Thank you so much for the free link. Wow, I had a completely wrong impression of your article. As did @lollardfish.bsky.social , it seems, so at least I’m in good company.
I have no idea what the answer to the problem is, but I think absolute certainty will result in catastrophe.

Also, my parent taught deaf children and knew sign language. When a former student, now living in Canada, came by, they were almost incomprehensible to one another. Humans are impressive.

Good point. I agree, it makes total sense that different cultures and peoples would have different sign languages. There’s dialects in the US! It’s really awesome to dive into.

“Diese modernen mordenden Zeiten” (not quite right? Quoting from memory) from Die Büste des Kaisers is one of my favorite descriptions of the interwar period.

My grandparents rented out the second floor of their house in a small German village to an older woman. She sewed us clothes, smoked three packs a day, and gave us candy. Of course we called her aunt.

Fries rot weiß! Ketchup and mayo, or stay out of my way.

They work for me.