In accordance with Communicative Efficiency Directive 12-Q, the Council approved the Language Optimization Program (LOP), intended to streamline interpersonal clarity and reduce interpretive waste. Phase I began with a reduction of officially sanctioned vocabulary to 5,000 commonly used words, based on data extracted from surveillance transcripts. Phase II reduced this list to 1,200 terms. By Phase IV, only 83 core words remained.

  Synonyms were deprecated. Metaphors were discouraged, then removed. Irony was flagged as systemically hazardous. Public signage was updated to reflect new standards. Emotional valence was reclassified as “lexical distortion.” Libraries were repurposed as Data Uniformity Centers. Books were converted to silent videos featuring blank pages slowly flipping.

  Communication across all domains—education, medicine, law—was restructured to rely solely on Tier 1 Core Vocabulary. Tier 2 terms required official certification and biometric registration. The term “I” was replaced with the designation “this unit.”

  Poetry was declared incompatible with linguistic clarity and quietly outlawed. Reports of unapproved verse discovered in public restrooms were documented and subsequently scrubbed. A brief resurgence of rhymed graffiti was dismissed as semantic malfunction.

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  Phase V introduced Comprehension Units into all learning cohorts. These individuals, trained exclusively in the 83 words, acted as both models and enforcers. One Unit, asked for an opinion, responded with “affirm” and was awarded linguistic compliance honors.

  Reform success was measured by reduction in misinterpretation reports, which dropped to zero after citizens stopped reporting. Happiness indices plateaued, then fell, though the word “unhappy” was no longer in circulation and could not be formally acknowledged.

  All phrases expressing uncertainty (e.g., “perhaps,” “maybe,” “I don’t know”) were replaced with the standardized term “variable.” All contradictions were reclassified as “pending,” and all pending items were archived without evaluation.

  Final vocabulary list approved and sealed.

  Citizens may express: yes, no, comply, concern, repeat, efficient, sorry, good, request, unit, need, variable, and stop.

  All other utterances are interpretive noise.

  Status: Clarified

  Poetry: Archived

  Dissent: Variable