"Why Do Linguistics? shows how viewing the world through a linguistics lens can help us to understand how we communicate with each other and why we do it in the ways we do. Above all this book is about noticing. It is about encouraging readers to pay attention to the language that surrounds them. Introducing practical tools for language analysis and using examples of authentic communicative activity including overheard conversations, social media exchanges, product labels, billboards and street signage, the book shows how this kind of analysis works and what it can tell us about social interaction."--Back cover.