[ExI] need a new word/suffix

[Anders Sandberg]

On 2016-01-12 11:01, Brian Manning Delaney wrote:
> In the case of Sweden, we have a small enough country (with a 
> sheep-like enough population -- compared, at least, to the US), that 
> "hen" could be normalized via a state- or institution-mediated 
> intervention, like the elimination of the formal "Ni" (or the switch 
> to right-side driving). 

Actually, the transition from Ni to du is an interesting case of a 
bottom-up transition. Slate has a nice outside overview:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2016/01/04/why_swedes_didn_t_address_each_other_by_you_before_the_du_reform_of_1967.html
The thing is, it occured because a rising egalitarian attitude made it 
feasible, and eventually a few high-profile persons triggered it by 
their own independent actions. If not for Bror Rexhed it would have been 
somebody else. There was never any deliberate top-down plan.

Meanwhile switching from left to right-side driving was definitey a 
top-down plan needing much coordination.

Most top-down attempts at modifying language have been problematic.

-- 
Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University