Resisting 'Let's Eat Grandma': The Rhetorical Potential of Grammar Memes

摘要

Analysis of 50 grammar memes through the lenses of participatory culture on social media and classical topoi reveals that most grammar memes resist the growing and progressive position that a wide range of Englishes exist and their usage is acceptable. These traditionalist grammar memes perpetuate beliefs about the use of correct English by making claims of superiority. Meanwhile, backlash memes do not take an overt stand against traditionalist grammar arguments when they veer into exclusion and racism. I argue that teachers and students of Writing, English, and English Education should explore more inclusive memes in regards to contemporary language changes and that memes based on a narrative mode of instruction would expand the topoi of grammar memes that exist, interrupting a main two-way argument that dominates the grammar internet subculture today.