105: Linguistics of TikTok - Interview with Adam Aleksic aka EtymologyNerd

Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics

Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne

Science

4.8 • 743 Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are an evolving genre of media: short-form, vertical videos that take up your whole screen and are served to you from an algorithm rather than who you follow. This changes how people talk in them compared to earlier forms of video, and linguists are on it! In this episode, your host Gretchen McCulloch gets enthusiastic about the linguistics of tiktok with Adam Aleksic, better known on social media as etymologynerd. We talk about how Adam got his start into linguistics via etymology, the process that he goes through to make his current videos get the attention of people and algorithms, and how different forms of media (like podcasts vs shortform video) relate differently to their audiences. We also talk about the challenges of writing a book about language on the internet when it changes so fast, comparing the writing process for Adam's upcoming book Algospeak with Gretchen's book Because Internet. Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice: https://episodes.fm/1186056137/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMjExNjQ1NTgxMA Read the transcript here: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/786832938503405568/transcript-episode-105-linguistics-of-tiktok Announcements: In celebration of our 100th bonus episode we've decided to go back into the vault and revisit our very first bonus episode - with updated sweary commentary! We've made this extra bonus bonus version available to all patrons, free and paid, so feel free to send it to your friends: https://www.patreon.com/posts/131301144 In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about your linguistics questions! In honour of our 100th bonus episode of Lingthusiasm, and because our first advice episode was so popular, here's another episode answering your advice questions, from the serious to the silly! Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 90+ other bonus episodes. You’ll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds: https://www.patreon.com/posts/125727177 For links to things mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/786832701937303552/lingthusiasm-episode-105-linguistics-of-tiktok

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a podcast is enthusiastic about linguistics. I'm Gretchen McCulloch,
0:23.9	and I'm here with Adam Alexic, better known as etymology nerd for his online videos, and author of the book Algospeak.
0:30.1	And today, we're getting enthusiastic about analyzing how the structure of social media sites shapes how we communicate on them.
0:37.1	But first, some announcements.
0:38.9	Our most recent bonus episode is our hundredth bonus episode. As a celebration, we are
0:44.1	answering your linguistics advice questions. Need help navigating whether to correct someone's
0:49.2	grammar or copy their accent, or how can I support my peers as they age out of having the coolest slang?
0:55.6	We have the advice episode for you. Also, in celebration of our 100th bonus episode, we've decided
1:00.6	to go back into the vault and revisit our very first bonus episode. This is a sweary episode
1:06.5	about swearing that's a bit too spicy for the main feed. So now we're releasing this very first
1:12.1	bonus episode to anyone who follows us on Patreon, whether you're at the free or paid level,
1:16.4	you can get this extra, extra bonus bonus from the vault with a new intro featuring
1:20.5	some extra sweary facts we've learned in the intervening years. Go to patreon.com slash
1:25.4	enthusiasm to get access to these and many more bonus episodes.
1:29.4	And also, if you become a patron by July 1st, 2025, you can get a special Linkthusiasm logo sticker with extra linguistics doodles on it, sent to you in the mail. Hello, Adam.
1:52.0	Hi Gretchen, excited to be here.
1:53.8	Thank you for coming on the show.
1:55.4	Before we get into talking a little bit more about linguistics on TikTok and other short-form videos,
2:00.6	we're going to start with a question we ask all of our guests, which is how did you more about linguistics on TikTok and other short-form videos. We're going
2:01.4	to start with a question we ask all of our guests, which is how did you get into linguistics?
2:05.4	Well, my gateway was etymology, like a lot of other people I know. It started in 10th grade. I read
2:10.7	Mark Forsyth's excellent book, The EtymologyCon. Couldn't get enough of it, read a bunch of other books, started a little blog for myself
	...

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