Podcast Summary

Podcast: Smart Girl Dumb Questions
Host: Nayeema Raza
Episode: #6-7 — Ragebait, Chud—What Do They Even Mean? Algospeak w/ an Etymology Nerd
Date: February 17, 2026
Guest: Adam Aleksic (The Etymology Nerd), author of "Algospeak"

Episode Overview

This episode dives into how internet algorithms, meme culture, and fringe communities like incels shape the way we use and invent language. Host Nayeema Raza sits down with Adam Aleksic, known as The Etymology Nerd, for a wide-ranging conversation about how slang spreads, the origins of "algospeak," why certain words stick or fade away, and the deep social and psychological effects of language in our digital age. Along the way, they touch on meme theory, cultural appropriation, influencer accents, AI’s role in language homogenization, and the persistent democratization—and fragmentation—of communication.

Major Discussion Points and Insights

The Viral Spread of Language (00:24–01:29)

• Words as Viruses: Adam likens the diffusion of words to viral transmission—a "canary in the coal mine" for cultural shifts.

  "There's a way ideas and words diffuse... It's not broadcast communication like TV, it's viral communication. You should think of it like a virus." (Adam, 00:24)

• Slang Innovation: Adam shares the formation of “lokirkenuinely” (low key + genuinely + 'kirk' as an intensifier). This playful combinatorial slang embodies what he calls “internet brain rot”—a rapidly mutating, attention-seeking meme culture.

Etymology and Personal Language History (01:45–03:16)

• Etymology's Roots: “Etymology” comes from Greek “etymos,” meaning ‘truth’—reflecting Adam's belief that all words contain insights into humanity.

• Nerd vs. Geek: “Nerd” is traced back to Dr. Seuss, while “geek” is seen as more technological.

• Adam's Origins: His etymological obsession began in high school and blossomed into a blog, social following, and now a book and TED talk.

Algorithms and Influencer Accents (03:26–05:16)

• Influencer Speak: Adam breaks down “influencer accents” as self-conscious ways of talking tailored for retention on platforms.

  "We code switch into different environments. There's an influencer accent... The accents are formed around how you go viral on TikTok and that means you have to keep people's attention at all times." (Adam, 03:46–05:16)

• The Medium Shapes the Message: From podcasts to TikTok, platforms dictate tone and delivery. Retention strategies and viral optimization change speech patterns, even word choice.

The Nature and Lifespan of Modern Slang (05:16–15:03)

• Algospeak and Self-Policing: Social media platforms incentivize linguistic shifts (e.g., using 'unalive' instead of 'kill' to avoid moderation).

• Community-Originated Slang:

  • Incel and African American Vernacular: Adam claims almost all internet slang arises from incel subcultures or African American English.

    "If it's not from incels, it's from African American English. That's shocking how often that holds True, really. 90% of the time..." (Adam, 07:31)

  • Examples: Emerging words like "chud" (not from "Chad," but a repurposed sci-fi term), "foid" (female humanoid), and “new gen” (newcomer, now generalized).

• Why Some Words Last:

  • Adaptability, intuitiveness, unobtrusiveness determine whether a slang word endures or fades. Words like "situationship" stick because they fill a conceptual need without feeling forced.

  • Failed Attempts: Nayeema’s attempt to seed "boom scroll" (a positive doomscrolling antonym) failed because it felt unnatural.

  • Labeling Ends Trends: Naming a trend often starts its “expiry countdown.”

In-Groups, Out-Groups, and the Politics of Language (15:07–21:20)

• Fragmentation vs. Centralization: Digitally, language is "bottom-up"—marked by in-group slang and viral memes, rather than dictated by dictionary editors or cultural gatekeepers.

• Obfuscation and Exclusivity:

  • Communities, especially marginalized or fringe ones, develop coded dialects (“brain rot,” incomprehensible incel slang) as social armor and group identity.
  • "They believe that our society does not represent them... In their language forms an in group." (Adam, 18:32)

Appropriation, Memes, and Meme Theory (17:18–25:27)

• Linguistic Appropriation: Adam discusses the mainstreaming of African American English via parody and memeification, pointing out the roots and evolution of filler words like “like,” “you know,” and the influence of “hood irony."

• Memes as Fundamental Culture:

  • Memes are “self-replicating cultural units” (from Dawkins’ 1976 "Selfish Gene").

  • All language is memetic—words, facial expressions, and even personal “idiolects” (your unique word patterns) are like linguistic fingerprints.

  • Idiolects and Forensic Linguistics: The story of how the Unabomber was caught through his unique phrasing illustrates the deep individuality in language.

Language, Technology, and AI (31:08–39:03)

• AI and English Dominance:

  • English enjoys outsized influence as a “high resource” language for AI training.
  • Social media creators are incentivized to use English for wider reach.

• Social Media as Democracy or Control?

  • Platforms both democratize and police language for business and retention goals (e.g., changing what goes viral, monetization thresholds).
  • Adam argues for an “adversarial” stance toward these platforms, to be conscious of their shaping force.

• Authenticity vs. Virality: Even in podcasts and “authentic” content, choices are subconsciously optimized for shareability, clipping, and attention economy, not genuine connection.

Fragmentation and Homogenization: Paradox in Internet Language (28:36–31:08)

• Hyperfragmentation: Communities like K-pop stans, incels, and Swifties evolve divergent linguistic landscapes.
• Homogenization: Simultaneously, global English and platform norms create new kinds of linguistic sameness.
• “We want to be understood by everybody, but we will always feel misunderstood by some people.” (Nayeema, 30:11)

Culture Wars, Policing Language & Platform Power (39:52–48:50)

• Section 230 and Platform Power: Section 230 protects platforms as neutral hosts, but Adam argues they have “deep editorial power” by shaping visibility and norms.
• Words as Weapons and Tools: From "ragebait" (the Oxford Word of 2025) to viral social justice terminology, language is actively manipulated for engagement—often privileging anger or fear over contentment or reason.
• Who Has Power? Adam ranks: 1. Platforms (as mediators, not neutral platforms), 2. Groupthink/users collectively, 3. Creators, 4. Individuals. Marketers have less power now, but still influence culture.

Influencer, Content Creator, and the Nature of Viral Power (44:28–49:32)

• Metaphor Breakdown:
  • “Platform” isn’t truly neutral; calling someone a “content creator” reduces their output to interchangeable units, while “influencer” (from ‘to flow in’) suggests a more active, value-laden role.
  • Brand Influence: Advertisers see influencers as channels to push products—a modern form of “star power” via brand osmosis.

Measuring the Wrong Things; AI’s Impact on Language (65:08–69:39)

• What Algorithms Miss:

  • Social platforms’ focus on attention as a metric is akin to “measuring trees and forgetting the forest”—overlooking important values like kindness or contentment.
  • Language models (like ChatGPT) can homogenize usage (overuse of words like “delve”), subtly shaping human language in return.

  “If you talk to these [AIs], it will homogenize us.” (Adam, 67:23)
  “We should just touch grass more. We should just hang out with people in real life and not think about quantifying every aspect of what we're doing.” (Adam, 69:12)

Lightning Round: Words, Slang, and Questions (61:45–75:40)

• Curse words: Their origins are mostly medieval, and we seldom invent new ones—modern "curse" is increasingly identity-based.

• Oxford comma: Adam would “marry” it, calling it clarifying and beautiful.

• On ugly/beautiful words: Phonoesthetics (why “moist” bothers people) is entirely a matter of semantic association.

• AI and Idiolect: Language models have their own idiolect; their quirks filter into and start reshaping human usage.

• Kids and Literacy: Adam sees literacy as a construct that is always evolving with the medium. We may be shifting away from print-anchored skills, just as oral to written culture did centuries ago.

• Math as Language: Both are made-up constraint systems; math requires as much conceptual framing as natural language.

• On consciousness: Adam’s “dumb question” is: “What is consciousness?”—acknowledging the limits of language itself in understanding reality.

Notable Quotes & Highlights

On Meme Theory and Social Diffusion

• “Every single word is a meme. Every single action is a meme.” — Adam (25:16)
• "There's a way ideas and words diffuse. It's not broadcast communication like TV, it's viral communication. You should think of it like a virus." — Adam (00:24)

On Platform and Viral Power

• “The only way to get your message distributed is to adhere to the things that are going to go viral… certain words are going to go more viral, so we're going to say those.” — Adam (32:30)
• “Retentiveness is king. The accents are formed around how you go viral on TikTok and that means you have to keep people's attention at all times.” — Adam (04:13)

On the Origins of Internet Slang

• "If it's not from incels, it's from African American English. That's shocking how often that holds True, really. 90% of the time..." — Adam (07:31)

On Policing and the Shifting Power of Language

• “Censoring words is silly to me. One, because we will find new ways to express this, and two, because it's a deeper structural issue of how our conversations are being set up.” — Adam (42:22)
• “We are in sort of a moral backlash to social media… their business priorities are 100% shaping the way they structure our discussions.” — Adam (41:10)

On AI, Language Models, and Homogenization

• "Language models tend to homogenize the aggregate of what is considered the English language." — Adam (67:23)
• "If you talk to these things, it will homogenize us… the word 'delve'… now we have evidence that humans are also starting to say the word delve more because we see it being used by AI." — Adam (67:23)

On In-Group Language

• “Part of why the incels talk like that because it creates an in group dialect that is unrecognizable to the outside.” — Adam (15:11)

On Words and Identity

• “The words we use are ways of expressing who we are. And I see a beauty reflected in that." — Adam (21:01)
• “If language is a tool of identity and someone's telling you this is what your identity should be, that feels bad.” — Adam (53:18)

On the Changing Nature of Media

• “There is a 500 year gap where we relied on writing as our main form of epistemic basis of knowledge. And now before that it was oral tradition. And now we're going back to oral history… looking back to sights and sounds.” — Adam (70:55)

On Consciousness and Dumb Questions

• "What's consciousness?" — Adam (74:29)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:24–01:29: Viral spread of slang, "lokirkenuinely" example
• 05:16–07:44: Explanation of algospeak; how new words avoid moderation
• 07:44–08:43: Why so much slang comes from incel forums or African American English
• 13:40–14:55: What makes words adapt and endure
• 17:18–18:21: Appropriation and mainstreaming of subcultural speech
• 21:22–22:54: Defining “brainrot”; meme evolution and overuse
• 31:08–32:30: AI, English as a high-resource language, and social media's globalizing force
• 32:30–36:45: Adversarial stance toward platforms, algospeak dynamics
• 39:52–41:26: Section 230 and the transformation of language policing
• 43:48–47:26: Who wields power in the attention economy?
• 65:08–69:39: Language models, AI, and the "measuring the wrong things" dilemma
• 74:29–75:04: Adam’s “dumb question” — what is consciousness?

Memorable Moments

• Adam praises his own viral "dolphin language" as evidence that spectacle and high-arousal emotion (awe) drive internet popularity. (39:03)
• Discussion of how even filler words ("like," "you know") propagate socially and unconsciously. (16:24)
• Nayeema and Adam physically reposition themselves with chairs to debate how seat arrangement influences conversation—a “first viral chair clip” moment. (49:32–52:57)
• Lightning round: Adam would marry the Oxford comma and "fuck with" the word 'unalive.' (62:57)
• Adam’s only tattoo is the word “umwelt”—the individually-perceived world—symbolizing his philosophy of language and understanding. (58:51)

Takeaways

• Algorithmic platforms shape not just what we say, but how we say it, and what survives.
• Modern slang overwhelmingly comes from two sources: African American English and insular internet communities—often for in-group distinction or as a form of parody.
• Attention, not accuracy or empathy, is the main metric for viral language; as a result, anger and spectacle rise over nuance and kindness.
• The apparent paradox between language fragmentation and centralization is a natural human dynamic: the desire for both connection and separation.
• AI and language models risk homogenizing human speech, recycling their own linguistic quirks back into the population.
• Cultural and identity politics entwine powerfully with words—every new label, every meme, is both a tool for inclusion and a wedge for division.
• The ultimate “dumb question” underpinning language, memes, and digital life may be: What is consciousness?

This summary captures the heart and nuance of an in-depth, rapid-fire conversation, offering both context and specifics for those new to the world of etymology, meme culture, and internet linguistics.