WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.680 So imagine walking into a room, right? And you 00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:06.740 sit down at a table with a fast punching American 00:00:06.740 --> 00:00:09.119 boxer, someone from a quiet village in Iran, 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:14.339 a 1980s British punk rocker, and a prize winning 00:00:14.339 --> 00:00:17.320 Canadian racehorse. That is a very weird dinner 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.120 party. Right. It's a deeply weird assembly of 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:22.579 figures. And you have to ask yourself, what could 00:00:22.579 --> 00:00:25.480 they possibly have in common? Not much on the 00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:27.899 surface, at least. Exactly. And usually when 00:00:27.899 --> 00:00:29.679 you set out to learn something new, you expect 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:32.079 the source material to be, I don't know, a dense 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.039 biography or some highly technical journal. You 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:36.679 expect it to be complicated. Yeah, you expect 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:39.159 a textbook. But I brought this to you today because 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:42.399 we're looking at a single piece of hidden Internet 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:44.179 infrastructure, something that connects every 00:00:44.179 --> 00:00:46.359 single one of those seemingly random things. 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:49.659 We're looking at a Wikipedia disambiguation page, 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:51.979 specifically the page for the term chop chop. 00:00:52.189 --> 00:00:54.170 Which is just, I mean, it's an incredible artifact. 00:00:54.310 --> 00:00:56.490 Most of the time we treat disambiguation pages 00:00:56.490 --> 00:00:59.149 as like a minor annoyance. Yeah, just a hurdle 00:00:59.149 --> 00:01:01.329 to get past. Right. You search for something, 00:01:01.490 --> 00:01:04.450 you land on this page, and it acts as this digital 00:01:04.450 --> 00:01:06.409 traffic cop. It's just pointing you to the correct 00:01:06.409 --> 00:01:08.689 article so you can move on with your day. But 00:01:08.689 --> 00:01:11.090 when you pause and actually read one from top 00:01:11.090 --> 00:01:14.269 to bottom, it really transforms. OK. Let's unpack 00:01:14.269 --> 00:01:16.329 this, because my goal for you today is to take 00:01:16.329 --> 00:01:19.370 this incredibly simple repeating two syllable 00:01:19.370 --> 00:01:21.629 phrase, a phrase you already know. It just means, 00:01:21.629 --> 00:01:25.349 you know, hurry or do it quickly. And we're going 00:01:25.349 --> 00:01:28.480 to map out how it is totally fractured. We're 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:30.780 going to see how this basic command of urgency 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:35.200 serves as a blank canvas, just spider webbing 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:38.459 into this bizarre globally interconnected network 00:01:38.459 --> 00:01:41.620 of human culture, geography, and media. What's 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:43.879 fascinating here is that a disambiguation page, 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:46.400 when viewed through this lens, is no longer just 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:49.959 a list of links. It becomes this monument to 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:52.379 linguistic collision. Oh, I like that phrasing. 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:54.920 Yeah, it shows us how a single phonetic sound, 00:01:55.019 --> 00:01:57.560 a very specific arrangement of letters, can be 00:01:57.560 --> 00:02:00.700 claimed and reshaped and even weaponized by totally 00:02:00.700 --> 00:02:02.959 disparate groups of people, people who have absolutely 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:05.099 no connection to one another. Not at all. It's 00:02:05.099 --> 00:02:07.239 a crossroad of human knowledge that's just hiding 00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:10.110 in plain sight. It's totally wild. And to guide 00:02:10.110 --> 00:02:11.810 you through this, we aren't just going to read 00:02:11.810 --> 00:02:14.849 down the page. We are going to trace the actual 00:02:14.849 --> 00:02:17.189 journey of this phrase. Right, submitting the 00:02:17.189 --> 00:02:19.729 foundation. Yeah. I want to show you how a concept 00:02:19.729 --> 00:02:23.590 of pure momentum maps onto physical reality and 00:02:23.590 --> 00:02:27.250 human identity before we dive into how the raw 00:02:27.250 --> 00:02:29.870 acoustics of those syllables somehow dictate 00:02:29.870 --> 00:02:32.550 global music trends. And then the weird stuff. 00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:35.210 And then the really weird stuff. We'll end up 00:02:35.210 --> 00:02:38.110 in the fringes, looking at its completely unexpected 00:02:38.110 --> 00:02:41.349 footprint in fiction, cinema, and underground 00:02:41.349 --> 00:02:43.939 slang. It is a surprisingly expansive journey 00:02:43.939 --> 00:02:46.800 for a phrase you probably only use when you're 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:48.699 frustrated and running late. Right. You already 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:51.520 know the baseline definition. Chop means hurry. 00:02:51.740 --> 00:02:54.180 It's a command. Pure kinetic momentum. Exactly. 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:57.419 But what blew my mind was how that exact abstract 00:02:57.419 --> 00:03:00.340 momentum is physically embodied by an American 00:03:00.340 --> 00:03:03.439 boxer. Oh, Demarcus Corley. Yes, Demarcus Corley, 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:06.520 born in 1974, who goes by the ring name Demarcus 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:09.879 Chop Top Corley. And it makes perfect psychological 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:12.039 sense. It really does. If a fighter is coming 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:15.199 at you, and his name is Chop Chop, you instantly 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:18.400 picture rapid -fire, relentless quick punches. 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:21.819 You definitely aren't expecting a slow, methodical, 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:24.039 defensive fighter who's just gonna wait you out. 00:03:24.259 --> 00:03:26.939 No. You're expecting someone who's going to overwhelm 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:29.849 you before you can even blink. The phrase practically 00:03:29.849 --> 00:03:32.169 does his marketing for him. Well in the context 00:03:32.169 --> 00:03:36.169 of boxing, identity and intimidation are inextricably 00:03:36.169 --> 00:03:39.129 linked. The ring name you choose is a direct 00:03:39.129 --> 00:03:41.349 signal to your opponent. And to the audience 00:03:41.349 --> 00:03:43.189 buying the tickets. Right, it tells them exactly 00:03:43.189 --> 00:03:46.069 what kind of physical threat you represent. Corley 00:03:46.069 --> 00:03:49.009 took this invisible abstract command to hurry 00:03:49.009 --> 00:03:52.590 and he fused it into his public persona. He essentially 00:03:52.590 --> 00:03:56.189 turned a verb into a physical weapon. But then... 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:59.300 You scroll down this same digital page and the 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:01.819 context whiplash hits you so hard. Immediate. 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:04.340 Because we immediately jump from a fast -punching 00:04:04.340 --> 00:04:07.500 American boxer to a quiet geographical location. 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:10.500 There is a literal village named Chop Chop in 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:13.180 the Zanjan province of Iran. Which is jarring. 00:04:13.300 --> 00:04:15.639 I mean, the contrast is extreme. But it highlights 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:17.800 a really important mechanic of human language. 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:20.459 How so? With the Iranian village, we're almost 00:04:20.459 --> 00:04:22.759 certainly looking at the limits of human phonetics. 00:04:23.379 --> 00:04:26.100 The human mouth can only produce so many distinct 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:29.180 sounds. OK, right. So inevitably, the phonetic 00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:31.920 sounds that mean hurry in English are going to 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.800 randomly align to form the name of a geographic 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.439 location in an entirely different language and 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:40.620 culture. It's just pure linguistic coincidence. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:43.060 Wait, I get a rural village just being a random 00:04:43.060 --> 00:04:45.819 linguistic overlap, sure, but right below that 00:04:45.819 --> 00:04:49.079 on the page is Chop Chop Square. And that is 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:51.259 the colloquial nickname given to Deira Square, 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:54.139 which is this massive public space in Riyadh, 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:58.139 Saudi Arabia. How does a visceral, intense nickname 00:04:58.139 --> 00:05:01.600 just completely erase a government -sanctioned 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:03.899 official title like that in the public consciousness? 00:05:04.339 --> 00:05:06.639 That is the psychology of spatial identity at 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:09.360 work. Official, bureaucratic names like Dearest 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:11.420 Square are often sterile. They're assigned from 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:13.560 the top down. Right, by a committee or a government. 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:16.480 Exactly. But Chop Chop Square is a colloquial 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:18.199 nickname assigned from the bottom up, by the 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:20.579 public. Humans do this constantly with physical 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:23.319 spaces. We gravitate toward descriptive, visceral 00:05:23.319 --> 00:05:25.800 language. We want a name that tells us what the 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:29.410 place actually feels like. Precisely. Over time, 00:05:29.709 --> 00:05:32.730 the descriptive power of a public nickname provides 00:05:32.730 --> 00:05:36.089 so much cognitive ease that it completely overshadows 00:05:36.089 --> 00:05:38.509 the formal designation in everyday conversation. 00:05:38.990 --> 00:05:41.910 The colloquial name just, it feels more real 00:05:41.910 --> 00:05:44.949 to the people using the space than the name on 00:05:44.949 --> 00:05:47.550 the map. So the exact same arrangement of syllables 00:05:47.550 --> 00:05:50.170 can represent a serendipitous spot on a map in 00:05:50.170 --> 00:05:53.509 Iran, an intense, visceral public square in Saudi 00:05:53.509 --> 00:05:56.629 Arabia, and a kinetic boxer from America. It 00:05:56.629 --> 00:05:58.589 proves that a word doesn't inherently belong 00:05:58.589 --> 00:06:01.889 to any one concept. It's entirely agnostic. It's 00:06:01.889 --> 00:06:03.970 just a tool. Right. It belongs to whoever is 00:06:03.970 --> 00:06:06.629 using it. And it bends to whatever purpose they 00:06:06.629 --> 00:06:09.769 need it to serve in their physical reality. Here's 00:06:09.769 --> 00:06:11.129 where it gets really interesting. Because once 00:06:11.129 --> 00:06:12.889 you move past the physical reality, you know, 00:06:12.889 --> 00:06:15.420 the people and the geography, you enter the auditory 00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:18.699 landscape. Music section. Yes. If you strip away 00:06:18.699 --> 00:06:21.199 the boxing gloves and the maps and just look 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:23.300 at the raw acoustics of those two syllables, 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.160 you suddenly realize why musicians are absolutely 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:28.740 obsessed with it. The percussive rhythm of this 00:06:28.740 --> 00:06:32.160 phrase is a magnet for artists across genres 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:34.879 that otherwise have zero overlap. The musical 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:37.180 applications of this phrase are arguably the 00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:39.839 most diverse and revealing part of the entire 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:42.939 disambiguation page. Just listen to this spectrum. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:45.860 Chop, chop. is the name of an electropop band 00:06:45.860 --> 00:06:48.519 based out of Los Angeles. OK. It is also the 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:51.579 title of a 2013 album by the indie rock band 00:06:51.579 --> 00:06:54.660 Bell X1. It's the name of the second single released 00:06:54.660 --> 00:06:57.279 by the rap group Young Blood Z. Such a good track. 00:06:57.399 --> 00:07:00.079 And perhaps most surprisingly, Chop Chop with 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:03.819 a hyphen is the title of a gritty 1982 single 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:06.540 by the British post -punk band Killing Joke. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:09.339 The whiplash continues. It's an incredible musical 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:12.639 chameleon. How can an L .A. electropop band An 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:15.519 80s British punk rocker and an Atlanta rap duo 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:17.939 all anchor their art to the exact same title. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:19.860 If we connect this to the bigger picture, it 00:07:19.860 --> 00:07:21.800 really comes down to the acoustic architecture 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:25.300 of the word itself. Yeah. Musicians, regardless 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:28.519 of their genre, are hyper aware of rhythm, cadence 00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:32.139 and memorability. Say the phrase out loud. It's 00:07:32.139 --> 00:07:35.970 staccato. It utilizes a sharp, plosive consonant 00:07:35.970 --> 00:07:39.410 sound, the cheek, followed immediately by an 00:07:39.410 --> 00:07:41.529 open resonant vowel sound, and then it simply 00:07:41.529 --> 00:07:44.170 repeats itself. It literally functions as a snare 00:07:44.170 --> 00:07:46.529 drum in your mouth. It forces a rhythm. You actually 00:07:46.529 --> 00:07:48.649 can't say it slowly without sounding ridiculous. 00:07:48.790 --> 00:07:50.930 You really can't, and that percussive, built 00:07:50.930 --> 00:07:53.829 -in momentum transcends any specific aesthetic. 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:56.610 So it's a blank slate, rhythmically. Exactly. 00:07:56.970 --> 00:07:59.529 A post -punk band in 1982 wants a title that 00:07:59.529 --> 00:08:02.629 feels sharp, aggressive, and urgent. An electropop 00:08:02.629 --> 00:08:05.290 band in Los Angeles wants a name that feels catchy, 00:08:05.829 --> 00:08:08.129 synthesized, and highly repetitive. And a rap 00:08:08.129 --> 00:08:10.410 group needs a rhythmic hook that bounces. Yes. 00:08:10.949 --> 00:08:13.230 The exact same two syllables deliver all of those 00:08:13.230 --> 00:08:15.410 completely different emotional results because 00:08:15.410 --> 00:08:17.990 the underlying architecture of the sound is universally 00:08:17.990 --> 00:08:20.790 appealing. It's acoustic gold. That actually 00:08:20.790 --> 00:08:23.009 explains a detail on this page that totally baffled 00:08:23.009 --> 00:08:25.370 me at first. Oh, which one? The band The Academy 00:08:25.370 --> 00:08:28.050 is they had a working title for an album and 00:08:28.050 --> 00:08:30.730 that working title was Chop Chop. Right. But 00:08:30.730 --> 00:08:32.450 by the time the record was actually released, 00:08:32.809 --> 00:08:35.250 they changed the name to Santi. I couldn't figure 00:08:35.250 --> 00:08:37.730 out why a band would use it as a working title 00:08:37.730 --> 00:08:39.769 if they were just going to abandon it for something 00:08:39.769 --> 00:08:41.950 entirely different. What purpose does that serve 00:08:41.950 --> 00:08:44.070 in the creative process? Well, it serves as a 00:08:44.070 --> 00:08:47.169 psychological metronome. A working title is rarely 00:08:47.169 --> 00:08:49.210 meant to be permanent. It's just a placeholder. 00:08:49.450 --> 00:08:53.029 Yeah, it's used in the studio to capture a vibe 00:08:53.029 --> 00:08:57.009 or a temporary energy before the actual thematic 00:08:57.009 --> 00:08:59.269 core of the art reviews itself to the artist. 00:09:00.350 --> 00:09:03.049 Given the urgent percussive nature of the phrase 00:09:03.049 --> 00:09:05.809 we just dissected, it's highly likely the band 00:09:05.809 --> 00:09:08.250 used that working title to establish a specific 00:09:08.250 --> 00:09:10.269 pace in the recording booth. They needed the 00:09:10.269 --> 00:09:12.169 sessions to have that forward momentum feel. 00:09:12.590 --> 00:09:15.190 Precisely. Like using the word as temporary scaffolding 00:09:15.190 --> 00:09:17.009 to build the songs. Oh, that's a great way to 00:09:17.009 --> 00:09:19.549 put it. And once the album was fully tracked, 00:09:19.750 --> 00:09:22.309 the mixing was finished, and the permanent identity 00:09:22.309 --> 00:09:24.750 of the record was solidified, they stripped away 00:09:24.750 --> 00:09:27.389 that temporary scaffolding and hung the real 00:09:27.389 --> 00:09:29.970 Sign Santee. But the fact that they relied on 00:09:29.970 --> 00:09:33.129 Chop Chop to build that momentum speaks volumes 00:09:33.129 --> 00:09:35.590 about the kinetic energy locked inside the phrase. 00:09:35.750 --> 00:09:38.429 I love that idea. The concept that words can 00:09:38.429 --> 00:09:40.889 be utilized purely for their energy rather than 00:09:40.889 --> 00:09:43.559 their literal definition. while creating art. 00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:45.840 It's fascinating. So we've covered how this phrase 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.000 physically manifests in geography and identity. 00:09:48.460 --> 00:09:50.820 We've explored the raw percussive acoustics in 00:09:50.820 --> 00:09:53.559 the music world. Now let's transition into the 00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:57.110 purely visual. the fictional, and frankly, the 00:09:57.110 --> 00:09:59.389 bizarre Miss Laney. My favorite part. Because 00:09:59.389 --> 00:10:02.190 if music captures the sound of the word, pop 00:10:02.190 --> 00:10:04.970 culture and fringe slang capture its absolute 00:10:04.970 --> 00:10:08.110 wild versatility. This section of the disambiguation 00:10:08.110 --> 00:10:11.210 page is where the true elasticity of human imagination 00:10:11.210 --> 00:10:14.230 is on full display. It shows how the same syllables 00:10:14.230 --> 00:10:16.629 can be stretched across wildly different emotional 00:10:16.629 --> 00:10:20.009 contexts. Stretched is the perfect word. Let's 00:10:20.009 --> 00:10:22.139 start with the fictional characters. There's 00:10:22.139 --> 00:10:24.240 a character named Chop Chop in the old Black 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:27.259 Hawk comic book series. Yep. But then you have 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:30.279 a character in the video game Skylanders, Spyro's 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:33.299 Adventure. And the detail that caught my eye 00:10:33.299 --> 00:10:35.980 is that this character is classed as an undead 00:10:35.980 --> 00:10:38.389 character. Which presents a rather fascinating 00:10:38.389 --> 00:10:40.990 thematic contradiction if you think about traditional 00:10:40.990 --> 00:10:44.029 fantasy lore. A massive contradiction. I immediately 00:10:44.029 --> 00:10:46.129 pushed back on this when I read it. The phrase 00:10:46.129 --> 00:10:49.289 literally translates to speed and urgency. Right. 00:10:49.809 --> 00:10:52.970 But in almost all of fantasy, pop culture, and 00:10:52.970 --> 00:10:56.210 mythology, an undead character whether it's a 00:10:56.210 --> 00:10:59.750 zombie, a ghoul, or a reanimated skeleton, is 00:10:59.750 --> 00:11:02.649 universally associated with being slow, sluggish, 00:11:03.049 --> 00:11:05.429 and incredibly methodical. They shamble. They 00:11:05.429 --> 00:11:07.669 shamble. They don't sprint. So how on earth does 00:11:07.669 --> 00:11:10.429 an undead character embody a name that demands 00:11:10.429 --> 00:11:12.929 speed? This raises an important question about 00:11:12.929 --> 00:11:14.929 the mechanics of character design and audience 00:11:14.929 --> 00:11:17.690 engagement. When game developers or writers create 00:11:17.690 --> 00:11:20.090 a new world, they often play with subverting 00:11:20.090 --> 00:11:23.529 expectations. Giving a historically slow archetype 00:11:23.529 --> 00:11:26.830 a name that demands immediate speed creates instant 00:11:26.830 --> 00:11:29.600 intrigue. It's a classic storytelling trick. 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:31.860 Because you're instantly confused, but interested. 00:11:32.179 --> 00:11:35.340 Exactly. It signals to the player, before the 00:11:35.340 --> 00:11:37.899 character even moves, that this isn't your standard 00:11:37.899 --> 00:11:41.320 shambling zombie. It breaks the established rules 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:44.279 of the genre, and that juxtaposition forces the 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:46.519 audience to pay closer attention. Okay, speaking 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:49.159 of breaking genre rules, the cinema entries on 00:11:49.159 --> 00:11:52.080 this page are incredible. There are two very 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:54.360 distinct films listed here that share this title. 00:11:54.500 --> 00:11:58.039 Oh, the movies. Yeah. One is a... 2001 Danish 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.340 comedy film directed by Niels Arden -Opliv. The 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:04.259 other is a 2020 American horror thriller film. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:06.960 Two genres that sit at absolute opposite ends 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:09.279 of the human emotional spectrum. It's hilarious. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:11.980 Imagine you buy a ticket to a movie simply called 00:12:11.980 --> 00:12:14.639 Chop Chop and you walk into the theater blindfolded. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:16.740 When the projector rolls, you're either going 00:12:16.740 --> 00:12:19.580 to get a quirky lighthearted Danish comedy or 00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:21.740 you're going to get a tense blood pumping American 00:12:21.740 --> 00:12:24.440 horror thriller. A true coin flip. How does the 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:27.559 exact same word work for both? It perfectly demonstrates 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:30.379 how context dictates our emotional reaction to 00:12:30.379 --> 00:12:33.240 language. The syllables themselves don't change, 00:12:33.659 --> 00:12:36.440 but the genre completely rewrites the emotional 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:39.019 coding of the word. So the word is just adapting 00:12:39.019 --> 00:12:41.740 to its surroundings. Exactly. In the context 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:45.059 of a comedy, the phrase sounds delightfully absurd. 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:48.320 It feels frantic. maybe a bit silly, like the 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.200 soundtrack to a fast -paced slapstick routine 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:53.580 where characters are rushing around making mistakes. 00:12:53.879 --> 00:12:55.659 Right, running into walls and stuff. But the 00:12:55.659 --> 00:12:58.500 moment you drop that exact same phrase into a 00:12:58.500 --> 00:13:01.399 horror thriller, Chop Chop suddenly takes on 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:04.960 a much darker, menacing, and terrifyingly literal 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:07.220 interpretation. It's all about the lighting and 00:13:07.220 --> 00:13:09.279 the soundtrack. You change the lighting, and 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.600 a funny word becomes a threat. The word is just 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.740 a vessel. We bring the cultural expectations 00:13:13.740 --> 00:13:16.450 and the dread into the room with us. man. And 00:13:16.450 --> 00:13:19.169 if we look further down into the fringes of culture, 00:13:19.649 --> 00:13:22.350 we hit the other uses section of this page, which 00:13:22.350 --> 00:13:25.110 is just an absolute goldmine of human weirdness. 00:13:25.110 --> 00:13:27.870 It really is a grab bag. For instance, we have 00:13:27.870 --> 00:13:30.509 a Canadian horse racing Hall of Fame racehorse. 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:35.690 This horse lived from 1940 to 1963 and was appropriately 00:13:35.690 --> 00:13:38.289 named Chop Chop. Which brings us full circle 00:13:38.289 --> 00:13:40.710 back to our very first point about the American 00:13:40.710 --> 00:13:43.350 boxer. It perfectly aligns with the baseline 00:13:43.350 --> 00:13:46.049 concept of speed. Naming a racehorse after a 00:13:46.049 --> 00:13:48.529 command to go fast is just good branding. It's 00:13:48.529 --> 00:13:50.970 the Demarcus Corley of the equine world. Yes. 00:13:51.690 --> 00:13:55.250 But here's the kicker. Right beneath this prestigious 00:13:55.250 --> 00:13:57.830 upper crust Hall of Fame Canadian racehorse, 00:13:58.350 --> 00:14:02.009 we have an entry for slang. Chop Chop is Australian 00:14:02.009 --> 00:14:05.570 English line for homegrown illicit tobacco. The 00:14:05.570 --> 00:14:07.470 contrast there is arguably the most striking 00:14:07.470 --> 00:14:10.610 dynamic on the entire page. I couldn't stop thinking 00:14:10.610 --> 00:14:13.190 about it. You go from the highly regulated wealthy 00:14:13.190 --> 00:14:15.669 elite world of pedigree horse racing in Canada 00:14:15.669 --> 00:14:18.590 straight into the clandestine underground rural 00:14:18.590 --> 00:14:21.269 nature of Australian homegrown tobacco. It's 00:14:21.269 --> 00:14:24.029 a massive leap in class, geography, and legality. 00:14:24.210 --> 00:14:26.409 It highlights the egalitarian nature of phonetics. 00:14:26.850 --> 00:14:28.830 A sound doesn't know its own social class. That's 00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:31.309 a great point. Language doesn't respect human 00:14:31.309 --> 00:14:34.620 hierarchies. A phrase can sit securely at the 00:14:34.620 --> 00:14:37.179 pinnacle of Canadian sports history, engraved 00:14:37.179 --> 00:14:39.820 on a Hall of Fame plaque, and simultaneously 00:14:39.820 --> 00:14:43.299 operate as whispered underground slang in the 00:14:43.299 --> 00:14:45.980 Australian outback. It's doing double duty. Completely. 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:48.360 When people are dealing with illicit goods like 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:51.840 untaxed tobacco, they need a snappy, innocuous 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.779 -sounding code word that conveys a sense of quick 00:14:54.779 --> 00:14:57.759 under the table transaction. The word is completely 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:00.220 neutral. It is the human utility that assigns 00:15:00.220 --> 00:15:03.179 it a status of either high prestige or illegality. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:05.519 And speaking of how things are grouped together, 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:08.399 that brings us to the very bottom of the disambiguation 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:11.720 page, the see also section. Oh, yes. Wikipedia 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:13.440 pages always have these little architectural 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.940 quirks. And this specific page links out to Chop 00:15:16.940 --> 00:15:19.379 Shop. Which is a fascinating inclusion because 00:15:19.379 --> 00:15:21.860 a chop shop, which is typically an illegal garage 00:15:21.860 --> 00:15:24.159 that dismantles stolen cars to sell the parts, 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:27.059 has absolutely no thematic connection to the 00:15:27.059 --> 00:15:29.659 concept of hurry or to the music, the geography, 00:15:29.799 --> 00:15:31.860 or the fiction we've been discussing. None at 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:34.700 all. It's purely there because of alphabetical 00:15:34.700 --> 00:15:37.519 proximity. It's like the digital algorithm of 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:40.519 Wikipedia is saying, hey, You are currently looking 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:44.240 for words that start with CHOP. Here's a completely 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:46.379 unrelated criminal enterprise for you to read 00:15:46.379 --> 00:15:48.460 about, just in case that's your vibe today. It 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:51.299 is the perfect metaphor for algorithmic categorization 00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:53.440 versus human semantic meaning. What do you mean? 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:57.659 Imagine a librarian who has a flawless photographic 00:15:57.659 --> 00:16:00.539 memory for the alphabet, but is completely deaf 00:16:00.539 --> 00:16:04.669 to poetry, emotion, or narrative. Humans group 00:16:04.669 --> 00:16:07.250 concepts by meaning we connect the fast -punching 00:16:07.250 --> 00:16:09.529 boxer to the sprinting racehorse through the 00:16:09.529 --> 00:16:11.250 shared idea of speed. Right, there's a thread 00:16:11.250 --> 00:16:13.850 there. But the digital architecture of the internet 00:16:13.850 --> 00:16:16.710 groups things purely by the cold, hard math of 00:16:16.710 --> 00:16:18.889 spelling. It doesn't care about the rich tapestry 00:16:18.889 --> 00:16:21.250 of the words, only the raw data of the letters. 00:16:21.590 --> 00:16:24.230 So what does this all mean? We started this deep 00:16:24.230 --> 00:16:27.730 dive with a single, simple demand, hurry. And 00:16:27.730 --> 00:16:29.590 I wanted to show you how those two little syllables, 00:16:29.809 --> 00:16:31.929 that repeating command, could guide us on an 00:16:31.929 --> 00:16:34.509 incredible hidden journey. We traveled from the 00:16:34.509 --> 00:16:36.850 sweaty intensity of an American boxing ring to 00:16:36.850 --> 00:16:39.919 a serendipitous village in Iran. We explored 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:42.399 the visceral psychology of a public square in 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:44.500 Saudi Arabia. We tracked its percussive rhythm 00:16:44.500 --> 00:16:47.139 through the aggressive evolution of 1980s post 00:16:47.139 --> 00:16:50.659 -punk into early 2000s Atlanta rap and straight 00:16:50.659 --> 00:16:53.620 into modern Los Angeles electropop. We watched 00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:55.879 it become a psychological metronome for a rock 00:16:55.879 --> 00:16:58.620 band's recording process. We saw it subvert the 00:16:58.620 --> 00:17:01.259 ancient rules of fantasy as a speedy undead video 00:17:01.259 --> 00:17:03.539 game character. We did a lot. We laughed with 00:17:03.539 --> 00:17:06.140 a Danish comedy, tensed up at an American horror 00:17:06.140 --> 00:17:08.240 thriller, cheered for a Hall of Fame Canadian 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:11.259 racehorse and unpack the clandestine nature of 00:17:11.259 --> 00:17:13.720 Australian slang for illicit tobacco. And we 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:16.799 found all of this on one tiny, largely ignored 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.640 corner of the internet. Ultimately, a disambiguation 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:21.779 page isn't just a digital filing cabinet. It 00:17:21.779 --> 00:17:24.339 isn't just a boring traffic cop directing clicks. 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:28.059 It is undeniable proof of humanity's boundless, 00:17:28.299 --> 00:17:31.859 restless creativity. It proves that if you give 00:17:31.859 --> 00:17:34.740 humans just two syllables, they will build a 00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:37.099 hundred different entirely disconnected worlds 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:39.519 out of them. They will relentlessly mold those 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:41.900 same sounds to fit their art, their geography, 00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:44.299 their sports, and their secrets. It really is 00:17:44.299 --> 00:17:46.539 a testament to how deeply creative we are as 00:17:46.539 --> 00:17:48.539 a species. And that brings me to a final thought 00:17:48.539 --> 00:17:51.819 I want to leave you with today. There is a psychological 00:17:51.819 --> 00:17:55.160 phenomenon known as semantic satiation. Oh, I 00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:57.220 know this one. Your brain does this thing where 00:17:57.220 --> 00:17:59.900 if you repeat a word out loud over and over and 00:17:59.900 --> 00:18:03.420 over again, it eventually completely loses its 00:18:03.420 --> 00:18:05.880 meaning. The word just dissolves into a series 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.440 of absurd meaningless sounds hanging in the air. 00:18:08.740 --> 00:18:11.319 It's a common glitch in human cognition. The 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:13.400 repetition strips away the meaning until the 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:15.980 word just becomes raw noise. Exactly. But what 00:18:15.980 --> 00:18:18.980 we saw today on this single Wikipedia page is 00:18:18.980 --> 00:18:22.630 the exact opposite of semantic satiation. This 00:18:22.630 --> 00:18:25.509 phrase was repeated across the globe, over and 00:18:25.509 --> 00:18:28.349 over, across decades and cultures. Instead of 00:18:28.349 --> 00:18:31.230 losing its meaning, it gained a dozen new ones. 00:18:31.509 --> 00:18:33.509 It really did. So my challenge for you today 00:18:33.509 --> 00:18:36.230 is to think about the language you use without 00:18:36.230 --> 00:18:39.509 thinking. What other seemingly invisible everyday 00:18:39.509 --> 00:18:42.190 phrases are you constantly saying that have secretly 00:18:42.190 --> 00:18:44.730 colonized massive hidden stretches of global 00:18:44.730 --> 00:18:47.470 culture, just waiting for their own deep dive? 00:18:47.769 --> 00:18:49.950 The digital footprint of our language is vast, 00:18:50.170 --> 00:18:51.769 and you truly never know what bizarre connections 00:18:51.769 --> 00:18:53.890 you'll find when you finally stop to unpack it.