New World Order society is hierarchical, with all citizens belonging to social classes which are not legally defined (although society appears to be moving in that direction), but which are distinct, tied to wealth and clearly hereditary. This hierarchy has clear antecedents and roots in the class system of early 21st century global society, but is completely stripped of the egalitarian and/or meritocratic pretensions that characterised pre-Collapse elite society in many countries, and deference reflected in language is the norm. To get along in this society, it is important to learn these norms.

In this article, we will look at how you address another person, refer to them to a third party, greet them, manage basic social interactions, make requests and orders, and ask basic conversational questions.

Most of this vocabulary developed in the modern period, as Old Common was a very egalitarian language and modern High Common is anything but. As such, this vocabulary is not terribly old, prone to regional variations, and in a state of flux. Our focus will be on very global High Common as you would see on officially sanctioned screenshows. By avoiding local idioms, your Common will sound very rehearsed and non-native, but many people are second language learners of Common, and imitation of the official dialect is common. You will not necessarily stand out as an outsider, although you will not pass for a local native speaker. The important thing is that by going for the most global forms, you will not offend anyone or get into potentially dangerous trouble.

Addressing and Referring to Someone

The first thing to know is that you do not use naked forms of the pronoun 'zu', 'you' to address anyone unless they are a child, a slave or a very low class person, and even then throwing in a polite head term is almost never a bad idea. You also never address a person by their name without including an honorific, except in the preceding circumstances (for example, it's fine to address a child by their name alone). The exception is if you are very intimate with that person you would omit the head term or honorific.

Refer to the article on People, Gender and Family Relations, which has a wealth of family words that are also used as politeness head terms. Take akki (elder sibling) and itti (younger sibling). These are common forms of address in customer service situations, especially in a higher-class shop, where the server has some status of their own. It would be common for the customer to be addressed as akki and the server to be addressed as itti. The terms acknowledge the relative social standing of the two people, and both are actually considered polite, even the subordinating itti. It is far more polite to address a social inferior as itti than to omit an honorific at all.

There are regional variations in the use of family relation terms as generic forms of address, but in general, they are acceptable anywhere but may mark you as non-local in some places.

The catch-all honorific 'sy' can be used as an illustration. Sy is thought to come from 'sir' (but it is not gendered and works equally well for men and women), and can be used to address anyone respectfully provided they are not of very exalted rank relative to oneself. The more equal one is to the person one is addressing, the better sy is as an honourific, so if you want to flatter someone, it is better to choose something else. Sy is the right choice for addressing strangers, especially if there are no reliable cues of relative rank. Here is how sy works in addressing someone. Say you are telling someone that they are fifth in line. If you said:

Zu se an suzys.

This would be a curt, overly-familiar or fatally impolite form of address. This is how a government agent might address a lower class citizen in a government office, for example. To make this polite, say:

Zu sy se an suzys.

In this case, sy is added as the head term of zu. It is even politer to avoid referring to someone in the second person. To be even more deferential, refer to them in the third person:

A sy se an suzys.

This means something like 'Sir is fifth'. It is similar when using someone's name. In Common, the honorific is always the head term and the person's name(s) is a modifying term, so the honorific goes after the name. To say 'Toni, you are fifth' to a child or a lover, or a social inferior you don't care to respect, or someone you deliberately intend to disrespect:

Zu Toni se an suzys.

Notice that there is no equivalent of 'Tony, you are fifth', you would have to say something that looks like 'You Tony are fifth', the article is mandatory and it goes before the name. If you want to make the same address respectfully or more distantly:

Zu Toni sy se an suzys.

If you address someone by their name you don't address them in the third person. It's not that it's impossible, but it's not idiomatic Common. If someone is familiar enough to address them by their name, they are familiar enough for zu.

When talking about someone, almost the same rules apply, unless you are speaking in private with someone intimate or trusted, in which case you could drop the honorific in referring to the third party. If you have a more distant relationship with your conversation partner or might be overheard, or have a genuinely high degree of respect for the person you are talking about, the same polite terms with the same basic grammar are used in referring to the third party. In literature, you will also see politeness terms salted into third person references.

A couple of points:

The term 'atuin' is a generally polite way to refer to someone as well, so if you refer to someone as 'a atuin', 'the person', you typically don't need to salt in another honorific unless you're concerned. It has almost the sense of 'gentleman/woman' in English.

An important one is talking to or about the police. Any time you come to the attention of the police in New World Order territory, you are in danger. In theory, NWO law is supposed to recognise habeas corpus, and if you are held by the police, you are supposed to be charged with a crime or let go within 72 hours. As well, you are supposed to have the right to consult a lawyer, if you can afford one.

In practice, unless you can demonstrate high social status or you or a family member can bribe the police to let you go, the police can file a trivial note to hold you on suspicion of extremist ties, which suspends habeas corpus and allows them to hold you indefinitely without charge. Torture is extremely common in police custody, and in many cases you will need to pay a bribe to have any hope of being released. It is not uncommon to die in custody, and there are never any consequences for the police unless the victim belonged to the professional or elite class and the matter is pursued by someone influential.

When encountering a police officer, try not to attract notice, and if you must address them or talk about them where it could possibly be overheard, use the utmost deference. The term 'Zeulca', approximately 'inspector' or 'examiner', is a high police rank and a safe way to talk about any police officer.

Another useful one is 'jen', meaning 'head' or 'chief'. This can be used again with police or with government officials, as it will always correspond to a high rank and be received as deferential.

Finally, a person's actual job title or rank is always a polite way to address them in a professional context.

For public officials such as politicians and judges, you can precede their name with the modifier 'zra', which literally means true or truthful but in this case means 'honourable'. This can serve in addition to a head term honorific, or instead of one, making the utterance respectful.

Greetings (Hello and Goodbye)

Common greetings are generally based on times of day, like many languages, and as in many languages, you have to get the time of day right or it seems strange. The one generic greeting you can always use, however, even at night, is 'good day', or:

zra eonaz
true day

This set phrase is an interjection and does not take a determiner. It also has a short form:

zry'náz

This form translates roughly as 'hi', and is more casual than 'zra eonaz'.

All of the expressions for 'hello' are also expressions for 'goodbye'. Other time-based greetings:

There is an awkward spot in the late afternoon just before supper where uluacel and fesen both don't quite fit. One or the other might be used or the speaker might stick with 'zra eonaz', which always works.

Aside from the fact that all of the words for hello also mean goodbye, there are several other expressions for goodbye.

Asking After Someone's Well-Being

These expressions are mostly conversational fillers or greetings, although sometimes they may be direct requests for information. As in English, there are a wide variety of these sorts of expressions, and the choice can sometimes reveal something about the speaker's region or social class. Here, we will look mostly at very neutral expressions that will not be out of place in any context. We will also give polite, positive responses.

The degree of politesse employed will generally be neutral-polite, unless otherwise noted, it is up to you to understand your situation and adjust appropriately.

¿Zres yn lo kon? (¿Lo kon?)

This expression uses the avalent auxiliary 'zres' with a placeholder 'yn' particle in place of a verb, and the adverbial expression 'lo kon', 'like what'. 'Zres yn lo kon' is a very cliched expression that is basically asking how things are in a general way and invites a very non-specific answer. The short form '¿lo kon?' is sometimes heard and is informal.

An appropriate response is 'zra' or 'zres yn zra' these are about equivalent. This may be made more emphatic by saying 'efo zra' in place of just 'zra' in these expressions.

¿(Zu sy) se pue lo kon? (¿Se pue zra?)

Another standard greeting is using the pali verb 'pue', to feel, again with the 'lo kon' 'like what' modifier, or using the 'se pue zra' variant. The subject 'zu' may be included, generally with an honorific unless the person is an intimate or inferior. This form invites the person to comment on their general feelings or health as well and the general progression of events.

An appropriate response is again simply 'zra', or '(we) se pue zra'.

¿Zu sy se zran?

The 'se zran' formulations, using the verb form of 'zra' in its disintentive form, can ask if a person is well, like the other formulations, but also can be used in expressions asking if a person is on track with a task or onboard with some plan.

In this case, you can use the above types of response, but also simply responding 'yes', or 'la' would be appropriate, as in 'la' or 'la, (we) se zran'.

¿(Zu sy) nox yn lo kon? (¿Nox yn ico?)

This type of expression, with the semitransitive auxiliary and generally with the placeholder particle 'yn' in place of a main verb, is similar to the above sense but seems to ask about the persons desires or journey through life and invites responses that address the progress of something, as well as the above types of 'zra' responses.

You could also use a 'nox yn ico' variant where the dative form of 'ko' is used and the focus is places more on the destination than the manner of getting there. In either case, a variant response to this type of polite query with 'nox' is 'ija zran', 'to the good'.

¿Zu (sepu) se an lo kon?

Be careful with this one. It is usually more informal, which is why we have shown it here with a weak or no honourific. An English speaker might be tempted to translate 'lo kon' as 'how' in analogy to the other popular expressions and think of this as 'how are you'? In fact it comes across more like 'what are you like?' and is also commonly used to react in a mildly or not so mildly disapproving way to some crude statement or action someone has made.

Despite or because of this connotation, it also has the sense of just 'how are you' as a greeting between friends with a close and casual relationship. It can take the typical 'zra' types of replies, or the sarcastic and familiar 'fo zra erpa zun', or 'better than you' - 'waj zra wajy zun', 'as good as you', can also be heard.

'And you' Expressions

In response to one of these conversational turns, it is common to turn the question around and ask about the other person. A simple variant of 'hanja iju sy' can be used for this sense. Idiomatically, the dative is generally employed here, even if the verb in question would take an absolutive subject, because you're asking after their benefit and because addressees of verbs of speaking are typically dative.

The other popular way of saying 'and you' is 'hap kile', which literally means 'return (something)'. The second person pronoun can be included here, as in 'hap kile iju sy', but often the point of using this form is to avoid second person pronouns.

Example

- ¡Zry'náz! ¿Zres yn lo kon?
- ¡Zres yn zra! ¿Hap kile?
- Zra, hap tiena.

- Hi! How's it going?
- It's going well. How about you?
- Well, thanks.

Introductions

Once again, there are a great many ways to handle this area, which can indicate region and class as well as formality, familiarity and relative rank.We will focus on the most neutral, standard High Common with neutral politeness. Again it is important for you to be cognizant of your circumstances and adjust your level of politeness appropriately, but we will try to provide forms that make it hard to go too far wrong.

Introducing Yourself

There are two dominant idioms for this, and unfortunately, this is one case where a significant regional divide can be seen in High Common and where your word choices can betray something about your origins. The forms hinge on the fact that in Common, a name is a term and a term can be a noun or a verb. Since both forms illustrate features about Common that Common intellectuals consider 'unique' or 'special' neither is overtly preferred by the language's gatekeepers.

In the first form, you use the verb 'poen' in its disintentive antipassive intransitive form with the name as the head term of the first person article:

We Sara se poen.
I(ABS) Sara stand(NP.IM) name.

'My name is Sarah.'

In this idiom you can alternatively introduce the name in a prepositional phrase introduced with 'lo', as in:

We se poen lo na Sara.
I(ABS) stand(NP.IM) like the(NOM) Sarah

'My name is Sarah.'

The second form implies Sarah might not be your real name, whereas the first form implies that it definitely is, but that's not hard and fast.

The other dominant idiom is to use the same as an intransitive verb. In this form, the same statement might be expressed:

We se Sara.
I(ABS) stand(NP.IM) Sarah

'My name is Sarah.'

This works because all proper names when used as verbs tend to be automatically interpreted as intransitive pali verbs meaning to be called that name.

As to the regional variation: The poen forms tend to be preferred in North America, with the exception of na Myrika, which uses the name-as-verb form, and in sub-Saharan Africa. The name-as-verb forms tend to be found everywhere else.

There are exceptions, though. Particularly, since the Cascadian dialect is a poen dialect and is also widely imitated, the poen form can crop up with some speakers in name-as-verb areas. As well, the name-as-verb form is avoided if there is something about the name that would make it confusing to use as a verb.

In any of these cases, additional names and honorific, titles, etc., can be piled on, but it is less important to be explicit about those details when talking about yourself - a considerate speaker may include those details in order to help the conversational partner know how to address them properly, or to intimidate, or might be falsely claimed for some manipulative purpose.

Introducing Someone Else

Introducing someone else uses the identical idioms as introducing yourself, except it is usual to include the modifier 'spet', 'this', if the person is present. In this case it is going to be important to always include politeness words. Here are some variants on 'this is Kaitlyn':

1. A spet Ketlyn sy se poen.
2. A spet sy se poen lo na Ketlyn akki.
3. A spet sy se Ketlyn akki.

In the above examples 2 and 3, notice that Kaitlyn is referred to twice and an honorific is used each time. In 'a spet sy' a generic 'sy' is dropped in instead of the required grammatical placeholder 'yn' for a missing head term or a more specific honorific, as seen later in the sentence. This is normal and respectful as long as a specific, required honorific is used with the actual name. Here, 'akki', elder sibling, is used, indicating the person is high ranking but not necessarily a boss.

By the way, the use of these family term honorifics for non-familial situations is highly regionally-dependent, and it is a good idea to try and listen for what people say in whatever area you're in. They are less preferred in the hugely influential Cascadian dialect that you can always get away with imitating, so it is generally safer to use words for ranks, like 'jen', unless you observe people using the familial words.

Asking Someone's Name

Asking someone's name comes with variation as well, but uses the term 'poen', either as a noun or a verb. Here, regional variation is not seen and these expressions are largely in free variation, with all of the usual caveats about courtesy. Examples:

1. ¿Lo kon se poen zu sy?
   1. ¿Lo kon se poen?
   2. ¿Lo kon se poen na sy?
2. Ko se an na poen zun sy?
   1. ¿Ko se an na poen?
   2. ¿Ko se an na poen na sy?

What you see in these examples is two basic schemes, one with poen as a verb and one with it as a noun, roughly equivalent to 'what do you call yourself?' and 'what is your name?'. You can see variants in each case, it is common to drop the second person part of the expression altogether, or to refer to your conversation partner in the third person, the former for brevity and to avoid resolving ambiguous relative rank, and the latter if the person clearly outranks you and you want to hedge your bets.

Introduction with a Copula

It is always possible to introduce yourself or someone else with a simple copula:

1. We se an na Sara - I'm Sara.
2. A spot yn se an na Ketlyn sy - That's Kaitlyn.

These are used to clarify who is who when the person you are addressing is expected to already have some idea who the referent is.

'Happy to Meet You'

There are a couple of ways to say this. A short way is to say, basically, 'happy meeting':

¡Na citit uljy!

You can also draw this out, especially if you want to go the opposite direction from avoiding honorific and have the opportunity to state them explicitly in your response in order to curry favour:

¡We se citit sin zu jen te uljy!
I(ABS) stand(NP.IM) happy that(NOM) you(ABS) head hit(NP.IM) meet

'I'm happy to meet you, boss!'

This is another instance where 'hap kile', 'give back', as in 'likewise', is a good polite response in return, if terse and informal.

Example (Cascadian Style)

S: ¡Zry'náz! We Sara se poen. ¿Lo kon se poen zu sy?
K: We se poen lo na Ketlyn. ¡Na citit uljy!
S: ¡Hap kile!

S: Hi! My name is Sarah. What's yours?
K: I'm called Kaitlyn. Nice meeting you!
S: Likewise!

Kaitlyn introduces herself with a more distanced form, but that is not unusual and Sarah probably won't read too much into that.

Handling Requests (Please, Thank You and You're Welcome)

The closest thing Common has to a word for 'please' is the term 'minna', meaning 'request'. Minna is inherently polite, and is one of the relatively easier aspects of politesse in Common. There are a number of points to bear in mind in general when making requests and orders:

• Minna is always a polite way to ask for something.
• Otherwise, stating a desire in the irrealis is polite and comes across as a request, whereas using the realis is curt or rude, and suitable for giving orders.
• Referring to the recipient of the request or order in the second person makes the request ruder or more of an order, unless softened by use of an honorific and further use of the irrealis and hedging.
• Ideally, avoid referring to the recipient of the request or command at all.
• There are a couple set phrases that can be used as tags to soften a statement of request or command. 

Asking with 'minna'

You can use 'minna' directly as a happat verb to ask for some object or for some act to be performed. Minna takes an ergative subject, which is the asker, an absolutive object, which is the object requested (this can be replaced with a dependent clause introduced with si, which would then be the act requested), and a dative indirect object, the person asked. The dative object is usually omitted when directly addressing the person requested, rather than reporting on someone else's request, because it is usually clear from context, but the disintentive skurun form is only used if the request is legitimately not directed anywhere in particular and the speaker wants to highlight that fact. In almost all cases, the auxiliary 'hap' is used.

An example of using minna to request an object:

Je hap minna y kaffe.
I(ERG) give(NP.IM) request a(ABS) coffee.

'I would like a coffee.'

You can also use minna as a verb to request an act:

Je hap minna si ti pirap a laske.
I(ERG) give(NP.IM) request that(ABS) hit(IR.NP.IM) close the(ABS) door.

'Please close the door'

Notice that we don't mention the person being asked - the dative object is omitted, as is the ergative subject in the dependent clause. As well, to make the request additionally polite, the irrealis mood is used in the dependent clause for the act being requested. Generally you don't place minna in the irrealis unless you are talking about the request itself in a hypothetical sense. Using the irrealis with minna itself comes across as strange rather than deferential, so avoid doing this.

You can also use the nominative noun phrase 'na minna', 'the request', as a tag on any statement of request to make it more polite, or to make it polite after the fact if you fear you failed to hit the right deferential note. 'Na minna' is a set phrase. 'Na minna' can tag to the beginning or end of the request. Example:

Te pirap a laske, na minna.
Hit(NP.IM) close the(ABS) door, the(NOM) request.

'Close the door, please.'

In this case the request is phrased fairly bluntly (it is in the realis, but isn't too bad, because at least the person requested is not mentioned), and 'na minna' is added as a tag to soften it.

Using 'ti citityn' as a 'please' tag

The set phrase 'ti citityn', roughly, 'it would be pleasing', can be used as a tag similar to 'na minna' to soften a request and make it more polite. It can be tagged to the end of a request as-is; if used at the beginning of a request, it has to be followed with 'xut', 'if', and the subsequent statement must be in the irrealis mood.

Ti citityn xut ti pirap a laske.
Hit(IR.NP.IM) happy-TER if hit(IR.NP.IM) close the(ABS) door.

'Please close the door.'

This can also be expressed as something like 'Te pirap a laske, ti citityn' as a politesse repair, similar to na minna.

Requests using irrealis verbs

Verbs in the irrealis mood can be used to express polite requests. It is more polite to distance the request by saying what you would like or be willing to take than to directly ask someone to give you something or do something for you. The verbs 'raxu' (take, drink) and 'jusal' (want, desire) are particularly common in these types of constructions. For example, a couple more ways to ask for a cup of coffee:

• Je ti raxu y kaffe.
• We nux jusal ijy kaffe

These come across as 'I would take a coffee" and 'I would like a coffee", respectively, and have approximately the same tone. Both can be made even more polite by tagging with 'na minna' or 'ti citityn'.

Saying 'Thank you'

Gratitude is generally expressed with the happat verb 'tiena'. Tiena has a peculiar argument structure - its meaning is closer to 'cause to become thankful'. It takes an ergative subject which is the condition or object causing the gratitude, an absolutive object which is the grateful person, and a dative indirect object which is the person to whom the feeling of gratitude is directed. Its most relevant usage in the present discussion is as the set phrases 'we hap tiena' or 'hap tiena'. These both mean 'thank you'. 'Hap tiena' is a little more casual, the full expression should be 'we hap tiena'.

'Hap tiena' is also the appropriate response for unsolicited favours like someone holding a door open.

Saying 'You're welcome'

Different languages have a number of different strategies for expressing this idea, from variations on 'welcome' (as in English, or the French 'vous êtes bienvenue'), some idea around 'it's nothing' (like the Spanish 'de nada' or the French 'de rien'), or the German 'bitte schön', more or less 'nicely asked'. The dominant strategy in Common is more or less the German one. The way to say 'you're welcome' in Common is with the set phrase 'na zra minna', roughly, 'the true request'.

Giving Orders

To give more naked orders in Common, you simply attend to the rules of polite requests, and do the opposite.

• Use the realis mood instead of the irrealis.
• Directly refer to the person addressed
• Address them in the second person.
• Omit the honorific head term, or use a head term that subordinates the addressee.
• Do not use politeness tags.

You can also use the term 'parat', which is like a rude, imperious mirror image of 'minna' and is used to give commands. Its objects are flipped, with the direct object as the person ordered and the indirect object as the thing or act ordered. Otherwise, it can be used in exactly the same way, including using the set phrase 'na parat' as way to harden what could be taken as a request into a clear order. For example, the following expressions are all ways of giving orders:

Using parat is unnecessarily extreme and is not a common way to express even blatant orders. Simply stating what you want in the realis mood and directly mentioning the person you're addressing, with or without an honorific, usually suffices.

Using verbs like raxu (take) and jusal (want) in the realis voice makes them stronger requests, but the still come across as somewhat courteous. To make a statement more of an order, avoid distancing strategies like this and directly say what you want. Example:

Ju hap y kaffe ije.
You(ERG) give(NP.IM) a(ABS) coffee I(DAT)

'Give me a coffee.'

Well-Wishes on Special Occasions

Every holiday in the New World Order has a traditional greeting, but generally they are interjections without determiners, with the modifier 'zra' placed before the holiday name. One example is 'zra Noél', which translates as 'Merry Christmas'. You can also say 'na citit Noél' (Happy Christmas), although this form does use the article.

The word for 'birthday' is 'hulaz eonaz', literally, 'year day'. It is also the word for anniversary, as in wedding anniversary. To express well wishes for a birthday or anniversary, the form is different than for holidays, The modifier citit is used instead of zra, and the occasions is expressed as a noun with an article instead of as an interjection without a determiner. For example:

¡Na citit hulaz eonaz!
Happy birthday!

This can also mean 'happy anniversary'. To express it clearly as birthday, you would say 'na citit lufi hulaz eonaz' and as 'happy (wedding) anniversary', you could say 'na citit katen hulaz eonaz'.

To ask after someone's age politely, you would say:

¿Ju sy te tret kor hulaz na hital?

That translates approximately as 'Sir, you count what years of age?' The 'sy' could be omitted to address an intimate, and the 'na hital' is also optional and can be omited.

For any festive occasion, even a recognised holiday, you can always substitute the expression:

¡Zra horo!
True party!

for another greeting. This functions as an interjection and doesn't take a determiner.

To congratulate someone, such as on some success like a promotion or a graduation, use the interjection 'zra xeppe', or literally, 'good success'.

¡Zra xeppe!
Congratulations!

Apologies and Condolence

Apologies are generally managed with the verb 'hyty', to be sad, to sorrow. It is normally an intransitive pali verb. It has its sense of 'to be sorry' when used in its skurun causative form, where an ergative subject is added that is the cause of the sorrow, often a dependent clause introduced with xi. The ergative phrase is the thing you are sorry about. 'Hyty' doesn't necessarily have to be an apology, it can also be used to express condolence. In both cases, you want to use the causative form with 'te', as the regular form with 'se' does not emphasise the sadness as directly caused by something.

The basic expression of being sorry is 'we te hyty', which translates as 'I'm sorry'. This is also the right phrase to say 'excuse me' for something you have already done, perhaps inadvertently.

The basic expression for to apologise is 'hap wero a hyty' - see the dictionary entry for hyty for more details. The word for an apology is 'hytylawt', but that word is not generally used as a verb, as it means something more like 'to craft an apology' than to apologise.

If someone tells you something bad or unfortunate, the right way to express commiseration is to say 'we te hyty', a causative form. The set phrase to express condolence for the death of a loved one, however, is the set phrase 'we se hyty re na exti', approximately 'I am sorry for your loss', although it is expressed as 'the loss' to avoid referring to a person directly. If you were intimate with the person you are consoling you could say 'we se hyty re na exti zun'. The pali base form in used for this case.

To ask to be excused for something potentially offensive you are about to do or in the process of doing, like squeezing by someone, you use the verb 'panhap', to forgive, in the set phrase 'nux panhap' (notice the irrealis mood), or alternatively 'nux panhap ije', 'excuse me'. You can also use the noun form of this with minna to get across the same idea:

Je hap minna a panhap.
I(ERG) give(NP.IM) request the(ABS) forgive

'I ask forgiveness'