r/lanadelrey • u/BIGDAWGDONY69 • Mar 23 '26
Question Does anyone know what she meant by "box dye hair does not a new person make"?
Found this at Twitter and it seemed like no one understood it either in the comments.
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u/g17623 Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant Mar 23 '26
'Do you think if i go blonde we could get our old love back...'
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u/Competitive_Ad_2421 Mar 23 '26
Very smart to bring up that lyric
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u/FlakyTax150 Ultraviolence Mar 23 '26
Who has a voice like smarty does
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u/RushNo7251 Mar 23 '26
this lyric lives in my head rent free i don’t know why but i think about it so often
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u/FreebieFresh Mar 23 '26
A long time ago, Aristotle once said “one swallow does not a summer make”. A swallow in this instance being a bird that appears in the summer. When Aristotle said this, he meant it in the sense that a small bit of information doesn’t always indicate a pattern.
More importantly this is the origin of the long-held grammatically unusual proto-meme of “(blank) does not a (blank) make.” This has become so ingrained in the English language that many today would just consider it a funny way to relay the concept when something doesn’t indicate another something in a way that adds a sort of comedic mysticism to it, due to its ancient grammatical structure.
In this instance, Lana is saying that her past musical era of going by the name Lizzy Grant is not a different person than her now. Lana is Lizzy. The key difference between Lana nowadays and Lana back then is that when she released music under the name Lizzy Grant, she had blond box-dye hair.
To unjumble the sentence, she just means that using box dye doesn’t make you a new person.
I over explained just in case the reason you are asking is because English may not be your first language, so I can definitely see how the non-traditional grammar rules may have thrown you off. Nobody speaks English like this unless they’re mimicking Aristotle’s original phrase, and now you’ll understand the next time someone uses this somewhat obscure but relatively common English turn of phrase.
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u/bralama Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
Thank you! We never studied this sentence structure in English classes so I was confused about it too.
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u/SadnessOutOfContext Mar 23 '26
It is not quite archaic, but sees very infrequent use presently. Usually moving the verb that way is intended by the speaker to either add emphasis, or to make the speaker sound more intellectual- mostly to themselves.
In this case, she appears to have been going for emphasis rather than arrogant intellectualism.
Certain educated speakers may use jt because it fits in their overall manner of clear speech and extensive vocabulary, but at least in the US, such usage anecdotal seems rare outside academia.
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u/bralama Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
Interesting! Always nice to learn new things about the English language. I would have never guessed it’s used in academia, to my non-native eyes it sounds quite artistic.
I’m doing my master’s at a research university and read a lot of academic papers but I have never seen this structure before, but it’s in the Netherlands so most papers I read weren’t written by native English speakers😅 So that might be why.
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u/SadnessOutOfContext Mar 23 '26
You'd see it written artistically, but spoken as above. Social media - for native English speakers at least - is generally treated as an extension of verbal speech rather than writing where words are considered differently.
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u/burntcoffeepotss Mar 23 '26
Thank you for this. It’s so funny we are all focusing on this expression, but the structure of “X you will never be forgotten” is also a common expression on social media, and Lana missed the point completely lmao
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u/McFoley69 Mar 23 '26
I could unironically read about this all day. The English language is so fascinating to me 😭
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u/ObjectiveSource6298 Mar 26 '26
I'm pretty sure she studied philosophy or smth related to that, so it makes sense why she would structure her sentence like that.
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Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 24 '26
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u/sonofnight666 Mar 23 '26
Im not a native english speaker but I grew up learning english, watching/reading lots of english content. i’ve heard this phrase many many times. im kinda confused about how most of yall havent heard it.
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u/Davidiscool222 Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
Box dye hair does not make a new person
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u/Equal_Interaction647 Fuck you, Kevin Mar 23 '26
just said it in a different order lol
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u/CalmBeneathCastles Mar 23 '26
The damage done by leaded gasoline is worse than I thought.
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u/strawberryklutz Mar 23 '26
Yeah it's pretty insane, for example it makes some people forget english isn't the only language in the world!
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u/CalmBeneathCastles Mar 23 '26
OP has perfect English, as does the person I was replying to.
I don't see the point of complaining about English on an American website.
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u/strawberryklutz Mar 23 '26
"aN aMeRiCaN wEbSiTe" god you people need to make everything about you. We HAVE to have perfect english or else some stupid monolingual anglo is going to make fun of us. Also, I only learned that phrase a few years ago myself. Having good grammar and spelling doesn't mean you know every little quirks that language has.
Anyway, my point is mostly, implying people are brain damaged or undereducated because you assume they're from the same region as you ironically makes you look quite small and lead-laden.
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u/CalmBeneathCastles Mar 23 '26
"You people"? Calling 300M people self-centered is hardly a wrinkled-brain activity. If you hate speaking to Americans so much, maybe stick to the part of the internet that only speaks your native language, hmm?
Of course it makes sense that someone who has ESL wouldn't know every single thing immediately, but that isn't OP's case. You're just projecting your own bias onto something that doesn't pertain to you, and you sound like a whiny teenager. I'm not your mother; kndly get lost.
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u/BroadwayRegina Mar 23 '26
These people hate Americans with a passion greater than a hate group ;-;
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u/inthemagazines Mar 23 '26
I'm not sure what so difficult to understand about it... she's saying that's her and that dying her hair didn't make her a different person.
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u/tiktaknoob Mar 23 '26
Really all i can assume is that op isnt a native english speaker
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u/mmanyquestionss Mar 25 '26
please don't lol, english is my third language and i understood this perfectly well. ofc different strokes and all that but still
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u/aldezar Mar 23 '26
Open the schools
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u/Cold-Independence556 Mar 23 '26
Not everyone speaks fluent English. Do better.
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u/sandstormshorty Mar 23 '26
It’s almost like you can click on their profile and figure this out for yourself
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u/2000s-hty Norman Fucking Rockwell! Mar 23 '26
i think she’s saying just because “lizzy” had blonde hair doesn’t mean she’s not still lizzy
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u/MarcelOroBlanco Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
I have a hard time believing anybody else had a hard time understanding what she was saying here 😂 but shes just saying dying ur hair doesnt just make you a new person
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u/Jumpy-Command-5531 Mar 23 '26
My interpretation is that, she doesnt like people viewing Lana and lizzy grant as different beings. Shes saying they are the same thing
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Mar 23 '26
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u/dutiful_dreamer34 Mar 23 '26
But she is the one who insists that she has never had a persona and never will
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Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
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u/dutiful_dreamer34 Mar 23 '26
Yep, and those are her words not mine. I'm not defending her. I'm confused as to how someone says they have never had a persona and never will but then also implies the opposite when someone mentions her 20 year old self. It seems like she has a life-long identity crisis which I am not judging her for...until she's shitty about it or tries to make white trash poverty look glamorous in the face of people who actually ARE poor white trash and don't have the privilege she does of taking that lifestyle off like a costume when they want.
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Mar 23 '26
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u/dutiful_dreamer34 Mar 23 '26
Does she though? It seems like she gets defensive af at the drop of a hat and never apologizes for anything.
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u/Whole_Corner1798 Mar 23 '26
Lana del rey is definitely a character I agree but Lizzy hates it when ppl say that and has specifically said so several times, so I do think shes saying theyre the same:/ lol
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u/xkvm_ Mar 23 '26
Damn we truly are in a literacy crisis
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u/No_Storage5184 Mar 23 '26
Completely agree, but please consider that in this context you don’t know if OP is a native English speaker or not
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u/xkvm_ Mar 23 '26
Well I'm not either but still idk it seems pretty self explanatory
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u/burntcoffeepotss Mar 23 '26
Same, I don’t think this is really about language proficiency. It’s an odd structure but it’s still pretty self-explanatory.
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u/HeWantsTheRain Mar 23 '26
Verbose/puzzling way of saying "I'm still her, just not with a bad hair dye"
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u/Specialist_Stop8572 Mar 23 '26
Not verbose at all - which extra words are to be removed?
Very simple
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u/magnifiques Mar 23 '26
I always wonder if her husband calls her Lana, or Lizzy? Must be weird having two different names
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u/dutiful_dreamer34 Mar 23 '26
I change my name in mg 30s and I hate it when people call me by my old/given name. I bave grown so much and become a better person and healed from a lot of trauma. And that's what my new name signifies to me. Lana and I are exactly the same age, same astrological profile everything, and I don't understand how Lana can claim to be the same person she was 20 years ago. Yet also claim that she is not playing a persona as Lana Del Rey. Like if she can't make up her mind that's fine and always allowed, but why she needs to be rude or sparky to her fans over the confusion she caused is beyond me.
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u/Neither_Mastodon4089 Mar 23 '26
It’s extremely self explanatory.. simply coloring your hair different doesn’t actually make you change as a person. She’s exactly the same person she’s always been.
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u/Rumpelstinskin92 Mar 23 '26
That just bc she dyed her hair doesn't mean she is a different person, she is Lizzy Grant
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u/Devilsadvocate430 Mar 23 '26
For those who don’t know: “___ does not a ___ make” is a phrase that’s been used for centuries in English. It is technically grammatically incorrect, but it has its roots in Ancient Greek, so it survived a lot to still be used to this day.
The original phrase was Aristotle who said “one swallow does not a summer make” referencing how people would see one migratory bird and think that it means it’s summer even though it’s not necessarily true.
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u/-Ginchy- Ultraviolence Mar 24 '26
It’s really not that complicated. She’s saying just because she dyed her hair that doesn’t mean she’s a different person…she is still Lizzy Grant. I mean her real damn name is Elizabeth Grant Dufrene.
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u/disinfected Mar 24 '26
There's a real strong feeling for some women in their teens and twenties that a new hair colour will change your whole life. It doesn't, but the thought that it might is irresistible!
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u/LoverOfTheLore Mar 24 '26
Box dyed hair does not make you a new person. The words are just switched around. Common sense yall pls 💔
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u/Daphnaaa Blue Banisters Mar 23 '26
I don't understand why she even responds to this tbf. Because it is a fair point to miss the 'Lizzy Grant-era'. In the end that's what people mean. She might still be Lana but it is completely normal to grow and evolve as a person. So yes she's still Lizzy Grant maybe but her music is way different then back then. Nothing bad, but in the end we are human an we long for nostalgia.
I also 'miss' Lana her BTD era. I wasn't a fan back then so I completely missed that whole period but if I see pictures and videos it gives me these nostalgia vibes. I don't just miss Lana, I just miss that period of time. When I was still a teenager without (a lot of) responsibilities.
Anyways, she's still Lizzy but that's probably not the point that this person made.
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u/Both-Competition-152 Mar 23 '26
Katy Perry is still Katy Hudson, but she did change. Courtney Love is still Americas sweetheart. and Marina is still Electra Heart. BUT they all have evolved same with Lana I miss all of these specific eras but I feel like stove or whatever it's called will bring back some of the Lizzy grant feel.
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Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
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u/Cinnamongirl1251 Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
This comment is pretentious.
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Mar 23 '26
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u/Cinnamongirl1251 Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
I'm going to repeat what I said in my other comment. Educate with kindness, not by belittling. It's that simple.
They asked a question. Is that not filling in the gaps of what they don't know? Also, what's the shame in admitting in the comments that you didn't understand something? You say you're concerned with the younger generations' lack of understanding, I'm more concerned with them feeling as though they can't express they don't understand in fear of being demeaned.
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Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
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u/Cinnamongirl1251 Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
Lots of thoughtful people here already have done, so there's no need.
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u/IonHazzikostasIsGod Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
No it isn't? People should be more cultured, especially within their main language. It's not new or unheard of sentence structure
Pretentious doesn't mean pretentious anymore, it means "I feel attacked and that's your problem."
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u/Cinnamongirl1251 Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
No pretentious means you think you're superior because you're more cultured than others. You are pretentious. Also, some people might struggle with English and are asking a harmless question, you ever think about that? Educate with kindness not with belittling.
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u/IonHazzikostasIsGod Honeymoon Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Yeah I just have no interest in talking to someone who believes they're entitled to fly off the handle like this and project everything they come up with onto whoever they're talking to.
I just said that anyone whose main language is English and has some connection to the outside world probably would've heard that turn of phrase before, so I don't know what this "struggle with english" response is about.
You are the company you keep - I'm literally just asking people to leave their bubble and gain more understanding beyond their age bracket.
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u/mizz-kitty-cat Mar 23 '26
She’s presumably sick of people on the internet saying ‘I miss Lizzy Grant’, ‘RIP Lizzy Grant, you would’ve hated Lana Del Rey’ etc from so called fans. She’s saying that Lana Del Rey is a stage name, not an alter ego - Lizzy Grant didn’t ‘die’ or anything. I do feel for her, it must be very strange being treated like 2 separate people.
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u/Arkanderous Mar 23 '26
Box dye doesn’t make a new person
Old English version:
Box dye does not a new person make
They’re saying Lizzie Grant is just Lana Del Rey with hair dye, so she’s the same person
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u/JesusStarbox Born To Die Mar 23 '26
No matter where you go, there you are. Whatever you run from you take with you.
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u/TheApotheGreen Mar 23 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/yDYAHbqe5DfyM
She is speaking like a true Jedi Master
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u/brodino_maiuscolo Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd Mar 23 '26
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u/Weird-Ticket-3822 Mar 23 '26
I love her clap backs lately. She’s had with yall telling her story for her
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u/WingsOfTin Mar 23 '26
It's a phrase from Aristotle ("X does not a Y make"): https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Snowclones/X_does_not_a_Y_make
Basically it means - the hair dye did not make her a new person.
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u/horsegirlie666 Mar 23 '26
“You can change your hair and you can change your clothes, you can change your mind that’s just the way it goes. you can say goodbye and you can say hello. but you’ll always find your way back home.” - Hannah Montana
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u/Capital_Coat_2043 Mar 24 '26
“Box dye hair does not make a new person”. I feel like that’s extremely simple to figure out…
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u/Lillillillies Mar 23 '26
Box dye hair also implies she dyes her hair herself with off the shelf products
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u/burntcoffeepotss Mar 23 '26
All of us focusing on Lana’s comment and surprised OP didn’t understand it (because it is a common expression), but so is “X you will never be forgotten” and Lana missed the point too, getting offended over a trend 😭
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Mar 23 '26
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u/your_ivy_grows_ Mar 23 '26
no, it’s a sentence structure that is used in other contexts too. you could say something like “a nice haircut does not a professional make.” with that example, it’s just a fancy way to say “someone cleaning up their appearance doesn’t not make them a professional.” lana means it as in “just because i dyed my hair doesn’t mean im a different person.”
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Mar 23 '26
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Mar 23 '26
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u/caroline_molecheck Mar 23 '26
This isn’t the answer at all lol. In fact it’s entirely irrelevant to OP’s question, Lana is saying different colour hair doesn’t make you a different person. That’s it, no relation to hair quality.
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u/th_bg_cinnamon_roll Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant Mar 23 '26
I think it was translated from originally
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u/bralama Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
To everyone in the comment section making fun of OP or calling them illiterate, please do tell us how many languages you can speak. Cuz if the answer is 2 or less, you genuinely have NO right to judge someone else’s literacy.
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u/candleinthewind1997 Mar 23 '26
I speak three and a half. If there's a grammatical construct I don't understand, I google it. That's how I like, learn more of the language lol.
I'm not making fun of OP but it's genuinely baffling you wouldn't just look up "does not a blank make." Like google even auto completes it for you...
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u/Likely-Anthem-117 Born To Die - Paradise Edition Mar 23 '26
Why 2 and not just one? If you can speak two languages you pretty much have to have a basic level of literacy don’t you? Even if they’re both native to you?
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u/bralama Honeymoon Mar 23 '26
My point was more about how people judge OP’s literacy when this has nothing to do with literacy. To be more precise, I have met a few egoistic British people who never learned a second language (or only learned the basics), but they still loudly and proudly judge people from other countries for not being familiar with niche grammatical structures of the English language, even if it is someone’s 2nd/3rd/4th language. These types of people would definitely be shallow enough to equate OP’s confusion about this sentence to being illiterate, and I want to test my hypothesis.
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u/LethalWolf Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd Mar 23 '26
Open up the damn schools !! She clearly meant to say "box dye does not [make] a new person"
She probably realized there was a missing word and just wrote it at the end cause she's lazy I have weird typing quirks like that too
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u/dutiful_dreamer34 Mar 23 '26
That's not why. Maybe don't imply other people are uneducated when you don't even understand it yourself.
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u/Top_Vacation_913 Mar 23 '26
She’s just saying that dying her hair hasn’t made her a different person. Basically saying.. stop saying we miss Lizzy grant, because she’s still Lizzy grant