Grrl Power #1084 – Suprarenymer
In defense of whoever comes up with the codenames (or, supranyms) for Galytn supers, they do speak at least eight languages over there (at least they do in Mozambique) and that’s before introducing Alar and Chiktr. Presumably English is also spoken, as it is the official language of Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania, which are all neighbors. Someone in that environment might not understand all the subtleties of English, or at least, not all the subtleties of American English. Likely they have their own double meanings and word play.
It does make me wonder if in an environment where English is just one of many languages spoken, if it develops the same level of depth and word-play. I mean if everyone speaks 2-6 languages, and there’s a better way to say something in another language, it would mean that people aren’t trying to wring every last drop of utility out of their one and only option. I do wish I knew more than one language. I’ve made several attempts to learn Japanese because I’m a proper nerd, but without the immersion of being around other speakers, it was too much of an uphill battle for me. That said, what very little I do know about it is super interesting and really expands my understanding of how language can shape or limit our thinking. Think about the most obvious example. In English, we “love” our parents, siblings, pets, domestic partners, video games, cake, spending the weekend laying on the couch binging Swedish serial killer shows on Netflix, organizing tiny screws, etc. But those are all different kinds of love. At least, hopefully the way you love your favorite kind of desert is different than how you love your pet or all brunette women that remind you of your mother, or else there might be a Netflix special about you one day. I think English would be better if we had separate words for familial love and romantic love and culinary love etc, etc. Having only one word for all those concepts limits our thinking. As good as English is about roughing up other languages and shaking them down for spare verbs, we ought to keep an eye out for opportunities like that. Apparently Sanskrit had 96 words that meant “love” in one form or another. Let’s get to pilfering!
Oh, and also, we need a gender neutral pronoun besides “it.” Yes, I know, “they,” but personally I’m not impressed with they since it’s both singular and plural and that can lead to confusion. I’m sure the collective efforts of the English speaking world can come up with something better. We make up new words all the time and embiggen ourselves in the process.
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For singular pronouns, my favorite are the Elverson/Spivak set, Ey/Em/Eir. It’s just They/Them/Their but you chop off the ‘th’. Ms. Elverson created it in 1965 to be a ‘Gender Neutral Pronoun for Business’ so secretaries and the forms they make/fill out wouldn’t need to use the clunky ‘he/she’ ‘his/hers’ they were starting to put on the paperwork. She wanted it to be used whenever you speak/write about a singular individual, but the gender is not yet known. Then Michael Spivak used it as a ‘test gender’ in his LamdaMu online computer game and players loved it.
That said, as a non-binary person myself, I don’t want to harm the efforts that my community is already making strides with, so I’ve stopped pushing Elverson/Spivak as hard as I once did. I often just have people use they/them/their for me, even if I don’t like that it is both plural and singular.
Also, I love the letter Thorn or þorn (Þ, þ)
This ey/em/eir idea does seem to be the most grammatically sound option actually. All the benefits of relating info from narrator to third party listener with none of the confusion that ‘they’ gives when dealing with multiple subjects.
Is Sydney meant to be nodding in that last panel? The expression fits, but motion lines are missing.
Yes, it’s a ‘smug nod of agreement.’
She’s done this once before with Maxima.
CARRIER HAS ARRIVED.
“if in an environment where English is just one of many languages spoken, if it develops the same level of depth and word-play.”
English has an enormous vocabulary because it has borrowed most of them from other languages and then bent them into different shapes. It did a lot of this when Latin and then French were the languages spoken by the elite.
So it’s certainly possible.