An odd writing style is a defining feature of the cyberpunk genre according to the canonical cyberpunk anthology "Mirror Shades" (edited by Bruce Sterling). Ste

An odd writing style is a defining feature of the cyberpunk genre according to the canonical cyberpunk anthology "Mirror Shades" (edited by Bruce Sterling). Stephenson actually mentions the anthology in the interview. Snow Crash is relatively tame compared to some books by Williamson and Sterling. I think the idea is that you wouldn't understand everything either if you were actually transported into the future: there would be a ton of new terminologies, unfamiliar concepts, and a changed culture that takes different things to be a matter of course.