How and why do words cause people to take offence online? This book explores the complex nature of offence, examining how the structure of language – from individual words to broader linguistic patterns – can be employed to construct offensive meanings. It demonstrates that offence is not a universal concept but a subjective experience shaped by the perspective of the target. Through a multi-layered analysis of words, meanings and context, the book offers a deeper understanding of how offence is creatively constructed, conveyed, understood and experienced on social media. By investigating the continuum between explicitly and implicitly offensive language, it reveals how even subtle language choices can have significant consequences. This work serves as a valuable resource for anyone interested in language, communication and the social dynamics of offence. It will appeal to scholars and students in linguistics, communication studies, the social sciences as well as law and computer science.

‘What a pleasure to read a book that combines deft theoretical discussion with rigorous empirical work, and wraps it all up in prose that is a model of clarity! If you want to know about offensive language online (but with many reverberations well beyond that), this is compulsory reading.’

Jonathan Culpeper - Professor of English Language and Linguistics, Lancaster University

‘This book charts how we can reach a much more nuanced and empirically grounded understanding of offensive language, which has unfortunately become a defining feature of online digital life. Building on a multi-layered, corpus-based approach, Tayebi and Parvaresh draw out key patterns of offensive language, as well as demonstrating how it can arise in much more implicit and creative ways than has been appreciated to date. It is highly accessible and engaging – once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down!’

Michael Haugh - Professor of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, The University of Queensland