TED- 我们都垮了吗？社交媒体如何塑造语言

摘要：多数是在非正式场合，但也可能出现在这种语境里：比如学生在作文里探讨《哈姆雷特》考虑自我“下线”的情节，或是在课堂上讨论《化身博士》里的“下线”事件。这些可不是凭空想象的场景。

How many of you are familiar with the word "unalive" as a synonym of "kill"?

在座有多少人知道，“下线”这个词是“杀”的同义词？

Show of hands.

举手示意一下。

OK, like, 80 percent of you.

好，差不多八成。

Great. Now, follow-up question.

很好。那我再问一个问题。

How many of you have heard the word "unalive" being used in person?

你们当中有多少人在日常对话中，听过别人用“下线”这个词？

OK, I'm getting, like, 40, 50 percent.

好，这次大概四五成。

Great.

很好。

Those of you that said no clearly aren't middle-school teachers.

那些没举手的朋友，肯定不是初中老师。

If you spend enough time around seventh- and eighth-graders, you will hear them using the word.

要是你跟初一初二的学生待久了，就会听到他们用这个词。

It'll mostly be in informal situations but could show up in contexts like a student's essay on Hamlet's contemplation of unaliving himself, or a classroom discussion on the unaliving that happens in "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." And these aren't hypothetical situations.

多数是在非正式场合，但也可能出现在这种语境里：比如学生在作文里探讨《哈姆雷特》考虑自我“下线”的情节，或是在课堂上讨论《化身博士》里的“下线”事件。这些可不是凭空想象的场景。

These are actual examples drawn from the 1,000-plus middle-school teachers I've surveyed about this word.

这些都是真实案例，是我调查了一千多名初中老师，专门针对这个词收集来的。

It's a weird hobby of mine, I don't know.

我也不知道，这算我一个怪癖吧。

Clearly, for such a recent word, "unalive" shows up in an impressive range of scenarios, but the main function appears to be euphemistic.

很明显，“下线”这个词虽然才出现不久，却已经用在了五花八门的场景中，但它的主要功能似乎还是委婉表达。

Many kids use the word when they're uncomfortable talking about topics like death, since "unalive" sounds like a less scary word.

很多孩子在谈论死亡这类让他们不舒服的话题时，会用这个词，因为“下线”听起来没那么吓人。

And in many ways, this is nothing new.

其实，这在很多方面都算不上什么新鲜事。

We've been euphemizing death as long as we've had language.

自语言诞生以来，我们就一直在用委婉语来谈论死亡。

The word "decease, " for example, comes from Latin "decessus, " which was a euphemism for the previous Latin word for death, "mors." Apparently, even the stoic Romans were as queasy about death as today's middle schoolers.

比如，“decease”（亡故）一词源于拉丁语的“decessus”，而“decessus”本身就是对拉丁语中原有表示死亡的词“mors”的委婉说法。看来，就连一向以坚毅著称的罗马人，在谈论死亡时也和今天的初中生一样感到不安。

But there is a crucial difference between "unalive" and "decease." And that's that we only got the word "unalive" because you can't say "kill" on TikTok.

但“下线”和“亡故”之间有一个关键区别。那就是，“下线”这个词之所以会出现，完全是因为在 TikTok 上不能说“杀”这个字。

They have a mysterious algorithm that removes or suppresses any post that might violate their community guidelines.

TikTok 有一个神秘的算法，能够删除或压制任何可能违反其社区准则的帖子。

So people got around that with the word "unalive." The middle schoolers don't know this.

于是，人们就用“下线”这个词来规避审查。但初中生们并不知道这些。

They see the word online or hear it from friends and assume it's a word like any other.

他们在网上看到或从朋友那儿听到这个词，就以为它和别的词没什么两样。

And fair enough, you probably didn't know where the word "deceased" came from, unless you're some kind of etymology nerd.

这也正常，你们大概也不知道“deceased”这个词是哪来的，除非你是词源学发烧友。

But "deceased" didn't happen because it was impossible to carve the word "mors" into an ancient Roman tablet.

但“deceased”这个词的出现，可不是因为没法把“mors”这个词刻在古罗马的石板上。

We are entering an entirely new era of language change, driven by social-media algorithms.

我们正进入一个全新的语言变革时代，而驱动这场变革的，正是社交媒体的算法。

As a linguist and content creator, I've been in a unique position to see this happen from the inside.

作为一名语言学家兼内容创作者，我拥有一个独特的视角，能够亲身见证这一切的发生。

It's almost paralyzing.

这简直让人无所适从。

I constantly feel how my own language is being affected, and judging from the 40 percent of you who answered both of my questions, it's beginning to change your language, too.

我时常感到自己的语言正受到影响。而从刚才那四成回答了我两个问题的朋友来看，你们的语言也开始被改变了。

And it's not just new words to avoid algorithmic censorship.

而且，变化的不仅仅是为了规避算法审查而诞生的新词。

The very structure of social media is changing where words come from, how words get popular, and how quickly those words spread.

社交媒体的底层结构，正在改变词语的来源、流行方式以及传播速度。

I believe some of you might be familiar with this song.

我相信在座的一些朋友应该听过这首歌。

"Sticking Out Your Gyat for The Rizzler" "You're so skibidi/You're so Fanum tax/ I just want to be your sigma/ Freaking come here/Give me your Ohio" For those of you out of the loop, these are the lyrics to the Rizzler song, a meme that went massively viral last year.

“翘起你的美臀”“你太迷人了/你太性感了我只想做你的西格玛/快过来/把你的俄亥俄州给我”给不太了解的朋友解释一下，这是 Rizzler 之歌的歌词，也是去年在网上爆火的一个梗。

It's full of current middle-school slang words, like "rizz, " "gyat" and "skibidi, " and was instrumental in popularizing those words to a broader audience.

歌词里全是时下初中生爱用的俚语，比如“rizz”“gyat”和“skibidi”，而这首歌更是将这些词推广给了更广泛的人群，功不可没。

This is because social-media algorithms reward repetition.

这是因为社交媒体的算法会助推重复的内容。

If a song is funny or catchy and people interact with it, the algorithm will then push that song to more people, since it's proven to drive engagement on the app.

如果一首歌有趣又上头，能吸引用户互动，算法就会把它推送给更多人，因为这已经被证明能有效提升应用的用户粘性。

The same is true of memes, or words in general, since trending metadata, like hashtags, will also be pushed to people who had previously shown interest in similar content.

梗和一般的词语也是同理。像热门标签这类元数据，也会被推送给之前对相似内容感兴趣的用户。

Creators are very aware of this, and we actively use trending audios or hashtags to make our videos perform better.

创作者们对此心知肚明，所以我们也会主动使用热门音频或标签，来让视频获得更好的数据表现。

In the wake of the Rizzler song, for example, we saw an explosion of people making videos with the words "rizz," "gyat" and "skibidi," because they knew those videos would do well.

举个例子，Rizzler 之歌火了之后，我们看到一下子冒出超多人用“rizz”“gyat”和“skibidi”这些词来拍视频，因为他们知道这么拍准能火。

And as a result, the words spread.

结果就是，这些词就这么传开了。

Language has always been a little bit like a virus.

语言向来都有点像病毒。

Words are transmitted from one host to another, reproducing and changing as they infect different people along social networks.

词语从一个宿主传播到另一个宿主，通过社交网络感染不同的人，并在这个过程中不断复制和变异。

But now, the viral nature of social media is accelerating this process, from start to finish.

但如今，社交媒体的病毒式传播特性，正在全程加速这个过程。

In the span of just a year, a word like "rizz" can go from complete obscurity to becoming the Oxford English Dictionary word of the year.

短短一年间，“rizz”这样的词就能从默默无闻，一跃成为《牛津英语词典》的年度词汇。

And the algorithm is the culprit, but influencers are the accomplices.

算法是罪魁祸首，而网红则是帮凶。

We use whatever tricks we can to keep you entertained, because that makes our videos do better, which helps us earn a living.

我们会想尽办法博大家一笑，因为这样视频数据才会好看，我们也才能借此谋生。

This means that we often end up creating and spreading words that help the system.

这意味着，我们最终往往会创造并传播一些迎合算法系统的词。

For example, the suffix "-core" has recently gotten very popular in Gen Z slang to describe specific aesthetics, like cottagecore, or goblincore, or angelcore.

比如，后缀“-core”（风）最近在 Z 世代的俚语里特别火，用来形容某种特定的美学风格，像是田园风、哥布林风或者天使风。

And on the surface level, these are cute.

表面上看，这些词还挺可爱的。

You watch a cottagecore video, you like it.

你刷到一个田园风的视频，顺手点了个赞。

Later on, you get more cottagecore content.

之后，你就会刷到更多田园风的内容。

You might even start to identify with the cottagecore aesthetic.

你甚至可能开始对田园风这种美学产生认同感。

But here's the thing — it's all fake.

但问题是——这一切都是假的。

The entire reason these aesthetics exist is because the TikTok algorithm has decided that words like cottagecore qualify as trending metadata, so creators respond by making more cottagecore content that propagates the word, and then more people interact with it, which makes the word trendier.

这些美学风格之所以存在，完全是因为 TikTok 的算法判定“田园风”这类词属于热门元数据，于是创作者们便闻风而动，制作更多田园风的内容来推广这个词，进而吸引更多人互动，让这个词变得更火。

And this happens because social-media algorithms want to make you identify with hypercompartmentalized labels, since they can then give you extremely specific, commercialized content catering to that identity.

之所以会这样，是因为社交媒体算法想让你认同一些高度细分的标签，这样一来，它们就能根据这个身份标签，为你推送极其精准的商业化内容。

Now that you're a cottagecore person, you feel special every time you get a cottagecore video.

一旦你成了“田园风”爱好者，每次刷到田园风的视频，你都会觉得自己很特别。

You're like, "Cottagecore ... Well, the algorithm really knows me." The algorithm gave you that identity.

你会想：“田园风……哇，这算法还真懂我。”是算法赋予了你这个身份。

You might even start buying cottagecore clothing or cottagecore decorations to fit your new lifestyle as a cottagecore person, and that's exactly what they want.

你甚至可能开始购买田园风的服装或饰品，来打造你作为“田园风”爱好者的新生活方式，而这正中他们下怀。

The craziest part is they're not even trying to hide this.

最离谱的是，他们对此甚至都懒得掩饰。

TikTok's business platform openly claims that subcultures are the new demographics, and then gives businesses ideas for how to profit off the cottagecore aesthetic.

TikTok 的商业平台公开宣称，亚文化就是新的人群划分标准，之后还会教企业如何利用田园风美学来牟利。

Essentially, they're driving the mass production of identity-building labels in order to profit off all of us.

说白了，他们就是在推动“人设标签”的量产，好从我们每个人身上榨取利润。

And while there's nothing wrong with being on cottagecore TikTok, it is a kind of echo chamber that affirms your cottagecore personality.

虽然沉浸在田园风 TikTok 本身没什么错，但它确实是一种信息茧房，会不断强化你的田园风人设。

The same is true of any niche community created on social media.

社交媒体上催生的任何小众社群都是如此。

And on one hand, this is great for linguistics, because language change is always driven by groups with shared interests that have a shared need to invent new words.

一方面，这对语言学是件好事。因为语言的演变，向来是由志趣相投、又有造词需求的群体所推动的。

"Unalive," for example, became a thing because mental health communities on TikTok needed a way to share their stories and spread resources.

例如，“unalive”（意为“去世”）这个词之所以流行起来，就是因为 TikTok 上的心理健康社群需要用它来分享经历、传播资源。

On the other hand, some of the linguistic communities created by the algorithm can be actively harmful.

但另一方面，一些由算法催生出来的语言社群，可能会造成切实的伤害。

Many younger people have started using the suffix "-pilled" to mean "convinced into a lifestyle." If I recently discovered that I really like eating burritos, for example, I can say I'm so "burrito-pilled." But that word was formed through analogy with black-pilled, a term meaning "convinced into incel ideology." Now, incels are a dangerous, misogynistic group.

许多年轻人开始用后缀“-pilled”（上头）来表示“沉迷于某种生活方式”。举个例子，如果我最近发现自己特别喜欢吃墨西哥卷饼，我就可以说我“墨西哥卷饼上头了”。但这个词是类比“黑丸”造出来的，而“黑丸”的意思是“被灌输了 incel 意识形态”。incel 是一个危险的厌女群体。

They've perpetrated multiple terrorist attacks that have killed dozens of people, and yet somehow, their vocabulary is filtering into Gen Z slang, because the algorithm gave these hate groups a space.

他们策划了多起恐怖袭击，造成数十人死亡，但不知为何，他们的词汇却渗透进了 Z 世代的俚语中，因为算法给了这些仇恨团体生存空间。

I like to consume videos about urban design, and a few months back, I got a video about how great it is to be a "parking lot-pilled pavement princess." Admittedly, I found the video pretty funny and I liked it, which ended up giving me more urban-design incel-themed meme videos, like one about being fossil fuel-pilled and bad to the bone, and another about being a walk-pilled cardiomaxxer.

我喜欢看城市设计类的视频，几个月前，我刷到一个视频，内容是关于当一个“停车场上头的铺路公主”有多爽。我得承认，我觉得那视频挺搞笑的，就点了赞，结果算法就给我推送了更多城市设计 incel 主题的玩梗视频，比如有个是关于“化石燃料上头”和“坏到骨子里”的，还有一个是关于当“走路迷有氧王者”的。

And a lot of people similarly encounter these words as they spread in ironic or meme contexts.

很多人也是这样，在一些讽刺或玩梗的语境下接触到这些词的。

Let's take another look at the Rizzler song.

我们再回头看看那首 Rizzler 之歌。

The lyric "I just want to be your sigma" refers to the concept of a sigma male, which incels use to describe their desired position outside of the social hierarchy.

歌词“我只想成为你的西格玛”指的就是“西格玛男性”这个概念。incel 用这个词来形容自己，意指游离于社会等级之外，独来独往。

And again, on the surface level, it's a funny meme.

同样，表面上看，这只是个搞笑的梗。

It's innocent.

没什么恶意。

Many people don't even know where it came from.

很多人甚至都不知道它出自哪里。

But for the few people who might be interested in the underlying idea, it's now more accessible to them because of the way that slang spreads on the internet.

但对于少数对背后理念感兴趣的人来说，网络俚语的传播方式，让他们更容易接触到这些思想。

It starts in some corner of social media, becomes a viral meme, and along the way, the etymology is lost to a lot of people.

一个梗从社交媒体的角落里诞生，接着像病毒一样传播开来，而在这个过程中，其词源也被大多数人所遗忘。

And this doesn't only allow communities to harm us, it allows us to harm communities.

这不仅让某些社群得以伤害我们，也让我们得以伤害其他社群。

Two of the main demographics that come up with modern slang are the gay and Black communities, since marginalized groups consistently use language as a way to reclaim power.

现代俚语主要来自两大群体：同性恋社群与黑人社群。因为边缘化群体向来以语言为武器，以此夺回话语权。

All of our most popular internet slang words — "slay," "serve," "bussin," "queen," "cooked," "ate," "gyat," many others all come from queer or Black culture.

我们最流行的所有网络俚语——“slay”、“serve”、“bussin”、“queen”、“cooked”、“ate”、“gyat”等等，都来自酷儿或黑人文化。

These words originated as a form of creative expression, independent from the straight white norms of the English language.

这些词最初是一种创造性表达，独立于主流白人异性恋的英语语言规范之外。

But when those words began to be used online, they were quickly taken by people who wanted to capitalize on the perceived coolness or comedic value of Black and queer culture.

但当这些词在网上流传开来，很快就被一些人挪用，他们想借此消费黑人和酷儿文化所谓的“酷”与“梗”。

When a word like "gyat" goes from an African-American English pronunciation of "goddamn" to being used as a noun for "butt" in memes like the song, it's ultimately exaggerated in a way that makes a farce of its pronunciation and meaning.

就拿“gyat”这个词来说，它本是非裔美国人英语里“goddamn”的发音，却在那首歌之类的梗里，被当成指代“臀部”的名词。这种用法终究是一种夸张，使其原本的发音和词义都沦为一场闹剧。

Its original importance is diluted as it becomes widespread, and you can be sure that none of the middle schoolers saying "gyat" are aware of its etymology.

随着这个词的广泛传播，其原有的文化意涵也被稀释了。你可以肯定，那些把“gyat”挂在嘴边的中学生，没一个知道它的词源。

Unfortunately, just like the euphemism of "unalive" isn't new, the appropriation of African-American English also isn't new.

不幸的是，就像“unalive”这种委婉说法不是什么新鲜事一样，对非裔美国人英语的挪用也同样由来已久。

We've been whitewashing Black slang since the days of "cool" and "high five, " which, at this point, have become so mainstream they're just seen as regular words.

从“cool”和“high five”的时代起，我们就在不断地“白化”黑人俚语，时至今日，这些词已经变得如此主流，以至于人们只把它们看作普通词汇了。

But once again, social-media algorithms are a vehicle enabling and accelerating this process from start to finish.

但社交媒体算法再一次成了幕后推手，从头到尾地加速了整个过程。

They create communities that feel like they have a space to use their words, and then open up those communities, just enough to allow those words to spread.

它们创造出一些社群，让人们感觉有了可以畅所欲言的空间，然后再恰到好处地将这些社群开放，让其中的言论得以传播。

That's how we got "unalive." That's how we got "cottagecore." That's how we got "sigma, " and that's how we got "gyat." Whenever I post a video talking about one of these topics, I inevitably get the exact same comment.

“unalive”这个词就是这么来的。“田园风”也是这么来的。“西格玛”是这么来的，“gyat”也是。每当我发视频谈论这些话题时，总会收到一条一模一样的评论。

"We're so cooked" — meaning "we're so screwed." Ironically, this is also TikTok slang coming from African-American English, but I wanted to address it.

“我们真是垮了”——意思就是“我们完蛋了”。讽刺的是，这同样是源自非裔美国人英语的 TikTok 俚语，但我想就这个说法谈一谈。

Are we, in fact, cooked?

我们真的垮了吗？

I know I've just painted a very bleak picture of the future of the English language, and there are a lot of concerning trends to unpack.

我知道，我刚才把英语的未来描绘得一片惨淡，确实，其中有很多令人担忧的趋势值得我们剖析。

But these trends all do follow the same historical patterns that we've seen time and time again.

但这些趋势，其实都遵循着我们已经见过无数次的历史规律。

I don't think we're sliding into a dystopian "1984" scenario, because we're always coming up with new ways around media censorship.

我不认为我们正在滑向《一九八四》那样的反乌托邦深渊，因为我们总能想出新办法来绕过媒体审查。

If a word gets banned, we'll just come up with another word, like we did with "unalive." I don't think middle schoolers are suffering from brain rot, because younger generations always latch on to new slang as a way to build identity, and their older generations always say, "Ah, you're ruining the language." But just like the people saying "cool" and "high five" back in the day, the middle schoolers saying "rizz" and "gyat" and "skibidi toilet" won't be incapable of writing an essay.

要是一个词被禁了，我们再造个新词就行，就像当初的“unalive”一样。我不认为中学生正在经历“大脑腐化”，因为年轻一代总是会追捧新的俚语来建立身份认同，而他们的长辈总会说：“唉，你们正在毁掉这门语言。”但就像当年说“cool”和“high five”的人一样，现在把“rizz”“gyat”和“Skibidi Toilet”挂在嘴边的中学生，也照样能写出文章来。

I don't think our vocabulary is being corrupted by the commercialization of our language.

我不认为我们的词汇正在被语言的商业化所侵蚀。

We've already been using brand names like Kleenex and Google in everyday conversations, so "cottagecore" isn't about to turn us into mindless consumer drones.

我们在日常对话中已经会用像 Kleenex 和谷歌这样的品牌名了，所以一个“田园风”还不至于把我们变成没有思想的消费机器。

I don't even think we're dangerously normalizing incel rhetoric.

我甚至不认为我们正在将 incel 的言论危险地常态化。

If anything, our slang is built on a shared mockery of incel ideas.

硬要说的话，我们的俚语反倒是建立在对 incel 思想的集体嘲弄之上的。

When a kid says something like "I'm so burrito-pilled, " they're not saying that because they're black-pilled but because the underlying idea is making fun of how incels talk.

当一个孩子说“我真是墨西哥卷饼丸了”这种话时，他们不是因为自己信了“黑丸”那套，而是因为这说法背后的逻辑，就是为了取笑 incel 那套说话方式。

In fact, I think each of these words is a beautiful, colorful addition to the English language that reflects the diverse cultural moment we're all in.

在我看来，这些词汇中的每一个都为英语增添了绚丽的色彩，反映出我们当下所处的多元文化时代。

But I do think we should be aware.

但我确实认为我们应该保持警惕。

We should be aware when the way we're talking may have been conditioned by the algorithm.

我们应该警惕，我们的说话方式是否受到了算法潜移默化的影响。

We should be aware when the words we're using may have been engineered to sell us things.

我们应该警惕，我们使用的词语是否是为向我们推销商品而精心设计的。

We should be aware when our language regurgitates extremist rhetoric.

我们应该警惕，我们的语言是否在不假思索地照搬极端主义的论调。

And we should be aware when that language can be used to harm other people.

我们也应该警惕，这种语言是否会被用来伤害他人。

We should be aware of etymology in general, because it helps us better understand who we are today.