Number of Posts: 11
Posts 1 - 10
I can't be trusted with Google's texting app
Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 19.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Google, language threat, texting, word/writing, youth
Summary | Google's new Allo app is supposed to make you save time while you're texing, but it can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. The author of the article doesn't really like emojis and doesn't know how to use them well. She doesn't follow young people's digital habits. Their generation favors brevity, which can have a negative impact on language.
Image Description | Photograph of two young girls on their smartphones, two smartphones displaying chat conversations, and a man standing in front of a screen displaying "Allo" and "Duo".
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, text
Donald Trump Threatens Ted Cruz’s Wife, Eliciting Angry Retort
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 23.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | hashtags, misunderstanding, politics, Twitter
Summary | Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have started a public feud on Twitter over their spouses. Trump thinks that Cruz has used footage of Melania Trump modeling nude for GQ magazine in a commercial against Trump. Trump then threatened to reveal secrets about Heidi Cruz. It turned out the anti-Trump advertisement was not made or paid for by Cruz and Cruz shamed Trump via Twitter for threatening his wife with the hashtag #classless.
Image Description | Image of Ted Cruz speaking with his wife Heidi in the background.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)
What Happened to Who?
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | abbreviations, grammar, language threat, politics, Twitter
Summary | More and more politicians have begun replacing the relative pronoun "who" with "that" in sentences like ''people that come with a legal visa and overstay''. Although some dictionaries say this is an acceptable for, the New York Times' style sheet does not condone using "that" instead of "who". It denies the mentioned persons their humanity. This trend is unsurprising considering that our communication is increasingly happening on platforms like Twitter that only allow 140 characters so that we invent loads of abbreviations like "LOL" and "TTYL".
Image Description | Artwork copying Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and a few high-profile Tweets with spelling mistakes.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), Twitter
Die Frau, die ungewollt mit Emojis ein Haus mietete
(The woman who inadvertently rented a house with emojis)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 24.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, law, misunderstanding
Summary | The debate around whether emojis count as words or seriously meaningful content is very heated - not only in academics but also in law. The Oxford English dictionary only reheated that fire by choosing an emoji as word of the year. Multiple law cases have centered on misunderstandings around emoji use, most recently a case where a woman indicated interest in renting a house with emojis (flamenco dancer, dancer girls, squirrel, comet, a victory sign, and a bottle of Champagne). The house owner sued her for using misleading emojis after she decided not to rent the house after all.
Image Description | An image of a woman's hand holding a smartphone and picking out an emoji and a portrait of the Israely judge who worked on the emoji case.
Image Tags | emojis, female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone
Redes sociales en las primarias del PSOE: una competición desigual
(Social networks in the PSOE primaries: an uneven competition)
Newspaper | El País
Date | 21.5.2017
Language | Spanish
Country | Spain
Topic Tags | hashtags, politics, research/study, social media, Twitter
Summary | The PSOE candidates in Spain use social media differently in their campaign. Sánchez knows the language of social networks very well and knows how to use them. He is the most active candidate on social media. Lopez was the first one to have a Twitter account and uses the social network intensively. However, he doesn't use the network the same way Sanchez uses it. Díaz only posted 670 tweets and has 115000 followers. Moreover, her language is not actualized; she uses the at sign @ too much. A study analyzed the online community of the candidates. When Díaz started using the hashtag #100por100PSOE, some people started attacking and criticizing her using the same hashtag. There are also multiple analytical tools that show different statistics regarding the candidates and their online campaign.
Image Description | Screenshots of the three candidates' Twitter profiles, and five different charts/graphs related to the candidates and their online campaign
Image Tags | chart, female(s), male(s), Twitter
School apologises for 'slut-shaming' prom posters about 'appropriate' dresses suggesting women 'to blame' for rape
Newspaper | Mirror
Date | 31.3.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | gender, hashtags, school, social media, Twitter
Summary | A Florida school was widely criticized online after a student shared posters that were put up in the school depicting what appropriate women's prom dresses look like and what kind of dresses are inappropriate. These posters were labeled with "good girl". The outrage is around the mysoginist language (degrading women to girls) and the mere fact that women's styling of their bodies is strongly policed and tied to accountability in sexual harrassment cases. The internet responded with a hashtag on Twitter with many contributions and the school's administration has since apologized.
Image Description | Image of the school, the original tweet with the posters, then tweets with students wearing woman symbol t-shirts in protest.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), school, Twitter
SMS, tweets, e-mails... Et si on se parlait vraiment?
(SMS, tweets, emails...What if we really talked to each other?)
Newspaper | Le Figaro
Date | 27.1.2017
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, technology-free
Summary | Since we're always stuck to our screens, have we lost our conversational skills? Nonsense. Many people complain that new technologies have killed "real life" communication, and that emojis are replacing words. The author of the article claims that this trend is not true; nowadays people communicate a lot. Fanny Auger, director of the School of Life Paris, noticed that her class "How to have better conversations" is very popular. The focus is on finding inspiring and stimulating exchanges.
Image Description | Photograph of four young people drinking coffee, laughing, and looking at each other.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)
«Jpp», «wtf», «oklm»... maîtrisez-vous le parler jeune?
("Jpp", "wtf", "oklm"... do you master teenagers' language?)
Newspaper | Le Figaro
Date | 25.8.2016
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | abbreviations, language threat, texting, youth
Summary | Young people tend to use a lot of words and abbreviations that are unintelligible, according to many parents and professors. Their language is very creative and is influenced by our ancestors' language. Writer Stéphane Ribeiro claims that young people's language is a melting pot; it is a mix of American and historical expressions. Moreover, the language used by today's youth has been influenced by new technologies and the texting culture. It is not a threat to the French language; language is constantly changing and evolving
Image Description | Photograph of five young people looking happy, screenshots of two tweets depicting the use of abbreviations, and "Top Wesh" video.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), text, Twitter
'I don't think people are going to talk': Kanye West says everyone will communicate through emojis in the future as 'words get in the way'
Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 21.11.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat
Summary | Kanye West thinks that people won't talk anymore in the future; they will use other (visual) means such as signs, emojis, or body language.
Image Description | Photograph of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)
El reto lingüístico que tienen por delante los "nativos digitales"
(The linguistic challenge facing the "digital natives")
Newspaper | infobae
Date | 6.6.2014
Language | Spanish
Country | Argentina
Topic Tags | language threat, spelling, youth
Summary | The digital natives are running the risk of simplifying language and critical thinking too much, according to an international seminar where linguists, journalists, and social media experts met. Some of the experts regret the fact that linguistic normativity and unity might be in danger. Others are worried that the new generation might only know how to use digital technologies, which might lead to a simplification of language and critical thinking. This is why we need to inform future generations of the different registers they can use. Experts also talked about the role of journalists in the digital era.
Image Description | Three photographs: four young people using their phone, a woman (face cut off) using her phone, and a man (face cut off) using a tablet
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, tablet
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