To whom it may concern

A WORLD WITHOUT WHOM: The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age 
 

Emmy J Favilla
 

Bloomsbury
 

392 pages, Rs 599

By asking me to review this book, this newspaper’s books editor has taken a leap up the ranking of dark minds. And that has as much to do with the book as the reviewer.

This reviewer spent an age in the newsrooms of newspapers — mostly this one, just like the books editor — and magazines at a time when production value was considered paramount. When mixing metaphors was worse than pairing a brown belt with black shoes. When it was believed that the best editors are born on the copydesk. If the word “anal” was whispered behind your back, it meant you had earned the respect of your colleagues.

That was before journalism started its bid to win the battle of the digital, and attention to detail became collateral damage. In this battle, BuzzFeed has been one of the antagonists, its most potent weapon being listicles (“12 Reasons Why Sam, The Cat With Eyebrows, Should Be Your New Favourite Cat”) and a style of writing derived from speech that is said to be popular among the young.

The rot runs so deep that when BuzzFeed entered the United Kingdom, its rival, Vice, did a story titled “The 13 Shittiest Buzzfeed Lists”. That’s two sins in one headline: the unparliamentary “Shittiest” and the lowercase “F” in BuzzFeed’s name.

Long story short, giving me this book to review was nothing short of inflicting agony. Four pages into it, I picked up a pen and started to edit it without realising I was doing it. Chapter 2 begins thus: “There is no such thing as correct style. And sometimes there’s no such thing as correct spelling.”

O tempora! O mores!

The chapter continues to rub it in: “But if you prefer your grammar rules packaged neatly in a little box filled with etchings in stone rather than as wads of Silly Putty, you may be moved to tears — and possibly violence — as you attempt to get through these pages in one piece”.

Violence is ruled out, since I have filial responsibilities. But who can hold back the tears at this? To rub irony into the wounds, this chapter is titled: “Language Is Alive”.

And yet, it was difficult to tear myself away from the book. The digital language, as spawned by BuzzFeed, Vice, and their ilk, is here to stay. And it is growing faster than ever, thanks to social media, which makes people talk more than ever before. It is fascinating to understand how the Internet language came about.

BuzzFeed’s, says Emmy J Favilla, came mostly from her. That’s easy to believe. In this book, if she has to emphasise a thing, she uses “literally”. For added emphasis, she uses “literally” twice as consecutive words, first in italics and then in parentheses. You’ll also find a bit of “lol”.

Ms Favilla was the first copy editor BuzzFeed hired, back in 2012, and rose to become its global copy chief. She created its Style Guide — if you can call it that — the code all copies have to live up to for consistency and accuracy. Except that Ms Favilla is not a believer in codes governing languages. “How can anyone in good conscience create blanket rules for something as fluid, as personal, and as alive as language?”

True that, but didn’t languages first begin when human beings codified a set of sounds and symbols? Without a code, we would still be growling and nuzzling. And sure, languages are — ought to be — fluid and evolving. After all, someone would have made up etymologicon when it was first used. Shakespeare is believed have invented 1,700 words. John Milton made up several of his own. 

However, this is a right that must be earned. Othello and Paradise Lost are not listicles about cat characteristics. And it will help to first know the grammar before taking liberties with it. You must know that “such as” is not the same as “like” before you can substitute one for the other where it may be possible. As Hollywood folklore says, Cary Grant, for his famous funny gig in Indiscreet (1958) learned the dance so he could do it wrong.

To clarify, my quibble is with the language of digital outfits, not with the book. The book is a fascinating insight into how this language came to be. That too from someone who played a part in it.

It is a significant language. The BuzzFeed Style Guide, when made public in 2014, drew widespread media interest, and not much derision. The Guardian of the United Kingdom, whose own Style Guide has been around since 1928, fell into the listicle trap to run a story titled: “15 reasons to love BuzzFeed’s style guide”.

There is a silver lining, though. “Face it: You hate whom,” says Ms Favilla, Actually, I don’t. And several people who saw the book in my hand did not ask what this word in the title meant; they merely thought the title was incomplete.

Maybe, just maybe, the last word on the evolution of the language of the Internet has not yet been written. That it remains fluid, personal, and alive, and will at some point click into place. Meantime, if you want to comment on this review, please do not say:“Daz wt i tht”.
 

@suveensinha