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Are We Cooked? How Social Media Shapes Language | Adam Aleksic | TED

Gen Z slang is rife with new words like “unalive,” “skibidi” and “rizz.” Where do these words come from — and how do they get popular so fast? Linguist Adam Aleksic explores how the forces of social media algorithms are reshaping the way people talk and view their very own identities. (Recorded at TEDxPenn on…

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Gen Z slang is rife with new words like “unalive,” “skibidi” and “rizz.” Where do these words come from — and how do they get popular so fast? Linguist Adam Aleksic explores how the forces of social media algorithms are reshaping the way people talk and view their very own identities. (Recorded at TEDxPenn on April 6, 2024)

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64 Comments

64 Comments

  1. @Skylar_1999

    July 10, 2025 at 11:08 am

    Real one knows it’s a repost❤❤

    • @jianghan4086

      July 10, 2025 at 11:16 am

      It was first uploaded by TEDx. This one is by TED

  2. @mjsalkathiri1421

    July 10, 2025 at 11:09 am

    الحمد لله حمدا كثيرا طيبا مباركا فيه

    • @shakibsaerdar8113

      July 10, 2025 at 11:16 am

      I love this programme ❤

  3. @KenTheAdventurer

    July 10, 2025 at 11:11 am

    Basically modern euphemisms make up most of the new slang

  4. @taskeensheikh2817

    July 10, 2025 at 11:17 am

    What’s wrong with his lower back😂😂😂

    • @djdjdax2253

      July 10, 2025 at 11:52 am

      🇮🇳

    • @Remiddi

      July 10, 2025 at 12:12 pm

      Mic pack

  5. @Paityn_Pojiki

    July 10, 2025 at 11:19 am

    Woahh, it’s the etymologynerd. I’m so happy the guy got a ted talk

    • @deltaangelfire

      July 10, 2025 at 12:18 pm

      did you know he has an upcoming book called Algospeak that you can preorder??

      Oh wait he can’t pin comments on a TED video 🤣

  6. @karanvasudeva5424

    July 10, 2025 at 11:40 am

    cooked with that outro

  7. @ShubhangamChaudhary-cf4uq

    July 10, 2025 at 12:14 pm

    The speech makes us so powerful, Even this helps us to know about social media and how viral New words as well as reels promoted by the society.

  8. @ikoanadihsoy

    July 10, 2025 at 12:27 pm

    すげえTedまで来たってことは結構人気なんかな

  9. @Skyace13

    July 10, 2025 at 12:57 pm

    7:51 surely we know black-pilled came from blue/red-pilled from The Matrix just like the term “woke” right? I think even the word incel might have originated after this happened, let alone the movement and recoloring their pill from red to black to separate from the “woke.”At least that was my understanding

  10. @grantlauzon5237

    July 10, 2025 at 1:03 pm

    Is this a re-upload or similar talk by the same guy.
    Being “burrito pilled” is something I remember from a TED Talk.

    • @-cohst

      July 11, 2025 at 1:29 am

      says it was recorded april 2024

    • @grantlauzon5237

      July 11, 2025 at 1:43 am

      @@-cohst I found it. It was originally on the TED-X channel. Also there’s a big TED-X in the background.
      Edit: same title minus the “are we cooked”

  11. @scottmichaelharris

    July 10, 2025 at 2:50 pm

    First heard Deadpool use unalive on a kids Spider-Man show at least 10 years ago.

  12. @SonMello-g5y

    July 10, 2025 at 2:59 pm

    I wasn’t going to post anything here, but something nudged me to. Maybe because I know what it’s like to be scrolling through comments, hoping for something to click some small sign that you’re not crazy for wanting more. For a long time, I was doing all the “right” things, but still feeling stuck. It’s like I could see the life I wanted, but couldn’t reach it. I didn’t have language for what I was missing until I found The Cancelled Laws of Reality by Selene Veritas. It didn’t force me into some flashy transformation it just helped me see how the laws behind reality actually work. It showed me how to stop forcing and start aligning. If that speaks to where you’re at, maybe this will find you like it found me.

  13. @FlaviaArtis

    July 10, 2025 at 2:59 pm

    amen

  14. @LaurindaMorrill

    July 10, 2025 at 2:59 pm

    thank you

  15. @ZoraAkin

    July 10, 2025 at 2:59 pm

    To anyone reading this we’ve never met, but I genuinely hope the best for you. If you’re going through something right now, I get it. I spent years chasing goals but never actually feeling in control of the outcomes. I believed effort alone was enough… until I found The Cancelled Laws of Reality by Selene Veritas. That book opened my eyes to the real reasons things were stuck. Since reading it, not only has my income shifted my entire energy feels different. Life responds differently when you understand how it’s wired. If you’re seeing this, maybe it’s because something in you is ready. Wishing you peace and everything you’ve been waiting for ❤️❤️

  16. @RickeyOverstreet

    July 10, 2025 at 2:59 pm

    amen

  17. @CarynGore

    July 10, 2025 at 3:00 pm

    amen

  18. @BibiBourgeois

    July 10, 2025 at 3:00 pm

    amen

  19. @WillVelez-w9m

    July 10, 2025 at 3:00 pm

    amen

  20. @GranvilleEmmons

    July 10, 2025 at 3:00 pm

    amen

  21. @GranvilleEmmons

    July 10, 2025 at 3:00 pm

    To anyone reading this we’ve never met, but I genuinely hope the best for you. If you’re going through something right now, I get it. I spent years chasing goals but never actually feeling in control of the outcomes. I believed effort alone was enough… until I found The Cancelled Laws of Reality by Selene Veritas. That book opened my eyes to the real reasons things were stuck. Since reading it, not only has my income shifted my entire energy feels different. Life responds differently when you understand how it’s wired. If you’re seeing this, maybe it’s because something in you is ready. Wishing you peace and everything you’ve been waiting for ❤️❤️

  22. @cronut6208

    July 10, 2025 at 4:06 pm

    This ted talk ATE 😂😭😭😭😭

  23. @polyglotornot

    July 10, 2025 at 4:26 pm

    this guy needed to be here along time ago

  24. @etymology_nerd

    July 10, 2025 at 5:00 pm

    omg guys it’s me!!! i wrote a book about this called “algospeak” and u should buy it 😀

  25. @flamorus3355

    July 10, 2025 at 9:27 pm

    we are cooked. we officially got memes into the history books

    • @BonnieShadow33

      July 11, 2025 at 9:04 pm

      So we’re cooked because history got into the history books?

  26. @angelsummertimecuteface

    July 10, 2025 at 10:00 pm

    “Unalive” is what we say now because America has desensitized children to violence and it is triggering to hear children constantly discuss how many “kills” they have on the game 🤮

    Our brains are melting and it’s not the internet’s fault. It’s a user problem.

    • @BonnieShadow33

      July 11, 2025 at 9:04 pm

      How is “unalive” different from “pass away”?

  27. @angelsummertimecuteface

    July 10, 2025 at 10:02 pm

    Thank you for crediting African-American English ❤

    • @megankassa3633

      July 12, 2025 at 4:28 pm

      fr it means so much that he’s recognizing the origin

  28. @JoshuaBorland-e1d

    July 10, 2025 at 10:14 pm

    Bellarium token presale is flying under the radar right now, but not for long.

  29. @SarahJay-w4w

    July 10, 2025 at 10:57 pm

    Accumulating early-stage tokens like Bellarium is how big plays are made.

  30. @ThọĐỗHuy-t8o

    July 10, 2025 at 11:12 pm

    It’s not hype — it’s real utility. That’s what makes Bellarium Network project special.

  31. @eric212234

    July 10, 2025 at 11:28 pm

    Ironically it’s bigotry to assume cultural appropriation when it may be cultural appreciation or emulation. But some people can’t think without drawing lines in the sand… Woke have become as bad as the conservative right…

  32. @rhaikh

    July 11, 2025 at 12:07 am

    This guy’s so skibidi

  33. @sodazman

    July 11, 2025 at 9:11 am

    “Pilled” didn’t come from Incel groups. It came from the movie The Matrix – with the Red and Blue pill. Only “Black pilled” came from the Incel community.

  34. @Chethakmp3

    July 11, 2025 at 12:42 pm

    That’s verty interesting to know. Thanks

  35. @ChandanandaThero-d3k

    July 12, 2025 at 1:01 am

  36. @RazielDeMelo-u3d

    July 12, 2025 at 4:33 am

    This project is being built with real users in mind. Bellarium Network seems different than most.

  37. @HarvelJeanty-z2k

    July 12, 2025 at 5:33 am

    smart investors are loading $BEL bellarium token before it gets listed.

  38. @mrleast433

    July 12, 2025 at 2:09 pm

    maybe our future kids will watch this video

  39. @Bhomasolini

    July 12, 2025 at 2:27 pm

    *takes lsd*

    language, wow, social media, omg! :ooo

  40. @Hanezeve64

    July 12, 2025 at 5:14 pm

    Hahahaha 😂😂😂

    • @Hanezeve64

      July 12, 2025 at 5:14 pm

      Well done sir

  41. @ExistentialWolf

    July 12, 2025 at 5:57 pm

    overelaboration is a disorder associated with dementia from lack of blood flow to the brain … but the kids can’t smell their extremities from all the poo unaliving fragrances. thank god this is just hype and the internet isn’t a thing today

  42. @callumclark2331

    July 13, 2025 at 1:43 am

    Bro’s got wild body langauge like he’s making a TikTok. I’d recommend a slight toning down when talking to an adult audience.

    • @xBreakfastt

      July 15, 2025 at 5:05 am

      Bro is just being authentic.

  43. @khalfanimwamba5894

    July 13, 2025 at 3:51 am

    Well done, & a question: Just How did Social Media, itself, impact the word “Woke?” Thanks.

  44. @Saunterisland

    July 13, 2025 at 9:39 am

    It’s called:
    manipulation
    Those algorithms are designed to change core languages.

    • @toothytoad7075

      July 13, 2025 at 5:56 pm

      change core?

  45. @MrPhrenzy

    July 13, 2025 at 1:35 pm

    “I don’t think we’re sliding into a dystopian 1984 scenario”; well of course not, 1984 is child’s play in comparison to the current day! George Orwell would never have guessed to what extent we’ve taken tracking individuals and how language is used in politics…

  46. @pastandmemories

    July 13, 2025 at 8:44 pm

    😀

  47. @Insider_English

    July 14, 2025 at 12:40 am

    yes but why are you shouting? calm down. it’s all crap and enshittification.

    • @Fossil08

      July 15, 2025 at 6:23 pm

      He’s projecting to a room full of people

  48. @xxxxxx-zy9lu

    July 14, 2025 at 4:00 pm

    does this guy have a problem standing up straight?

    • @hybby

      July 15, 2025 at 10:26 pm

      I can’t unsee it now

  49. @RandyAT

    July 15, 2025 at 10:27 am

    tbh, english speakers are pretty great with creating new words to avoid censorship. in my country, the equivalent censored version of “kill” is either “k.i.l.l” or whatever character look like it like “k1ll” or “k!ll”, most of the words I see talking about mental health is “44” (pronounced similar to “suicide” if you read it wrong enough in Vietnamese)

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