science

Gretchen McCulloch

Gretchen McCulloch is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gretchen McCulloch rather than just read about it. In short: Gretchen McCulloch () is a Canadian linguist. On her blog, as well as her podcast Lingthusiasm (which she cohosts with Lauren Gawne) she offers linguistic analysis of online communication such as internet memes, emoji and instant messaging.

Key takeaways

Gretchen McCulloch belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gretchen McCulloch to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gretchen McCulloch from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gretchen McCulloch () is a Canadian linguist. On her blog, as well as her podcast Lingthusiasm (which she cohosts with Lauren Gawne) she offers linguistic analysis of online communication such as internet memes, emoji and instant messaging. She writes regularly for Wired and previously did so for The Toast. In 2019, she published a book on internet linguistics, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language.

Education McCulloch obtained a master's degree in linguistics at McGill University.

Work McCulloch's writing online focuses on internet linguistics. Her blog, which is titled "All Things Linguistic," posts or reposts content most weekdays. In it, she regularly discusses trends in use of English words, phrases and emoji in online communications as well as offering analysis of language form used in internet communications. She was a resident writer on linguistics at feminist website The Toast, where in 2014 she wrote an article analyzing the grammar of the doge meme. This article received coverage on BBC Radio 4, where McCulloch was interviewed on the subject by Evan Davis. In 2019, McCulloch's first book, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, was published by Riverhead Books. The book explores the history of online communication in English and the linguistic trends that have emerged within it over the years, as well as the effect such communication might have on the English language as a whole. The book received critical acclaim from The New York Times and soon after the publication appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list. It also received positive reviews on National Public Radio and The Washington Post. She has worked with YouTube presenters: she collaborated with Tom Scott on the "Language Files" videos on his channel, and was one of the producers on the linguistics series for Crash Course. In 2021, McCulloch received the Linguistics, Language and the Public Award from the Linguistics Society of America.

In popular culture McCulloch was featured in the xkcd webcomic on 4 November 2020, commenting on the etymology, going back to Indo-European roots, for words meaning 'bear'. On November 16, 2020, McCulloch wrote out the lyrics on Twitter to a parody of the song Jolene called "Vaccine", in response to news that Dolly Parton had contributed 1 million dollars toward the development of one of the most promising COVID-19 vaccines. The song was recorded by Ryan Cordell, an English professor at Northeastern University.

References

External links Official website All Things Linguistic Gretchen McCulloch on Wired lingthusiasm

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gretchen McCulloch

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gretchen McCulloch claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gretchen McCulloch before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gretchen McCulloch ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gretchen McCulloch

In research: Gretchen McCulloch appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gretchen McCulloch in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gretchen McCulloch is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers, 21st-century Canadian women writers, 21st-century linguists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gretchen McCulloch outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gretchen McCulloch in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gretchen McCulloch means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gretchen McCulloch out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gretchen McCulloch in simple terms?

Why does Gretchen McCulloch matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gretchen McCulloch?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gretchen McCulloch.