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Excerpt, formatting adapted
Books by Gretchen McCulloch
Because Internet
Because Internet explores how the internet is changing English through platform conventions, online communities, slang, emoji and memes. It examines the patterns behind informal online language and what those patterns reveal about how people communicate.