Are There Internet Dialects? | Idea Channel | PBS Digital Studios

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We consider ourselves natives of INTERNETLAND, which made us wonder if there's such a thing as an internet dialect. Not pronunciation, per se (since we type in these here parts), but a common way of communicating through word choice, vocabulary, and how these words are arranged and used. So what is Standard Internet Speak? Acronyms, emoticons, and hashtags? Purposeful misspellings and abbreviations? IS IT EVEN A THING?!?!? Watch the episode and find out!
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Study Guide:
Internet Linguistics: A Student Guide by David Crystal
A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology by Alessandro Duranti
Communities of Practice, Where language, gender, and power all live by Penelope Eckert
Netlinguistics and English for Internet Purposes by Santiago Posteguillo
Communities of Practice, Learning Media and Identity by Etienne Wenger
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Assets:
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www.fairymagic....
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• Video
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in.reuters.com/...
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• My 90-year-old Grandma...
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theoatmeal.com/...
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• I CAN'T EVEN
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www.flickr.com...
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• Video
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imgur.com/galle...
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www.msu.edu/~h...
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geek-news.mtv.c...
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/ captainrachael
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• FRANCIS WINS SETTLERS ...
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COMMENTS
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TWEET OF THE WEEK
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TUMBLR POST OF THE WEEK
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MUSIC:
"Europe" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Level 5" by Room for the Homeless (bit.ly/10N0Ykm)
"Bouncy Castle" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
":P" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Squarehead" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Number Cruncher" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Little Birthday Acid" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Topskore" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Anti Vanishing Spray" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Tarty Prash" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Carry on Carillon" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Uptown Tennis Club" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Squarehead" by Roglok (www.roglok.net)
"Dream Of Autumn" by Night Shift Master
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"Insert Toy For Coin" by Eatme (eatme.pro/music/)
"Dizor" by Outsider
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"Lets go back to the rock" by Outsider
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"Something like this" by Outsider
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[@loickittentine1584]

you have an educational youtube accent. fast paced, very precise diction, slightly elevated vocabulary

[@MarioFlogar]

+Loic Kittentine you forgot: moves to much and makes jump cuts

[@tackogronday]

sounds accurate. Kind of like the Vsauce guys, or a lot of the top 10 channels. I guess that is kind of a dialect considering the purpose of each video.

[@corv1d770]

Loic Kittentine the same sort of internet dialect I would say that Hank and John Green express a lot, or Michael from Vsauce

[@kmrose4741]

Very active inflection and also clearly projecting.

[@finessegod2]

>says he's "running out of time" >keeps talking for eight more minutes

[@procrastinator99]

+Kutty Kool >its the nature of IC >greentexts without the greentext >ftw

[@finessegod2]

procrastinator99 >not grasping contextual humor

[@procrastinator99]

>not grasping contextual humor >Asperger's as fuq >lolmybad? I was actually just participating in the greentextage.

[@General12th]

Doctor: You only have 13 minutes 11 seconds left. Mike: VIDEO TIME

[@TheJaredtheJaredlong]

I think you could argue that KZbin comments are the "general american" of the internet. They tend to lack any real flair or any overall consistent quirks unique to KZbin itself, and anyone that deviates too far from standard English conventions is quickly regarded as dismissable.

[@krombopulos_michael]

I think that's true of any particularly large service. The likes of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and KZbin are just so huge, ubiquitous and widely spread that any ripples just die out before getting anywhere. At best you get some individual communities gathered around particular channels that might write in a certain way.

[@collinsconcisedictionaryan3253]

While I agree with both points, I'd say that KZbin, Twitter and Facebook would be the English language - due to the styles of writing used in comments specifically, such as "omg this vid sux plz fix" or "There's an issue at (time lapse) in which (issue), just to point that out,". Thus we can't possibly class a specific dialect - only see multiple common styles, but I think if we classed "General English" as the most common 'dialect', we could probably claim my first example would be the standard dialect.

[@TheJaredtheJaredlong]

Cian I would disagree with websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram because the content of what is written there is usually very personal. On Facebook you talk about yourself, but on KZbin you talk about the video topic, so there's a certain impartialness to it. But that goes back to the question if content is enough to distinguish something as a dialect.

[@NotAverageAfro]

TheJaredtheJaredlong In relation to yours and Cian's point. I'd say that Twitter most of all differs from other popular websites. The character limit forces people with more than a sentence to say to improvise and shorten words down, such as to, or too, to 2. (Imagine trying to say that last bit out loud to someone!) In relation to Nemeros Gecarius I agree with what you're saying about different styles, and in fact I can use myself as an example. In this video I've neatly lain out my points and been polite because I understand that that is how you'll best recieve what I'm saying. However if I went to a Call of Duty video, say on Tmartn's channel, a comment such as this (and most others on this video) would quick be dismissed under a swarm of, OMG 360noscope, u is such a btch. So because of that. If I was trying to make a point on the channel about the gameplay. I'd say it in such a way that I'd fit in with the audience.

[@collinsconcisedictionaryan3253]

SamuelDM That's a valid argument. You make a good point about the "COD Gameplay" section of KZbin, however to stand out above the rest, I like to use correct grammar - but sometimes using the same typing style as others can have benefits. Kudos!

[@kimwelch4652]

You definitely have a KZbin accent, with all those quick, short, choppy sentences with an over emphasis on keywords. It doesn’t seem to matter what country, region, state, or province the KZbinr is from, they all kind of talk the same way.

[@austinryder2622]

Tumblr is weird. With it's text post because even though there is no capital letters, and no punctuation you still know where sentences begin and end in the middle of a giant wall of text based solely on emotion.

[@emexdizzy]

I have begun to believe that his mispronunciation of the standard acronymic abbreviation for Graphics Interchange Format is not merely performed out of ignorance, but is rather quite intentional.

[@wzwzwzwzwzw]

geef

[@RunItsTheCat]

Every damn corner of youtube has a different "dialect". Visit the comment section for PewDiePie, then videogamedunkey, then SciShow. Experience their differences.

[@elliottmcollins]

The closest parallel I can think of London, where people claim to be able to tell where in the area someone's from to within a few miles. But those really just seem too small to be called dialects in my mind.

[@LlamasOnJUPITER]

Honestly, watching Game Grumps actually changed my irl speech pattern and pronunciation of stuff. So yeah. No argument there.

[@anythinggoesguy]

I think its because each corner of KZbin has a different target audience, with different age groups etc.

[@bakintoast]

... ALL AROUND THE WORLD!!!

[@RunItsTheCat]

anythinggoesguy Maybe, but to someone who has watched and enjoyed all of the above-mentioned channels, despite their differences in the comment section, it might just be that certain way of commenting is more appropriate in certain comment sections than in others.

[@PhilosophyTube]

xxx_I dOn't KNoW W#at you"re Talking a/b/out I don't HAVE an internet ACCENT!!!!one!!!_xxx No for serious, does being limited to 140 characters on Twitter count? Or using the face to express things more than words on Snapchat?

[@TheDragonWalrus]

If we accept >greentext and lower care tumblr comments then there isn't a reason why not. Both system features and limitations impact communications, in fact limitations create an even larger impact as they are inescapable influences on communication while features can simply be ignored. These are examples of speech communities where by the nature of those systems certain guidelines for communication are enforced. The most interesting thing about considering things this way is we can turn it back to just talking to each other and how that has limitations to it as well. As much as I might want to I cannot summon a gif (3aif?) to accompany my words, and that is a restriction of meat-space communication which is not applicable online. We are all part of a speech community composed of embodied beings first and foremost, and then are part of certain speech subcommunities. But how would people who have only ever communicated through the internet speak to each other? Or in other words how different would communications be between disembodied beings? These are important questions, or we are doomed to succumb to our future robotic overlords. /rant

[@zincblimp]

Good point, PT, for that matter, what about Rage Comics. If so, I'd say I've definitely got an internet accent a la Rage.

[@JosephLarson]

If twitters brevity translated to other sites regularly then, yes, I'd say twitter's limitations count. But I don't see that very often. This isn't explicitly stated in the video but a dialect is only recognizable when it's persists against the will of the communicators when taken out of its context. I've never seen someone on Reddit who stops typing at 140 characters. I've never seen someone who's so rooted in tumblr that when they comment on Facebook they're incapable of expressing themselves without a gif. /b/ may have developed it's own meta language, but no one on /b/ can't even on KZbin because of their crippling /b/ accent. Yet. And maybe never. I hope never.

[@TheMetalAllfather]

Nicholas Ferezin ^this.

[@RunItsTheCat]

Beware, for you will be crucified in Jacksfilms' "Your Grammar Sucks" should you continue this improper behavior. Nah, I'm just kidding.

[@AnikiDomo]

please never call gifs ʒAIFs again plox

[@666Tomato666]

no, it's the best pronunciation, bar none

[@YaBoiKeith]

*ʒAIF

[@WillyWobSk8in]

plz dont say plox ever doh

[@blu956]

HTML5 master-race

[@diocarro]

you can't stop it now...

[@CynicatPro]

i remember how i used to be fluent in my wow servers speech. the word 'gank' was considered to be offensive, due to the fact the other faction ganked(high level player cyber-bullying lower level/beginning players) so heavily that almost every player in our faction had bad experiences with the behavior. as a result calling someone a 'gank' meant they where a person with no honer. matter of fact it was considered so offensive that i stopped saying the word 'gank' out load and still to this day feel a little jump at the word. its connotations with bullying, subjugation, sexism(yes that was a problem) meant it carried more offensive weight than any normal swear with the exception of the C-word. but only within that side of that server.

[@FracturedPixels]

Wow, that is actually highly interesting, how your experiences with the connotations and use of a word caused it to have such a powerful meaning completely independent of anything else. Very relevant to the episode, cheers for sharing.

[@CynicatPro]

***** glad you found it interesting!

[@dawnbreaksopen]

tumblr: good job lil buddy here i found a gold star 4 u: * 4chan: gr8 vid m8 i r8 it 8/8

[@rajavlitra]

bruh

[@XerxesTexasToast]

Each website has its own culture, which results in site-specific slang that can coalesce into a dialect. 4channers call noobs "newfags", deviantART users shorten the word "commission" to "commish", Flight Rising users call their dragons "dergs", etc. Certain features of the site can become verbs (OWFing on Wajas, TPing on MonsterMMMORPG, etc.) and the site infuses its userbase's speech patterns with its terminology. Web dialects are totally legit. Personally, I think I have a very general Internet dialect simply because I participate in numerous sites. However, _even in real life_ I speak as if I were commenting on the web. If I say something in a certain way, it will equate with an all-caps line of text with no punctuation in my mind, likewise with internet-native phrases like "wat" or "O RLY". I will also occasionally break into Dogespeak IRL.

[@XerxesTexasToast]

Pseudo Arch Originally I was a bit annoyed by that comment, but then it dawned on me how hypocritically hilarious it was. Clever work, Pseudo. **claps**

[@futurfry]

he definitely covered this, but in a much more all-applicative way

[@XerxesTexasToast]

Moistened Mann I posted the comment before I watched the video, so I realized that. But I didn't want to delete it, so here we are! :D

[@NoConsequenc3]

XerxesTexasToast Not many people understand actual humor Thank you for not being an idiot

[@ObeIiskos]

"I will also occasionally break into Dogespeak IRL." stop stop what you're doing

[@mikvance]

"JIFES" > mfw obvious troll is obvious.

[@procrastinator99]

+mikvance >yfw you see greentext formats outside of /b/...... >All of my wtfs.

[@f0rm0r]

+procrastinator99 >inb4 i complain that there's greentext in the rest of 4chan there's greentext in /mlp/ but you don't know what iwtcird means

[@procrastinator99]

I admit I do not know what that means. Also, I've never been on reddit.

[@Pikayumyums]

+mikvance Who are you quoting?

[@AustinTexas6thStreet]

Like most things popular with a wide audience, it's all vastly overrated

[@PumpkinSparks]

There certainly are different internet dialects. At our last nerdfighter gathering some people started to talk in tumblr, mostly speaking in doge, and all the non-tumbloids looked quite confused. Over the period of the day, it was possible to pick out the people who have no idea what tumblr is, the moderate tumbloids, and the ones who practically live on that website, just based on how they talked! AND this was done with a mixture of german and english, mind you!!!

[@AnotherPostcard]

Wonder if you had some redditors in there too. Doge had quite the overlap on reddit (consider Dogecoin).

[@PumpkinSparks]

as far as I know we don't have a lot of redditers. Yeah, but maybe there was an overlap that hightened the dialect ;)

[@AnotherPostcard]

PumpkinSparks Who knows? :) There's even overlap into nascar! But that probably doesn't have anything to do with nerdfighteria. lol www.gfycat.com/BetterThunderousBird

[@docsy4529]

AnotherPostcard Well doge was partially popularized on reddit. The term doge was from reddit, and its use describing certain silly dog pictures began there, but tumblr was the one who started the whole shibe thing and the comic sans monologue. So tumblr and reddit sort of co-created that meme.

[@pieman2906]

Doge is quite widespread at this point. Reddit, Tumblr and 4chan all use it heavily.

[@lort8334]

Ahh yes. JIFE. Jaephics Interchange Format.

[@procrastinator99]

+hubert cumberdale Yes.

[@GoldphishAnimation]

Oh God I just heard it. I'm going to claw my ears out, its gif, not jif or jife. I'm sorry, you're just saying it wrong.

[@CajunCoder]

+The Stitch Sorry. I'm of the "Jiff" camp. I was taught phonics as a child.

[@CajunCoder]

Jonathan Lowe Well, gee (ghee, as in the butter!), you're awfully confident there. How do you feel about giraffes? I mean, "ghirafs." I'm being generous - erm, gheneruss here, but G's (ghees, for you) followed by I's and E's certainly do make a j sound by convention. Also, the creator of the .gif pronounces it "jiff," so there. :P

[@CajunCoder]

Some people make a GINORMOUS error here. It's as if they don't know the GENERAL principles of pronunciation and spelling! What you see is not what you get, you see. This GENERATION, I tell you! What has gotten into their GENES? Ok, so, it's probably not a GENERATIONAL or biological thing, but a culture/conditional thing. But yeah. I think I've made my point. /end incoherent rant that nonetheless makes my point.

[@BeeGeenie]

I believe internet language is a written form of pidgin. People from all over the world, with vastly different levels of English comprehension, blending their linguistic practices and using simplified forms to achieve mutual understanding.

[@thecanadianfood]

OMG stop saying gif like that! it's pronounced like gift without the t!

[@sigurdss4]

Jif

[@ostepops7]

I am afraid you're wrong, the creater of the word has said that it is pronounced like jif, so he is actually pronouncing it correctly

[@brandavies]

Mikkel Hattesen Who cares, that guy's opinion doesn't matter -- Because the G in gif comes from "graphic", so it should get a hard "g" sound.

[@jimdandytheboss]

Its pronounced both ways. Stop being a derp.

[@aliquis2022]

I just say "dot-gee-eye-eff"...

[@Xidnaf]

I spend most of my time on KZbin, so I was a bit concerned that you never mentioned it. Does a KZbin dialect exist? The way people type on KZbin seems pretty similar to you describe in the video as a sort of general dialect of the Internet, so maybe not? Maybe KZbin is like the southern Iowa of Internet dialects, a place where the way people speak is devoid of any features normally thought of as regional. I usually type this way, and I speak with General American English. I feel very not special now.

[@vatnidd]

I thought about your videos when I saw the title!

[@Xidnaf]

Samuel Lo :D I'm getting recognized! I'm starting to feel, like, famous and stuff! But yeah, when I saw the video title I was half "I'm really curious what he has to say about this!!" and half "no, linguistics is my territory!" Mostly the first one though XD

[@Falungongshow]

I kind of get the feeling that there isn't a general Internet-wide dialect just yet but there are certain dialects within specific communities. Other people have mentioned the differences in spelling or language between educational videos and, say, man-on-the-street type videos on KZbin. It could be a use of new slang words like, for KZbin, doobely-doo for description or rebleb, reblab, rebloop etc for reblog on Tumblr. Speaking of which, Tumblr also has a fascinating interest with using hashtags as way of passively stating a further thought or an emotional state to the post. To me it always looks like how an "aside" would work in theater.

[@HonestyJZ]

At least in my case, I speak slightly differently on KZbin. Compared to, say, reddit, KZbin feels like it has a lower standard of English (with exceptions, such as on this channel) so I tend to, while still trying to write well, let my English slip a bit.

[@whyamiboredrightnow]

My actually accused me of having changed since I had tumblr. She referred to how occasionally I will quote text posts, get calmly irritated when someone doesn't fully understand a social issue. I then proceed to fully explain it. She says that I have a 'tumble voice' where I over emphasis everything, and pick up on the simples throw away comment that is slightly negative (e.g. Racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.) So I think tumblr does completely have a dialect and I think it can affect how you speak irl.

[@boredninja12]

No one said katie.

[@_earlyworm]

Tumblr just doesn't know how to relax, always wound too tight. At least, here I don't have to worry about all the crazy misandrist, white hating, people-who-stayed-the-gender-they-received-at-birth hating "womyn" who hide behind feminism, desecrating its name. At least other sites still have some common sense. At least, here, if someone overreacts, people will know that they are full blown idiots.

[@whyamiboredrightnow]

Duke of Flatus That is true of some of tumblr but not all. It's almost the stereotype of tumblr.

[@whyamiboredrightnow]

***** I am not going to get into any sort of war over stereotypes of websites.

[@IanCookUS]

"fully understand an issue"? So is it part of using Tumblr that most of you fully understand all social issues?

[@pomodoko]

You know somebody's from Instagram when they have 😩😩👌👌👌😂🙏😍😍 in their sentences You know somebody's from tumblr when they kind just u kno do the thing like this The internet certainly has its own dialects and accents and you can clearly tell the dominant social media choice of a person by the way they type.

[@Dragoniiia]

PMDKProductions yup exactly I'm from tumblr

[@danaklein2900]

do people not call shoemakers cobblers???? investigate pls.

[@Somewhateclectic]

Dana Klein Yea, I'm reasonably sure that's just an actual term for the job.

[@essellar]

Dana Klein "Shoemaker" is actually a problem term. If you're talking about somebody who actually *makes* leather shoes, then the word "cordwainer" would be right. A "cobbler" is traditionally someone who repairs shoes (or makes them out of reclaimed leather, but that's not really a thing anymore). Different guild in bygone days, and that was mostly about controlling who had the right to trade with various tanners (cordwainers, saddlers and glovers would have had exclusive rights to buy the finest leathers). Needless to say, cordwainers are few, far between, tend to be godawful expensive, and aren't particularly interested in fixing anything they didn't make. (Seriously, when the choice is between doing a $15 repair and selling a $1500 pair of new shoes, which would you pick?) The guy (or very rarely, the gal) with a shop in the neighborhood is very likely to be a cobbler.

[@zzzoom89]

this comment is a full year late but i still wanted to share a few things about tumblr dialect a big thing that shaped the dialect are tags which are small things beneith a post that you can tag stuff with so for example on an adventure time post you might see the tags 'cartoon' 'adventure time' 'cartoon network' etc for other people to see however if you wanted you could put your own personal thoughts about something in the tags stuff like 'i really needed this' or 'garnet is squaremom no exceptions' would be common but the tags do not allow for commas instead making any comma into a new tag because of this instead of using commas in a text post most people will add another line instead because thats the tumblr functionality this has even spread to other punctuation such as question marks exclaimation points colons and semicolons thats why everything looks lile this

[@lisazoria2709]

I love how no one can agree on how to pronounce GIF. LOL

[@WilltheHedgehog02]

Lisa Galarza I find it funny because the creator of GIFs gave its pronunciation.

[@PinkProgram]

WilltheHedgehog02 oh yes because Jraphic makes sense -___- There is no reason for GIF to be pronounced Jyfe.

[@WilltheHedgehog02]

***** It's not my fault people don't listen. Blame it on stupidity or ignorance.

[@WilltheHedgehog02]

Pink Program And hey, I'm not the one who named it, for Christ's sake. Lay off me! >:[

[@PinkProgram]

WilltheHedgehog02 The person who named it should have thought about it before making a ridiculous statement of pronunciation... either that or the creator was trolling everyone.

[@GentrifiedPotato]

4chan values ideas over pretty much everything else. Feelings, social mores, morality, nationality; all go out the window for the common question of 'is this interesting?'.

[@TheTommygee37]

Okay, so i've only watched 44 seconds of this episode. But you've already asked "Is there a part of the internet I sound like I'm from?" Tumblr... You definitely sound like you're from Tumblr.

[@elliottmcollins]

I'd argue that Mike isn't from Tumblr, btu that PBS-IC and some corners of Tumblr both sound (or try to sound) like they're from an IRL liberal arts college coffee shop.

[@mattdaemond2865]

He projects a lot of emotion and politically correct sensitivity which make me think he is a Tumblr user. At the same time he provides a lot of introspection and thought hinting at a majority of time spent on Reddit. I'd say he browses Reddit much more but occasionally goes on Tumblr. Almost never goes on /b/ but then again I got on /b/ frequently and change how I type on /b/ versus Reddit. Fuck tumblr, literally.

[@commode7x]

It's probable that he's from 4chan, but has more recently moved to Tumblr and adopted their politically correct mannerisms, much like how Americans that go to UK will eventually start talking and acting a little like them. It doesn't seem like he's from Facebook or Twitter, but it's also a little hard to place his accent. For sure, he's not from Fox News or WSJ Opinion.

[@OnlyZunkin]

Max Reddit Awww, the tumblr crowd is kinda cute. It's just a bunch of artistic sensitive type people. They are harmless and generally good natured although admittedly a bit too easily offended and PC.

[@EliteTester]

We don't talk about /b/

[@EliteTester]

I....... I AM THE BAIT MASTER

[@Njuman]

I remember "the internet talk" always being called "slang". What changed? Is the internet "ART" too?

[@theMoporter]

STOP GIVING HIM IDEAS

[@Pixzule]

Everything is slang depending on when in history it is said

[@Ularg7070]

The internet is a gang and you are all participating in said gang and will be prosecuted!

[@thatguydownthestreat]

Ularg if your lucky. if not, they wont catch you...

[@SoniEx2]

ART = Advancedly Ruined Text?

[@EvanBradleyEDB]

I have to imagine that Mike's (I'm certainly assuming) original use of the term 'doobly-do' in reference to the 'About' tab on KZbin is an example of an Internet Dialect.

[@MrTridac]

The "term" is actually from Wheezy Waiter. Mike and some other youtubers adopted it. I think that makes it even more part of an internet dialect.

[@fogease]

I'm guessing its adoption boosted when the vlogbrothers got on it.

[@EvanBradleyEDB]

MrTridac Interesting, I had no idea. And I agree...the fact that it has been adopted by and propagated among the KZbin community further supports the theory.

[@MrTridac]

yewskriimskoop speaking of the vlogbrothers. Was the word "awesome" used as a noun as much as they do? (I'm German, so I'm not sure)

[@fogease]

MrTridac I'm not aware of them using awesome as a noun. If you're refering to DFTBA, "to be [adjective]" is setup the same as "to be [noun]" in english, although an "a" or "an" would always mean a noun. Adjectives can be used as nouns (or imply one), although often dated, especially for singulars and if there is a corresponding known form. "The mysterious approached me" sounds really whacky, but the "the homeless may not have shelter" fits modernly. I don't know how this stuff works in High German, so you may have to point to an example and what seems unusual about it from your viewpoint.

[@alexisisnotacar]

As a student studying linguistics, it seems that what has been described is more of a register rather than a dialect. There is a more 'regional' distinctions between 'tumblr speak,' 'twitterese' and where their appropriate uses are around the internet. For instance hashtags are definitely more prominent on Twitter than on Facebook and the use of .gifs (how you would like to pronounce that is up to your discretion) is more common, at least from my personal experience, on Tumblr. However, to have different internet dialects they must have their own complex rules and structure. And although there are unwritten rules about how many hashtags are appropriate to have in a tweet or under a photo on Instagram, structure is a game of 'anything goes so long as its coherent.' From a sociolinguistic perspective, everyone on the internet chooses to present themselves in a different way, changing their identity through their speech actions on different sites or on different comment sections under different videos. Even now as I write this comment, I am contemplating which would make me sound smarter; using third person standard Australian English or simply writing my opinion without academic support. This internal debate is linked to the Accommodation Theory. As humans, when we communicate, there is a conscious decision in our word choice and the manner of which we speak depending on age, class, ethnicity, gender and context. As such with different fandoms, social networking sites and the fast paced nature that is the internet, the nature of the internet language is constantly changing. Speaking in doge or tumblr or constantly saying hashtag aloud with others who do understand within the speech community is an effort made to create a sense of solidarity. The lexical choices we make on the internet depend upon the 'standard' form of the site which determines the identity we want to project of ourselves. For example, I could have simply said something innocuous and definitely not as articulates this current comment about its content before sharing it with my Sociolinguistics professor and moving on. My choice to comment in this style however, was a decision based on the context of the video and where my comment would be posted. Under most if not all of Idea Channel's videos there has always been a stimulating discussion about the video's content with riveting arguments with supporting evidence, readings or material. I am quite well aware that this comment may have made next to no sense whatsoever and the point may have been blurred somewhere along the way. So here is the summary: - The 'dialect' argument presented appears to make more reference to a register. - Humans choose how they want to be perceived online by the language choices they make. - This identity is determined by age, class, ethnicity, gender and context. With addition to the social networking site and fandom in regards to the internet speech communities.

[@eybros]

I aint reading allat

[@informalnarwhals]

@@eybros yet you took the time to comment on it. even funnier that OP talked about these comments almost always having stimulating discussions, and yet you're the sad exception. in internet dialect, you got inb4'd 9 years ago LMAO case in point, audience indeed has a factor in linguistics. its unfortunate there is no accounting for the attention span of the people listening. another nudge for me to take linguistics classes🤔

[@eybros]

@informalnarwhals It's a little joke. Why did you think I came to this video?

[@informalnarwhals]

@@eybros my bad, im not good at detecting jokes 😅

[@eybros]

@informalnarwhals It's fine

[@FluffRecordings]

Okay, this whole video is based on the premise that these internet sites constitute communities. You haven't questioned this assumption. If they are communities, how is 'community' being defined? If Tumblr is a community, is Facebook, KZbin? The little blog I made about Cacti? The comment section of a newspaper? How is that different to the eco-village set up in the forest? My personal opinion is that by using 'community' as a catch all phrase you have rendered it meaningless. A community is not simply a bunch of people in the same place.

[@torabisurandomT]

_ I disagree; \within my own personal opinion and experience a thong or group of people is indeed a community, though I would add that share some quality. In the sho\w Lost the cast of characters are a community upon a plane fallowed by being a community deserted upon an island. Another example are communities of fandoms who gather to celebrate that they love(Doctor Who, Homestuck, and onward). Plus there is this place here KZbin; it may not be a physical place yet here many people share some quality, a slight interest at least for PBS Idea Channel or just seeing the video and replying/reading into the comments, and that I would say that "shares some quality" does continue to entail into Facebook, news-articles, etc. _ But I like to hear how you \would define community when available. '( ^ v ^),

[@OmegaRainbow]

When I went abroad to work, I bonded faster with a foreign colleague who was sporting a meme tshirt, than I ever did with any italians I met in that country, so yeah - for me "internet speak" gave me better common ground with a stranger speaking a foreign language, than what my nationality and native language provided me to bond with other fellow italians... aaand now I'm not so sure that's a good thing :/

[@Nuke-China]

I like knowing other people are nerds/geeks, because I'm a nerd/geek. :B

[@OmegaRainbow]

Adam yup, same over here ;)

[@Tokkemon]

Geyeph?!

[@bex--]

Best spelling yet

[@ryanpmcguire]

Jeif?

[@ceelp908]

It's gift with out the t for me! ;)

[@Groot825]

i am groot

[@theholyramonempire]

Yes this was a good video I do agree. ^_^

[@nightfire734]

WE TALK ABOUT INTERNET LINGUISTICS AND DON'T EVEN TALK ABOUT EMOTICONS (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

[@Trav081]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@joeybroda9167]

I can't believe it's been almost a decade since Idea Channel. I was talking to some friends recently about old youtube channels. Idea Channel came up and we were all talking about how Idea Channel opened up our thinking and increased our capacity to critically (and yet still enthusiastically) interact with media and culture. This channel seems to have done a lot of good for my cohort of young men.

[@diego-dias]

>being all internet-y >not knowing how to greentext C'mon, OP.

[@alisawilson6342]

In this book series called Mazer Runner there were two isolated communities. One consisted of many boys and one girl and the other consisted of many girls and one boy. Both communities spoke the same language but overtime had developed had swear word type words to describe something. Internet communities are kind of like this too. They develop new words or phrases that distinguish them from other communities.

[@Disthron]

It's Gif, it's a god dam 3 letter word it shouldn't be that complicated. It's almost painful the way you pronounce it.... I can't even remember anything else you talked about. It's so dam jarring.

[@666Tomato666]

nope.avi it is ʒaɪf now and forever!

[@kasufert]

666Tomato666 zhayph

[@666Tomato666]

kasufert I prefer the IPA version, less ambiguities

[@Disthron]

666Tomato666 ....and he wonders why people didn't get his meme "joke".

[@666Tomato666]

Disthron 6 did, thankyouverymuch

[@SentientMeatbag]

I don't think 'dialect' is the correct word to describe the difference in communication. The word 'jargon' is more fitting I think: words only used within a certain community. A person's dialect would be largely the same across different communities, whereas one's use of jargon can differ greatly in different groups. The jargon is used to show you are part of the 'in crowd'. This is true both on line and off.

[@dodopod]

But 'jargon' has the sense of a technical language, which the styles of language used on the internet often are not. Perhaps 'vernacular'?

[@AlecLomas]

I was going to say the same thing; I think jargon is appropriate because it connotates a kind of technical knowledge. In the same way that anyone can, I don't know, play basketball, until you understand the language of and theories about the game and how it's played, you don't really 'know' how to basketball. Similarly, you don't really 'know' how to Reddit until you can nonchalantly reference Colby (or broken arms, or the safe, or...you get my point). I'm wondering if, while talking about something I have technical knowledge about, do I have a dialect related to that thing? I think the answer could be yes, but that jargon (or, yes, vernacular) would be a large part of that, i.e. the jargon is the vocabulary whereas your dialect is how you piece together and use that jargon.

[@anythinggoesguy]

That's a good point. "Accent" is also appropriate. Dialect usually indicates that the two speakers will have an extremely difficult time understanding each other.

[@stephaniemason6583]

anythinggoesguy My understanding of dialects doesn't necessitate difficulty understanding each other whatsoever. The boundaries of dialects are widely variable. I speak in one kind of West Coast dialect, but I can understand someone who speaks in a New York dialect just fine. I have a bit of a harder time understanding many UK dialects though. And you might be thinking, "Well that's because it's a New York accent, not a different dialect." But it actually is a different dialect. I don't use a lot of the words/slang/colloquialisms/patterns of speech/etc that New Yorkers do--that's what separates our dialects. I mean I consider even the Washington dialect to be different from that of Southern California, even just considering my particular socioeconomic class. Even in an area as small as Los Angeles there are a plethora of English dialects to be had across any number of groups and communities. Accents tend to be more what people have when they're speaking a language non-natively. It's not limited to that, but it is a helpful way to think about how it differs from dialect as accent is limited to pronunciation. So if I was speaking Spanish, I might be speaking a Venezuelan dialect but I'd be speaking it with an English accent. Or I could be speaking a Mexican dialect, again with an English accent. But Venezuelans and Mexicans can understand each other just fine, regardless of differences in dialect (which is to say, pronunciation, words they use, speech patterns, and more.) And in regards to the original commenter's arguments, while I think that there is plenty of Jargon to be had, I have to agree that there is some aspect of dialect as well as it goes beyond the special words being used into the stylistic choices of various internet communities. A few of the examples he used were the ways which people utilize capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviation. Those are all interesting things to think about as they don't really have spoken proxies, but are unique to written forms. If you were to read all of the various text out loud it potentially could be more of a jargon thing, but I think given the unique nature of the written forms...I'm actually fairly convinced of the dialect argument. :)

[@QuijanoPhD]

Not only have I seen people use Internet Shorthand (I prefer calling it Cyberpidgin) in formal papers, I know more than one person who, when speaking, would rather say "l.o.l." than actually laugh and who use phrases like "that's so bawss", "serously O.P.", "t.b.h.", "i.m.o.", and other similar Internet-y phrases regularly. I even know one person who when having a conversation will emote with her face as if it were an online chat. I don't mean like "she will smile when happy". I mean like "I accidentally spilled my soda" and she will *sadface* with her face, then go back to normal. Also, what is a "Gayf"? It's "gif" dude. Like Gift minus the T.

[@colinfrey5751]

It's a pronunciation that makes fun of the fact that nobody can agree whether to pronounce it 'gif' with a hard G or 'jif' with a soft G.

[@QuijanoPhD]

Oh ok. I guess the troll's on me then ^__^

[@TheMrVengeance]

If you write formal papers on linguists (apparently) why do you misuse the term pidgin?

[@toffeeFairy]

I think that every big community, like the anime community, lol community, doctor who community(fans), etc have there own dialect, because it's hard for outside peoples to understand what they say and how they say things, also peoples creates new words in this community and change existing so that they can talk easier. I would say, that like there is an general American accent, but every state and even City, in America has a different accent, witch originated from the same accent, but over time became more different , there is an dialect for every corner of the internet, witch for outsider isn't easy to distinguish, but for peoples witch speak/writhe an internet dialect, is totally obvious, from witch overall community he comes.

[@billythunderchode2569]

This guys sounds literally like Reddit.

[@EtrielDevyt]

Le

[@General12th]

He needs to grow a neckbeard first.

[@jmr7432]

I really enjoyed how you broke down the concept of dialect, I agree that speech communities are a better way to categorize the different speech patterns on the internet. I believe /b/ and 4chan specifically are great examples of the in-group and out-group dynamics that are common in dialects. I never considered that we communicate with different language on different social media platforms, especially comparing Twitter to Facebook.

[@MitaWilliams]

Many adults think that kids *can't spell* when they're online or texting. What they don't realize is that 'Internet writing' (like the tumblr writing you showed) signals *who* is writing. I saw a presentation of the design of a website made to encourage kids to write about the books they loved. Any post that was written with proper grammar and punctuation was considered written by an adult and it would promptly kill the thread. (The designer then built a second site for teachers and parents)

[@elliottmcollins]

Your point about education and shared context makes me think of the way university Happy Hour conversations in Literature, Chemistry, and Economics departments are practically mutually unintelligible. That we wouldn't say I have an "Economics dialect" makes me prefer the "speech community" idea, and those certainly exists on the itnernet. My favorite example would be communities like StackOverflow. The great blog post "Why Programming Sucks" points to this exchange: "Is that called arrayReverse?" "s/camel/_/" "Cool thanks." Wasn't that guy helpful? With the camel? Doesn't that seem like an appropriate response? No? Good. You can still find Jesus. You have not yet spent so much of your life reading code that you begin to talk in it.

[@elliottmcollins]

As you point out, if everyone just talks differently on different sites, the metaphor breaks down. And therein lies the issue: dialects require an individual persistence of speaking style that might be hard to find on the internet; without it, we lack the contrast to recognize it as a "dialect". So the parallel I'm looking for is people who spend enough time on a site with distinctive modes of speaking (Twitter, Tumblr, 4chat, StackOverflow) that we can notice them when they come to different sites. Some possible examples come to mind. 1) Someone recently posted on Reddit with the 100-character abreviation-and-acronym heavy style of a Tweet. I wasn't confused; I just thought "You're not from around here, are you?". 2) I had the same thought a few weeks ago on IdeaChannel when a commenter responded to some thoughts on Bronies by... attempting to offend Mike with a conjecture about his preferred style of intimacy. I understood this as a trivial interjection of arbitrary disdain, rather than a substantive comment about Mike's personal life in the dialect of an IdeaChannel subscriber, because I speak enough /b/ to recognize the point of origin. But of course such comments are right at home on much of KZbin, and the cross-channel the diversity of comments here highlights the difficulty of calling anything on the internet a dialect. No place in the Tubes is too far from any other.

[@ABooleanEarth]

I would argue that maybe you do have an "economics dialect," and in fact specialization jargon was one of the first things that popped into my mind here.

[@ToySouljah.]

Came in for the obvious Dalek joke.

[@pbsideachannel]

We aim to please.

[@iceLed100]

PBS Idea Channel Shrek is love, Shrek is life.

[@Hemuthecookielord]

I find it odd that Mike talked about unique tumblrspeak and didn't even include the infamous midsentence Capslock

[@TheMayorofSpace]

yeah I mean hOW COULD HE EVEN IGNORE THAT I CANT BELIEVE

[@199NickYT]

i have no idea whaT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT

[@pbsideachannel]

yr right this wAS AN OVERSIGHT ON MY PART SRY

[@k.-flynn]

PBS Idea Channel you literally pronounced "gif" as "jyfe" but pronounce "gifset" as "gifset" this is inconsistent tbh

[@The_Skrongler]

K. Flynn What does tbh mean?

[@CossackGene]

I'm just not sure that beliefs have much to do with these styles of internet speech. A good theory I heard about tumblr is that the fluid, punctuation-lacking style was based on the tagging system. Tumblr tags are frequently used not only to tag things, but quietly elaborate on thoughts in the main part of post. However, tags cannot contain large amounts of punctuation. It's said that this fluid style of communication was moved up from the tags into posts at some point, which seems very believable to me.

[@lukasdaugela881]

Another thing that influences the dialect of different internet places is anonymity. For example, the "harsh" dialect of /b/ or 4chan in general comes from the fact that you can be completely anonymous without a need to have an account that would put a name to what you're saying. On tumblr/facebook/twitter on the other hand, you can be anonymous by having a different account, but you care about your main tumblr/facebook/twitter, where other people know that it is you that is writing everything, thus you usually tone down on the harsher words/expressions that you might use in other places.

[@Uniquethemateo7]

Mike, I admire your ability to get through this video without a single PewDiePie reference or joke.

[@CaptainPrincess]

Well I will say that the greenarrow stories of /b/ have probably popularized the disconnected 2nd/3rd person method of talking about oneself when telling anecdotes i.e I doubt that before greentext stories anyone would ever have said, for instance: Be me be fat nerdy internet user watching video etc What I'm more curious about is, when will any of these internet dialects have their own ACCENTS?

[@Eric-sy1xu]

I think that perhaps there aren't dialects for different websites on the internet, but is more pinned down in the said websites, one website doesn't have a set dialect. For example Educational videos on KZbin such as this one have the comment section with proper grammar and spelling, but on say a more ghetto video they don't use the normal grammar and spellings that would be used on a letter for instance. (I may be stating the obvious here)

[@GogglesIndeed]

I think that has a lot to do with what youtuber's video the comments are on rather than what type of video it is. People use proper grammar and more "complicated words" on Idea Channel's videos because that's how Mike (his name is Mike right?) talks in his videos. Commenters consciously or subconsciously mirror the youtuber's speech patterns - It's similar to how people mirror their friends' behaviors when being with them.

[@TheLifeMeaningof]

I feel like these dialects were forced out of necessity and/or assimilation. For instance, when people read copious amounts of things on tumblr or twitter, they subconsciously use the tone or "dialect" everyone else they see is using. Whereas in things like military 1st person shooters (ie cod, battlefield, counter strike)or even online rpgs to name some without actual voice-chat(warcraft, dota) you are placed in a situation of relative tension and have to act accordingly in a short amount a time, and these "dialects" tend to stay with people through their subconsciousness. Like in the "real" world internet "dialects" are formed over time and differ from site to site, but yes, In short: I do think the internet has dialects.

[@Somno_toska]

Have I seen you before sombra?

[@TheLifeMeaningof]

have you? (\ ?

[@Somno_toska]

/) ShadyP video perhaps?

[@TheLifeMeaningof]

ah, yes ^_^ probably.

[@Somno_toska]

Something about eggs I think.

[@jesscostanza9460]

I love geeking out over Internet dialects and Idea Channel is my new favorite thing, but that aside, I straight up choked on my salad after hearing the "gif" pronunciation. I LOVE IT.

[@Jeffenburg]

I've been thinking recently about how, as a white male in the USA, I don't have a heritage or culture to call my own. The origin of my family tree has long been lost to me, my local area has no personality that I've found to latch on to and for whatever reason I don't feel like my residency in the US defines who I am in any real way. However I do spend a lot of time on the internet and I think that part of that might be because I connect to the internet on some level. Just like how I lack any ancestral history, the internet lacks any cultural history and maybe that sense of coming from nowhere is part of why I spend more time on internet communities than geographic ones. I also get the sense that two of the biggest parts of internet culture are connectivity and absurdity. Since I don't feel a sense of belonging to any one culture, I feel a good deal of freedom in enjoying every culture. Despite never leaving North America, a good deal of the culture I ingest is created by people who are very clearly not North American. The internet follows this trend by having things like Top Gear, Hatsune Miku and Space Jam and other random bits of culture tossed together despite the creators of those things belonging to and creating for cultures that aren't the internet. I would argue that the internet gained a deep interest in absurdity due to this feeling of belonging to nothing yet taking from everything. In this very video, Mike has a stream of videos and images floating next to his head that have very little context and relevancy to what he's saying. On the internet we're so use to things not being connected to a historic context that some one can have Totoro and imperial stormtroopers in the same video and find it both normal and relevant to the community's culture. When it comes to internet humor the absurdity is frequently used as the subject. Internet culture created such things as animutation and youtube poop which, in addition to being much more absurd than almost all pieces of media, seem almost strangely normal if you spend enough time on the internet. It's still random and absurd but that type of absurdity makes sense on a certain level if you're part of the internet culture.

[@MrJpferreyra]

rules 1 and 2

[@LuanFauth]

really interesting topic! i definitely agree there are accents/dialects in the internet. and reflecting on it, mine is actually from the two places i was "raised" online - Habbo and Facebook. in the first, i learned how to type really fast in the same pace as real life coloquially using lots of abreviation and in the second i learned to structure big texts with arguments in a short period of time (i was heavily engaged in debates/politics), and even tho i dont use them anymore i bring this "background" to my daily life in my other social media nowadays

[@wishbone346]

I liked the video, but I'm giving it a dislike for pronouncing gif like knife.

[@srpilha]

I'm *so*late to this discussion, but I wanted to be part of it. What, no mention of Wittgenstein, language games and forms of life? This whole discussion matches these topics wonderfully. The very meanings of our words are built (and rebuilt) by their communal usages, verbal or not (like saying "chair" and pointing to a chair). So particular usages of words (old and new), whether they form a dialect or something else, appear and evolve in much the same way. The more people are within the same language game, the more their communication is efficient - and language games are intimately linked with forms of life, which is quite exactly what Eckert says, in other words. Also similar to Captain Rachael's speech communities. Incidentally, this is a very good frame to talk about performativity too: being something and acting like that thing are very often indistinguishable.

[@crazyFiary]

Thank you for the nod with the picture of Bulgarian dialects! I love randomly seeing my country :D. So, back on the topic. Way back, when the post was the main (if not only) indirect medium of communication, a lot could be told about the emotions the writer was going through by the letter - wrinkled paper, wet spots, shakey writing all indicated different conditions you could easily dechipher. Text messages lacked that personal note, so the emoticons were created. Early phones had hard to use keyboards, so a new language was needed - a language that was able to say more with less characters, but wasn't too far from the standard language, so that communication can be kept fast and effective. Later, emails came along, where typing was already easy and fast so text language wasn't necessary, but we had it going for the phones. Now phone keyboards are also easy and fast to type on, yet we still use shortened language. Why? Because its meaning has changed - we all agree that "gtg ilu" and "got to go, I love you" mean different things now and sound different in our heads. Text language is now a symbol of carelessness and laziness and we use it to show a lack of interest. I think different ways of speaking in different parts of the internet aren't just created fo the sake of having a distinct language, but for serving a purpose within a site in the most efficient way possible - for example tumblr's "shipping" and "I can't even" are hard to translate to conventional language without using too many words so that the phrase is no longer convenient. "Language must change in order to serve different purposes. Newer purposes must not change in order to serve the language" is one of my favourite quotes by Georgi Lozanov, a media expert in my country. This argument was made by him on the topic about the many English words that are slowly infiltrating theirselves into the Bulgarian language. Are newly taken on Enlgish words (that don't have a Bulgarian equivalent) a newly formed dialect? No, it is our generation's way of making our language richer and more expressive, like previous generations have done with words taken from French, German and Russian.

[@CappuccinoGuil]

I believe we can easily define the dialect thing by observing internet and IRL speech. We say things on the internet that aren't really translated to real life. Things like: "U wot m8" can be said, but personally I say it for the laughs in a sarcastic way. We write differently (slightly so) than we speak and, as you said, dialects are a direct result of social practices between a number of people. However, let's get deep. Dialects are a way of writing/speaking a certain language, it's all about the expressions and words used. Mate/Dude/Lad are a great example. But, they only become official through the constant usage of the expression by a number of people that accept it as being a good way of referring to something. LET'S GET DEEPER! The internet is world wide and we have people from all over the world. Case in point, I'm brazilian. Each country has their own cultural values and dialects for their language. By establishing dialects are created because of social interaction, can't we say that the internet dialects are multi-cultural, since they were most likely created and reinforced by people from different countries? FINAL QUESTION! If we accept internet dialects as being a direct result of interaction between different cultures, wouldn't it be fair to say internet dialect is actually the closest thing to the common tongue we've ever had? Expressions created and accepted by people of different countries with different cultural values? BONUS QUESTION! How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

[@blu956]

I really like the thought of a universal language but I don't know if that's exactly what it is. IRL we have other forms of communications aside from language in itself. You don't have to say "I'm happy" to tell people you are, you can do it with a smile. This is cool how we have taken those forms of non-verbal communication and applied them to the internet. We use image macros, abbreviations, if you're on reddit you incite cringe in others by yelling things like "broken arms" or "what's in the safe." As for it being a universal language ... yes and no. You can communicate with other people from all over the world but you still depend on an informal set of rules, if you don't know them you can't communicate. However, if you have a fascination for Japanese cooking you can communicate with other that do as well [and sometimes there's even active translations of everything] but not a universal tongue. Also no, there was an article, that to no avail, I was looking for revolving around social analytics of twitter. Instead of unifying the net as would be the expected outcome people just made concentric circles around their own likes and communities [much how like pages work on Facebook]. Brazil being the most active country using twitter had almost no hashtag shares from other countries and vice versa. White americans were alienated from Black americans when the conversations were a couple of hashtags away. But that would be dialectization based on community. I have a question for you though ... Do you think that there is a major difference from the way people talk on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, 4chan? and if you think there is a different language do you think there's a difference within the site #HashtagVariation, difference in types of tumblrs, difference in subreddit, differences in /b/, /x/? Finally do you think there's a reason people would choose /x/ on 4chan rather than /r/glitch_in_the_matrix on reddit?

[@cythascruseo6696]

Twitter: Mostly normal perfect English, until people start getting close to the character cap, then they look back and cut out the punctuation to clear up more space. )(omestuck fandom: T)(is depends on t)(eir typing quirk.

[@GraceMcFadden]

please make this again it's very interesting and i would like an update

[@Fungiquest]

half the comments on this video are "OOH OOH I GO ON 4CHAN LET ME SHOW YOU MY KOOL KID INTURNETSPEEK PLEASE TELL ME I'M COOL"

[@MrHodoAstartes]

As a fa/tg/uy, I can certainly testify that there are 'accents' on the internet and even within 4chan there are significant differences in the way people talk. However, not all boards even talk much as their nature dictates. The 'accent' generally depends on board culture which is informed by several factors. I count among those: 1. Number of posts/minute. The amount of people on a board and their posting speed has massive influence on the length of posts and their tone. The more posts/minute, the shorter the posts on average and the lower the inetellectual value. 2. Nature of the board topic. Some boards draw people like flies, others have only a small interest group that ever cares to visit them. Some boards can generate seemingly infinite things that are deemed worthy of appreciation while others fight over which is superior. Survivors of the /tg/ edition wars will know what I am talking about. 3. Average age and education of posters. This may sound snobbish but you can go and compare randomly chosen posts/threads from any board to see where differences in the anons by board. It is noteworthy that avergage poster is not = average visitor. But the less you think, the faster you can and will post. With this, I think it possible to show the character of a board as evident in its language. Let us go to /tg/ for an example: 1. Mid-range ppm, strongly divided between slow mono-topic threads (questions, rules trivia, etc) and fast-paced quests and general threads. 2. The board topic is complex rules systems and the social interaction that comes with it plus considerations about the game worlds and their peoples. The strictly imaginary nature of it all and the incredible amounts of non-conclusive source material make discussions very dependent on context, tone and perspective. 3. The average age is comparatively high and aging with people remaining in the community for a long time. The average education is high and apparently focused around (military) history, politics and science. This means in sum: The posts range from short commands and votes to elaborate discussion and stories, depending on the thread. Discussions are commonly backed by knowledge in several fields adjacent to the topic and people can not only be told they are wrong but actually shown why with sources attached to the cursing because the topics dicussed possess many dimensions and often participants are literate in one or more dimensions of the topic, so even if the initial reaction is to call someone names, an interest in actual discussion is often enough met with explanations because the same people who call you a troll for your opinion can tell you in a thousand words or more why they think so. The most loud and controversial disagreements are had over works of art and preference which led to a number of questions being collectively dropped from conversation as not to be discussed. People have most noticably stopped arguing about the merits of D&D editions after many shouting matches andthe existence of quests has been grudgingly accepted. In contrast, /d/: 1. In terms of posts, /d/ is very slow and not even very talkative. Mostly pictures and only short post to accompany them. 2. The topic is on the one hand very open, but the majority of the content generally displays overall preferences. There is next to no discussion of the topic but mostly source requests and written pornographic content or sex tips. Dissent is seldomly voiced and only in fringe fetish-themed threads. 3. Little can be said about the average age or education of this board as it does not produce much conversation and what is said is mostly on-topic and kept simple. Only very few topics ever produce a dialogue and those are largely resolved with standard-answers because the number of possible issues is very low. This makes /d/ a generally silent and conflict-free board with posts strictly on topic and only very little need to write many words as the purpose is to share pornographic images which does not seem to lend itself to many discussions. People anonymously come, consume, post more content and leave. Knowledge, social standing and even sex and sexuality do not matter much as there is no interest in communication but masturbation. These are only two examples fro mthe wide ranges of 4chan boards Having come to this conclusion, a person from /tg/ would likely stick out like a sore thumb on boards like /a/ or /b/ where high speed and high volume rule over any form of discussion while people who are otherwise mostly on /d/ would be hard to identify due to a lack of board-specific practice.

[@quentinlynch]

Great video! I'd rather use the terms "jargon" or "terminology" (instead of "dialect"), but I nevertheless agree with your idea!

[@mrsqueakyvoice97]

when you said gif... i died

[@DeadEye935]

I just try to speak normal English. 4chan is where I spend most of my time on the internet, and from my experience, others there are pretty much the same way. Typically the only time you see any kind of shorthand is in an ironic or sarcastic way. "lol" or any of its derivations are common though. Also, using emoticons will usually be met with numerous posters telling the user to kill themselves. Or at least requesting the user to go to Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, or any site that is often looked down upon. I personally don't look down on those sites, but it's nice that the average 4chan post generally has proper spelling and passable grammar. Which I cannot say the same about my Facebook news feed.

[@HueNost]

DeadEye935 :^)

[@HypercaffinatedBees]

DeadEye935 nice post m8, i r8 8/8. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) oh noes, da pplz r coming 4 me, bettr run naow ─=≡Σᕕ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ

[@NoConsequenc3]

+Changeling Grimm (kiri no ōkami) hehe i giev u a medum SES

[@subfuscous987]

Ever visit /b/?

[@DeadEye935]

Sub Fuscous Not in several years.

[@rashidastewart7907]

I am watching this for an anthropology class. I found this video really interesting because I have never really thought of internet lingo as an actual dialect. I would consider the way people talk and behave on the internet and the rest of the media as more of a type of slang. I think it all goes back to uptalk, vocal fry, and slang; and how they have been popularized as the right way of speaking by celebrities, KZbinrs, influencers etc. Now I am going to constantly notice the use of internet “dialect”!

[@Karreth]

I'd say I have several internet dialects. The most pronounced I'm aware of is that when I play WoW I speak a vanilla WoW dialect (rather than a newer one), but I don't speak that dialect elsewhere. Elsewhere I have other internet-region specific dialects.

[@ChuckClagg]

Someone knew I was from Tumblr from the way I talk

[@fossilfighters101]

Just... Would someone please tell me what this B thing is on 4chan? I've never been on it, and he didn't really explain what it was, so I don't know how it fit with the video.

[@jojorobmum]

One of the many boards, the first one in fact, which carries a lot of the websites usage. /b/ is a random board, where anything can be posted, but other (eg /a/ is anime and manga) have more rules and structure.

[@fossilfighters101]

jojorobmum Ah, okay. Thank you.

[@wiillwill7676]

jojorobmum dude. rules 1 and 2.

[@jojorobmum]

will will only in raids

[@Todd_Coward]

jojorobmum nope first board was /a/ /b/ was made second to carry every other subject until more boards were made to make sure no one was upset. Should have seen /b/ in its prime it was a sight to behold until you vomited.

[@JamesWaterson24]

I have internet dialect too, eh?

[@marcocolonna8758]

Hahaha, Goodjob mate

[@GreatGwiaz]

Marco Colonna m8

[@src248]

***** U wot m8?

[@Ularg7070]

***** o7

[@not_anybody_in_particular]

Steven Chabot U wot m80? >pirateginge.jpg

[@BaronUmberslade]

The concept of internet dialects is fascinating, and I identified with it immediately. I spend quite a bit of time on forums dedicated to Android development, and within that context we absolutely have our own way of "speaking" (typing?) regardless of our actual speech or geographical location. I routinely communicate with people from around the world and due to the 'droid dialect we share, we can easily convey our thoughts in such a way as to be completely unintelligible to someone not familiar with the community. Bravo for such an insightful topic!

[@clineamb]

I can totally buy into this notion of Internet Dialects/Speech Communities (I think the latter is definitely more appropriate). I feel like this is analogous to changing the way you behave and act depending on which circle of friends/acquaintances you're currently socializing with. (Disclaimer: like Mike, this is American-English-Internet perspective here.) For example, when I am talking with co-workers, it is very different from the way I talk with my college buddies, roommates, or parents. I imagine that this is true for a majority if people. You maintain a professional persona at the workplace, e.g., being more reserved on your political/religious views, not cursing in the workplace, etc. Personally, I find myself doing the same things on my various social networks and forums, and I imagine a lot of people do as well. On Tumblr, I'm mostly a re-blogger and more reserved when responding; however, on Facebook, I'll be more outgoing and comment and Like more frequently than I would on Tumblr. Probably part of the reason for doing so is because Tumblr is a public Internet forum (for the most part), and Facebook are people I have friend-ed (at least, for me, I don't have a public profile), so I know them in-person. This is - essentially - the "community" portion of "speech community." Reddit is a good example like 4chan of being very similarly broken down into interest communities. I've seen the speech community line even so fine between the A Song of Ice and Fire Books Reddit and the Game of Thrones TV Show Reddit: there is a different way of talking about the two mediums that are different just due to the given information, but (linking to the older episode about Spoilers!) the TV-show reddit is more wary of spoilers than ASoIaF subreddit just because most, assume (barring spoiler-etiquette and rules of that subreddit) you're there because you've read the books. Also, due to the interest of various subreddits - and just interest message forums, IRC channels, etc -, there are inside jokes shared with the communities, even down to various acronyms and memes that develop within (/r/mtg comes to mind, where people make references to cards as witty retorts every now-and-then). I also imagine, in roleplaying forums (for example), people will also take on different personas that differ from their other communities. I find myself even typing differently on various communities: usually, I type un-abbreviated and as grammatically correct as I can be; alternatively, on Twitter, I need to make concessions and use symbols, abbreviations, etc. due to the character count. Also, while I'm not fluent in Tagalog, I use many words that I've learned at home in my everyday speech with some of my friends. Internet-lingo tends to slip into my talking-lingo... I hate to admit it, but I I'm guilty of literally saying "hashtag" in front of certain things ("Err, #awkward", for example.); but even abbrivations find their way (OMG, I thing being the most common). If it's common for people to slip into their other languages, and sometimes some of us slip into internet-lingo, I imagine that could partially qualify for a dialect/language. I guess being in multiple INTERNETLAND-"countries" makes us all very multi-lingual... multi-dialect-ed? Whatever.

[@joebazooks]

It's *jiff* and *not* jife

[@rjgraddy11]

tonyfalca it's gif, not jiff. as in, "i wanted to give you this gift, but i couldn't afford the 't' :("

[@joebazooks]

rj graddy nah, it's "jiff" as in gi-raffe.

[@rjgraddy11]

tonyfalca nah dude, i think you are wrong :P. i know the creators said "jiff", but if it's graphic interchange format... not jraphic interchange format. but i'll settle as long as we can agree it's not "jife"

[@joebazooks]

it's not jife but it's definitely jiff. a G has various sounds in the English language. garage, rough, *giraffe*, *gin*, etc.

[@joebazooks]

Joseph Stalin i understand why you would pronounce it that way, but then why do we pronounce gin as "jin" and giraffe as "jiraffe" for instance?

[@JavierBacon]

The jife thing must just be to drive comments, right? I gotta say, it actually makes it a lot harder for me to watch these videos.

[@GameMechanic1]

"yifes"? WTF IS A YIFE!? i can't even... I think more profound than dialect is code of conduct. I think communities on the Internet stick to fairly strict codes of conduct related to the communities they are in. Now, pay careful attention to the literal meaning of a code of conduct when used in this context. It may sound like I'm saying, "Behave this way or get B&HAMMER!" What I'm really saying is that communities tend to conduct themselves similarly whether that conduct is lewd and vial, or is respectful and honorable. I think a lot of this is because moderation acts as natural filtering... Either someone will adapt to this code to be a part of this community, or they will be banned or alienated from said community for not adhering to the same conduct. Either way, consistent conduct seems to always be present - to varying degrees. Interesting thoughts, I love your channel, thanks for giving my brain food :3

[@patsrocknfl54]

Honestly, I have been saying this for years. the internet texting and all of those things truly have their own dialects and not only that but they have their own forms of expression. An example which I have most often had to talk about is shorthand usages. using things like "u" in the place of "you" or any other shorthand writing had an origin in original texting speech and has carried over to the internet as a sort of laid-back usage of the word. These sort of usages even express different thoughts and emotions based off their usage. Almost similar to how when someone uses your full name instead of a nickname, using the full versions of those words, when you usually don't, provokes a more serious tone and vice versa.

[@GregPoblete]

When I post a status on Facebook, I make sure to use proper grammar and make the topic of discussion more relatable to my friends on Facebook which includes my mom. While on Twitter, I try to write clever and punchy statuses that a broader audience can potentially see because my Twitter account is a more open platform in which I want more people to read the content I create.

[@MexterO123]

Case in point ---> the Brohoof. /) and ponified words and phrases on the pony side of the internet.

[@StarMecha]

Why, Brony, Why?

[@MexterO123]

StarMecha because ponies!! I'm a 22 year college guy. :)

[@StarMecha]

meko xtwisparkle I can't be angry at you when you're this happy. xD I normally dislike bronies commenting on videos that have nothing to do with mlp but I think I'll make an exception. :3 /)

[@MexterO123]

StarMecha, my goodness thank you. :) I've received my fair share of unnecessary hate, glad to see someone that doesn't escalate it. xD

[@StarMecha]

meko xtwisparkle Hehe yep. I know how it feels to get hate just for liking something. :/ So I guess I'm sorry for trying to start something in the first place. x3

[@ishouldhavetried]

3:20 The way you pronounce gif.... My eye started twitching and I had to pause the video to stop hyperventilating.

[@eugen9611]

Jraphical Interchange Format

[@Zyga21]

ArchGamer Might as well just say G. I. F. gets less people angry.

[@davesyndrome1097]

Geypeg. Pee-en-ghee.

[@jasonbland4300]

ArchGamer No it shouldn't be pronounced JPhEG - When you read JPEG your reading the 1st letter of each word in acronym form, not the phonetic sound of each word.

[@convoliution]

I feel like this kind of community-specific, context-based vernacular is really really common, like how my family, friends and I all reside in the same part of the same city in the same region of the U.S., yet I will definitely use different words, and even sometimes use different pronunciations when talking to peers, parents, or speaking in the classroom. I'd say the phenomenon's omnipresence in real life (if you'll excuse the use of that term) completely validates its existence across internet communities!

[@progftw]

You could spend an entire vid talking about 4chan's dialect. It's interesting how greentext is almost an entirely different tense and has different rules of grammar, used for >telling a story >quoting another poster >expressing a feel >making lists of things

[@chorion]

Do KZbin comments have a dialect?

[@chorion]

***** k, makes sense.

[@vavakxnonexus]

+Cardinal Cora I guess. Things like "I can't believe I found someone who I can have a civil conversation with" or any combination of the words above and their synonyms.

[@mcspazotron]

+Cardinal Cora KZbin is the equivalent of an international hub. Pretty much everyone online uses KZbin because KZbin hosts mainstream and niche.

[@tecwynjones6532]

+Cardinal Cora I believe that the native KZbin-ian writes in around one or two sentences (can be three or four), has a proper use of grammar, explain themselves only with all (or mostly) words with no (or hardly any) emoticons. Easy, straight to the point, accepting language.

[@chorion]

Hexis Beto Really?! Then the Native KZbin-ian must be a dying breed. I've yet to chance upon a full comment section with the type of language you describe... ;)

[@TheKoopasArmy]

Hey guys! Look at my tumblr impression! "hey guys this is sexist XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.gif"

[@MarkArandjus]

When you get jifts for christmas, when Wild at Heart is written by Barry Jifford, when you jive your mother a hug, then, on that day, gif will be jif. But not before. And I don't care how Steve Wilhite pronounces it, he's a computer scientist, not a linguist. You dont even say 'jif', Mike, you say 'žife' D: ghawd the horrors I burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRnnnns

[@drakoumel_5]

"The Language of the Internet" is mainly based on acronyms, references to series (not that well known to the public) , references to memes etc. Its the same as the urban 'talk' that differentiates people in a city depending on region. Its the same with the tech talk between programmers, you can find a ton of these different uses of words that make up a unique,exciting (and frustrating for those who are not aware of it) language! This phenomenon,imo, shouldnt be limited to just being defined as a 'community' but a healthy progression of the language which has its origins in English, it has its own influences from that and from this etc. Its is a knew language.

[@themasterbeanieboy]

I really think that it's less like a dialect is being formed and more like a wide variety of rather specific inside jokes is being kept by a community. I understand the concept, but the permanence of each Internet "dialect" is debatable. Like, people who didn't watch KZbin videos pre-2007 probably wouldn't have any idea what "rate my vids" means. Another good example is, after Facebook was invented MySpace became essentially useless. This means that anyone who never got to have a MySpace will have no idea what "T8M" means.

[@You_do_not_exist_Jack]

TheKingOfBohemia I have no idea what 'T8M' means. Looking it up right now

[@nickwoo2]

I had to go look up tbh, I am only 21. Gah all these youngins and their weird new slang.

[@theMoporter]

smh :/

[@ShonkyLegs]

fjr :/

[@nickwoo2]

should have seen this coming.

[@Ularg7070]

theMoporter smh was the one I never got. I'm 21 too but I've been on the internet for a decade and have been using computers longer than that. Tbh, imho, hth.

[@ABigFatMaleHen]

fml idk what's going on anymore

[@Brains-GPT]

Hes from massivetwoshits? Well that explains his accent. Just be glad you're not from misery

[@ThePenguinExpress]

"Jifes" ;-;

[@marcelarodriguez3900]

This is actually so interesting because I have seen this before. I use Twitter a lot and apparently when I type I use “twitter language.” For example I was texting my friend and I said “omg bye” and I don’t actually mean I’m going to leave but just if I think something is so funny I say bye because it’s so funny I need a moment. There is a concept called “keyboard smashing” and everyone on my twitter timeline does it. You basically just smash a bunch of letters from your keyboard whenever you think something is funny or you’re super excited. This video really made me realize how different my friends speak to each other based on the social media communities they are part of. This is pretty cool.

[@MsEraneTroost]

Ermahgurd, thank you so much for using the linguistic notation for the pronunciation of GIF. I'm a linguist, and I cannot read the accent-dependent "phonetic" spellings.

[@GroovingPict]

"jifes"?? what the hell man..

[@elliottmcollins]

Always better to solve an argument by presenting a third option that will unite the previously opposed sides. IdeaChannel is like the alien race in Independence Day.

[@GroovingPict]

Elliott Collins No, because it doesnt solve anything. All it means is now we have three competing pronunciations instead of two. How in the name of hell is that a solution.

[@davesyndrome1097]

GroovingPict Exactly. Creating a third option just means that there are three standards instead of two

[@torabisurandomT]

***** Hm, maybe more ==> merrier; possibly by lucky unlikely destiny,( * ,_, *),.

[@elliottmcollins]

GroovingPict as with most metaphors relying on Independence Day aliens, I was not serious. Still, I think opting out of the whole silly conversation with an even sillier response is brilliant.

[@MrBumbo90]

What is /b/ ?

[@PedoBearExists]

Le newfag :^)

[@Darxide23]

It's a wholesome, family friendly website. You should check it out. Bring the kids!

[@ZeludeRose]

A shithole

[@thatguydownthestreat]

Chris Hansen wouldn't it be hilarious if Google actually translated /b/nese? translating that into "The Inexperienced Homosexual *grin*"?

[@not_anybody_in_particular]

Lurk moar. boards.4chan.org/b

[@InazumaDash]

I get kinda annoyed when my friends use internet speak all the time, or as I say, retardish. No seriously though, too much of anything is a pain in the ass. Limit yourself. Spelling out your words wont kill you. Everyone uses these words and expressions once in a while but when you always use it you'll just come off as a dumbass. Tumblr may not be the fanciest place on the internet but it doesn't hurt trying to properly describe what you mean instead of assuming people can read minds from simply using the word "feels". Pfth. Reminds me haven't been on Facebook and Tumblr much in months. So I can't really complain much right now can I? Whatever.

[@CrowT23]

It's weird when people spout memes in real life. Worse if they use it wrong.

[@String.Epsilon]

dpballer23 Depends on the context. If I have lunch with my two specific co-workers, we often quote memes and or use "internet speak", because it is much more efficient and everybody knows what all of that stuff means anyway. If I talk to my other coworkers like that (and that happens mostly on accident), I have to explain what I meant and that can get weird and messy.

[@DanThePropMan]

It absolutely baffles me when I see people who type in full sentences *except* for typing "u" instead of "you", and possibly "r" instead of "are". Either use text-speak or type normally but don't do both!

[@String.Epsilon]

DanThePropMan I don't see an issue with that. Why r u so mad at people for doing it ;)

[@nevanshattuck]

Bre yeh tnk yeh ken tek teh meh lek tet wen vee wen meh bre eye ken tek yeh

[@HalfBreadChaos]

Kankri of homestuck actually speaks very fluent Tumblr-ese. His whole personality is built around this concept.

[@ericvilas]

Besides the generic Tumblr, /b/, Twitter, etc. you have a very different kind of speech community: fandoms. Fandoms, like Harry Potter, SuperWhoLock, Homestuck, etc. have their own distinctive language. Even when they aren't intentionally throwing references around, they may still do so in a way that reflects how they usually talk around fellow fans. I can't describe it exactly, but there's definitely a difference. (I purposefully stopped myself from using my fandom accent there. Here's how I would usually type it: "Fandoms, like HP, SWL, and HS, have their own distinctive language. Even when they aren't intentionally throwing all the refrances around, they may still talk the same way they do around fellow fans. I can't describe it exactly, but it's there.")