Much has been said on the irregularities of grammar and punctuation online, not to mention the multitude of neologisms—new words coined—that come and go. But those of us who do more serious writing online (whether professionally or as a hobby) know that context- and target-audience appropriate text is still vital. Emmy J. Favilla’s new book A World Without “Whom”: The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age explains what kinds of things need to be taken into consideration. Should you write about “blacks” or “African-Americans”? If something doesn’t have a word, can you invent one? What if there is a word but no agreed-upon spelling? Will your audience care?
Answering questions like these is what Favilla does for her living. Copy Chief at BuzzFeed and creator of the BuzzFeed style guide, she makes sure that texts published by the media giant adheres to the rules of good English and good judgment. Now, why should we have a world without whom, the innocent-enough objective case of who? Clarity is key, Favilla argues, and whom is no longer used in casual conversation, nor is it necessary for a sentence to make sense. “It’s a fact. […] I see whom going the way of shall—phased out for the most part, and used only to evoke a sense of mocking fanciness” (page 151). Besides, too often people do not even know how to use it and end up misusing it anyway.
Here are three topics (out of many more) that Ms. Favilla comments on especially:
1. Why Spelling and Grammar Matter
It is universally known that BuzzFeed caters towards a younger demographic. Partly because of this, partly because internet, the official BuzzFeed style guide must list rules and guidelines about things you’d never find in a dusty dictionary, let alone in your school English book. For instance, should you write protip, pro-tip or pro tip? BuzzFeed style guide lists the separated, un-hyphenated form, pro tip, but opts for sideboob in favour of side-boob or side boob. Who has the time to think about these silly things, you ask. Somebody has to (and is getting paid to do so), because even though a word does not yet exist in the Oxford Dictionary of English, a systematic spelling rule increases clarity and authority. Sometimes spelling can save space and make things neater (U.K vs UK, or R.I.P. vs RIP, BuzzFeed doesn’t like the periods), sometimes it affects comprehension (when you react on Facebook with a thumbs-up, you have Liked the post; when reacting with the angry face, you have Angry’ed, not Angryed or Angried). Write the way you want, as long as you are clear and systematic.
2. How to Not Be a Jerk
(“How to Not Be a Jerk” is actually the title of Chapter 4.) BuzzFeed, Favilla explains, has a diverse readership, which makes it important to use language that is considerate towards e.g. a person’s ethnicity, gender identity or ability. For example, with disabled people a group of people is defined entirely by their ability, whereas the preferred people with disabilities emphasizes the personhood of the people in question. Moreover, BuzzFeed’s style guide recommends avoiding phrases like real women or regular women. “Real as opposed to…the female-identifying cyborgs who’ve covertly integrated themselves into our general population?” (p.78). Some people are getting tired of “political correctness”, but sometimes there’s no harm in choosing your words a bit more carefully. Importantly especially in the shadow of the #MeToo-campaign, the word accuser implies blame placed on victim and words like claim or alleged place doubt on the story. Authors should thus opt for neutral words like said for allege or claim and simply man/woman/girl/boy for alleged victim or accuser.
3. The Internet is a Fun/Weird Place
From phrases like break the internet to I can’t even, from the use of tildes to indicate ~irony~ to the use of doggo and smol instead of the perfectly acceptable dog and small, Favilla’s list of internet vocabulary is one of the book’s most entertaining and most cringey (in a good way) parts. The sections that delve on internet language are not intended as comprehensive and may unfortunately not age very well during the upcoming years (internet language change fasts). I feel like in a few years this book will need a second revised edition to keep its topics up to date. I mean, in 2022, will we still be doing Doge-speak edits (are we still doing that even in 2018?). Besides, the book will need to be updated with the latest crazy.
The book is humorous and lighthearted, thus an easy read even for people not invested in the study of language (although general familiarity with internet language is recommended). For true linguists or journalists, the book might even prove too lean in substance. The author presents her opinions in a straightforward but always subjective manner: these guidelines are what she does in her life and for BuzzFeed. More than once she adds the disclaimer “but you do you”, as a true descriptivist (a linguist who does not enforce grammar rules, merely describes what language actually does). This attitude is refreshing as you get to decide for yourself whether you want to abandon whom. On the other hand, it can also leave you wondering what’s the point of writing a 370-page-long essay that boils down to everybody writing the way they want as long a it’s understandable to others. But, for one thing, this book is not a guide for your writing specifically, it is a discussion about the style guide for BuzzFeed. And above all, its purpose is to encourage you to enjoy language, to explore it through your own creativity.
Emmy J. Favilla’s A World Without “Whom”: The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age (2017) is published by Bloomsbury, but the Buzzfeed Style Guide itself is available online.