• Internet slang. We used to make an effort to avoid this, and now I see us all falling back into the habit. We want to sound like regular adult human beings, not Buzzfeed writers or Reddit commenters. Therefore: No “epic.” No “pwn.” No “+1.” No “derp.” No “this”/”this just happened.” No “OMG.” No “WTF.” No “lulz.” No “FTW.” No “win.” No “amazeballs.” And so on. Nothing will ever “win the internet” on Gawker. As with all rules there are exceptions. Err on the side of the Times, not XOJane.Poynter
• The word “massive.” Is never to appear on the website Gawker dot com. (read the whole thing)
Friday, April 4, 2014
Gawker bans ‘Internet slang’
“We want to sound like regular adult human beings, not Buzzfeed writers or Reddit commenters,” new Gawker Editor Max Read says in a memo to the publication’s writers. Words like “epic,” “pwn” and “derp” are no longer welcome on the site. Read also says the word “massive” is “never to appear on the website Gawker dot com.”...
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9 comments:
NFW!
Can we say "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot"?
Ha! His handy list of substitutions for "massive" reminded me an email I shot off to a cake show on Foodnetwork. The whole crew is locked onto the word "awesome" and it's obnoxious for every team member to say awesome at least once reliably every single episode and others at least three times per episode. Episodes back to back, intolerable.
So I wrote, "odd, all the creativity goes into cakes so none is left for language.
But that true with the entire catchphrase-addled Foodnetwork.
I used to know a guy who only seemed to use the word awsome for everything.
Even the Times isn't what it was - they've started putting booze ads on their physical-media front pages. There was a large ad for Bulleit Frontier under the fold on a copy my boss left on a table outside his office this morning.
The problem with "awesome" is that there just is no better word to express the feeling of being awesomated, especially if you speak Californian.
Fridays are awesome!
I challenge you to express that same combination of excitement, amazement and slightly dirty approval with a single other word. If something needs garlic, or salt, or ketchup, you don't just use something else to change it up.
I recently had a wonderful, long conversation with my eighty-something aunt and was charmed by her frequent use of 'awesome.'
Sounds like something I'd do if I were the Editor at Large and had the power of G_d.
One thing that would go on my list would be "moving forward" at the end of a sentence. Just... no.
We want to sound like regular adult human beings...
Which didn't specifically cover the pseudo intimacies of cute nicks, but did briefly (in keeping with the underwear theme) mention no "win".
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