The Language of Memes: Internet Slang, Algorithms and Digital Linguistics
Reading Time: 6 minutesAre words like skibidi and rizz rotting our brains? A digital linguist explains the evolution of internet slang, memetics, and political subversion.
UniLiterate
Literacies for Today's Linguistic Landscape
Latest posts
Of Bard and Bot: A Conversation with Dr. Emily Middleton on AI, Literature, and BARD409
Takeaway Summary about AI and literature: AI can imitate literary style, but lacks long-term narrative memory and metaphorical consistency. AI outputs may reflec cultural memory of authors as much as their original works. AI disrupts biographical readings, prompting a return to text-focused criticism. Authorship in AI-assisted literature demands active human curation, editing, and intention. AI…
The Propulsion Papers—Part III: The Forensic Flip: Surviving the Era of Fake AI Citations
We have diagnosed the disease and autopsied the digital corpse. We know that the databases are compromised, by much more than just fake AI citations, and we know that the "publish or perish" economy in academia has created an industrial-scale market for hijacked journals and fake AI citations. But theoretical outrage does not help me [...]
The Propulsion Papers—Part II: Analysing the anatomy of a Hijacked Journals and Fake AI Citations
Reading Time: 10 minutesIn Part II of The Propulsion Papers, we open the PDF and perform a forensic autopsy on a hijacked journal. From recycled "zombie archives" to compromised Scopus databases, discover the true anatomy of a fake AI citation and why the academic publishing system is the real villain.
The Propulsion Papers—Part I: Discovering Fake AI Citations
Reading Time: 4 minutesA student cited a George Orwell paper from a Rocket Science journal. It was more than just a fake AI Citation, the trail led back to a hijacked journal. Here is the forensic autopsy of academic slop.
I Made My Biggest Writing Paycheque Ever Thanks to AI
Reading Time: 8 minutesI just had my most profitable year ever as an academic author, and it was all because of AI. But the money didn't come from a sudden surge in book sales or using ChatGPT to churn out text. It came from an AI company paying to train its Large Language Models on my research. But while the ethical small publisher who handled this deal asked for my permission and shared the…
From Dank to Dark: How Memetic Ambiguity Became a Gateway for the Alt-Right
It is a common assumption that the world of internet memes is split into two opposing camps: the "wholesome" and the "dank." One is sincere, positive, and safe; the other is ironic, edgy, and offensive. We tend to see them as opposites. This is a critical misunderstanding. The "dank meme" subculture, while not inherently extremist, [...]
Structural Silence: Chomsky, Epstein, and the Architecture of Elite Immunity
Yesterday was Chomsky's 96th birthday. Since his stroke in 2023 he's not been out in public or made any speeches. According to his publicly listed biography, he suffered a stroke in 2023 and “can no longer walk or communicate,” making any return to public intellectual life improbable. As an applied linguist primarily involved with second [...]
Duolingo’s New Chess Feature: A Great Opportunity for CLIL!
Reading Time: 2 minutesDuolingo's new Chess feature sadly misses an opportunity to give you authenticity of purpose in your language study.
Authenticity and Intuition: Best Practices in CLIL Teaching, Training and Research
This post is all about my keynote at the 4th J-CLIL CHUGOKU Chapter Conference in Okayama Date: Saturday, August 9, 2025 Time: 13:00–17:00 Venue: TSUTAYA BOOKSTORE Okayama Station, Meeting Room 04 Abstract: Authenticity is a core principle of CLIL methodologies, yet it takes many forms. During a single lesson, teachers make hundreds, if not thousands, of [...]