what i like especially about the pronouns in the goblin emperor is that this language doesn't just have the T-V distinction (aka informal vs. formal second-person pronouns, in this case 'thou' vs. 'you'), it also has informal and formal first-person pronouns. having BOTH of these distinctions in the same language lets you fine-tune your tone by mixing and matching. with only one axis of formality, when you use informal pronouns, are you being familiar in an intimate way, or in an insolent or dismissive way? when you use formal pronouns, are you being polite or standoffish? you can't tell just from the pronouns; there's ambiguity. but a language where you can use a formal first-person pronoun in the same sentence as an informal second-person pronoun allows you to distance yourself (via the formal first) while also being familiar (via the informal second), thereby achieving the conversational tenor known to linguists as Fuck Thee Specifically.

SIX states have important voter registration deadlines on Monday, October 24. If you’re in Alabama, California, Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, or Wyoming it’s time to register to vote!

To register to vote head to weall.vote/tumblr.

If you have any questions or concerns, call the Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE.  

Luncheon counter at a drugstore, 1950s.  Complete with wooden phone booths in the back of the store.

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New episode of the #Register -Podcast #SFB1412 is online! About #Adjectives, #MiddleEnglish and register variation diachronically observed. With Artemis Alexiadou und Tom McFadden

If I were to time travel back to 2004, I think one of my biggest ongoing difficulties would be remembering to always speak in the formal register (which hasn't changed much in 20 years) lest I accidentally reveal myself as being not from around here now by slipping back into my casual register (which is full of 2024 colloquialisms and internet slang).

Imagine saying to someone in 2004, "My spoonie friend posted that YouTube clip of House's 'Life is Pain' rant on her Facebook and I was like, 'That slaps. Mood.'"

That's a perfectly understandable statement to almost anyone who might be reading this on Tumblr in 2024, but would sound like schizophrenic word salad to 2004 ears.

Even if I were able to keep up constantly speaking in the formal register despite how exhausting and unnatural it would feel, I'd still have communication difficulties. IRL I rarely speak to anyone in the formal register anymore, even at work -- my last couple of jobs were in very laid-back environments where everyone else was at least a decade younger than me -- and I've noticed recently that when I force myself to switch to the formal register, I always sound pissed off even when I'm not.

It finally clicked that the reason I've lost the ability to emote appropriately while speaking in the formal register is that for the past few years, there's been only one context in which I consistently speak in the formal register every single time: Leaving angry voicemails for US Senators.

It cracks me up that somewhere in the language part of my brain, I've apparently got a bit of code running that "Senators = teh oldz" and therefore I must address them using a register that feels frozen in time. Not only was this not a conscious decision, but it's also so hard-coded that I instinctively switch to the formal register even while drunk-dialing their constituent feedback lines at 3am.

(Pro tip: If you have never drunk-dialed your Senator at 3am, you're not Americaning hard enough. Get to it, kiddies.)

Thinking about time travel has made me realize just how much colloquial English has changed over the past 20 years and how it keeps getting weirder and weirder at an accelerating rate. Speaking in code to route around censorship algorithms. New slang spreading within days instead of years. Horrible new suffixes. An emerging fourth person pronoun. It's wild.

I lived through these changes. I was already a grown adult back in 2004. And even I would have to carefully mind my speech in order to blend in and be understood. Can you imagine what would happen if you sent an extremely online Zoomer back 20 years?

So today I worked a register at my nephew’s book fair for Six. Hours. Six hours! I’m so fucking tired!!! 😫 I mean, it was a really good day. I got to spend it with my sister and help out. I haven’t worked retail in 15 years, but it felt like I never left. And there were no horrible customers like in the real world. All the kids were so sweet.

Register from Florida

Relief of Tree with Animal and Unidentified Object Aleppo, Syria (?) c. 800 BCE

Housed in the Syria-Aleppo Museum

[FRY AND A RARE. WE STARTED JUST A GRILL AND AN EXHAUST SYSTEM AND A REGISTER. AND LEARNED REAL QUICK. TWO BEEF ON A ROLL.]

Joseph Went Up to Bethlehem to be Registered with Mary

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. — Luke 2:4-5 | BRG Bible (BRG) Blue Red and Gold Letter Edition™ Copyright © 2012 BRG Bible Ministries. All rights reserved. Cross References: 1 Samuel 16:4; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:18; Matthew 1:20; Matthew 2:1; Luke 1:27; Luke 2:1; Luke 2:3; Luke 2:6

Peste Noire - Ballade cuntre lo Anemi Francor (2009) Cassette. De Profondis Éditions.