Certificate of
Linguistic Death

✠ filed in perpetuity ✠

⸻ Phrase of Record ⸻

“jawn”

Dead nationally, alive in specific places.

REGIONAL

⸻ Status of Decedent ⸻

Regional

⸻ Peak Era ⸻

uncertain

⸻ Cause of Death ⸻

Immortal within city limits; unintelligible beyond.

⸻ Confidence of Autopsy ⸻

85%

⸻ Meaning ⸻

Any person, place, or thing. Philadelphia's universal noun.

⸻ Modern Translation ⸻

“Thing (but Philly).”

✠ cast your mark ✠

Pay your respects, dispute the autopsy, or testify that the deceased is, in fact, alive.

Each session may add one of each mark. The coroner reads all of them.

☈ sightings ☈

A phrase can be dead nationally and alive on one street. Put a pin in the map.

No sightings recorded. Where do you say this?

report a sighting

⚖ right of appeal ⚖

A verdict is a first opinion. If this one is wrong, say so, and say why.

✎ witness statements ✎

Votes count the crowd. This is where one person gets to say what they actually remember.

Nobody has been blamed yet.

one accusation each · no names, only categories

No one has testified yet.

⸻ send a eulogy ⸻

Paste it into the group chat. The recipient can vote, dispute, or revive directly from the link.