This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2135, Authentic or AI?
What was the most popular word of the year?
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In today's episode, we show you Merriam-Webster's most used word of 2023 and we talk about why natives use this word so much, plus how you can use it to start English conversations.
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Expires at midnight on Friday. allersenglish.com slash B-L-A-C-K-F-R-I-D-A-Y. lindsay how are you hey aubrey i'm doing great today how are you how's it going awesome it's a beautiful day here i'm excited to be recording and you sent me a very interesting article that i can't wait to talk about yeah i am excited because at the end of every year well right now we're in the beginning of the year in january but we just finished 2023 and i know our listeners are probably curious about what's trending when it comes to english right what's trending Absolutely.
And Merriam-Webster chooses the word of the year for 2023.
And it's an interesting, it's the word authentic, right?
Do you hear that a lot these days?
Authentic, people talking about authenticity.
Yeah.
So authentic is the word of the year.
Just to make sure that's totally clear for our listeners, to not bury the lead.
Is that what we're saying for our listeners from Merriam-Webster?
Yes.
Authentic.
Do I hear it a lot?
Yeah.
I'm surprised actually, that it's because I feel like I've heard it a lot in the last like seven years not, as I haven't noticed a surge in 2023.
What about you?
Well, it's interesting because, diving into this article a little bit, it sort of said that the reason there's been a surge is because of AI.
Okay.
People are more interested, like, are your students' essays authentic or did AI write them?
Right?
Is the art you're seeing authentic or was it created by AI?
So I can see why there's been a surge with ChatGPT, right?
Right.
Because I feel like before, because it's really just been in the last year, that I think the general public, normal people, have become aware of ChatGP and AI and what's going to happen.
Really? just like last November is when ChatGDP kind of went live.
It's crazy to think about that.
But I think before that I was hearing a lot of authentic when it comes to giving people, like career advice or advice on building a business.
Be authentic, be yourself, be your authentic self.
That was all over the place.
And now AI is taking it over.
Right, so there are actually two different definitions here that we're talking about.
So we're going to share both definitions, example sentences, as well as a couple of really interesting vocabulary words that were in this article about the word of the year.
Okay, I'm excited.
But first guys, hit the follow button right here in elders english.
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Right, every episode here shows you how to come back to human connection through language.
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Okay guys, so hit, follow and share with a friend.
Yes, absolutely.
We're actually going to share a couple of conversation starters to chat with a friend about this topic later in the episode.
You don't want to miss it because this is a very interesting topic of conversation.
Connection skill.
Right, Aubrey?
Yeah.
Love it.
Okay.
Where do we start?
All right, so let's dive in.
The word of the year we shared is authentic, but it means two separate things, right?
So from the article they said for a word that we might associate with a certain kind of reliability authentic comes with more than one meaning.
It's a synonym for real, defined as not false or imitation.
But what you said Lindsay, it can have the second meaning of true to one's own meaning personality, spirit or character.
So that first definition means that it's really been created by an authentic source.
Maybe it's art, music, and we've started saying if it's created by AI, it's not authentic.
Okay.
Yes.
Interesting.
Interesting.
So we're looking at two very different... So the first definition is about the source.
Is it real?
Is it an authentic Van Gogh painting, for example?
Exactly.
Exactly.
Right.
Here's an example sentence.
The expert checked the painting to see if it was authentic.
This reminds me of Antiques Roadshow.
Do you ever watch the TV show Antiques Roadshow?
Yeah.
I knew someone in Boston who worked on that show, actually.
And that's all she talked about was she loved it.
She was super into it.
And I didn't know about it until I met her.
And yeah, really interesting.
Tell our listeners what it is.
It's fascinating.
It'll be people who bring like a... heirloom, something very old and antique.
Maybe they found it in the attic or their grandparents had it.
And then they bring it to these experts on this TV show who tell them sort of the history of it, everything they know about it and what it's worth.
And sometimes it would be shocking how much one of these things would be worth.
That is really cool.
That is really cool.
When you're able to go through a home maybe a family member's home and kind of search for treasures.
That is really fun, I have to say.
And the biggest, what was most important always for these experts is, is it authentic?
The authenticity, because they could tell a fake.
And then they'd share all the you know.
If this you know wasn't actually painted by this famous actor or actor artist, then they would share why, how they can tell if it's authentic.
Interesting.
Did you hear that story recently?
It's been in the news about a couple who purchased an authentic something.
I don't know the name of the painter, but at a Savers, I think in New Hampshire, actually my home state, they purchased it.
It ended up being for like a $2 painting.
They always loved it.
And then they somehow found out that it was an authentic original of this famous painter.
Worth millions.
But then they went to to auction it at an auction house and it just didn't command.
Someone put a bid on it at a very high price.
I don't know, maybe let's say $200,000 or something.
I don't know the exact amount, but then the bidder pulled out and then they didn't get any other bids and now they're just taking their painting back home.
So they got all excited because it is an authentic, but maybe I don't know.
There's issues around how do you authenticate something?
How do you make sure it's real?
And What is real if it's not hanging on the wall in the Louvre right?
Exactly.
That's really tricky, because the price of something like a painting is what the person who purchased it determines.
Really right.
It might be worth a certain amount, but if no one pays that price, then just take it back home. yes yes i've been in that world this year in the rock and gems world it's the same thing it's whatever someone is willing to pay is what it's worth so you could have a beautiful rock you think it's beautiful it could be worth a dollar or worth a million dollars it's what the market says it's worth which i guess is true for anything but more so from these items that come from from art Absolutely.
It's interesting.
Right.
So it's interesting.
It might be authentic and still not worth what you would like it to be worth.
Right.
Exactly.
So that's the first definition, just that it's legit.
We say legitimate.
It's real.
It's not a replica.
Yeah.
And then there's a second definition.
Yeah.
It's what I mentioned earlier.
Right.
So this has been more in style in the last, I would say like seven years, five to seven years with social media, with bloggers and everything you know.
Even on social media, a person should be their true, authentic self.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Any thoughts there, Aubrey?
This has been trendy for a while and it's sort of not going away, right?
As often on social media, we're using filters.
We're putting our best face forward.
And as we start to realize, like maybe this isn't authentic, there are actually a lot of fun people on social media who just keep it real.
They show life exactly how it is.
They're like, I'm just being authentic here.
Yeah.
It's really interesting.
If you see, or even like in the, I kind of wonder what's going to happen to the world of comedy, because there's a lot of comedic skits out there just by an everyday person or a micro influencer that are pretty funny.
And then I just, I don't know, just everyday people are taking over comedy in a way.
Have you seen those skits coming up?
Yes, absolutely.
And I heard a standup comedian talking about this and it was interesting because he was being funny about it, but he was really frustrated because they're all these sort of amateurs.
He has put in years and years of work, like the grind of performing at these um open mic nights and quietly getting to where he's well known, and then a tick tocker will it be famous overnight for exactly video.
Yeah, I wonder how that feels right, yeah.
And then there's other issues around.
You know, copyright of comedians content um, which we could get into another day, but I know there are comedians I think Sarah Silverman, I'm not sure, but I feel like I I heard this somewhere that contesting know chat, gpt and ai to protect their own copyright, which they should, right?
Uh, that's a scary prospect, absolutely right.
This becomes tricky when, if you are well known for something but it can be just taken from you and replicated, then your livelihood could go away.
100, interesting.
So there's a lot of conversations to be had around authenticity for sure, absolutely.
But we wanted to share a couple other interesting words from this article.
The first one was comeuppance, which means a punishment or fate that someone deserves.
The sentence from the article was a certain New York congressman got a taste of comeuppance after years of lying.
So in the article they're sort of sharing highlights from the year, just some interesting things that happened.
Oh, I like this one.
I don't really use this word in my daily conversations, do you, Aubrey?
I love it.
It's fun though it is fun, i love to say it.
I don't use it that often either, but when it does come up, i i love it.
I'm always impressed if someone's able to throw it into a conversation.
Well, this is, if that is the definition, a punishment of fate one deserves.
Then there is a uh representative that just got uh encountered his comeuppance, so was he was actually kicked out of congress in the this week here in december because he lied.
He just is a pathological liar And they were only able to do this vote once they had the evidence that he was completely defrauding his constituency.
And he's out of there.
So that's the best example.
He is the poster child.
He got his comeuppance.
Yeah, exactly.
Which is very satisfying from my perspective.
I know if someone's going to defraud everyone, right, we want to see them get their comeuppance.
People shouldn't get away with, especially when it's damaging for the US political system.
Yeah, especially when it feels like certain forces are creeping into our government which are concerning.
It was really nice to see that congress took action on this when it was blatant that there were just lies from day one of his campaign.
So anyways, absolutely really good example.
Yeah, that's a great example.
Our listeners could probably figure out who we're talking about, but we'll move on to number three.
What is it?
Aubry onslaught?
This is a little bit difficult to pronounce because the word laugh is in.
It has that gh, but it's silent.
Yeah, and it means a large quantity of something that's sort of difficult to cope with.
Yes, i like that.
This one's really good, super useful.
For example, 2023.
What should i read this example from the article?
This is the sentence in the article where i saw this word.
It was like oh, good word, Okay.
Should I read it?
Should I go ahead and read that for a listener?
2023 was a year that authenticity morphed into performance.
It's very meaning made fuzzy amidst the onslaught of algorithms and alternative facts.
So the intense like oncoming of something. right?
Exactly.
Right.
If you, I imagine like a zombie horde, you'll often hear that onslaught of a zombie horde.
It's like all of the zombies you see running at someone in a horror film, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
But we use this in this way too, to say an onslaught of information.
So they're talking about how, you know, what happened in 2023, why authenticity was so important.
What's another example?
How you might say at work, you might say I'm exhausted.
I'm dealing with an onslaught of new clients at work or of new tasks, right?
It just means like a lot.
I'm having difficulty coping with the quantity of things coming at me.
Yeah.
Do you have any particular day during the week, Aubrey, where you have an onslaught of work or requests coming in or questions from students, demands on your time?
Sometimes a little bit.
Wednesday mornings, we have our our classes are on a platform where you're able to get feedback.
And I record some video responses.
And often, especially after Black Friday, we had all of these amazing new students join.
So I had a bit of an onslaught of responses to respond to.
I love that it's so fun to get to know our new students.
But yeah, that does happen where sometimes everything comes at you all at once.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah.
We've had a lot of new students enter our courses in the last month or so.
And so, yeah, our work can wax and wane.
There are certain days during the week when we feel that onslaught.
For me, it's definitely Monday morning where everything comes at me because I haven't been answering emails over the weekend.
And then there's new emails coming in on top of those old ones.
Sometimes it takes until Wednesday until I get to the Friday evening emails, right?
Absolutely.
I have a feeling that our listeners are feeling solidarity with you, right?
You guys have this in common where Monday morning you open your email inbox and you have an onslaught of emails.
Yes.
Like, okay, I've got to get back to this.
Yeah.
This is our human experience as professionals right now, for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay, Aubrey, now let's come to the connection piece, right?
How do we start conversations around these ideas or these words, these trends?
Yes, absolutely.
I would love for you to bring this up to me in a conversation.
This is interesting to talk about and it's very new, very trendy.
So the first option is you can say can you tell if something is authentic or if it was created by AI?
I would love this to start a conversation by asking that and then to talk about all of the different things that could be created by AI that we didn't realize.
Oh, it's so true.
I'm sure it'll get harder and harder to tell as time goes on.
Right.
So that's one conversation starter.
Again, can you tell if something is authentic or if it was created by AI?
Then we can ask, how do you tell?
How can you tell?
We can ask follow up questions.
Right?
Yes.
Oh, this is going to be a very robust conversation where there's so much to talk about, ask you know and asking people's opinions about it as well.
But this is a great way to dive in with that question.
And another one, do you feel you're good at being your authentic self?
Right?
So this is the second meaning of authentic, right?
And this is an interesting conversation as well to really deepen a connection with someone, to ask if they feel like they're being their asset, authentic self.
What do you think, Lindsay?
Do you feel you're good at being your authentic self?
Yeah, I feel like on this show, I'm pretty authentic, right?
For the most part, pretty authentic.
Yeah, I do an above average job.
There are times when I struggle with it in my social life, for example.
But yeah, overall, by this time in life, I think I'm getting it.
Yes, right.
I feel like here at Allers English, we're pretty good about that, right?
We're letting you know a lot of details and it makes it fun, right?
We want to connect with you just like we want you to be able to connect with others in English.
So we try to be pretty authentic.
All right, 100%.
Let's do our role play.
So here, Aubrey, we are at the airport.
We're waiting for a flight, hopefully going somewhere fun and glamorous.
Yes.
All right.
So there's quite the onslaught of people here today, right?
It's so packed. we're definitely getting an authentic airport experience.
Maybe I deserve it.
I've been really grumpy lately and haven't always been patient.
I'm worried I'm going to get my comeuppance.
That surprises me.
I feel like when you're being your authentic self, you're so cheerful.
Nice.
I like this.
We threw them all in here today.
Yeah, for sure.
Okay.
So I said so we're sitting in the airport, maybe we've checked in, and then we're just watching all these people walk by and it's just incredible the volume and i say there's quite the onslaught of people here today.
Exactly that just mean there's a big crowd, a lot of people, and at an airport this is pretty standard, oh for sure, especially certain airports.
The denver airport dia, has become really really busy, busier than what they built it for, because it's such a connection point in the middle of the country for so many flights and it is just like it's a zoo.
All the time it's wild.
Yes, Always an onslaught of people.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
And I said, we're definitely getting an authentic airport experience.
Okay.
Yeah.
So we're saying, right, this is sort of assumed about airports that they're busy, lots of people.
So we would say, okay, this is an authentic airport experience.
It would be if it were less crowded, if there weren't very many people, then you might say oh, this doesn't really, this isn't what I expected.
It doesn't feel like the authentic airport experience.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And then the last thing we said was what?
Well, I said comeuppance, right?
I had a little more difficulty throwing this in, but this is something I might say about myself.
Be like, oh, I've been grumpy lately.
So it's almost like karma.
We're thinking like, okay, I've been a little grumpy.
I haven't been patient.
Maybe I'm going to get my comeuppance.
It's another way of saying like, oh, I'm not building up good karma.
To get what's coming for you.
Right, right, right.
Okay, okay.
Maybe I'll deserve it.
And then I said, that surprises me.
I feel like when you're being your authentic self, you're so cheerful, right?
So I push back and what I see is that you're cheerful.
I mean, we all have bad days, right?
It doesn't mean we need to have bad karma, right?
No, exactly.
So this is more just an interesting.
You're sort of complimenting and also giving me sort of an opening to share why I've been grumpy, like what's going on.
I feel like that's sort of out of character for you is what you're saying here.
Interesting.
I like it.
Okay, what's our takeaway for today about authentic and these other bonus phrases?
Yeah, I think it's not that surprising that authentic was chosen as the word of the year, right?
People are starting to appreciate authentic work in the art world with AI and everything that's happening.
And it's fun just to think about.
I love that they choose a word of the year.
It's fun to know which words are trending.
Yeah, it'll be super interesting to see in the next 10 years, as AI starts to take over certain industries, what will be the status of authenticity right?
Maybe authentic creation creators.
When something is authentically created and we know it, I feel like that'll be elevated even more, because it's like a artisanal, by hand type thing.
Yes.
And I won't be surprised, you know, if we go that way more and more.
I already feel that way.
I love going to arts and crafts fairs and seeing all of these artisanal wares that are created by hand, the love that's put into them and the talent.
So we might go that way more and more.
Super interesting.
We'll have to see what happens.
All right.
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Right, Aubrey?
Yes.
Awesome.
I will see you next time, Lindsay.
All right.
Take care.
Have a good day.
Bye.
Bye.
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