#akudrive

you might be wondering why i wrote Polizist*innen with an emphasize on innen instead of translating it normally, like i did when brawler said Polizisten. before i do that, i need to explain how the german language works:

unlike languages like english or japanese, german is one of many languages that uses grammatical gender. that means, instead of referring to everything with a single, definite article (e.g. ‘the‘) or none at all, german has a whole 3 of them (there is actually more but for the sake of keeping this short, i‘ll keep them to the 3 basic ones)! der, die and das. i‘ll only introduce you to der and die, as they are the most relevant right now.

der is the masculine version, used for words like der Hund (the dog), der Baum (the tree) and der Polizist (the police officer). as you can see, police officer is a masculine word, because it‘s a profession. professions usually use der, unless they‘re feminized and switch to die. every profession has a female equivalent (e.g der Arzt and die Ärztin, der Verkäufer and die Verkäuferin, der Feuerwehrmann and die Feuerwehrfrau).

die is the feminine version, used for words like die Katze (the cat), die Blume (the flower) and die Polizistin (the police officer). nothing about police officer changed in english, it still has the same meaning, but in german we‘re speaking about a female police officer. here is something important to note about die though: it‘s also always used for plurals. die Hunde (the dogs), die Bäume (the trees), die Polizisten (the police officers).

now since that is out of the way, you‘re probably still confused. why did hoodlum correct brawler? what the hell does *innen mean and what does that have to do with a political debate in germany?

what hoodlum did is called ‘gendern‘ in german, i think you know where the word comes from. it‘s a way to be inclusive in speech and writing by trying to refer to every gender instead of using the standard masculine words. for example, one common variation i see is Schüler*innen (students). i‘ll try to break it into parts and explain it

Schüler: der Schüler, the standard singular word and what is basically described.

*: a star to divide the noun and ending. when you vocally gender, this is a pause.

innen: die Schülerinnen, the plural and female word for Schüler. the ending is used to make it inclusive to female students.

btw i mentioned that gendern caused a political debate in germany… i think it‘s far bigger. while gendern has been a thing for years now (it just wasn’t called gendern back then) through other ways (e.g saying „Schülerinnen und Schüler“), it has caused recent controversy when *innen became popular. news broadcasts, some schools, etc. have started to use it and a lot of people began criticizing it:

“people who have been criticizing gender-inclusive language think: texts become longer and more complicated. There would also be no need for a gender-inclusive language. when someone is referred to as „Schülern“, it grammatically means everyone — boys and girls.“ text from https://www.zdf.de/kinder/logo/gendern-gendergerechte-sprache-geschlechter-100.html translated by me

controversy has been going so far that certain political parties even began to ban it from unis and other places.

Eventually, he'd arrived home. Despite it being late, you were still awake, telling from the interior lights being on.

Courier waited a bit to go inside. As he parked his bike, he took out his pack of cigarettes and placed one stick between his teeth. Lighting it and taking a puff, he sat there for a few minutes to finish up. He knew you hated the smell of cigarette smoke, so his routine involved having a smoke outside before he went in and greeted you.

Once the cigarette had dissipated into a mere nub, he hopped off his bike and snuffed it out.

You were in the kitchen when you heard the front door open and close. Glad to see he made it home safe, you went over to welcome your boyfriend back home.

"Welcome home!" you beamed at him, and damn, even though it was the middle of the night, your smile made it seem like the sun was directly in your spot instead. He remained silent as he removed his boots and jacket.

When you received no reply, you tilted your head as you studied Courier. If he wasn't so tired, he'd be pinching your cheeks right about now.

The bags under his eyes were evident and you knew he wanted to rest. "How about you go get ready for bed? I'll make you some tea, or maybe you'd prefer-" before you could finished, you were entrapped between Courier's arms.

You were stunned, as he isn't normally one to initiate physical contact. Just goes to show how drained he is.

As he kept his arms around you, he mumbled into the crook of your neck, "'M fine. This is all I need."

Though you couldn't see for yourself, you felt him smile against you. You hummed as you began rocking the both of you, swaying to an imaginary melody. "Alright, but I've got one more job for you, okay?"

Courier mumbled out a quiet "yeah?" as your meager swaying evolved into a silent waltz, prompting you to continue.

You gently spun the both of you. "I need you to deliver yourself right to bed."

Your soundless dance came to an end as you two stood in place. All was quiet for a bit as Courier simply kept you in his embrace, relishing in your presence. The only move he made was to plant a gentle kiss on your lips.