Meet Adam Aleksic | Etymologist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adam Aleksic and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adam, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Part of the motivation behind my infographics is to democratize etymology to the general public. Linguistic resources are frequently relegated to inaccessible academic sources, but I try to synthesize all that and present it in a new and helpful way.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve been creating etymology infographics for over six years now, since my sophomore year in high school. It was the perfect way to combine my interests in language, history, and graphic design. By making a series of infographics about how cities got their names, I also got to tie in my love for geography. It was a lot of work and a lot of learning, but it’s been a really fun way to develop in-depth appreciations for a topic or place, and just have a lot of fun facts saved up.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I think the place with the most interesting etymology in San Diego county is Poway, because nobody’s exactly sure where the name comes from. It might mean “meeting of the valleys” or “end of the valleys” or “place of sorrow,” but it’s definitely from a Kumeyaay word and it really intrigues me.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ve been working on my series of etymology infographics for a while, and Internet feedback has been really helpful for improving as a creator. Learning to take comments in stride and incorporate the useful stuff has led to my infographics getting better over time. For example, when I posted on the San Diego subreddit, I got a lot of great responses that offered encouragement, more information about the city, and some helpful feedback.

Website: www.etymologynerd.com

Instagram: etymologynerd

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/etymologynerd-com/

Twitter: etymology_nerd

Image Credits
Adam Aleksic – etymologynerd