This was a super awesome message to get in my inbox!

I will be sure to check it out! I know of a couple online radio stations, and I’ve been able to get my hands on some Finnish TV, but it’s super nice to have a native speaker leave some feedback in your inbox.

I really need to get back to working on the language, but yeah. Kiitos!

awww yeah it’s not even wednesday! Anyways, let me answer this question for you:

The high religious council has banned most forms of adornment unless they are specifically approved. Approval for a specific unapproved item can be done on a case-by-case basis with the representative in your town, or on a larger scale through the government itself. (This is really just a law that bans most of the religious and ethnic clothing of marginalized communities. It’s pretty messed up.) If you are seen on the street wearing something that isn’t approved- and items that are questionable but approved will be marked with a seal if they are something that is particularly noticeable -you will be arrested.

Still, there are some class markers in their clothing. If you are of lower class it is more likely that your clothing will be made from rougher materials and will obviously have a lower thread count than the clothing made for people in power.

Most clothing is made using the wool of an animal called an anaśen, which is similar to an alpaca, except they are very fat animals and really aren’t all that much like alpacas but I can’t think of a good comparison. But imagine a fat alpaca for the sake of this ask. The wool of the anaśen is taken and then spun very very fine, most of the time as thin as sewing thread unless it is to be used for knitted garments, and woven into very undyed sheets of fabric.

Those who can afford something exquisite sometimes have precious metals woven into the fabric, but that is very very expensive! In order to afford one copy of the outfit that something like a high priest would wear it would cost three year’s salary of the average worker. Most of the wealthy don’t even bother with getting something so extravagant because it is just really ridiculously expensive, but instead rely on getting look-alike garments made with dyed thread woven in to emulate the effect of the color changes in more expensive outfits.

The main color of the fabric is the undyed color of the wool. It’s considered improper to dye most of the material for a garment, as it hides the natural look of the material. Minority ethnic groups usually have less of a problem with dyeing fabrics, but it makes them stick out in urban areas and they are more likely to be apprehended by the authorities, so they will usually dye undergarments rather than stick out if it is of importance that they have a color.

Overcoats and cloaks (as well as pants) are generally made from darker wool, while other garments are made from lighter wools.

Relating back to my wedding ask where I mentioned the colored cloths that are used to decorate town halls: they are not made of wool usually, unless it’s in a poorer community. A material much like silk is readily available in the warmer parts of Kelota where the spiders that produce it live. They’re actually a bit of a pest in the area where they live and there are a ton of them producing their spider silk which is harvested to make cloth. It’s not usually woven as fine as the nicer of the wool garments are, but it makes for a very nice light cloth. It’s considered too nice for to be used in clothing material, although it is definitely a possibility that someone with lots of money at their disposal has used some silk for their own purposes. Each family has a cloth in their traditional color, and they don’t typically get replaced all that often.

Style is where it gets more complicated. There is little difference in clothing between lower and higher classes past the quality material that it is made out of.

The acceptable form of dress as dictated by the church consists of a basic long sleeveless tunic or dress (depends on where you draw the line between each I guess?) called an iśaop. It’s traditionally made from one piece of cloth that has either had a hole cut in it for the neck opening or is wrapped around the wearer. More modern versions are made from two pieces of cloth sewn together, but they haven’t caught on yet. They are mostly shapeless garments that are given shape by wrapping one or more sihap (which translates to scarf, although they are shaped more like shawls or belts [although a belt technically is called a lestanke] depending on where you go) around the waist. Optionally, one can wear pants or hose or leggings underneath their iśaop, and that is called an opaji.

On top of all of this one might wear a cloak, called an osakel. They are made from heavier and coarser wools than other garments and typically include a hood. There is one seam left mostly open which can be clasped closed with a or shifted around to a different side. The hood is more of a cowl scarf attached to the cloak that can be pulled up over the head, so it is easy to move things around according to how it’s most comfortable.

I don’t have the energy tonight to continue or draw you a picture but there there is some writing and stuff take it damn i’ll continue this later

I am Catholic. I do admit I am not gay, but a demiromantic asexual.

I am pretty sure I know what this ask is in reference to, so I’ll just state it here: But *gasp!* the pope’s stance on gay marriage could affect me too if I were to decide that I want to marry someone of the same sex as me. As it is, I am in a relationship that passes for straight, but I don’t think that necessarily counts me out of the conversation.

I still think that as slow as it is, we’re progressing towards better views. You just have to keep in mind that it is very difficult to become pope and the people who can become pope right now are more likely not going to be very liberal when it comes to gay marriage. And if a papal candidate is in favor of gay marriage, it is very less likely that they will even become pope.

But you know, this is just my view. Feel free to think differently.

Do you mean this book?

I have this book! It was given to me by one of my mentors (I didn’t actually have her as a teacher) in high school who thought I would like it. I actually have a really old copy (as you can see from the cover design- that is not the current cover you’d find on amazon) so some of it is outdated and incorrect, although if you were to ask me what I would have to reread the book to tell you.

I enjoyed this book and the television series it went with, which you can indeed find online if you have the time! Granted, it’s been a few years since I’ve read this book, but I remember enjoying it. I do think it’s more of a fun read than a linguistics read, though. It’s geared more towards the general audience who aren’t linguists than to people who have already studied how language works and language history.

If you’re looking for something a bit less geared towards a general audience but still an enjoyable light read, I’d recommend Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue (as seen below). 

I’ve got nothing but good reviews of this book to people I have lent it to. I’d also give you other recs but I’ve been jumping around between books the past few months so I haven’t been able to finish Walking English by David Crystal yet. I do hear good things, though. As for books I’ve read out of the library, honestly, I’m so bad with titles. I’ll look after I come back from the grocery store and see what I can rec if I remember anything.

The History of English? I know for a fact that there are a lot of books and pages by that title. Mind elaborating, anon? I have read and own a lot of books about the history of English, but they all have different titles.

Yes. The most recent to Olive Garden, because nobody would give us directions to an actual Italian restaurant.

fhjkdsldfj you must have been around for a while, anon, to know about AFATT (which I am do bad with oh my god you don’t even know how much I’ve been cheating with myself I need to get back on track).

I have no idea who you are (the only person I would usually blame this on definitely has an alibi for the time period in which this was sent) but thank you anon fdhfdskjf <3

Like how it’s working the second time around? Sure!

But first, I think it’s important to note that I am absolutely rubbish with keeping on schedule. You are supposed to drink the tea twice a day every day, and a lot of days I forget one or both of the cups. So there is probably a decreased effectiveness there, and it is definitely noticeable compared to the first round of tea in which I mostly stayed on schedule for it.

It works for me. It truly lessens my sweating. If I had to put it on a scale of one to ten with ten being dripping wet through clothes and one being completely dry, I’d say I went from an 8 to a 3. Which is amazing! And some days if the weather is right and my body is right and I have been keeping up with the tea, I’m completely dry! I’ve also been able to go without the OTC extra strength antiperspirant I usually use, which, while not as bad as my experience with Drysol, has a feel and a smell that really bothers me, especially when I use it on my hands. My clothes still are wet on the underlayers, but it rarely gets up to the top and I can even hold hands comfortably now!

Cons of the tea, other than having to absolutely keep on schedule, would have to be the taste. If you decide to get this tea, oh my god, do not oversteep it! I have a tendency to forget that I have the teabag or tea leaves in my water- which is okay because I like strong tea provided I have sugar to go with it because I am a child -and with this tea it gets unbearably bitter if you oversteep it. Three to five minutes is perfect and more than enough! Just steep it until it is a light golden brown color. If you oversteep it, it turns to this murky muddle brown-black color. It will absolutely suck to drink, and with the price that this tea comes at, you won’t want to waste a cup of it and will have to swallow that sludge that tries to pass for tea. I also find that you should make a slightly bigger cup than you want to actually drink (8oz water according to the package but I just make whatever cup I want to use at the time so I probably drink more tea than recommended so you don’t have to drink the very bottom of the cup. It gets nasty down there since all the extra that escaped from the teabag sinks down to the bottom.

I’m not sure if I will have to continue after this round of tea and I am not sure of long-term effects of the tea is I continue using it rather than stop drinking like the site suggests. I find that I go back to normal within a few days of not drinking the tea and I will be emailing them to find out what it might do to keep using it if it comes to that.

I have also posted a few other posts on the tea on my personal hyperhidrosis tag, so please take a look at the other things I have said about the tea if you are interested in trying it! Just make sure that first the ingredients will not interact with anything else you are taking or will cause adverse reaction! Safety is much more important than trying out a new HH treatment.

Best of luck to you, anon! Feel free to message me again!