Possessives

               possessive pronoun noun a word used as subject, object, or complement (as English mine, yours, theirs).

When we ask about one another’s phone numbers — “Wie ist ihre Handynummer” or “Wie ist deine Handynummer” — I learn the possessive for “your” in German changes depending on formality and who ‘you’ (singular, plural) are. A 20-year-old conversational partner answers my informal question with: “funf-funf-funf”, but I give my real number. I give what’s mine.  Because of my “handy,” I don't memorize numbers anymore, but I'll never forget my dead grandmother’s. I possessed hers (ihre) and our own (unser) childhood numbers, and (useless) I still do.

               possess verb (transitive). To have (wealth or material objects) as one's own; to hold as property.

After the November election, I received an informational brochure entitled “cinco pasos,” five steps all undocumented families need, urgently, to know. Immigrants and their advocates fear the first 100 days of swift action to dispossess and deport. The first step? Memorize phone numbers.

               possess verb (transitive, law). To hold or occupy as a tenant, to lease.

What does one need to know when your possessions — your (deine) life, the life you and your (eure) kids know — is forcibly taken?  My teacher required us to memorize poems. “So you have a library of the mind,” she said, “should you become a political prisoner.” More than poems or bilingual vocabulary, one needs numbers.  I’ve only those of a few dead relatives and that of my living husband. If I were in trouble and he didn’t answer (as is so often the case), who would I call?

               possess verb (transitive). To affect or influence strongly and persistently; to actuate, dominate, control.

Suddenly, I recall “Jenny’s” number from the 1981 Tommy Tutone refrain (867-5309) and a Chicago carpet company jingle (588-3200, “Empire!”). I called. They're still in business. God forbid, should I need to, I can reach an operator for Empire.

Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Meigs Professor at the University of Georgia, author of 6 books including The Creative Ethnographer's Notebook (2024). Recipient of a Fulbright, NEA Distinguished Fellowship, Big Read grants, Hambidge residency, Yetzirah, and the Beckman Award for Professors Who Inspire.