The History of "Singlet"!

[lb_lee]

Hi guys! Sneak again, doing pluralwiki work! I always thought that "singlet" (a word to describe non-plurals) was so intuitive and obvious that it cropped up in many places and that finding a source would be impossible, but apparently not so! As I dug through archives of websites and old BBS records that Astraea gave us, I was able to find that actually, "singlet" had one source and it disseminated outward over the course of twenty-five years!

Quick Details

Created By: "B.C." (Astraea's ex-husband)
Time Created: between 1987 (Astraea, 2007 June 26, paragraph 7) and October 5, 1992
Location Used: Everywhere

 

Circumstances of Creation

The first documented instance of the use of "singlet" to describe someone who wasn't multiple was on October 5, 1992 by Iris of Astraea on a plural BBS. It is unknown how long the term had been in existence before that. (citation needed once the data can be figured out in these stupid BBS records).

On February 1994, Iris of Astraea went into more detail on the BBS, stating that "B.C. [their ex-husband] started saying 'singlets' and now we all do. :)" (citation needed; same addendum)

Dissemination

Astraea continued using the term "singlet" on alt.support.dissociation (1999, May 26), and it seems to have disseminated into more common use there as a result. Dark Personalities had the term in their glossary by 2001 (May 19), which inspired the Pavilion Hall's own glossary and definition (2003, July 25), which apparently Astraea then lifted for their own (2003, January 11). From there, the term seems to have spread into general use.

This is super-fascinating to me, because as far as we can tell, this means "singlet" only exists through the efforts of Astraea! I haven't been able to do a thorough trawl yet, but the more common-purpose term I've seen in my glances through a.s.d. and the BBS records was "singleton," which DOES seem at a quick glance to have been the "so obvious it cropped up in multiple places at multiple times." This actually makes way more sense when I think about it, since "singlet" originally meant "man's undershirt," while "singleton" originally meant "something occurring or existing singly and not as one of a pair or of a group."

Citations

Astraea [Astraea Household]. (1999, May 26). And the Oscar Goes To... [newsgroup post] Retrieved from https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.support.dissociation/vOici6jDWmY/apKAuv57fb8J

Astraea. (2003, January 11) Glossary [web page]. http://astraeasweb.net/plural/glossary.html Internet Archive. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20030111103116/http://astraeasweb.net/plural/glossary.html

Astraea. (2007, June 26). A brief history of midcontinuum [web page]. http://karitas.net/pavilion/library/articles/m_midconthistory_temple0902.html Internet Archive. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20070626190919/http://karitas.net/pavilion/library/articles/m_midconthistory_temple0902.html

Dark Personalities. (2001 May 19). Terminology [web page]. http://darkpersonalities.com/terminology.htm Internet Archive. Retrieved 2019/03/15 from https://web.archive.org/web/20010519115202/http://darkpersonalities.com/terminology.htm

Pavilion Hall. (2003, July 25). Terminology [web page]. http://www.tanuki.cx:80/pavilion/policies/glossary.html Internet Archive. Retrieved 2019/03/15 from https://web.archive.org/web/20030725121142/http://www.tanuki.cx:80/pavilion/policies/glossary.html

Comments

[jadislefeu]

That's so interesting! And you're right, on thinking about it 'singleton' is the more intuitive option, and yet it seems somehow wrong to me after all my years using singlet :)

[lb_lee]

I KNOW, RIGHT? o_o I really think we all just FIND "singlet" normal because we've heard/used it for so many years!

--Sneak

[dray]

You're on such a roll! This is fascinating!

[lb_lee]

Sneak is going bananas for this project. I'm so happy for zer since ze tends to just pinch-hit and bounce around the system, and it's been a while since ze's found something this big that's consumed zer attention for such an extended amount of time.

...I mean, also I think it has the potential of becoming a pretty great project, especially if folks as a community get into editing it once ze officially takes it public.

So proud of my giraffe sib.

--Rogan

[dray]

You all kick butt, in my opinion. :B Good support and keep rockin' it!

[lb_lee]

*happydance*

--Sneak

[lithophiles]

I remember we weren't big on "singleton" because it felt sort of patronizing, if that makes any sense. Someone pointed out once that it was too close to "simpleton," and it feels to me like the intuitive counterpart to "multiple" is "single," because people don't say "multipleton." But everybody reflexively rejected the use of that, it seemed, because it's used so frequently to refer to people's relationship status? Eh, not to get all Sapir-Whorf Bullshit Trans Word Police on anyone, or anything.

-Riel

[lb_lee]

I mean, apparently "singleton" might've been used in some old-fashioned contexts to refer to non-married folks? But I'm not sure about that.

"Singleton" is also a playing card reference, so the "simpleton" comparison is completely accidental and unrelated.

--Rogan

[talewisefellowship]

These posts have been rally fascinating and I'm glad Sneak is writing them. I had no idea that singlet came from a specific person, and Astraea's circle at that!

--Hikaru

[lb_lee]

It feels so satisfying, this research! Like putting together the pieces of a big puzzle! I'm glad you're liking them! :D

--Sneak

[we_are_spc]

I remember hearing both growing up (For reference this body was born in 1980). But mostly it was singlet-I've only heard singleton used maybe once or twice.

These are fascinating, Sneak, and put so much into perspective. May be multiple for going on...shit 12 years now, but I still feel like a noob some days. Considering I've only been here for like...five years, I'm not really surprised. o.o

-Fallon~

[mint_phalanx]

We were exposed to "singleton" first and "singlet" second.