I'm not even through the introduction of my new library book and I'd already thought "oof I wonder what a linguist would think of this" about a dozen times before I read a paragraph that started "As a linguist..."
Well we'll see how this goes but this isn't promising.
Then again, the book is Algospeak, which I know fuck-all about. Beyond dabbling in 2010s twitter and facebook, I've never used an algorithm-affected social platform; I haven't kept up with the cool social media since LiveJournal. 😆
But also. This person seems to be using "etymology" to mean things that etymology does not mean.
But it's weird to see short-form video treated as a) the pinnacle of human information consumption and b) the "algorithmic" manipulation being absolutely inevitable, and without any attention apparently being given who would be doing that or to what end.
> all "internet slang" words are brought to you by the algorithm
roflcopters
I can tell this one isn't gonna leave me alone now. I'll be lying in bed not able to sleep, staring at the ceiling and thinking "This isn't even true with newer stuff! Doggo language isn't algorithm-driven! 'I lik the bred' isn't. The terrible Middle English of 'ChaucerDothTweet' wasn't!"
The list goes on, even before you get into all the fedi stuff...
@bright_helpings tumblr has always been chronological timelined and has nonetheless continued to consistently churn out new slang for the past two decades
