Language
a composite graphic including a portrait of author Adam Aleksic wearing a white T-shirt and black shirt tied at the waist; slang words skibidi, rizz, sigma and 67; and the book cover of Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language
Portrait by Alefiyah Gandhi via Penguin Random House

Best of: How social media is changing language, with @EtymologyNerd

If you have young people in your life, you might've heard them use words such as skibidi (SKIH-bih-dee) or rizz or sigma. Maybe that's mumbo-jumbo to you, as mumbo-jumbo was to someone else in the past. But Adam Aleksic says that's just how language evolves. And as we continue through the internet age — specifically the era of short form video — the rate of change in our language is only going to accelerate.

Aleksic, known online as @EtymologyNerd, writes about this in his new book, Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language.

LM Otero/AP

Harsher Penalties On Texting While Driving; Taxing The Very Rich; DCFS And Spanish-Speaking Parents; Women’s World Cup

Starting next week, there will be harsher penalties for texting while driving. Also, what does it mean to tax the uber-rich? It’s a conversation happening not just in Springfield, but in Washington. Plus, hundreds of children in the Illinois foster system are being placed in homes where a language is spoken that isn’t their native one. And, the U.S. women’s team is on a mission to win a fourth World Cup.

Susan Goldin-Meadow

Talking With Our Hands

We’ve all been accused of talking with our hands, and if mostly everyone does, wouldn’t you think it would play an important role in communication?

More articles →