Past Event: YULS Event: Social media algorithms are changing your language (Adam Aleksic aka @EtymologyNerd)
The Yale Undergraduate Linguistics Society is excited to announce that we will be hosting Adam Aleksic — much better known by his online username, @EtymologyNerd — on campus next Friday, February 7th.
Aleksic was the president of Harvard University’s undergraduate linguistics society during his time as a student there, and has subsequently become best known for creating educational linguistics videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. He has built up over two million followers and more than a billion views across platforms. Many of us are frequently forwarded his videos — whether about colexification of body part terms, onomastics, or the politics of emoji usage — by our non-linguist friends.
In addition to his regular commentary on social media platforms, Aleksic has written on language and contemporary culture for The Washington Post and spoken at the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Georgetown University, and Oberlin College. He has been profiled by Los Angeles Magazine, The Oregonian, Boston Magazine, and The Daily Beast, and is a frequent interviewee on youth language and social media for The New York Times, NPR, and NBC News, among others. His book Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming The Future of Language will be released in June 2025.
On Friday, Aleksic will first deliver a talk, open to the public, on online communication and the role of social media in linguistic creativity. Details of the event are listed below.
Title: Social media algorithms are changing your language
Time: February 7, 2025 4:30pm-5:30pm
Location: Linsly-Chittenden Hall Room 102
Following the public event, Aleksic will be coming to Dow 201 (Lingsem) for a smaller-scale, informal conversation. This event will take place from 6:00pm-6:45pm and all members of the linguistics department and the Yale Undergraduate Linguistics Society are invited to attend. Dinner will be provided, catered from WowTikka. So that we can anticipate how much food to order, please sign up on the spreadsheet below if you plan to come.
Aleksic is one of the most widely-known linguistics-related content creators on social media today, and we are looking forward to hearing about his experiences communicating linguistics to a broader audience. Whether or not you’ve seen many of his videos, been intrigued (or overwhelmed) by his high-intensity presentation style, or even heard of him before, we hope you’ll stop by!