Latest news with #linguist
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Book Review: ‘Algospeak' shows just how much social media is changing us
How much has social media changed the way we talk and behave? That's the question linguist and content creator Adam Aleksic sets out to answer in his debut book 'Algospeak.' If you already know what words like 'yeet,' 'rizz,' 'brainrot' or 'blackpilled' mean, some of this information might not come as a surprise to you. Still, Aleksic's analysis reaffirms how this language came about and why it continues to proliferate. For those unfamiliar, it acts as an accessible entry point into social media slang and its evolution. 'Algospeak' touches on a wide array of topics, including in-groups and out-groups, censorship, language appropriation, extremism online, microtrends, clickbait and generational divides. The chapters build on each other with a textbook-level attention to vocabulary. This book serves as a sobering reality check on how social media is affecting not just our speech, but our entire identities. 'Social media creates new identities in order to commodify them,' Aleksic writes in a chapter about microtrends and micro-labels. 'Your decisions are now curated for you under the guise of personalization, while in reality they're engineered to make platforms as much money as possible.' As a self-proclaimed 'etymology nerd,' Aleksic leans heavily into his experience as a content creator, providing a crash course into social media history and how to game the ever-changing and opaque 'algorithm.' His tone is academic, yet approachable, and he's bold but pragmatic in his assertions, exploring counterarguments sufficiently. He identifies the transient nature of language and the algorithm immediately, since the cultural references in 'Algospeak' risk expiring quickly as trends change and social media platforms shift — but that's the point. ''The algorithm' is here to stay. This is why I think it's absolutely worth talking about even the most fleeting words,' Aleksic writes. Aleksic's writing feels personable and knowledgeable as he translates his online presence offline, and in doing so, demonstrates his own claims about parasocial relationships and owning one's audience. Keeping up with the algorithmic cycle is portrayed as exhausting, but as a necessary evil for influencers supporting their livelihoods through social media. "Algospeak" is a fascinating blend of etymology, psychology, cultural analysis and first-person perspective. The book acts as both a snapshot of our current, social media-imbued society and as an intellectual foundation for language developments to come. Aleksic leaves his reader with questions about the threats and opportunities that stem from social media developments, but undeniably one principle is true: social media has breached containment and is influencing not only the way we talk, but the way we live. 'Algorithms are the culprits, influencers are the accomplices, language is the weapon, and you, dear reader, are the victim,' he writes. ___ AP book reviews: Rachel S. Hunt, The Associated Press
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Book Review: ‘Algospeak' shows just how much social media is changing us
How much has social media changed the way we talk and behave? That's the question linguist and content creator Adam Aleksic sets out to answer in his debut book 'Algospeak.' If you already know what words like 'yeet,' 'rizz,' 'brainrot' or 'blackpilled' mean, some of this information might not come as a surprise to you. Still, Aleksic's analysis reaffirms how this language came about and why it continues to proliferate. For those unfamiliar, it acts as an accessible entry point into social media slang and its evolution. 'Algospeak' touches on a wide array of topics, including in-groups and out-groups, censorship, language appropriation, extremism online, microtrends, clickbait and generational divides. The chapters build on each other with a textbook-level attention to vocabulary. This book serves as a sobering reality check on how social media is affecting not just our speech, but our entire identities. 'Social media creates new identities in order to commodify them,' Aleksic writes in a chapter about microtrends and micro-labels. 'Your decisions are now curated for you under the guise of personalization, while in reality they're engineered to make platforms as much money as possible.' As a self-proclaimed 'etymology nerd,' Aleksic leans heavily into his experience as a content creator, providing a crash course into social media history and how to game the ever-changing and opaque 'algorithm.' His tone is academic, yet approachable, and he's bold but pragmatic in his assertions, exploring counterarguments sufficiently. He identifies the transient nature of language and the algorithm immediately, since the cultural references in 'Algospeak' risk expiring quickly as trends change and social media platforms shift — but that's the point. ''The algorithm' is here to stay. This is why I think it's absolutely worth talking about even the most fleeting words,' Aleksic writes. Aleksic's writing feels personable and knowledgeable as he translates his online presence offline, and in doing so, demonstrates his own claims about parasocial relationships and owning one's audience. Keeping up with the algorithmic cycle is portrayed as exhausting, but as a necessary evil for influencers supporting their livelihoods through social media. 'Algospeak' is a fascinating blend of etymology, psychology, cultural analysis and first-person perspective. The book acts as both a snapshot of our current, social media-imbued society and as an intellectual foundation for language developments to come. Aleksic leaves his reader with questions about the threats and opportunities that stem from social media developments, but undeniably one principle is true: social media has breached containment and is influencing not only the way we talk, but the way we live. 'Algorithms are the culprits, influencers are the accomplices, language is the weapon, and you, dear reader, are the victim,' he writes. ___ AP book reviews:
Fast Company
04-07-2025
- Health
- Fast Company
Pop, soda, or coke? A look at the history behind the soft drink's many names
With burgers sizzling and classic rock thumping, many Americans revel in summer cookouts —at least until that wayward cousin asks for a 'pop' in soda country, or even worse, a 'coke' when they actually want a Sprite. Few American linguistic debates have bubbled quite as long and effervescently as the one over whether a generic soft drink should be called a soda, pop or coke. The word you use generally boils down to where you're from: Midwesterners enjoy a good pop, while soda is tops in the North and far West. Southerners, long the cultural mavericks, don't bat an eyelash asking for coke—lowercase—before homing in on exactly the type they want: Perhaps a root beer or a Coke, uppercase. As a linguist who studies American dialects, I'm less interested in this regional divide and far more fascinated by the unexpected history behind how a fizzy 'health' drink from the early 1800s spawned the modern soft drink's many names and iterations. Bubbles, anyone? Foods and drinks with wellness benefits might seem like a modern phenomenon, but the urge to create drinks with medicinal properties inspired what might be called a soda revolution in the 1800s. The process of carbonating water was first discovered in the late 1700s. By the early 1800s, this carbonated water had become popular as a health drink and was often referred to as 'soda water.' The word 'soda' likely came from 'sodium,' since these drinks often contained salts, which were then believed to have healing properties. Given its alleged curative effects for health issues such as indigestion, pharmacists sold soda water at soda fountains, innovative devices that created carbonated water to be sold by the glass. A chemistry professor, Benjamin Stillman, set up the first such device in a drugstore in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1806. Its eventual success inspired a boom of soda fountains in drugstores and health spas. By the mid-1800s, pharmacists were creating unique root-, fruit- and herb-infused concoctions, such as sassafras-based root beer, at their soda fountains, often marketing them as cures for everything from fatigue to foul moods. These flavored, sweetened versions gave rise to the linking of the word 'soda' with a sweetened carbonated beverage, as opposed to simple, carbonated water. Seltzer —today's popular term for such sparkling water—was around, too. But it was used only for the naturally carbonated mineral water from the German town Nieder-Selters. Unlike Perrier, sourced similarly from a specific spring in France, seltzer made the leap to becoming a generic term for fizzy water. Regional naming patterns So how did 'soda' come to be called so many different things in different places? It all stems from a mix of economic enterprise and linguistic ingenuity. The popularity of 'soda' in the Northeast likely reflects the soda fountain's longer history in the region. Since a lot of Americans living in the Northeast migrated to California in the mid-to-late 1800s, the name likely traveled west with them. As for the Midwestern preference for 'pop'—well, the earliest American use of the term to refer to a sparkling beverage appeared in the 1840s in the name of a flavored version called 'ginger pop.' Such ginger-flavored pop, though, was around in Britain by 1816, since a Newcastle songbook is where you can first see it used in text. The 'pop' seems to be onomatopoeic for the noise made when the cork was released from the bottle before drinking. Linguists don't fully know why 'pop' became so popular in the Midwest. But one theory links it to a Michigan bottling company, Feigenson Brothers Bottling Works—today known as Faygo Beverages—that used 'pop' in the name of the sodas they marketed and sold. Another theory suggests that because bottles were more common in the region, soda drinkers were more likely to hear the 'pop' sound than in the Northeast, where soda fountains reigned. As for using coke generically, the first Coca-Cola was served in 1886 by Dr. John Pemberton, a pharmacist at Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta and the founder of the company. In the 1900s, the Coca-Cola company tried to stamp out the use of 'Coke' for 'Coca-Cola.' But that ship had already sailed. Since Coca-Cola originated and was overwhelmingly popular in the South, its generic use grew out of the fact that people almost always asked for 'Coke.' As with Jell-O, Kleenex, Band-Aids and seltzer, it became a generic term. What's soft about it? Speaking of soft drinks, what's up with that term? It was originally used to distinguish all nonalcoholic drinks from 'hard drinks,' or beverages containing spirits. Interestingly, the original Coca-Cola formula included wine —resembling a type of alcoholic 'health' drink popular overseas, Vin Mariani. But Pemberton went on to develop a 'soft' version a few years later to be sold as a medicinal drink. Due to the growing popularity of soda water concoctions, eventually 'soft drink' came to mean only such sweetened carbonated beverages, a linguistic testament to America's enduring love affair with sugar and bubbles. With the average American guzzling almost 40 gallons per year, you can call it whatever you what. Just don't call it healthy.
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Dysolve: Tackling The Dyslexia Crisis & Pandemic Learning Loss With AI
Using a series of generative AI games, Dysolve helps students overcome the challenge of dyslexia. Fifteen months ago, Dysolve, an innovative AI-driven solution for dyslexia developed by Dr. Coral Hoh, began to show promising results in addressing dyslexia at a foundational level. In the time since, it has become clear that the need for a comprehensive language intervention extends beyond dyslexia, particularly as the learning loss resulting from disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has come to light. Dysolve's mission to address dyslexia through generative AI-driven games has become even more crucial. Dr. Hoh, a linguist and founder of Dysolve, originally aimed to tackle dyslexia as a computational problem. Her premise was simple yet powerful: dyslexia stems from errors in the brain's language processing system. Dysolve operates by dynamically creating interactive games during each session. Typically lasting 1 to 3 minutes, these games are designed to quickly and effectively identify unique "coding errors" within an individual's language processing abilities. By continually adapting to each user's specific needs, Dysolve's AI not only identifies these errors but also actively retrains the brain, enhancing the user's capacity to process and interpret language. This approach ensures engagement through short, constantly changing games that remain appealing and effective for users. In a recent interview, Dr. Hoh revealed that as Dysolve has been implemented across districts in the country, she has discovered a deeper crisis in language learning and development, exacerbated by the pandemic and the significant reduction in language exposure that many students have experienced. Schools that are already struggling with limited resources for diagnosing and treating dyslexia have found themselves overwhelmed by a surge in students showing severe language deficits due to disrupted education. 'The situation is worse than we initially understood,' Dr. Hoh explained. Research conducted during the pandemic underscores alarming deficits in language acquisition among children born or raised during COVID lockdowns. Pre-pandemic, infants typically began recognizing word boundaries by four months of age. Alarmingly, recent studies indicate that pandemic-born infants struggle to achieve this milestone even by twelve months. This linguistic gap is not merely academic. "Teachers report fourth graders who are completely unresponsive, unable to process verbal instructions effectively," Dr. Hoh observed. This phenomenon, previously attributed to general educational disruption, is now recognized as a significant linguistic and cognitive developmental issue, highlighting the previously underappreciated role of formal education in language and cognitive development. Despite the growing urgency, some school administrators, wary of introducing new technologies into already strained systems, initially hesitated to widely integrate Dysolve until they realized how easy it is to implement a plug-and-play program. The main issue, Dr. Hoh notes, is that the novelty of an intervention program requires minimal teacher input. "We need to shift the mindset," Hoh emphasized, "teachers simply need to step back and allow the AI to do its job rather than thinking of it as a tool that they needed to actively use." Schools that have embraced Dysolve have reported notable successes. One case Dr. Hoh shared involved a third grader performing below the first percentile on state tests. After just three months of engagement, totaling only three hours of game time, the student rose to the 50th percentile and subsequently exceeded the 70th percentile. Such rapid progress underscores Dysolve's potential effectiveness. Beyond elementary and secondary education, Dysolve is gaining traction among adults facing literacy challenges, college students, and even individuals in their eighties. A compelling example emerged after Dysolve was featured on NBC Nightly News, resulting in poignant testimonials from older users who had battled lifelong isolation and employment difficulties due to untreated dyslexia. These older users expressed a strong desire to see Dysolve introduced in prisons, breaking the destructive cycle of illiteracy. Financially, Dysolve offers significant savings for educational institutions. Traditional dyslexia interventions can cost up to $20,000 per student annually, while Dysolve's model provides effective treatment for just $1,000 per year. Clinical trials, which have been ongoing since 2022, have further validated the platform's efficacy, with preliminary results showing a positive effect. Looking ahead, Dysolve aims to enhance implementation in New York schools by leveraging a systematic approach to expand its impact nationwide. The company seeks external funding for a rapid rollout. This will be its first capital raise, as it has supported Dysolve's product development with paid subscriptions since its inception. "We're at the cusp of a cultural shift," Dr. Hoh said. The vision for the future involves Dysolve becoming a standard component of early education, universally screening and supporting all students. Such normalization could profoundly transform educational outcomes, reduce stigma, and significantly raise literacy rates. As Dysolve continues to demonstrate its efficacy in tackling dyslexia, Dr. Hoh and her team remain hopeful yet pragmatic about upcoming challenges. "We need broader acceptance and support, especially at the administrative level," she concludes. The potential, however, is undeniable. As it gains traction, Dysolve may soon transition from being an innovative educational tool to a universally recognized necessity in education, improving countless lives in the process.
