Success on YouTube and on the internet in general comes down to one of two things; looks or brains. Either you need to be good looking or have the ideas and creativity to grab enough attention to earn a living off the web. However, one YouTuber not only used, but mastered both beauty and brains to launch their career on YouTube.

Marina Orlova, a native 28 year old Russian, runs the popular YouTube channel and corresponding website Hot for Words. In case you’ve been too focused on other adult websites, I mean other forms of entertainment, Hot for Words is a series of videos in which Marina teaches the origin of words. Sometimes these are everyday words such as bikini. While others make you do a 180 such as floccinaucinihilipilification.

If you think she’s some ex-porn star trying to get a clean slate then you’re wrong. Marina holds two degrees in philology from the Nizhny Novgorod State University. Philology is the study of linguistics and etymology. Meaning she’s well qualified and knowledgeable on languages.

Screen cap from HotForWord's animated intro.

Now that we better understand who she, what she does, and why she can do it, there’s one question that remains, “How do her videos stack up?” Get your head out of the gutter; I’m talking about quality not her boobs. Or is my head in the gutter? Anyways, every time I watch her videos I find myself able to recite what I learned a week later. Isn’t that the purpose of her videos, to teach us? So far, she’s doing an excellent job.

There’s no doubt that because of her good looks and questionable outfits that I’m retaining more knowledge. However, who cares? I often hear that learning should be fun, and it’s defiantly fun in this case. Also, it’s evident that she puts effort and hard work into her videos. Instead of just sitting at a chair in front of a webcam with her boobs hanging out (which would still work), she actually takes the time to deliver a high quality production.

She’s also one of the few YouTubers to have expand beyond the internet. Her recently published book titled Hot for Words: Answers to All Your Burning Questions About Words and Their Meanings actually made for an enjoyable read on a recent flight of mine (thanks mom ). On a bad note though, I do wish that she would cool it down on her dirty annotations during her videos. It often makes me feel like I’m watching porn a little too much. Next thing I know I’m confessing my YouTube viewing sins to a Catholic priest, and I’m not even Catholic. With that said, Hot For Words receives a 4 out of 5.