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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
Was most interesting when dissecting language and how algorithms influenced it. Less interesting when opining on the state of the world with algorithms involved.
Definitely will sub to his YouTube channel though.
Definitely will sub to his YouTube channel though.
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
I love linguistics I love etymology and I love seeing what other people research so that I can figure out what I want to research
I wish only that an audiobook was available because I feel like that speaks better to the content as the medium of delivery
I wish only that an audiobook was available because I feel like that speaks better to the content as the medium of delivery
I was positively surprised by this book, and yet, it left a bitter aftertaste. Let me explain.
Algospeak covers linguistic phenomena created or exacerbated in response to social media. This includes euphemisms that arose in response to censorship, „gen alpha brainrot“, the various -cores, and the emergence of online intonation patterns. The breadth of topics is probably the books biggest strength; there is hardly an aspect of online speech that is not at least mentioned.
At the same time, this leads to Algospeak often barely scratching the surface of things. Take the example of the aforementioned euphemisms. Aleksic discusses some examples, explains how they arose, and adds statistics about how many middle school students are familiar with the term. This is all nice and well, but doesn‘t really tell us all that much. There is no data on the frequency of such uses, none on uptake differences between original and censored term, no variation trees, nothing. Of course, there is a reason for this: The relevant research just hasn‘t been done yet. But one might wonder whether Aleksic - who surely would have received funding to perform it, given his status - shouldn‘t have done that research, rather than cite the little there is and then speculate about the rest. I am aware that not all of this would be interesting for a general audience, but then again, in the introduction, Aleksic hopes that this book starts more research - nice sentiment, but maybe do it yourself, then?
What annoyed me more (and, full transparency, that is probably because of my own views on language change, which largely stem from Deborah Cameron‘s work) is how willingly Aleksic parrots the received wisdom of „language has always been changing, there‘s nothing to be done about it, this is not new, it‘s the same old tale, slightly different“. This sentiment is made explicit in the final chapter, where he discusses worries about language change, and uses these nothingburhers to put them into place.
This is a strikingly incoherent sentiment, given the previous chapters. First, even if language has always been changing (duh!), this doesn‘t mean that how and why it is changing is no longer relevant. In fact, in previous chapters he (noncommittally) explained that a lot of online language change involves the appropriation of vernacular terms, and that it is driven by corporations‘ restrictions and algorithms, rather than communities. This poses a marked difference from earlier language change, and the question of „Is this okay?“ is not trivial.
Second, the „there‘s nothing to be done“ attitude is crazy. Obviously, since what causes the languages to change are artificial interventions, we could stop them. We could restrict algorithms and their bans on certain topics and phrases. We could become more vocal about our disagreements with the platforms. All of this is entirely possible, and none of it is moot.
Instead of spending any time dwelling on such bigger picture questions, Aleksic mostly creates an atmosphere of excited observation. This is fine, this is a general audience book mostly targeted at an influencer‘s fans. It is, however, also quite lazy, and a little cowardly.
Algospeak covers linguistic phenomena created or exacerbated in response to social media. This includes euphemisms that arose in response to censorship, „gen alpha brainrot“, the various -cores, and the emergence of online intonation patterns. The breadth of topics is probably the books biggest strength; there is hardly an aspect of online speech that is not at least mentioned.
At the same time, this leads to Algospeak often barely scratching the surface of things. Take the example of the aforementioned euphemisms. Aleksic discusses some examples, explains how they arose, and adds statistics about how many middle school students are familiar with the term. This is all nice and well, but doesn‘t really tell us all that much. There is no data on the frequency of such uses, none on uptake differences between original and censored term, no variation trees, nothing. Of course, there is a reason for this: The relevant research just hasn‘t been done yet. But one might wonder whether Aleksic - who surely would have received funding to perform it, given his status - shouldn‘t have done that research, rather than cite the little there is and then speculate about the rest. I am aware that not all of this would be interesting for a general audience, but then again, in the introduction, Aleksic hopes that this book starts more research - nice sentiment, but maybe do it yourself, then?
What annoyed me more (and, full transparency, that is probably because of my own views on language change, which largely stem from Deborah Cameron‘s work) is how willingly Aleksic parrots the received wisdom of „language has always been changing, there‘s nothing to be done about it, this is not new, it‘s the same old tale, slightly different“. This sentiment is made explicit in the final chapter, where he discusses worries about language change, and uses these nothingburhers to put them into place.
This is a strikingly incoherent sentiment, given the previous chapters. First, even if language has always been changing (duh!), this doesn‘t mean that how and why it is changing is no longer relevant. In fact, in previous chapters he (noncommittally) explained that a lot of online language change involves the appropriation of vernacular terms, and that it is driven by corporations‘ restrictions and algorithms, rather than communities. This poses a marked difference from earlier language change, and the question of „Is this okay?“ is not trivial.
Second, the „there‘s nothing to be done“ attitude is crazy. Obviously, since what causes the languages to change are artificial interventions, we could stop them. We could restrict algorithms and their bans on certain topics and phrases. We could become more vocal about our disagreements with the platforms. All of this is entirely possible, and none of it is moot.
Instead of spending any time dwelling on such bigger picture questions, Aleksic mostly creates an atmosphere of excited observation. This is fine, this is a general audience book mostly targeted at an influencer‘s fans. It is, however, also quite lazy, and a little cowardly.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
The book was interesting and informative. It also contained a fair bit of first-person narrative, with some chapters containing many personal anecdotes from the author, along with personal opinions. This was not what I was expecting and it detracted from my experience at times.
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Exactly what you’d expect from the cover, and if you’ve encountered the author on the internet before. I found it interesting, and appreciated the even-keeled perspective of our ever-changing language. The author and I are the same age and share a similar experience of the internet, but there were slang works that were new to me
informative
fast-paced