How algorithms are changing the meaning of words, with Adam Aleksic

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1117. This week, we talk with Adam Aleksic, also known as the Etymology Nerd, about the ways algorithms are changing the meaning of words. We look at how words like "preppy" have evolved and how social media is accelerating language change. We also look at how different cultures "shout" online without using capital letters, the linguistic connection between chairs and power, and other topics from his super popular videos.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Grammar Girl here. I'm In Yon Fogarty, and just a heads up that today's show was originally a bonus episode released back in July for people who support the show, The Grammar Pallusians.
0:15.8	If you want to help us keep bringing great interviews like this to your feed and help other people
0:21.3	fall in love with books and language become a grammar pelusian.
0:25.6	Visit quick and dirty tips.com slash bonus to learn more.
0:29.8	And now on to the show.
0:32.1	Greetings, grammar pellusians.
0:33.7	We're here today with Adam Alexic.
0:35.7	We talked in the main episode about all the cool things about the algorithm from his book AlgoSpeak, which is great. But now we're going to dig into the etymology nerd side of his work that he makes videos under the handle etymology nerd on all the platforms. Adam, thanks for being here. Well, hello again. Hello. Let's start. First,
0:56.9	you blew my mind telling me that preppy doesn't mean what it did when I was growing up.
1:02.9	Oh, yeah. Wow. I almost didn't believe when it came up in my research. I had to text my 11-year-old
1:08.0	cousin and ask her, what does the word preppy mean to you? Because probably me and you, it's like this academic style.
1:13.3	It's like Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren, whatever.
1:15.7	Flip-up collars, yeah.
1:17.8	If you ask a middle school girl today what the word preppy means,
1:21.0	they'll tell you it's bright pink maximalist clothing, like with smiley faces and flowers.
1:26.6	Like, that's preppy now. And I was
1:29.9	completely confused at this and had to do research, of course. So I kind of tracked a bunch of
1:36.1	different preppy accounts and on social media and was trying to see what's going on here.
1:40.2	I actually talked to the owner of preppy boutique in New York City about how they City about why they're using this word, how they're using this word.
1:47.8	So part of the evolution here is that it's normal semantic change, right?
1:52.4	So Preppy started out with these high-end retailers, and then it started being used by other stores kind of targeting middle class, maybe younger demographics.
2:03.4	So you have like Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister marketing preppy clothing towards middle school girls.
	...

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