The Book of Mormon · AMES

← The Book of Mormon, in modern American English

Preserved phrases

The Protected Phrase Registry

Modernizing the Book of Mormon means deciding, thousands of times, which words may change. This is the list of the ones that may not. Every phrase here is kept verbatim in its canonical shape wherever it appears — no matter how many times the edition is regenerated.

A phrase earns a place on the list for one of three reasons: it is a doctrinal term of art, where a plainer synonym would change the teaching; it is widely memorized and beloved, and the cadence is the point; or it is load-bearing for cross-reference, because readers need to find it in the traditional text and in other scripture.

Entries are added, amended, or removed only on Dan's ruling. No model votes on this list, and nothing lands on it by accident — which is exactly why it matters: the registry is the human fingerprint on the edition. It currently holds 176 entries as of v1.7.

How a phrase gets protected

  1. Dan marks up a chapter. Reading the drafted text against the original, he flags lines where the modern wording has cost something — a term of art blurred, a familiar cadence lost.
  2. The phrasing is ruled on. Sometimes the ruling is a general rule for the style guide. Sometimes the line itself is the rule, and it becomes a registry entry in a fixed canonical shape.
  3. The entry is versioned. Each entry records its scope — every occurrence, or a named verse — and the reasoning behind it, so a later reader can see why a phrase was kept.
  4. The QA linter enforces it. On every regeneration the linter exempts registry strings from the modernization checks and flags any drift away from the ratified shape.
  5. The edition's minor version bumps. A registry change is a rule change, so it moves the version number and the text is regenerated under the new ruleset.

Start here

Browse the complete registryall 176 entries →

The rules that govern everything not on this list are written up on the style guide page.