Reading The Internet

All over the internet, there are different types of people that find each other and form communities for a number of different reasons. In the video presented by The Idea Channel, they argue that these different parts of the internet have their own dialects. This can be easily presented in the analogy they use, for example, if the internet was the United States of America, these different internet communities could be seen as the different regions of the United States. Southern women from Mississippi speak much differently than the 40-year-old Italian man from the Bronx. While on the internet these differences in dialects can be much more pronounced/confusing, it really is the same idea. For, it is not just an accent which is simply just a change in the pronunciation of words, but also word choice, vocabulary, and how different words are used in context.

There is also then a standard use of "Internet English" which is used by internet using English speakers. This is characterized by certain phrases such as "OMG", "OMW", or "TBH". Emojis and emoticons also fall under this broad category of "Internet English" that is understood by everyone. This can be compared to the general type of English speaking with no accent or pronunciation changes, which is often used by newscasters for example.

Once, here then we dive deeper into niche communities that exist on the internet, where we will find some of these different dialects. Below I have showcased and described three of the communities on the internet that I am a part of that definitely have a specific type of dialect that goes along with them.

Educational Community

The educational internet community shares much of the same dialect. I am not talking about the very niche areas of the community such as doctors lecturing med school students with a very specific type of jargon. I am talking about those massive YouTube channels with millions of subscribers that talk about anything and everything under the sun, such as The Infographics Show or The PBS Idea Channel that we watch in class. They all seem to follow a very similar language pattern that consists of the following: short, concise, animated, very precise diction, slightly elevated vocabulary, emphasis on the key words. It does not seem to matter where the YouTuber is from, if they run a channel like this they almost all seem to talk the same way. The visual aesthetics are almost always colorful, but simple. I think this is to keep the view intrigued, but not to overwhelm them, as they are trying to learn something. The values of this community are largely the same in that the creators, simply just want to educated people about a myriad of topics, maybe they are curious themselves and just decide to share it with others in order to monetize their personal interests.

Hockey Community

Hockey talk has been apart of the game for many years, it was really only a matter of time before it transcended from the ice to the internet. It is characterized by hockey slang words such as "biscuit"-puck, "apple"-assist, "tendy"-goalie. When you speak in person with someone that is familiar with hockey or at least this part of the internet, it does not matter if you are from Nova Scotia or Atlanta, Georgia, it will sound is if you have a Minnesotan or Canadian accent. An example of this would be would be including adlibs such as "bud?" or "eh?" in your sentences. I relate to the community having played hockey and still currently keeping up with the NHL. Visual rhetoric has had a big impact on this space, with many popular YouTubers outside of the hockey space actually being hockey players, they have grown the hockey community in the internet, and in turn the dialect that goes on with being in this internet community. One question i do have though, is despite me speaking this on a daily basis and A LOT of people having absolutely no idea what is coming out of my mouth, is that where did this form of speaking/dialect originate from and why do other sports not have it.

Gaming Community

To shift a little bit from the other two internet communities I am a part of. We now arrive at the gaming community, by far one of the most toxic online spaces there is. I will start by saying it does depend on the game you are playing, but the games I play aside from NHL22 have extremely toxic online communities such as Call of Duty, Valorant, and League of Legends. Many of the games have similar slang that exists across all the games and platform such as "sweat"-very good player that is trying so hard he is sweating, "AFK"-away from keyboard, and "Boss"-hard part of the game usually at the end of a level or the entire game. Everyone in this community, including myself simply just shares a love for videogames. But, much of it has turned into horrible toxicity including comments regarding suicide, some of the most racist things I have ever heard, and it might be the most sexist space on the internet. I think this is due to the wide variety of people that are in space considering ages, gender, ethnicity, etc. and the anonymity behind the compute screen.

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