When Linguistic Self-Censorship Goes to Extremes

Have you noticed the proliferation of the word "unalive" on the 'net as a substitute for "kill" or "die"? It's not just a fad- there's a reason behind it. 

When you tell people they cannot say certain words, they will come up with new words that say the same thing. It's always been this way, which is why we say "golly" or "gee" instead of something that could be considered offensive or blasphemous. These polite terms evolved slowly enough that everyone knows how to use them. But in the internet age, the administrators of popular platforms (TikTok in this case) can make their own rules about what words are not allowed. Users then find substitutes, or make up new words like "unalive," but those terms are complete nonsense to people who don't use that platform. Five years on, I had no idea that "panini" means "pandemic," because why would that word be banned? Linguist Dr. Erica Brozovsky (previously at Neatorama) explains why internet language has become this incomprehensible.