Adam Aleksic, a linguistics influencer more commonly known online as the \u201cEtymology Nerd,\u201d spoke at UC Berkeley about his recent book \u201cAlgospeak\u201d and the implications of online language evolution.<\/p>\n
The conversation was hosted Feb. 26 by The Berkeley Forum and co-sponsored by the Berkeley Center for New Media and UC Berkeley\u2019s linguistics department. Linguistics professor Nicole Holliday moderated the conversation.<\/p>\n
Much of Aleksic\u2019s content focuses on how words enter into popular culture, including recent phrases tied to events or memes, such as \u201clowkirkenuinely\u201d and \u201c6-7.\u201d At the event, he spoke about how language from incel subcultures has been adopted by mainstream online spaces as a result of algorithms that \u201creward extreme content.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his book, Aleksic also mentioned how he incorrectly thought that phrases such as \u201cfoid\u201d would never breach mainstream spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cI failed to predict the power of humor to normalize certain language,\u201d Aleksic said in response to a student question. \u201cI think the meaning of \u2018foid\u2019 is no longer that deeply harmful thing that it was and is now more absurd \u2026 people made the brainrot to subvert how incels talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students asked Aleksic about his opinion on the trend of subcultural language entering mainstream spaces, such as in the cases of \u201cmaxxing\u201d and \u201cgooning.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Daily Californian before the event, Aleksic also described how internet virality creates a \u201cdifferent incentive structure\u201d than in-person interaction. He said the anonymity offered on apps such as YikYak results in \u201ca concerning misalignment with actual human objectives,\u201d with users online making comments for the sole purpose of receiving both positive and negative engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are these fascinating subcultures being built,\u201d Aleksic said during the event. \u201cThe internet creates all these possibilities to surrender to the online, to dissolve yourself in a bliss of forgetting the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the interview, Aleksic also emphasized the bias that social platforms hold when regulating speech, especially given the rise of hate speech and censorship on apps such as TikTok and Instagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is not with the platform at all, but really (with how it is) governing distribution,\u201d Aleksic said. \u201c(A social media platform is) an intermediary that intercepts our speech, and it has a financial incentive to push speech that makes (itself) money. I think it is our duty to interrogate that and be deeply aware of how the platform is really shaping more than we think.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameron Irvine, a UC Berkeley engineering student who attended the event, said he believes it is critical for students across disciplines to explore all kinds of subjects, including linguistics.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs (Aleksic) said, language is the tool that we use to communicate and every aspect of that is vitally important,\u201d Irvine said.<\/p>\n
Benjamin Wong, vice president of events at The Berkeley Forum, noted this was The Berkeley Forum\u2019s first major event of the semester and that interest in the event exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n
Aleksic emphasized how speaking on college campuses such as UC Berkeley gives him an opportunity to expound upon his ideas beyond a one-minute video.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe medium is the message,\u201d Aleksic said. \u201cThe way we consume media is so important and shapes profoundly how we understand information. I\u2019m glad (there are) events like this, especially at colleges with so many inquisitive people asking incredible questions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam Aleksic, a linguistics influencer more commonly known online as the \u201cEtymology Nerd,\u201d spoke at UC Berkeley about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[93202,93208,93210,93207,93206,93211,93203,7644,93205,143,145,144,93204,3808,149,93209],"class_list":["post-202146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-adam-aleksic","tag-algospeak","tag-benjamin-wong","tag-berkeley-center-for-new-media","tag-berkeley-linguistics","tag-cameron-irvine","tag-etymology-nerd","tag-instagram","tag-nicole-holliday","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-the-berkeley-forum","tag-tiktok","tag-uc-berkeley","tag-yikyak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}