ReThinking: Demystifying Gen Alpha Slang with Adam Aleksic

Podcast: WorkLife with Adam Grant (TED)
Date: January 20, 2026
Guest: Adam Aleksic (@EtymologyNerd), linguist and author of Algospeak

Episode Overview

In this episode, Adam Grant sits down with Adam Aleksic, a 24-year-old linguist, known as Etymology Nerd, to unpack the world of Gen Alpha slang, “algospeak”—the internet-born code and memes shaped by algorithms—and explore the deeper cultural shifts behind our digital language. Through playful quizzes and deep dives, they discuss how algorithms, memes, and viral language are transforming how we communicate, why certain phrases go mainstream, and what this all means for the future of culture, connection, and identity online.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Brainrot & Meaningless Memes: Algorithm-Driven Language

• Definition of "Brainrot":
  • The term “brainrot” refers to a meme aesthetic associated with content perceived as mentally “deleterious” or just absurdly over-used.
  • Adam Aleksic (01:17): “Brainrot is a semantic class that points back to the algorithm. So it started out with Skibidi, Riz, Ohio...These words are algorithmic trends and they're overused to death. Creators use them because they're trending and that helps them go more viral.”
• "Labubu Matcha Dubai Chocolate":
  • These viral phrases are “absurdly, ironically” overused—making fun of the hyper-commodification pushed by algorithms.
• Role of the Algorithm:
  • The feedback loop: What goes viral is pushed more by the algorithm, reinforcing itself.

2. Slang Quiz & Algospeak Origins

• Adam Grant is quizzed on current online slang, exposing generational gaps and highlighting how quickly language moves.
• On "6, 7":
  • “It is a meaningless interjection...but it comes out of clip farming culture, where NBA players would say it in order to go viral...Gen Alpha children start saying 6, 7 on camera in hopes of going viral.” — Adam Aleksic (05:02)
• Etymology and ‘Algospeak’:
  • Words like “bop” shift their meaning for algorithmic reasons, e.g., sex workers use it to avoid censorship.

3. How Algorithms Reshape Communication

• Evolution of the Algorithm:
  • TikTok’s personalized “For You” algorithm, powered by machine learning, fundamentally changed how and why things go viral.
  • Adam Aleksic (07:15): “The new algorithms are based on neural nets, kind of the same architecture that's underlying ChatGPT...It's an AI-based algorithm that learns from itself.”
  • The all-consuming, immersive short-form video format intensifies trends and slang adoption.

4. Language, Magic, and Virality

• Language as Magic:
  • Exploring magical roots of language: “The word spell, as in magic spell, and spell, as in spell a word, go back to the same source because it's thought to be the same thing.” — Adam Aleksic (10:04)
• Virality & Metaphors:
  • Words spread like viruses, but viral metaphors have limits. Most internet slang today comes from African American English or 4chan.
  • Adam Aleksic (12:23): “90% of Internet slang right now is either from African American English or it's from 4chan.”

5. Who Gets Credit for Words? Ownership, Community, and Power

• Attribution Culture:
  • The spread of slang often detaches from its origins—sometimes causing resentment when originators (e.g., “on fleek”) aren’t credited or rewarded.
  • Adam Aleksic (19:07): "You can't stop it. You cannot stop a tsunami. The language is going to change."
• Cultural Appropriation and Community:
  • Words like “slay” or “tea” come from marginalized communities; mainstream adoption can strip original power, but also reflects dynamic language evolution.

6. The Nature of Memes and Their Media

• Defining Memes:
  • Dawkins’ idea: memes as self-replicating cultural units.
  • The importance of the medium: “Before it can go from my head to your head, I need to put my idea into a medium.” — Adam Aleksic (23:58)
• Meme Longevity:
  • Memes that are context-flexible (like "6, 7") persist longer.
• Surprise and Social Fascination:
  • Outsiders using insidery lingo (like adults using Gen Alpha slang) create humor and awe due to violated expectations.

7. The Sociology of Brainrot and Slang

• Why We Love “Brainrot” Slang:
  • Partly a fascination with online/offline blending, partly a recognition that language reflects digital-age collective consciousness.
  • Adam Aleksic (28:27): “There is a separation here between language and culture, where language is just this way we have of describing the world. It is a tool.”
• On Memes as Community-Building:
  • Linguistic innovation can be a response to exclusion—a way to create new belonging or subvert norms.

8. Lightning Round Insights

• Abandon the word "content":
  • “Content...is just something that fills up space...Are videos just something that fill up space or are they something that have the ability to move people and influence society?” — Adam Aleksic (32:14)
• Favorite Brainrot Trend:
  • The Italian brainrot trend: AI-generated animal hybrids with nonsensical names, e.g., “tralalero tralala” (32:48).
• Advice About Language:
  • Avoid linguistic prescriptivism; focus on intentional and meaningful use of words.
• Personal Dream Words:
  • Adam Aleksic is “secretly seeding” the word “noxious” to mean “good,” and advocates playful suffixes like “wardly.”
  • “That's totally noxious, bro... It sounds like it could mean good. I think it's funny, I guess.” (15:10)

9. Deep Media Literacy & Watching Skibidi Toilet

• Why Bother Understanding Origin Stories?
  • Knowing the provenance of words and memes is crucial to media literacy and cultural understanding.
  • Skibidi Toilet, though seemingly absurd, is seen by Aleksic as a “dialectic commentary on our culture”—the struggle between surveillance, digital gaze, and human messiness (36:43).
• Adam Grant’s Takeaway:
  • The conversation made him rethink his aversion to certain “garbage” online content, recognizing deeper cultural messages within.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On viral language as algorithmic feedback loop:
  “The most recent iteration, this Lebubu Matcha Dubai Chocolate is pointing fun at that hyper commodification of items...It's a reflexive knowledge that these trends are being overrepresented to sell us something online.” — Adam Aleksic (04:29)

• On memetic power and ownership:
  “If you’re trying to influence culture, it’s honestly good for that idea to spread on and take its own life. You plant the seed that later grows.” — Adam Aleksic (19:07)

• On the purpose and power of language:
  “We should use [words] in the context that we mean to and recover human intentionality.” — Adam Aleksic (33:18)

• On the roots of language and performance:
  “By writing down the word, you are conjuring a physical change in the universe which affects how other people understand each other.” — Adam Aleksic (10:04)

• On Skibidi Toilet as social commentary:
  “If you were a Gen Alpha child...It is diegetically narrated through the lens of a camera...It’s this commentary about surveillance, it’s about this digital gaze and how we interact with this hyper-mediated reality.” — Adam Aleksic (36:43)

• On why we should care:
  “We don't even know that algorithms don't recommend us the actual picture of reality. They recommend us what generates engagement...That requires this deep knowledge of ideas and why they're popular.” — Adam Aleksic (37:44)

Key Timestamps

• 01:17 – Defining “brainrot” and the role of the algorithm in language.
• 03:22 – Algospeak rapid-fire quiz begins.
• 05:02 – The meme “6,7” and its origins.
• 07:15 – How TikTok algorithms revolutionized meme virality.
• 10:04 – The magical roots of language and “spell.”
• 12:23 – Internet slang’s dominant roots: African American English & 4chan.
• 15:04 – Adam Aleksic’s dreamwords (“noxious,” “wardly”).
• 19:07 – Viral speech, appropriation, and crediting creators (e.g., “on fleek”).
• 23:58 – The meme as a cultural and technological artifact.
• 28:27 – Why brainrot vocabulary is so intriguing.
• 32:14 – The case against the word “content.”
• 36:43 – Hidden cultural critique within Skibidi Toilet.
• 40:22 – On “eating” an interview and killing memes (playful signoff).

Tone and Style

• The conversation is smart, playful, and self-aware, with both Adams riffing on linguistics trivia, internet culture, and the absurdities of modern comms.
• Adam Aleksic balances linguistic expertise with pop culture fluency; Adam Grant brings curiosity, psychologist’s framing, and sincere vulnerability about generational differences.

Final Takeaway

This episode reveals how algorithm-driven platforms don’t just shape “what’s popular” but are actively rewriting our shared language, humor, and ideas of community. Understanding the origins and mechanics of slang like “brainrot,” or cultural oddities like Skibidi Toilet, is key to becoming fluent in our new digital reality—and keeping our sense of agency as internet culture invades every corner of life.

Notable:

• In a meta moment, Aleksic highlights that if enough people discuss their favorite new slang on air, they could unintentionally create new trends:
  • “If somebody does a study on podcasts, now we're going to be using the word delve more.” (41:21)