Fluccish

Fluccish is the everyday vernacular used outside the walls of the maths. It is contrasted with Orth, the language maintained within the mathic world. Avout may switch to Fluccish when addressing visitors from beyond the walls so they are better understood.

First noted usage

Fluccish is highlighted during an interview in the New Library, when Fraa Erasmas chooses to speak it out of consideration for an artisan from outside the walls, and Fraa Orolo likewise switches to Fluccish while questioning the visitor. The contrast with Orth is made explicit in their conversation.

Relationship to Orth and the mathic world

Within the maths, Orth (with its historical forms) is the customary language for scholarship and internal discourse. Fluccish serves as the bridge to the extramural world—used for practical dealings with artisans and other visitors. The exchange between avout and visitors shows how Orth terms can sound quaint in Fluccish conversation and vice versa.

Related context: math.

Vocabulary and usage characteristics

Fluccish carries current colloquialisms for technologies common outside the walls. Examples raised in conversation include: - "speel in" for viewing moving pictures on a device (speel in) - "speely" and "speelycaptor" for moving‑picture media and the handheld recorder used to capture it (speely; speelycaptor) - legacy or alternate terms remembered by those who entered the maths earlier (e.g., "cruise the speely"), illustrating how extramural vocabulary shifts over time

Semantic note: Some words inherited from older forms of Orth retain their shape while shifting in connotation. For example, "enthusiast" is described as having a neutral sense in Fluccish ("one who likes something"), while its Proto-Orth sense carries a less complimentary tone when applied to an avout, especially a theorician.

Status

Fluccish is in active use outside the maths and is commonly employed within math walls only when communicating with non‑avout visitors.