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why typing like this is sometimes okay.

Tom Scott · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Language & linguisticsInternet culture & memes

What it is

Tom Scott makes a short descriptivist argument that language keeps changing and that casual internet writing conventions, like lowercase typing and dropped full stops, are legitimate. It is part of his Language Files series, written with Gretchen McCulloch.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters cite it in discussions of punctuation, tone and emoji in chat as a short intro to how internet writing norms developed.

  • 1 people recommended it
  • 1 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “Tom Scott has a nice intro video about this”

    Intro to how generations of internet users developed casual writing conventions.

    cuddlybacon, 2020-10 · Recommendation · in “A case for using punctuation in Slack”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: descriptivism, punctuation, informal writing, language change, tom scott

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