The language of memes – and how to create your own

English is a truly global language with hundreds of regional variations worldwide, including over 50 dialects of British English alone. It is also the primary language of the internet, and the virtual world has spawned its own varieties of English too. These online dialects, often spread by memes, have been around long enough now for a pattern to be identified – a path well enough worn for you to identify emerging linguistic memes – or even create your own.

How social media is changing language

From unfriend to selfie, social media is clearly having an impact on language. The words that surround us every day influence the words we use. Since so much of the written language we see is now on the screens of our computers, tablets, and smartphones, language now evolves partly through our interaction with technology.