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What Makes a Word “Real”? | Anne Curzan @TED #tedtalks #ted

English professor Anne Curzan actually encourages her students to use slang in class. A language historian, she is fascinated by how people use words—and by how this changes. Watch her full TED Talk:

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English professor Anne Curzan actually encourages her students to use slang in class. A language historian, she is fascinated by how people use words—and by how this changes. Watch her full TED Talk:

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33 Comments

33 Comments

  1. @serajacob8278

    March 6, 2024 at 11:03 am

    Thank you ????

  2. @markfoth1226

    March 6, 2024 at 11:10 am

    Wow mind blown. Thanks Ted.(British sarcasm)????
    Please define woke for me. Because I’ve no idea

    • @theSatanicNaturalists.

      March 6, 2024 at 11:19 am

      Google it.

    • @PrettyDecentDude

      March 6, 2024 at 3:59 pm

      Nobody knows what “woke” yet somehow it’s a scary word for Republicans. Go figure ????‍♂️

  3. @arbaazmadni8771

    March 6, 2024 at 11:22 am

    I know a word that rizz itself into dictionary through tiktok

    • @randomgeek9385

      March 6, 2024 at 11:40 am

      Did “rizz” originate from tiktok?

    • @arbaazmadni8771

      March 6, 2024 at 11:56 am

      @@randomgeek9385 yeah people oftenly used it on tiktok before it was even a word

  4. @randomguy19166

    March 6, 2024 at 11:29 am

    Caitlyn Jenner does Ted talks now?!

  5. @jwf2125

    March 6, 2024 at 11:42 am

    Let’s hear a few words about how saturation use by a minority of fringe activists can pressure dictionary publishers into adding words that a majority of language users don’t use.

    • @PrettyDecentDude

      March 6, 2024 at 3:58 pm

      You aren’t even making sense bro

    • @jwf2125

      March 6, 2024 at 5:37 pm

      @@PrettyDecentDude Reread it.

    • @jwf2125

      March 6, 2024 at 5:37 pm

      @@Outstanding_Guy Reread it.

    • @PrettyDecentDude

      March 6, 2024 at 5:40 pm

      @@jwf2125 Or you could just write more clearly

    • @jwf2125

      March 6, 2024 at 6:46 pm

      @@PrettyDecentDudeI appreciate your faith in me.

    • @jwf2125

      March 6, 2024 at 6:46 pm

      @@Outstanding_GuyI appreciate your faith in me.

    • @PrettyDecentDude

      March 6, 2024 at 7:09 pm

      @@jwf2125 I have no faith in you, lol

    • @jwf2125

      March 6, 2024 at 8:51 pm

      @@Outstanding_GuyMy heart is broken. Be well.

  6. @LetsTakeWalk

    March 6, 2024 at 12:45 pm

    This Ted talk Embiggens my soul.

    • @nafiztank007

      March 6, 2024 at 12:48 pm

      I saw what you did there .

    • @sachamm

      March 6, 2024 at 9:32 pm

      A very cromulent position.

  7. @CreativeDimension

    March 6, 2024 at 12:48 pm

    That seems like ???? but it is true… I declare“????” as a word now

  8. @OffensivePlayer316

    March 6, 2024 at 2:05 pm

    I find this fragment of the talk to be underwhelming.

  9. @muzzybeat

    March 6, 2024 at 2:21 pm

    That’s how words get into the dictionary most of the time. There are also those definitions crafted or revised based on the influence of powerful actors. Corporate and unelected governmental agents have a great deal of influence as well.

  10. @user-fv7jt1tm3c

    March 6, 2024 at 5:30 pm

    Most have never seen an unabridged dictionary…

  11. @mecclad

    March 6, 2024 at 7:57 pm

    That word is real ❌
    That word is “israeled” ✅

    Urban dictionary: Israeled
    when a person tells you that your property is theirs (when it obviously isn’t), and demands you just give this property to them, and if you refuse, they take it by force and the law will somehow be on the their (israeling) side

    • @1IGG

      March 7, 2024 at 5:57 pm

      That’s just colonizing with extra steps.

  12. @DefinitelyNotBlackOpalDirect

    March 7, 2024 at 4:36 am

    Which is ridiculous to some extent, why they’re gonna make literally mean figuratively and why irregardless means the same as fucking REGARDLESS. We should stop appealing to the lowest rungs of society and letting them impact speech in these ways. We’re dumbing down the English language further and making it even more complicated to understand for ESL people.

  13. @J.Tronix

    March 7, 2024 at 3:22 pm

    They’re just watching google trends

  14. @mattbasford6299

    March 7, 2024 at 7:52 pm

    There has to be a standard of what words mean. This speech is a birch of word salad.

  15. @mattbasford6299

    March 7, 2024 at 7:53 pm

    I just wish people knew what the word “literally” means.

  16. @e.gedeon8681

    March 8, 2024 at 7:50 am

    Go check the word black in the dictionary to see how demonic it is described and the word white how angelic it is described it was done on purpose

  17. @tapaak

    March 10, 2024 at 7:12 am

    I am waiting when this person will shed their mark and Abhishek Upmanyu shows himself to the public.

  18. @scottthompson1

    March 10, 2024 at 4:04 pm

    So why ain’t ain’t a word? Ain’t had a well understood definition. Ain’t its definition good enough? Ain’t no one that ain’t known what is meant when ain’t used in a sentence. So why ain’t ain’t beautiful?

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Watch more:

TED videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with the TED Talks Usage Policy: . For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), submit a request at

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