Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language

by Adam Aleksic

reactionary backlash to the Kurt Cobain “unalive” exhibit placard wasn’t just

As early as the summer of 2023, people were making “rizz” content because the keyword “rizz” was trending, and the keyword “rizz” was trending because the algorithm decided that it would be so. I call this the engagement treadmill. As certain types of content get engagement, more creators make those types of videos, so more people engage with it, so more creators make it.

Linguists have known for a while that words are more likely to succeed if they appear in many grammatical situations. If a slang term shows up across multiple phrasal templates and linguistic contexts, it’s more likely that it’ll stick around in at least one of those templates or contexts.

If, as with “cancel,” it defines a necessary concept, then we say that it’s filled a semantic gap: a concept that we didn’t previously have a word for.

The online space makes in-groups feel more accessible by exposing users to more social circles than in real life, and then removes any regulatory ability from the original circles.