The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language, Adam Aleksic

Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language

Adam Aleksic

Reader Score

85%

85% of readers

recommend this book

Critic Reviews

Good

Based on 6 reviews on

BookMarks logo
From linguist Adam Aleksic, known as @etymologynerd on social media, comes a captivating exploration of how internet algorithms are transforming language and communication in unprecedented ways.

"Packed with fascinating facts, of-the-moment observations, and a sparkling voice, Algospeak is a gift to any word nerd. Deftly covering everything from emoji etymologies and trendbait to Taylor Swift fanilects... Adam Aleksic is the wise, yet accessible internet linguistics oracle we need."--Amanda Montell, author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Cultish

From "brainrot" memes and incel slang 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. Thankfully, Algospeak is here to explain. As a professional linguist, Adam Aleksic understands the gravity of language and the way we use it: he knows the ways it has morphed and changed, how it reflects society, and how, in its everyday usage, we carry centuries of human history on our tongues. As a social media influencer, Aleksic is also intimately familiar with the internet's reach and how social media impacts the way we engage with one another. New slang emerges and goes viral overnight. Accents are shaped or erased on YouTube. Grammatical rules, loopholes, and patterns surface and transform language as we know it. Our interactions, social norms, and habits--both online and in person--shift into something completely different.

As Aleksic uses original surveys, data, and internet archival research to usher us through this new linguistic landscape, he also illuminates how communication is changing in both familiar and unexpected ways. From our use of emojis to sentence structure to the ways younger generations talk about sex and death (see unalive in English and desvivirse in Spanish), we are in a brand-new world, one shaped by algorithms and technology. Algospeak is an energetic, astonishing journey into language, the internet, and what this intersection means for all of us.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
  • Publish Date: Jul 15th, 2025
  • Pages: 256
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.43in - 6.38in - 1.01in - 1.12lb
  • EAN: 9780593804070
  • Categories: Linguistics - SociolinguisticsInternet - Social MediaPopular Culture

More books to explore

Book Cover for: Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, Gretchen McCulloch
Book Cover for: Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English, Valerie Fridland
Book Cover for: The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, Steven Pinker
Book Cover for: The 5-Minute Linguist: Bite-Sized Essays on Language and Languages, Caroline Myrick
Book Cover for: Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York, Ross Perlin
Book Cover for: A Myriad of Tongues: How Languages Reveal Differences in How We Think, Caleb Everett
Book Cover for: Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, Amanda Montell
Book Cover for: Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet, Taylor Lorenz
Book Cover for: Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever, John McWhorter
Book Cover for: Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, Maryanne Wolf
Book Cover for: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Jaron Lanier
Book Cover for: Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral, Ben Smith
Book Cover for: Literary Theory for Robots: How Computers Learned to Write, Dennis Yi Tenen
Book Cover for: The Power of Language: How the Codes We Use to Think, Speak, and Live Transform Our Minds, Viorica Marian
Book Cover for: Everything I Need I Get from You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It, Kaitlyn Tiffany

About the Author

ADAM ALEKSIC is a linguist and content creator posting educational videos as the "Etymology Nerd" to an audience of more than three 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 and 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. Aleksic is based in New York City, where he spends a lot of time scrolling TikTok for "research."

What people are saying

washingtonpost.com

Critics’ reviews