Bonus 24: How the internet is making English better - liveshow in Melbourne, Australia (Patreon)

Have you ever wondered where emoji come from? Why does ending a text with a period make people think you’re mad at them? Why doesn’t “lol” mean “laughing out loud” anymore?  

This Lingthusiasm bonus episode is a live recording from the Melbourne liveshow! Your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about the ways in which the internet is breathing new life into the English language. It's also related to the topic of Gretchen's upcoming book, BECAUSE INTERNET, which is coming out July 23 and you can preorder now as a delightful present for your future self and to show the publisher that people are interested in books about linguistics. 

It was so much fun to get to meet everyone who came to the liveshows, and we're excited to bring this recording to all our patrons who helped make it happen!  

Links:

• A Linguist Explains Emoji and What Language Death Actually Looks Like 
• Socrates on the Invention of Writing 
• The Widely-Spoken Languages We Still Can’t Translate Online 
• Lauren's mum can't use Tears of Joy emoji right 
• Gretchen's blog post about the book coming out 
• Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language more info/preorder page 

You can listen to this episode on this page, via the Patreon RSS or download the mp3. A transcript is available for this episode as a Google Doc. Lingthusiasm is also on Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com or chat to us on the Patreon page. Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All ThingsLinguistic. Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our audio producer is Claire Gawne, our editorial manager is Emily Gref, and our editorial producers are Sarah Dopeirala and A.E. Prevost. Our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles.