Language on le Internet

By Jamie Ford

Most language online is so confusing (with no explanation) that we begin to question our very existence. For example, the use of 'le' rather than 'the' in the title of this blog post is just something people do online with no real reason. This non-standard form of language is just an example of all the weird and whacky dialect used on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

Each site has its own sociolect because of the users and the people that follow them. Facebook users are usually friends with family members so tone down the internet jargon. Twitter is a place for you to follow your friends and celebrities so is a tad more accepting of confusing passages. Tumblr, however, is a place where internet slang is born and raised before being released into the deep dark vortex of the rest of the internet.

I'm not saying that Tumblr isn't a dark void that will devour your soul like the rest of the internet, it is, but it's the place where language on the internet stems from (except YOLO, Twitter can keep that).

What is Tumblr I hear you ask? Tumblr is a place where anybody can be whoever they want, say whatever they want and post whatever they. There are also many parts of Tumblr ranging from the multi-fandoms to fan-blogs to blogs about trees and Starbucks cups which are way too Tumblr to even be on Tumblr.

Language in these realms of Tumblr varies greatly just like the different realms of the internet. Verbs like 'shipping' (putting two people into a relationship which wouldn't canonically happen) and expressions of emotion such as 'asdfghjkl' (internet speak for 'I don't know how to put my emotions into words so I'm just going to smash my face into the keyboard) are commonplace on a site like Tumblr. 'The feels' or 'I can't even' are also a Tumblrites way of expressing their emotions to other socially ambiguous users. 'asdfghjkl' has very similar roots as 'hnnng' which is when you find something very desirable but can't put it into words.

As we well know, any internet trend can become insanely popular very quickly. For example, 'The Dress', The Ice Bucket Challenge and 'Alex from Target' have all been trends on twitter, Tumblr and everywhere in-between for numerous weeks these past twelve months. Before that, YOLO was a thing that we now all regret and, as David Crystal puts it, "It spreads like wildfire".

Crystal also says "Language itself changes slowly but the internet has speeded up the process of those changes so you notice them more quickly." This has become evident on Tumblr in many ways. An example which is rather rare now because of the constant changes of internet language is the lack of the letter 'e' in words. Because you'd expect Tumblr to be spelt 'Tumbler', some users thought it would be funny to take the 'e' out of letters. Although this was when Tumblr was first starting out and you get threatened with being burnt at the stake now if you spell something wrong no matter how intentional it may or may not be.

Personally, I love that millions of people across the world can communicate with each other through these intricate words that nobody over the age of thirty understands. I love the intimacy that the language of Tumblr provides to express emotion without being too emotional. The abundance of puns on the internet that we all hate but secretly love. Finally, I love the way that language changes and when we are all over thirty, internet language will have changed completely and that we will be ridiculed for using such old language like we ridicule our parents today for their weird language. However, the one thing I don't like is abbreviations. Abbreviations can GTFO!