#Ore

[fallimentiquotidiani]

[deus-e-o-meu-tudo]

[lamiaprigione]

Dramma della gelosia (tutti i particolari in cronaca)

[whats-in-a-sentence]

As shown in figure 13.58, this is an enormous chemical reactor in which heating, reduction and purification occur together.

"Chemistry" 2e - Blackman, A., Bottle, S., Schmid, S., Mocerino, M., Wille, U.

[plague-of-insomnia]

Kuro First-Person Pronouns: Layla & Al

Unlike English, Japanese has many first-person pronouns ( “I”). These often will give you information about the type of person the character is. Are they very feminine or masculine? Polite or brusque? Young or old? Are they higher or lower in the social hierarchy? How close, psychologically, are they to the listener?

It’s not uncommon for one person to use different pronouns in different situations, and that is sometimes the case in the manga, depending on the character.

These ofc get lost in translation and are something I find very interesting. So this series will go through some of the Black Butler characters and show you which pronoun(s) they tend to use in Japanese and what that says about them as a character.

[More about Japanese pronouns]

•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•

Layla | Al : “レイラ” | オレ*

Used By: Young Girls/Children/Adults wanting to sound cute | Casual or Polite: Casual

Used by: Men | Casual or Polite: Casual

[*Also used by Bard and Doll]

I wasn’t going to do a post on Layla originally, since I can barely even use her real name and not call her merely Lolib*tch for attempting to kill my man, but someone mentioned her and “Al,” the other personality inside her, wondering about their pronouns. I got curious, since I couldn’t remember paying much attention to this ~2 years ago when Bard’s arc started.

Lolib*tch has two personalities inside her: Layla and Al.

Layla seems to be the dominant personality, and it’s possible the body is hers (his?). She’s unique as far as the characters I’ve reviewed for this series so far in that she does not use a personal pronoun at all, but instead consistently uses her own name (レイラ ) when she needs to refer to herself.

In other words, instead of saying, “I killed him,” she’d say, “Layla killed him.” In English, this comes off as annoying and arrogant, which is probably partly why the official translation just used “I,” for her, but it has a very different association in Japanese.

In Japanese, it’s common for very young children who haven’t learned to use personal pronouns to use their name instead. So a young kid might say, “Jake wants drink” in Japanese the same way in English a younger kid might say “Me want drink” or “Want drink” bc they’re still learning how to properly use personal pronouns, too.

Because of this association, though, some girls (especially) will copy this because they feel it makes them sound young and cute, like a little kid. It’s possible Yana wanted to tie into this idea with Layla, while also cleverly disguising that she’s actually only one of the personalities in that body. Because Layla as a loli in a manga wouldn’t come off as odd using such language.

However, once Al is introduced, not only does he get a different font, but his manner of speech is very different, including his pronoun. Like Bard (and Doll), Al consistently uses オレ (ore), a hypermasculine pronoun, and his speech aligns with this.

Al seems like a stark opposite to Layla; she’s small and cutesy, he’s much more brusque and masculine. It isn’t clear whose body it is, and whether or not it’s a male body or not. The collie class appear to be all male, so it’s possible Al is actually the body’s owner and Layla is the transplant; we have no way of knowing now.

Perhaps we will see what happens to them when they’re brought back to the reaper HQ.

•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•

This is part of a series. More to come!

Sebastian | Our Ciel | Bard | Mey Rin | Finny | Lau | Grelle | Undertaker | Real Ciel | Blavat | Doll | Agni | Soma | Snake | Layla & Al

•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•

[ X ]

[ninebaalart]

Diamond Nacli

salt shroom hardened into rock and diamonds

[mineralsandsomerocks]

Native Iron in Basalt in epoxy mount

Locality: Bühl, Weimar, Ahnatal, Kassel Region, Hesse, Germany

[starscreams-crown]

Drift: "This is a dark and troubling omen. Sparkeaters are drawn to pain and emotional trauma. I don't know what the neutrals were up to, but horrific things must have happened on this ship. We're being punished."

Ratchet: "With all due respect, I don't think I've ever heard such a load of--"

Rewind: "Shock! I said Ore. I meant Shock. His name's Shock. Sorry everyone."

[espeon-krossing]

Amethyst Mine 🔮⛏️💎

[antimony-ore]

[thesilicontribesman]

Millom Rock Park, Millom, South West Lakes

[supplyside]

slag dump

[jokingluna]

[pwlanier]

An impressive Magnesium ore specimen.

Sotheby’s

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Figure 13.54 shows in schematic fashion some of the alternative paths leading from ores to pure metals, all of which involve reduction as the essential chemical process.

"Chemistry" 2e - Blackman, A., Bottle, S., Schmid, S., Mocerino, M., Wille, U.

[plague-of-insomnia]

Kuro First-Person Pronouns: Doll

Unlike English, Japanese has many first-person pronouns ( “I”). These often will give you information about the type of person the character is. Are they very feminine or masculine? Polite or brusque? Young or old? Are they higher or lower in the social hierarchy? How close, psychologically, are they to the listener?

It’s not uncommon for one person to use different pronouns in different situations, and that is sometimes the case in the manga, depending on the character.

These ofc get lost in translation and are something I find very interesting. So this series will go through some of the Black Butler characters and show you which pronoun(s) they tend to use in Japanese and what that says about them as a character.

[More about Japanese pronouns]

•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•

Doll - オレ

Used By: Men | Casual or Polite: Casual

[Also used by Bard]

Doll consistently uses オレ.

Doll’s gender is a bit confusing , especially once you move from the Japanese into a language like English that demands pronouns for a sentence to make sense.

Although Doll is afab (as admitted to Ciel in the Circus Arc), Doll uses the first-person pronoun オレ (aka 俺), ore, which is the same one Bard does.

Here, Doll admits to Ciel that they’re a 「乙女」, or young girl (translated as “maid” in the official English), but even after continues using the same “masculine” pronoun (see below for example).

Doll also uses オレ in the present, and the official English used “he” as a pronoun for Doll. (The Japanese doesn’t need a third-person pronoun, so aside from オレ, there’s no official gender marker for Doll.)

Now, as I discussed in Bard’s post, some women do use this pronoun, but it not clear why Doll does. Is it because Doll grew up surrounded by men and boys? Is it because Doll has “taken on” a male persona to fit in? Or does Doll identify as masculine?

I can’t answer those questions based solely on the source text. All I can say is that Doll tells Ciel that they’re a “maiden” and consistently uses オレ.

So is Doll an 「オレつ娘」, orekko, a woman who uses the ore pronoun? Unless Yana gives us more info about Doll, it’s impossible for me to say.

However, some more history about this pronoun. It originated from a second-person pronoun (“you”), おのれ (oh no re) before the Kamakura period (~1185-1332), and in the Edo period (~1600-1867) eventually became a first-person pronoun that was used by both men and women of various stations.

During the Meiji period (~1868-1912), woman stopped using it in standard dialect, but it retained a strong presence in regional rural dialects. It could be that Yana has Doll use オレ as a way to distinguish them as having a coarser, more “country” way of speaking, rather than directly indicating anything about Doll’s gender.

オレ is also associated with tough and aggressive women, especially in fiction, which could be another reason Yana elected to have Doll use it. In fact, girls who use this pronoun have an association in manga/anime of being tomboys, often can beat boys in a fight, and may dress in masculine clothing. That definitely seems to fit Doll while not in their circus getup.

Once again, it’s likely Yana took all these things into account while deciding which pronoun to use for Doll.

•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•

This is part of a series. More to come!

Sebastian | Our Ciel | Bard | Mey Rin | Finny | Lau | Grelle | Undertaker | Real Ciel | Blavat | Doll | Agni | Soma | Snake | Layla & Al

•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•私•僕•俺•儂•自分•我•

[X • X • X]