Like all reasonable people interested in linguistics, I’m a descriptivist. However, something about the idea of language being adapted to cater to an algorithm turns my stomach.

I know it’s hypocritical. The Attention Economy shouldn’t be any less valid a linguistic influence than the Norman Conquests, just because they occurred a millennium ago.

I genuinely think we’re lucky in Britain that the soft power we have (for the time being) has prevented our culture being entirely supplanted by the United States.