Algospeak

From the rise of leetspeak and words such as ''unalive'' to the trend of adding ''-core'' to different influencer aesthetics, the internet has ushered in an unprecedented linguistic upheaval. We''re entering an entirely new era of etymology, heralded by the invisible forces driving social media algorithms. And with over 7 billion internet users uploading over 2.5 quintillion bytes of media every day, the sheer volume of potential new words is astounding. In Algospeak , online etymologist Adam Aleksic shines a light on the roots of words that we don''t realise have come from unexpected places - from incel culture, from the innovation of users trying to get around content moderation algorithms, from the marketing speak that has invaded our personal lives. New slang emerges and goes viral overnight. Accents are shaped or erased on YouTube. Grammatical rules, loopholes, and patterns surface and transform our interactions, social norms and habits. Algospeak tells, through words, the bigger social story of how language shapes us, just as much as we shape it.

Auteur

Adam Aleksic, known as @etymologynerd online, is a Harvard linguist and online etymologist, specialising in the intersection between language and social media. With almost 2 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and now Substack, Adam creates content and does his own original research into language and how it's changing. He's lectured at Georgetown, Stanford and UPenn and is a regular contributor to the Washington Post. He currently lives in Mexico City.

Texte du rabat

From the rise of leetspeak and words such as "unalive" to the trend of adding "-core" to different influencer aesthetics, the internet has ushered in an unprecedented linguistic upheaval. We're entering an entirely new era of etymology, heralded by the invisible forces driving social media algorithms. And with over 7 billion internet users uploading over 2.5 quintillion bytes of media every day, the sheer volume of potential new words is astounding. In Algospeak, online etymologist Adam Aleksic shines a light on the roots of words that we don't realise have come from unexpected places - from incel culture, from the innovation of users trying to get around content moderation algorithms, from the marketing speak that has invaded our personal lives. New slang emerges and goes viral overnight. Accents are shaped or erased on YouTube. Grammatical rules, loopholes, and patterns surface and transform our interactions, social norms and habits. Algospeak tells, through words, the bigger social story of how language shapes us, just as much as we shape it.