“I better make sure my texts to you have perfect grammar!” This is a surprisingly common joke I get when I make a new friend and reveal what I do for a living. The fear that all writers are constantly policing other people’s grammar is even more prevalent in the Internet age, when overly strict commenters can bring a conversation to a grinding halt by harping on a “could care less/couldn’t care less” mix-up. I’m not without my own nitpicks (the use of “weary” when “wary” or “leery” is meant is really my only pet peeve), but minor grammar or word choice mistakes in informal communication don’t need policing. Moreover, some uses of misspellings, word omission, and broken grammar can be purposeful to communicate nuance, as seen in texting, memes, and social media. In fact, slang and Internet language are actually signs of English’s flexibility and evolution.
Don’t get me wrong – I will make sure your writing project has the correct uses of “your” and “you’re,” “there,” “their,” and “they’re,” and even the troublesome “you and I”/”you and me.” However, depending on your topic, goals, and voice, the use of slang, meme speak, and even unique punctuation can add layers of meaning to a project, especially if it echoes your style. There’s a time and a place for this kind of linguistic freedom, but that is, in and of itself, my point – there are situations in which it can be useful to take advantage of the latest evolutions in the English language.
Make no mistake, this is evolution, not devolution. Meme language and trends do follow their own internal logic. Take this breakdown of the doge meme that was popular circa 2013-2014. While several factors go into the meme’s formation, linguist Gretchen McCulloch homes in on selectional restriction as key: “Put simply, certain words go well with some words, and other words go well with others, and when you don’t obey that, things get weird.” The goal of doge is to cultivate this weirdness by being ungrammatical in very specific ways, pairing a modifier like “such” with a word like “noble,” instead of the more comprehensible modifier “very.” Thus, a doge meme contains phrases like “such noble,” “much cool,” and “very wow.”
A famous example of incorrect use of doge was Representative Steve Stockman’s attempt to employ it for political reasons, tweeting out a picture of Senator John Cornyn overlaid with phrases in doge’s trademark, brightly-colored Comic Sans. However, the phrases are too grammatical, entirely lacking doge’s crucial pairing of modifiers with unusual words, resulting in “oppose Ted Cruz” and “kill GOP filibuster.” This demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how doge plays with grammar and syntax to produce a pleasant cognitive dissonance. Much embarrass. Very cringe.
The doge example highlights that meme speak is not only bound by linguistic rules (instead of being a mere product of bad writing or laziness), but also potentially a powerful rhetorical tool. Politicians, businesses, or public figures who use Internet language incorrectly end up looking out of touch. Use it correctly and in the right situation, and they can come across as playful, authentic, and relevant.
Yet some writers, grammarians, and traditionalists bemoan the changes in language as a sign of English’s imminent demise, dismissing slang and memes as signs that we’re “dumbing it down.” However, as doge shows, proper use of meme speak requires an intuitive awareness of how correct English functions, how a meme functions, and how to layer new meaning onto an existing meme. In short, this is a complex method of communication.
The effects are already being felt in standard English, most notably in the use of the word “because.” While previously treated as only a conjunction, combining two thoughts, it’s now been reclassified to also function as a preposition. Why? Because Internet. You’ve undoubtedly seen this use of the word if you’ve spent any time on social media. “I’m doing this because reasons.” “Why am I late? Because YouTube.” While the prepositional-because was created largely to sound funny and maybe a bit flippant, its usage was popularized because it streamlines sentences while still retaining meaning. We don’t need “of” sandwiched between two words to understand “because reasons.” This is how any language evolves – by eliminating unnecessary or extraneous words to make communicating more efficient.
What does this have to do with ghostwriting? A lot. Writers should be attuned to these changes in language to stay relevant and remain open to more unusual, unique, and flexible communication options for clients. Internet slang doesn’t have a place in a serious business speech or literary-minded fiction, but it might add a relatable edge to blogs, writing targeted at younger demographics, or even toasts.
So feel free to use memes, slang, abbreviations, or ironic ungrammatical speaking when talking to all of us here at Trellis! We need to learn what your voice sounds like, including your voice online and in written communication. If you’re a frequent employer of deliberate misspellings like “wut,” communicate upspeak with question marks, or like nuanced variations in case and punctation, we need to know. We can work with that. Because language’s purpose is to communicate ideas, and any additional tool to make that communication clearer is worth using.