
The complete abandonment of spelling and grammatical rules in favor of finding jokes in intentional errors is a growing trend online. I call it English-ish.
My biggest Internet obsession these days is the Twitter feed of @Seinfeld2000, which sets Seinfeld in the modern day and sarcastically describes possible episode plots. The idea of pitching modern' Seinfeld plots on Twitter is not unique to the feed, in fact Seinfeld2000 is a parody of another Twitter feed called @SeinfeldToday. Seinfeld Today came up with the whole concept of 140 character modernist Seinfeld plots, and it has thirty times more followers to show for the invention.
To see the difference between the two Twitter feeds -- the parody and the parody of the parody -- here are some typical @SeinfeldToday tweets:
Jerrys gf constantly says "hashtag." George gets a job as a "social media expert." "Its great, Jerry. You dont need to know anything!"
Modern Seinfeld (@SeinfeldToday) March 3, 2013 Elaine tries to build an Ikea dresser alone. E:"How hard can it be? Its just furniture." J:"With that attitude? I dont like your chances."
Modern Seinfeld (@SeinfeldToday) April 15, 2013 George keeps using his exs Netflix because the suggestions are finally perfect for him. "I cant start over. This thing knows me, Jerry!"
Modern Seinfeld (@SeinfeldToday) February 15, 2013 And here are some typical tweets from @Seinfeld2000:
Jerry use Internet and Elaine start using Internet
Seinfeld Current Day (@Seinfeld2000) January 12, 2013 Elane set herself on fire while trying to twerk LOL all you want but thats how her caracter dies
Seinfeld Current Day (@Seinfeld2000) September 6, 2013 Full one hour epsoad Jarry runs Norton Antivirus to remove virus fron his PC
Seinfeld Current Day (@Seinfeld2000) January 27, 2013 Whereas one of SeinfeldToday's creators now writes for Fox, the studio powers have showed Seinfeld2000 nothing but hostility. Warner Brothers requested that Seinfeld2000's anonymous creator (known only to be 30 and male) stop selling his recently penned novel due to a copyright infringement. Soon after, Gawker (never one to miss a chance mocking the epic fails of the the mainstream media) re-posted the novel, and to much praise from the New York creative community. Heres a particularly salient excerpt from the novel, titled The Apple Store, which features a Tim Burton-esque version of Barack Obama as a main character:
"U.S. Presedent Barack Sadam Husene Obame sit in the darkened Oval Ofice at 2 a.m. wearing hes traditienel Kenyan robe.
He take one last bite of the Chicago style deep dish pizza that he has flown to him every day on the Amerecan tax payers dime and wipe the grease off his mouth with the U.S. consititutien.
"Eeny, meeny, miney, mo which basic U.S. freedoms are next to go?" he say aloud to no one and every one at the same time.
Then he flash that trade mark Bary Obame million doller grin as a crack of lightning sound in the distance."
Rereading that passage a few times makes it fast apparent how much less funny all of the gags would be if the sentences were properly structured and the spelling corrected. The playful undertone of a youth in revolt commenting on, among things, some of the popular misbeliefs about our president would be nowhere near as piquant.
English-ish is bigger than lolspeak, it's not tethered to a cat.
This complete abandonment of grammatical rules in favor of finding jokes in broken flows, twisted enunciations, and other intentional errors is something that I've been noticing more and more online. I am yet to find any linguistic description of whats really going on, so I'm going to call it "English-ish."
The origins of English-ish (perhaps this term should not be capitalized, as an homage to its cacophonous roots?) do seem to be in Internet comedy subculture, specifically lolspeak and lolcats. Wikipedia describes lolcats as combining a photograph of a cat with text intended to contribute humor. The text is often idiosyncratic and grammatically incorrect.'
Lolcats and the weblog "I Can Has Cheezburger?" transformed the Internet shorthand that originated more than two decades ago in chat rooms and T9 text into something different, and something more meaningful: LOL went from being just an acronym for laughing out loud to becoming a word unto itself, one thats pronouced "loll. Theres strong onomatopoeia to "loll," it just sounds funny in sort of a laughable, lazy, impersonal-yet-communal kind of way, a word perfectly engineered for the Internet. Lol feels like some form of Internet umami.
These lingual manipulations, as they appeared in I Can Has Cheezburger?" and other places, were at first largely relegated to anthropomorphizing the supposed internal monologues of our pets. After all, animals cant speak English, so of course if a cat somehow found its way to the keyboard and typed up its thoughts, of course its grammar should come off slightly mauled.
Lauren Gawne and Jill Vaughan from the Australian Linguistics Society explain that people gravitate toward lolspeak because it builds up two identities simultaneously: cat and Internet-savvy person.
I can has language play: Construction of Language and Identity in LOLspeak from Lauren Gawne on Vimeo.
This solidifies lolspeak as a fascinating storytelling tool, a way to create more complex characters and narratives that reflect the modern world in multiple dimensions.
English-ish is bigger than lolspeak, it's not tethered to a cat. Its a broader emotional reaction to the world in which we live. The Apple Store's Bary Obame character, which combines President Obama, Internet subculture, left-leaning political ideology and gleeful absurdity seems far too complex for the constraints of grammar.
I don't think english-ish is ever going away, it's far too funny of a s
Most recent headlines
13/03/2025
Every time airborne law enforcement (ALE) teams fly, they expect their equipment to perform. Whether airborne units are conducting support for ground teams, bor...
13/03/2025
Sunday February 9 saw the annual return of the US' biggest television event, the Super Bowl LIX. Jamie McCombs, Fox Sports Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio capt...
13/03/2025
On Sunday March 2, stars across the film industry gathered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 97th Academy Awards. Production Sound Mixer Paul Sandweis...
13/03/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications will feature its new StageLink family of smart edge devices, Smart Audio and Mixing Engine (SAME) and Virtual Smart Pan...
13/03/2025
TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...
13/03/2025
DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...
13/03/2025
FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...
13/03/2025
CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...
13/03/2025
he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...
13/03/2025
MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...
13/03/2025
Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...
13/03/2025
WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...
13/03/2025
SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...
13/03/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...
13/03/2025
TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...
13/03/2025
Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions.
...
13/03/2025
We asked the questions, analysed the answers and now we're excited to share the results of the fifth edition of the ICG Marketing Survey.
Our 2025 survey p...
13/03/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 13, 2025 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a breakthrough in video streaming innovation with the launch of new origin capabilitie...
13/03/2025
Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025
Haivision's video wall systems, ISR technology, and DoDIN APL-certified video distri...
13/03/2025
Company Leads the Way with New Software-Based Production Platform, 12G Switcher,...
13/03/2025
A new Apple Immersive concert experience, Metallica, is coming to Apple Vision Pro this Friday, March 14. Filmed in Mexico City during the sold-out second-year ...
13/03/2025
Here is your host, Patrick Kielty!
Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...
13/03/2025
This St. Patrick's weekend, RT invites you to celebrate all things Irish, showcasing the very best of Irish sport, entertainment and live coverage from the...
13/03/2025
What's next in AI is at GTC 2025. Not only the technology, but the people and ideas that are pushing AI forward - creating new opportunities, novel solution...
13/03/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...
13/03/2025
Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library.
Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...
13/03/2025
AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...
13/03/2025
PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...
12/03/2025
O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...
12/03/2025
Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...
12/03/2025
Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...
12/03/2025
Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...
12/03/2025
More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report
NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...
12/03/2025
GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...
12/03/2025
BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....
12/03/2025
LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...
12/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....
12/03/2025
Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
High-capacity switch enhances existi...
12/03/2025
DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
Feature film relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for ...
12/03/2025
SVT Leverages Ateliere Live to Pioneer 100% Software-Defined Production at Rally...
12/03/2025
Berklee Awards Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant to Four Organizations A total of $17,000 will be distributed among the Boston-based nonprofits.
By
Madd...
12/03/2025
TVBEuropes Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a you...
12/03/2025
The new process has significantly enhanced operational efficiencies, with automation freeing up creators to concentrate on higher value tasks
By Matthew Corrig...
12/03/2025
Jellyfish Pictures, which has offices in London and Sheffield, said it has been battling hard in the face of strong headwinds over the last 12 months
By Jenny ...
12/03/2025
Visit Booth #W2213 to Experience the Latest in AI-Driven Content Discovery and Workflow Automation
Bitcentral, a leader in media workflow solutions, is set to ...
12/03/2025
CHICAGO Jeff Lilly has been named WGN-TV director of technology effective March 17, 2025, according to Ric Harris, WGN-TV vice president and general manager....
12/03/2025
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. A new study from LG Ad Solutions indicates that consumers want more features that would allow them to shop for products on the connected T...
12/03/2025
BOTHELL, Wash. The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the Video Services Forum (VSF) will once again present...
12/03/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast announced that it has upgraded Xfinity Internet speeds for more than 20 million customers for no additional cost....
12/03/2025
Create with Maxon: Cinema 4D Fundamentals Workshop - March 12-14
Brie Clayton March 11, 2025
0 Comments
Makin' Waffles with Elly Wade
During Marc...