Algospeak

"Incisive and funny, this is a page turner from start to finish. Algospeak is a must read for anyone seeking to understand how we communicate today." - Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online "Algospeak takes our understanding of online communication to a new level.'' - David Crystal, author of How Language Works 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.

Autorentext
Adam Aleksic is a linguist and content creator posting educational videos as the Etymology Nerd to an audience of over two million. As a linguistics student at Harvard College, he founded and served as president of the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society. He's discussed online language on NPR, repeatedly contributed to The Washington Post, and his work has been mentioned in The New York Times, The Economist, and The Guardian. He's lectured on language and social media at Stanford, Yale, Georgetown, and other top universities, including a TEDx talk at the University of Pennsylvania. Adam is based in New York City, where he spends a lot of time scrolling TikTok for research.

Klappentext

"A linguist explores how the internet is redefining our vocabulary. No cap-this bruh slaps and slays." - Adam Grant, author of Think Again

"Incisive and funny, this is a page turner from start to finish. Algospeak is a must read for anyone seeking to understand how we communicate today." - Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online

"Packed with fascinating facts, of-the-moment observations and a sparkling voice, Algospeak is a gift to any word nerd." - Amanda Montell, author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Cultish

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.

An energetic, astonishing journey into language and the internet, Algospeak reveals the bigger social story of how language shapes us, just as much as we shape it.