Gretchen McCulloch () is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

. On her blog, as well as her podcast ''Lingthusiasm'' (which she cohosts with Lauren Gawne) she offers linguistic analysis of online communication such as

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...

and

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...

. She writes regularly for ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' and previously did so for ''

The Toast ''The Toast'' was an American anthology, humor and feminist writing website, founded by editors Nicole Cliffe and Daniel M. Lavery (né Ortberg) and publisher Nicholas Pavich. It was active from January 2013 through July 2016. Content and ta ...

''. In 2019, she published a book on

internet linguistics Internet linguistics is a domain of linguistics advocated by the English linguist David Crystal. It studies new language styles and forms that have arisen under the influence of the Internet and of other new media, such as Short Message Service ...

, '' Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language''.

Education

McCulloch obtained a master's degree in linguistics at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Work

McCulloch's writing online focuses on

. Her blog, which is titled "All Things Linguistic," posts or reposts content most weekdays. In it, she regularly discusses trends in use of English words, phrases and emoji in online communications as well as offering analysis of language form used in internet communications. She was a resident writer on linguistics at feminist website ''

'', where in 2014 she wrote an article analyzing the grammar of the

doge Doge, DoGE or DOGE may refer to: Internet culture * Doge (meme), an Internet meme primarily associated with the Shiba Inu dog breed ** Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency named after the meme ** Kabosu (dog), the dog portrayed in the original Doge image ...

meme. This article received coverage on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, where McCulloch was interviewed on the subject by Evan Davis. In 2019, McCulloch's first book, '' Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language'', was published by

Riverhead Books Riverhead Books is an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) founded in 1994 by Susan Petersen Kennedy. Writers published by Riverhead include Ali Sethi, Marlon James, Junot Díaz, George Saunders, Khaled Hosseini, Nick Hornby, Anne Lamott, Carl ...

. The book explores the history of online communication in English and the linguistic trends that have emerged within it over the years, as well as the effect such communication might have on the English language as a whole. The book received critical acclaim from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and soon after the publication appeared on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. It also received positive reviews on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. She has worked with

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

presenters: she collaborated with Tom Scott on the "Language Files" videos on his channel, and was one of the producers on the linguistics series for Crash Course. In 2021, McCulloch received the Linguistics, Language and the Public Award from the Linguistics Society of America.

In popular culture

McCulloch was featured in the ''

xkcd ''xkcd'' is a serial webcomic created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe. Sometimes styled ''XKCD'', the comic's tagline describes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language". Munroe states on the comic's website that the ...

'' webcomic on 4 November 2020, commenting on the etymology, going back to Indo-European roots, for words meaning . On November 16, 2020, McCulloch wrote out the lyrics on Twitter to a parody of the song Jolene called "Vaccine", in response to news that

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

had contributed 1 million dollars toward the development of one of the most promising COVID-19 vaccines. The song was recorded by Ryan Cordell, an English professor at Northeastern University.

References

External links

*
All Things Linguistic

Gretchen McCulloch on Wiredlingthusiasm
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCulloch, Gretchen Linguists from Canada Internet culture Canadian women linguists 21st-century linguists Year of birth missing (living people) McGill University alumni Canadian women non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Living people Canadian podcasters Canadian women podcasters Canadian women bloggers Canadian bloggers Wired (magazine) people