4 ms·

I'm not an linguist but I got a feeling that 1337 speak wasn't created in last 15 years. Also it seems that the author got the historical parallel wrong because

I'm not an linguist but I got a feeling that 1337 speak wasn't created in last 15 years. Also it seems that the author got the historical parallel wrong because there's nothing puzzling about the complete phrase "Chapter IV In Which Our Protagonist Meets A Dashing Strange".

mytochar 12y ago
Often people separate the first half of that, though. Chapter IV, titled, "In Which Our Protagonist Meets A Dashing Strange." is how I imagine many read that, especially when Chapter IV is in big letters, or even without the word "Chapter", like a title, with the rest of it in what would be recognized as a subtitle.
- icebraining 12y ago
  "In which (something happens)" was a common form when chapter titles were descriptions of the events in it, so it's fair to assume it was meant to refer to the chapter itself. Later works often lampooned and subverted those tropes, of course. http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/chapter-history http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/chapter-history
- tomjen3 12y ago
  That makes more sense. I mean this is kind of a long chapter title, otherwise: >Oliver Becomes Better Acquainted with the Characters of His New Associates; and Purchases Experience at a High Price. Being a Short, but Very Important Chapter, in this History That said I always kinda loved that way of writing.
vatys 12y ago
Sure, Hackers came out in 1995. That's 20 years ago. And after that movie came out, if not before, using 1337 speak online was already a joke. But the article did make the distinction that this is about the "mainstream internet". I kind of agree, but not completely. > For the first fifteen years of the mainstream Internet, the main way language changed was at the level of the individual word. I guess the argument there is if the impact was solely on vocabulary at first, and is now starting to change grammar. I think an earlier example of internet grammar would be verbing a noun. It is certainly not unique to the internet, but I remember it being common online in the 90s. It struck me back then as a shift in language that was spreading more quickly online than offline.

mytochar 12y ago

Often people separate the first half of that, though. Chapter IV, titled, "In Which Our Protagonist Meets A Dashing Strange." is how I imagine many read that, especially when Chapter IV is in big letters, or even without the word "Chapter", like a title, with the rest of it in what would be recognized as a subtitle.

icebraining 12y ago
"In which (something happens)" was a common form when chapter titles were descriptions of the events in it, so it's fair to assume it was meant to refer to the chapter itself. Later works often lampooned and subverted those tropes, of course. http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/chapter-history http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/chapter-history
tomjen3 12y ago
That makes more sense. I mean this is kind of a long chapter title, otherwise: >Oliver Becomes Better Acquainted with the Characters of His New Associates; and Purchases Experience at a High Price. Being a Short, but Very Important Chapter, in this History That said I always kinda loved that way of writing.

vatys 12y ago

Sure, Hackers came out in 1995. That's 20 years ago. And after that movie came out, if not before, using 1337 speak online was already a joke. But the article did make the distinction that this is about the "mainstream internet". I kind of agree, but not completely. > For the first fifteen years of the mainstream Internet, the main way language changed was at the level of the individual word. I guess the argument there is if the impact was solely on vocabulary at first, and is now starting to change grammar. I think an earlier example of internet grammar would be verbing a noun. It is certainly not unique to the internet, but I remember it being common online in the 90s. It struck me back then as a shift in language that was spreading more quickly online than offline.