Overview of It's giving incel: The evolution of internet slang
This Code Switch episode from NPR explores how internet slang spreads, changes meaning, and often loses its original context as it moves from niche online communities into mainstream culture. Hosts B.A. Parker and Gene Demby talk with linguist and author Adam Aleksic (“the etymology nerd”) about how algorithms, clip culture, and irony accelerate language change — especially slang that originated in Black, queer, Latino, and incel-adjacent online spaces. The episode asks a bigger question too: when we use words without knowing where they came from, how much does that matter?
Key themes and takeaways
1. Internet slang travels fast — and usually out of context
- Social media platforms reward repeatable, catchy language, so slang gets copied quickly.
- Words and phrases often spread far beyond the communities that created them.
- By the time slang reaches mainstream users, the original meaning or social context may be completely blurred.
2. Algorithms shape language, not just content
- Aleksic argues that social platforms don’t just censor words; they also incentivize certain styles of speech.
- Terms like “unalive” emerged partly because platforms suppress words like “kill” or “suicide.”
- Algorithms also amplify trendy suffixes and phrasing, helping niche terms become viral templates.
3. “Maxing” and related slang have incel roots
- The episode traces “maxing” back through:
- min-maxing in Dungeons & Dragons/video games,
- looksmaxing in online forums,
- and then broader uses like fiber maxing, whimsy maxing, or nothing maxing.
- While some uses are harmless or playful, the term carries baggage from incel/blackpill ideology centered on attractiveness, hierarchy, and hopelessness.
4. Incel language can mainstream harmful ideas
- Words such as chud, foid, and mog may sound like internet jokes, but they come from communities that often normalize misogyny and dehumanization.
- Aleksic warns that ironic usage can still widen the “Overton window,” making extreme ideas feel more normal over time.
- The internet’s constant blur between joke and sincerity makes it easier for harmful rhetoric to spread under the cover of humor.
5. Black cultural language is repeatedly appropriated and decontextualized
- The episode connects today’s slang cycle to older patterns of linguistic borrowing from Black culture.
- Examples include:
- cool, which emerged in African American English before spreading broadly,
- ballroom-origin phrases like “it’s giving,” “slay,” “serve,” and “ate”,
- and hood/Black vernacular being recast into “Gen Z slang.”
- As words detach from their origin communities, the communities that created them can lose control over their meaning and cultural power.
6. Even religious or culturally specific words get turned into memes
- The episode discusses “wallahi” and how it has been clipped, reused, and stripped of context online.
- Similar to “bumbleclot” and other borrowed expressions, words can become humorous catchphrases far removed from their original seriousness.
- This raises questions about respect, appropriation, and whether constant ironic reuse erases meaning.
Notable ideas and insights
“Talking in quotation marks”
- Aleksic and the hosts describe a modern internet habit of using words ironically, performatively, or with distance — as if everything is in quotation marks.
- This helps explain why so much online language feels detached from its original emotional or social meaning.
Etymology as a way of understanding power
- The episode frames etymology not as trivia, but as a way to reveal social history.
- Knowing where a word comes from can change how we think about race, gender, class, and online culture.
The tension between language evolution and responsibility
- The conversation doesn’t argue that all borrowed words should be banned.
- Instead, it suggests that users should be thoughtful about origins, especially when a word comes from a marginalized or harmful context.
- The hosts land on a broadly existential but hopeful view: meaning matters, and people can choose language that is kinder and more responsible.
Main takeaway
This episode shows that slang is never just slang. Internet language is shaped by platforms, subcultures, irony, and power — and the words we casually adopt often carry histories of race, misogyny, or appropriation. The episode encourages listeners to be curious about where words come from, and more intentional about how they use them.