Gretchen McCulloch
@gretchenmcc.bsky.social
24K followers 4.1K following 10K posts
Internet linguist. Wrote Because Internet, NYT bestseller about internet language. Co-hosts @lingthusiasm.bsky.social, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics. she/her 🌈 Montreal en/fr 🇨🇦 gretchenmcculloch.com
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gretchenmcc.bsky.social
Hello! I'm an internet linguist!

I wrote a book called Because Internet about how we use language online gretchenmcculloch.com/book

I make @lingthusiasm.bsky.social, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics

And I maintain a linguistics starter pack here: go.bsky.app/UUM7Gcx
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
me 20 years ago: dangit people keep misspelling my name, if only there was some sort of handy reference item that I could convince people to place in easy view, for example on a shelf on their desk
skleinedler.bsky.social
The best kind of fact-checking to make sure you’re spelling @gretchenmcc.bsky.social’s name right is just glancing up at the shelf on your desk
A selection of books: Out and Proud in Chicago, Gretchen McCullough’s Because Internet, Karen Yin’s The Conscious Style Guide, and CMOS 17
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
But that's just obviously true!
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
Sad to hear that! They've been running for so long!
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
How much do you distim the doshes?
What colour are your colourless ideas?
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
brb changing my birthday to November 26, aka world linguistics day
foone.bsky.social
signing up for the hot new linguistic dating site
A signup form for a dating site, showing two options under "I'm a" that are "Bouba" and "Kiki"
and below that, an "Interested In" section that has the options of "Boubas", "Kikis", "Both"
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

"I'm correcting your grammar"
stephenmcgann.uk
No fee, I'm afraid.
unenthusiast.com
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
not entirely related to your main point, which I've definitely also experienced, but that sounds like an interesting actual study if you happen to have the link handy
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
I have been waiting for this book since 2014 when Kory didn't even know she was writing it yet and it's still making me holler at the room
korystamper.bsky.social
Good morning, kids and people, today in book, we have a cover:

(Preorder this jawn at www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555914... and use the Bookshop link if you can!)
The book cover for my latest book, "True Color: The Strange and Spectacular History of Defining Color--from Azure to Zinc Pink." It's a tan ground with multicolored...folded-over cards, or windows with shades, or books that are kind of fanned open, or color chips (it's meant to be mysterious) in a 4x3 grid with the title and the author name (mine) between each row.
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
Honestly not sure how I'm going to stand it til 2026 when I get to talk with the rest of you about @korystamper.bsky.social's new book, it's KILLING ME OVER HERE
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
Higgledy piggledy
Timothée Chalamet
Has a name meriting
Endless design

Much like his forerunner
Benedict Cumberbatch:
Hexasyllabically,
Easy to rhyme
tweet from childish branzino @absflora:
timothée chalamet is the new benedict cumberbatch in the sense that you can say ANYTHING and we know who you mean. tiffany chevrolet. timpanogos charlemagne. symphony cabernet. jiminy castaway.
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
It's hard to explain, I do end up doing a lot of rhythmic thumping along of my hand on the table to test where the stressed syllables are while I'm trying out various versions of a line, but also some part of it from reading a lot of metered poetry aloud as a kid, like Dr Seuss and Shel Silverstein
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
iotasubscript.bsky.social
Today I learned that the French equivalent of German’s eierlegende Wollmilchsau (lit. egg-laying wool-milk-sow,” your special unicorn all-in-one solution) is the mouton à cinq pattes (the 5-legged sheep). I love languages.
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
This post has breached containment of "people who already know what a double dactyl is" so here's a handy link to the comic verse style that I was writing in, it's like the limerick's more sophisticated and tricky cousin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_...
Double dactyl - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
Today's your lucky day, you get to learn about the existence of the verse form known as the double dactyl, which is what I was writing here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_...
Double dactyl - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
Today's your lucky day, you get to learn about the verse form called a double dactyl, which has its own very specific constraints that I was following en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_...
Double dactyl - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
okay weird flex but I swear this is the second time someone on here has written me a double dactyl and now I cannot for the life of me FIND the first one, so I'm retweeting this with much better keywords so I have a hope of finding it again
pnh.nielsenhayden.com
Winsocket spinsocket
Gretchen McCulloch, a
Linguist and podcaster
(Double the threat)

Showed us how online chat
Idiomatically
Makes us talk different be-
cause Internet.
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
Anyway I wrote an article back in 2013 analyzing permutations on Benedict Cumberbatch which you may read and sub in Timothée Chalamet should you so desire
web.archive.org/web/20250322...
A Linguist Explains the Rules of Summoning Benedict Cumberbatch -The Toast
A willing foe, and sea room.
web.archive.org
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
Oh I'm a huge double dactyl fan
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
thank you I'm a scansion nerd from way back
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
I wrote it on twitter a few years ago in response to the same tweet and when it came up again I had to rescue it over here