#and i also need the context to online classics conversations

[transbutchblues]

i have not listened to anything in my roman history class this semester because my disabilities were having fun being disabling, so i’m extremely ignorant on roman/latin stuff. but classicists on tumblr make me want to study it intensely… it suddenly sounds much more interesting than in our lectures about provinces and economy and battles with too many dates and too many names. maybe this (the urge to understand online memes) will give me enough motivation to not fail my end of term exam in this class

[bekolxeram]

I'm late to the party I know, but I need to learn how to make gifs first. I actually find the Bucktommy dinner scene a bit awkward, but not because they "lack chemistry" or the "flirting is problematic". It's not supposed to be just a cute bonus scene, it's engineered to stuff as much information as possible into mere 55 seconds. Here is my read on it:

The good old always at the hospital joke, probably just Tommy trying to lighten the mood after such a hectic day for the 118, but mainly a set up for the next part.

Buck does not see the humor in it, he seems upset.

Tommy has apparently gotten to know Buck enough at the stage to immediately clock it, and under all the dark humor and sarcasm, he does actually care about Buck's feelings.

The scene of Buck and Eddie in the hospital room with Bobby ends up on the cutting room floor, we've only got that one shot of teary eyed Buck when he breaks the news to Eddie at his house, so this is the first time in the episode Buck gets to express his fear of losing Bobby, his father figure.

And here we are, controversial moment number 1. There isn't much context attached to this line, so viewers interpret it differently. I'm in the minority camp that thinks Tommy is being serious here, Lou's delivery makes it seem like Tommy says this out of concern. I believe it's a call back to this line from the medal ceremony:

Here Buck is talking about Phillip the same way Tommy and Chimney (possibly Hen too) talk about Gerrard: like he's dead. Tommy is probably wondering if Phillip is another Gerrard situation, and he invites Buck to talk about it if he wishes to.

Buck gives a humorous but one word answer, so Tommy gets that he doesn't want to get too deep into it.

From this line on, it's a set up for the Gerrard reign of terror in S8. Tommy reiterates the jealousy he mentioned in 7x04, that he wants to become a part of the 118 family, which he only had a little taste of before he left to become a pilot.

Tommy backstory crumb. Buck and Phillip at least see each other at family functions, Tommy doesn't have a relationship with his dad at all. Judging by the medal ceremony, he doesn't seem to have any family left.

It confirms Gerrard as the anti-Christ anti-Bobby. Buck becomes the person he is because of Bobby, while Tommy behaved the way he did in the 3 begin episodes because of Gerrard. It acknowledges Tommy's toxic ways back in the days, but as we can see by the time Bobby became captain of the 118, Tommy was already on friendly terms with Chimney and Hen, we might have a chance to see the transformation in between next season. I've heard that season 7 is supposed to be a soft relaunch of the entire series, so maybe Gerrard is a good plot device to make new viewers understand the positive influence Bobby has on the firefam.

Classic deadpan humor from Tommy, Buck gets the message that he wants to keep the conversation lighthearted.

Now Buck has the power to decide which direction he's leading the conversation into, and he gives us controversial moment number 2, he brings up daddy issues and makes it horny. Look at his smirky face, he's definitely not trying to have a serious chat about father complex. He's the one who starts flirting, not Tommy, and it shows us unlike the nervous fumbling at the beginning of their relationship, Buck is now comfortable enough to initiate flirting.

Tommy can't say no to that face, so he flirts back, but it can also be interpreted as him being in denial of his obvious daddy issues. More conflict and angst for S8?

More flirting. Boy's got rizz towards all genders. He basically admits he might have "daddy issues" in a sexual connotation.

Now comes THE controversial moment of the scene, if not the episode. I've seen people online bashing Tommy for "making it sexual" (Buck did), "interrupting a meaningful conversation to satisfy his daddy kink" (no one is actually talking about any kink), or even "exploiting Buck's trauma to put him in an inferior role in a dom/sub relationship" (What? That's not what d/s is about).

I raise you the point that the word "daddy" is no longer some kind of kink exclusive lingo. This word has entered the popular zeitgeist the last couple years, and now it basically just means a sexy older man. I bet the daddy kink thing doesn't even cross the mind of most of the GA, they just take it as Tommy hoping Buck find this older man sexy. I think we might have collectively read too many smutty fanfics, that's why we all immediately jumped to the very extreme of the kinkiness spectrum when it comes to this scene.

Conclusion, the dialog in this scene may not sound natural, but that's not the point. This scene is in fact, an infodump. Kudos to the actors for making it cute.

[moonlightsapphic]

Alright, I see everything you’re saying, but you didn’t really address anything I brought up. I am also not in the habit of correcting my queer elders, my brown mother also taught me better than to insist to older lesbians that they can be attracted to people who aren’t women. We’re all hopefully adults that understand “masc” does not carte blanch mean “men,” but in the context of the conversation, it feels like you’re willfully misinterpreting it to mean that. You didn’t answer what “queer attraction” means to you, you kind of just waxed poetic on the roots of Sapphic. Which… are there actual sources on the “all bisexual women were called lesbians” thing? I couldn’t find any instance of that where it wasn’t self-referential from people who are already determined to use bi-lesbian. The one thing I have to tell you though, your assertion that it couldn’t possibly be a bi-lesbian disrupting my space is highly presumptuous, considering those are the exact people harassing me and my friends insisting lesbians can be bisexual. For the love of god lesbians don’t need to be more inclusive. Exclusivity isn’t a bad word, it literally just means not everything is for everybody. Gay men don’t include women in their attraction. Trans people are the gender they identify as. People attracted to more than one gender are bi/pan/omni, regardless of what their preference is. Accessibility for one disabled person will be a hinderance for another, but that doesn’t mean the access is unnecessary or unimportant. Please just consider that.

I don’t know that what queer attraction means to me specifically would actually answer your questions. I’m demisexual and bisexual. I’m in a long term WLW relationship, but I’m not a bi lesbian (or multigender) myself and I am not looking to change my current labels. I just support my bi lesbian friends and am interested in sapphic history/culture. I’ve recommended classic and well-researched contemporary books, papers and essays, where you should find records of how the usage of “lesbian” has historically changed. Have you … finished reading them already? I feel like you’re demanding a single universal source that “proves” the validity of the bi lesbian label, but most queer identity/research/archival is not like that because of how our community has been erased over time. I believe Stone Butch Blues should be good enough as historical mspec lesbian rep but it doesn’t say “bisexual”. All About Love would teach you about “queer attraction” regardless of gender. What else could you have possibly wanted me to address?

I did wax poetic and go on tangents about my personal experiences with the sapphic/lesbian terms for funsies, because I’m not obligated or paid to educate anybody on here. And also ’cause folks love to say “sapphic is right there” when we all are fully aware that even a few years ago, it was a niche term. I just find it silly to harp on about it. It’s wildly unempathetic to clinically demand a real person with lived experience to change the label they have built a lifelong queer identity around just because “times have changed, bucko!” I wholeheartedly agree the purpose of labels is to mean something; “bi sapphic” still doesn’t really mean much in the mainstream outside of some younger spaces. Is a label that doesn’t communicate anything really useful? It’s disingenuous to pretend this case is the same as a late-in-life queer finally adopting a label outside of allocisheterosexuality. It’s coming home vs being kicked out of home. It’s mean and doesn’t account for transitional periods for real queer folks and the flux that queer identities are often in.

I’m sorry that you’ve been facing harassment! :/ I do want to ask if it’s been mostly online or IRL, because I’ve faced a lot of harassment online (see pinned) from mean internet queers too, especially from lesbians sadly, but it’s obviously not at all representative of IRL queers by any means. I would never judge and generalize against IRL lesbians because of that. I hope that you also agree it is obviously unfair and prejudiced to make sweeping generalisations on mspec queer folks based on negative online interactions. It still sucks. My IRL experiences have only been with really kind and wonderful folks, and everyone I know has had similar experiences online vs IRL. Either way, it looks like we agree that we shouldn’t be telling a self-identified queer person who they are and aren’t attracted to. Mspec lesbians factually existing doesn’t mean enforcing/expecting all lesbians to be mspec, which is self-explanatory.

I have been accused several times of purposefully conflating mascs with trans men (they’re obviously not the same), when I’ve really been trying to emphasize they can be related masculinity-performing identities that are victims of TERF rhetoric. I can’t tell if folks are being purposefully obtuse. 😭 One of the first things lesbian separatism did was destroy butchfemme (and trans) culture because they believe only in gender essentialism and an straightforward heirarchy of privilege based on that, as opposed to gender as a performance and the patriarchy as a complex system of oppression that negatively effects all. “Men/masculinity” = “oppressor/traitor”, “conventional femininity” = “male gaze traitor”. That is also what was used to separate bisexual women (traitors for dating men too) from the term “lesbian”, and from “lesbian” (WLW) communities, which were initially combined communities. That’s where “protect women’s spaces from men [trans folks and bi women]” originating. (I’m romanticising a little bit, because biphobia/bi cultural dysphoria, infighting and butchfemme hatred still existed in these combined lesbian/WLW communities beforehand. Political lesbianism didn’t appear out of nowhere, but it definitely did involve a lot of celibate cishet women meddling with queer culture.) To my knowledge, the need for exclusive lesbian communities, based on an exclusive lesbian identity, is a fairly contemporary phenomenon. And it’s difficult to execute without conflict/confusion because it fully depends on severe (and toxically exclusionary) simplification of sapphic identity. Notice that there isn’t another equivalent (successful or otherwise) for this scheme in the queer community—gay men’s spaces aren’t exclusive, and the term “gay” is non-exclusive, liberally used loosely by everyone.

Anyway, I’m happy for y’all discovering comfort/community/positivity in certain exclusive shared experiences/identities and you have every right to ask someone to check their privilege or leave a space when it is warranted. I haven’t seen my IRL lesbian friends and well-involved lesbian community mentors being worried about bi lesbians existing or attending lesbian events in any capacity though. Bi lesbians are a tiny minority after all. However, we have been concerned about the pervasive 2020s rise in mainstream second wave feminism and gold-star/purity culture-based mockery towards mspec women, trans people, and genderqueer sapphics within all WLW spaces in general. This isn’t hypotheticals. It’s been brutal this June.

So yeah. There’s really no way to try get “rid” of bi lesbians without getting dangerously close to invalidating trans and mascs/butches/genderqueer lesbians—plus bisexuals in general—as well. “Satisfactory” exclusion based on TERF ideology has historically been a slippery slope. As a bisexual femme (an identity I take seriously!) I feel a natural responsibility to protect mascs as well as sapphics of all gender identities. My allyship to self-identified mspec lesbians (many of whom happen to be trans as well), and any lesbians with complex identities who are “different” from the mainstream (there are many! Especially genderqueer and trans folks!), is part of that. IRL, there’s lifelong lesbians out there in relationships with trans men who also once identified as lifelong masc lesbians, and now they both identify as bi lesbians to accommodate their fluidity and honor their authentic selves. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Hatching schemes to exterminate any form of LGBTQ+ identity (no matter how strange—or queer 🥁—it appears) is at best a distraction from more important issues. That agenda, for whatever greater good, based on whatever new-and-improved principles (which hopefully avoids TERF but you’ll understand if I’m skeptical), doesn’t really interest me or my IRL queer community at all.

And so if we can’t agree, that’s fine. You don’t need to plead with me. I’m not gonna plead with you. We are strangers to one another with completely different lives! When I have serious questions, I don’t ask Tumblr blogs. Random internet users aren’t accredited sources. I read diversely! I would recommend you to do the same.

Thanks for the chat and I really think we can end it here because I have little more to add!

[our-alterous-experience]

so i just recently discovered alterous attraction and it felt right to me. i have so far identified as panromantic demisexual, and i was just curious how you thought that fit in with my current orientation.

i know its totally individualized, i am just curious to hear someone else's thoughts on the matter, since i cant talk to the people in my life abt it right now.

Well!!!! Depends on how you feel. As you said, it’s individualized so I can throw out some interpretations !!

So I came out as pansexual as a child and always thought I was ace. I flirted with calling it panromantic but never committed. Because I’m aromantic, bc i’m aplatonic, I find it fitting to call myself panalterous. Bc while I am still aspec what’s more important than my romance or sex take or whatever is how i feel alterously. That being said, you don’t need a direct “name” to fit in conjunction with all the other labels and identity. While some people are Romantics and others feel they are that way about Platonic ideals; the same applies to being alterous. I think sunfriend is my favorite alterous term I ever heard but that’s more hyper specific terminology than helpful thing.

For me, I’m also trans, i’m also queer, i’m also aspec, im also arospec.

I don’t think it’s productive all the time to go hello im Vexerin from genderfluid butch transmasc transsexual neopronouner pansexual aplatonic aspec aceflux aromantic alterous land.

Because honestly! It’s much easier to say Hello, I’m Vexerin, I’m panalterous, I’m 20, I’m aromantic and aplatonic. (Within, the context of someone asking me what the fuck i am for the first time at least)

Which is not to say I dislike any of the identities I identify with, it has given me so much freedom to accept these many facets and factors of my life. But for strangers and people who don’t really Know everything about you or even your sexualities, I would recommend just verbalizing “the hits”. The pieces that impact you the most/ are most relevant. For me that’s a lot of my A-spec identities. For me it’s important that I tell a new online friend I’m aplatonic. Is it important for you to tell someone you’re alterous? Are you itching to tell someone?

When I first started introducing myself as alterous in new spaces there was eventually questions and sit downs and I explained my experience and point of view. With new people I was explaining myself for the first time. It was remarkable I got to set expectations in my own way in my own relationships. So the default wasn’t automatically the society standard. I mean it was but it was changed, and that changed me. I will have this conversation over and over again. Like the classic saying, you never stop coming out.

So my perspective is, what do you want to introduce yourself with? Do you want to mention you’re alterous? I think it’s okay to, I think it’s also okay not to. Or it could be something you don’t mention when first talking about your sexuality but you make sure to mention it the second time. or maybe you only mention it when it becomes relevant, you feel alterous or you remember an alterous moment and you bring it up.

There are many different ways to try to go about this. Which one is the best for you? Or rather, which would you want to try out first?

[nerdcrawfish]

Jumping off Shibara. (Also in writing this I'm going to be hounding women in the first part SOLELY because I'm writing from the predominate western society/US idea that there are two genders and that anything not man equals women. Which I don't agree with at all. I'm analyzing them, not condoning them.)

No, you can clearly tell with things like the "new" trilogy of Star Wars or Supernatural that this phenomenon is a thing with some male writers. The idea of non-males being in "nerdy" areas is uncomfortable for them because of numerous reasons. One, it stops just being "their" thing. Female fans especially are seen as lesser/"fans of poor quality materials". AND then the classic: "I don't know how to see women/non-men as equal human beings because I (imparted by society) have this idealized idea of women and them being in my nerdy stuff does NOT align with my mental schemata at all!" Ever played MTG as a non-male at a card shop? Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

In general, there is discomfort at so many levels from not matching in schemata, to what defines women, to the idea that we're intruding in "their space", the idea of "biology", to even the idea that they have to act, write, and do things different because a women is around.

There's a shitton of baggage in society about women and non-males in nerdy spaces. It's waaayyy better now, but it still happens A LOT. It still is prevalent and it WILL be getting worse now that Diet Sunkist is in back in office and all the waves of social conservatism is going to be re-surging JUST like you got locked in an overflowing porta-potty and some asshole just ran into it with their double wide Texas Made Ford truck.

(Oh and I can and happily talk about the overlap of neo-nazism and online queer spaces and this need for conservatism and how that keeps translating over to over policing and fandom hate of queer stories in a moment). And yes a lot of authors hate our existence in "their" spaces just as much as their nerdy fanboys do.

Furman will ALWAYS be the classic example because he constantly refuses to allow the idea of female transformers. This is because he sees war fighting robots as only male. This harks back to the fact that the conversation of whether women can fight has it's root so far back in history, especially white history, because women are seen only as a resource to be kept and protected. (Hence the overturning of Roe V Wade and that awful man's "You don't have a choice!" video) And even if he keeps saying he sees them as nonbinary he is using male oriented schemata in his writing--he's using hegemonic markers of masculinity in his writing and the making of his Transformer Characters. He writes them so overwhelmingly male that you and I know--based on so many context clues and tells--that Optimus Prime is male. I very much doubt Furman does see them as non-binary (especially because I doubt he has any actual understanding of what that would even mean) and is instead trying to stay above fandom ire.

So Furman--overwhelmingly yes. He hates women being in his nerdy robot stuff. He loves our money and attention but just like Picasso, we're nothing more than some pretty fancy furniture that is pretty one moment and beyond infuriating the next with our "needs" and "equality".

BUT you're going to look me in the fucking eye and tell me ROBERTS is the same as Furman? HA.

No, MTMTE/LL is a fucking LOVE LETTER to the transformers community. He pointed at us--ALL OF US--and said: "This one goes out for my homies!"

But just like we talked about entitlement of authors? Oh there is a definite entitlement when it comes to fans, too. It was pungent as HELL when MTMTE/LL was running and it was why I always stayed off of social media and had so many people blocked. Like Shibara says: just because they wrote something that you don't like doesn't mean it's bad writing. IT ALSO doesn't mean it's an attack on you.

AND I will say that censorship/Neo-nazisim is RANK in this ideology. It festers uncontrollably in this shit swamp of a psychological lens. The ideology that someone is bad/attacking you because of what they write/create is based on two things: you belief in your superiority AND that it means that you thus get to dictate others around you. This ideology, however, gives little young knuckleheads the idea that they're the good guys and that there are bad guys that need to be hurt based on shit like a book. This is why censorship has, and always will (pick up any fucking history book please), lead to people dying.

It also has permeated its way into queer spaces online. It's a fucking fact. Look at the rates of young Polish voters--who in the same breath support queer rights but at the same time believe anyone who isn't "the right type of polish" (white) needs to be removed from the country. The day that Republicans realize if they accept queer rights that they will be able to win all the races and reinstall Jim Crow laws to the fucking max in the US is one I dread immensely. You can try to argue with me, sure, but it's one I've been tracking as a child and is why we are seeing so much support for nativist/neo-nazi groups across the Western Globe. Like, do we not recall the party gymnastics France had to do a little bit ago to avoid the hella RACIST National Party from getting so much leverage? Anyways, I digress.

Roberts wrote a piece of work that acknowledged the fact (like most of the IDW 2005 run did) that we are adults. Not like the stuff Hasbro always like to run--which is just some moving forms to elicit mediocre bonding in the wish to sell cheap pieces of plastic to little kids (which hey man, you do you). (Okayy, so I'm thinking more of the general we have to keep rebooting our lines every other week and that when it starts getting serious/the writers are flourishing, oh surprise! we're getting cut short!)

No, we're talking more like the TF Marvel Comics (oh yeah baby) especially the UK side of the house--this media was always for the more mature sets of the demographic/fans. More of your older kind of teen boy--but there's a huge difference in that from say rescue Bots (which cute but doesn't have the je ne sais quoi (<--sarcastic usage) of let's say the idea of Spiderman being disgusted with Ratchet because Ratchet didn't cry over his friends being torn apart. This requires a difference of thinking and isn't a stereotypical "good ending". It's meant to invoke a sense of defeat and that shitty feeling of being misunderstood. Like we KNOW Ratchet is a great guy and that his buddies are fine because he's a medic and will just fix them up. BUT Spiderman, another fantastic guy, isn't aware of that and hates Ratchet nonetheless! It's meant to make you not feel good but provides a delicious depth of things like perceptions and not taking time to actually connect with and understand others.

So Roberts was writing not to the original demographic of the G1 Cartoon but to those us who grew up with it. To the ones of us who grew up reading and watching the original runs of so much Transformers material. And, brilliantly, I would add, acknowledged the fact that a lot of fandoms are indeed filled with, like said before, 20+ women.

He wrote MTMTE/LL with the target demographic of adults. Now, we usually associate that with age but in my time in college, working part-time and being amongst y'all--I've learned that you can be 67 and still be an immature stupid piece of shit who got their High School degree as a participation award.

Knowing that, I am arguing he put in a BIG FUCKING NOTICE that "Hey, this isn't G1 cartoon transformers! If you're here for that TURN BACK" with the fact that Ratchet is introduced literally doing an autopsy. And in order to do an autopsy--someone needs to be dead. Whirl is desecrating fucking corpses. And by the end, 40 plus bots are falling like meteors burning up in the fucking atmosphere of a planet. Oh and the entire playback message of: "Oh my primus everything is horrible and terrible-- we fucked up--STOP THE LAUNCH"

Roberts explicitly--so fucking explicitly that even if you have the reading comprehension of a peanut--you would understand just from Issue 1 that bots were going to die, the story is going to be dark, and be just how like my life motto goes: "Life is short, painful and shitty and those who don't deserve to suffer or die always end up doing just that. So let's fucking go." (said with a morbid sense of optimism! :D )

He wrote for us, as adults. And as an adult, he talked to us as an adult. He broached topics that hurt--a lot. And he was happy to see when we hurt because that meant he did his fucking job well.

Every time you feel nothing about a death in a story--that means the writer fucking sucked. Every time I write a fanfic and I have people screaming in my comments--it gives me delight BECAUSE that means I successfully got you to connect. I gave you all the right tells, I used the right structure, I used the right language and every FUCKING THING in my arsenal as a writer to share the beautiful pain that I went through in thinking up this story.

Just like he was, I'm beyond delighted because we're essentially bonding. I'm sharing my brain's secretions that have both delighted and tormented me for months going on years with you and you're feeling the same things. You're fucking feeling. My story isn't just some shitty words on a page--no it's a fucking story.

Roberts told us a story. He sat us down and told us a story. As equals.

And the reason why AI will fucking NEVER live up to actual living creators is because it doesn't have anything to give. It doesn't have any ability to connect.

Furman sucks as a writer for us because he refuses to connect to us if we're not like him.

Roberts has and always will respect every single one of us and has always been a fan--just like us.

[lolpuns]

Unleash Laughter: 30 Hilarious Shadow Puns You Need to Share Today

https://lolpuns.com/?p=848 Unleash Laughter: 30 Hilarious Shadow Puns You Need to Share Today If you think puns can’t get any more playful, wait until you jump into the industry of shadow puns. These clever wordplays add a delightful twist to language, creating humor that’s both light-hearted and thought-provoking. Imagine crafting a joke that not only makes people laugh but also sparks curiosity about the shadows lurking behind the words. Table of Contents Toggle Understanding Shadow PunsExploring the Wordplay of Shadow PunsDefinition of Shadow PunsExamples of Shadow Puns in Popular CultureCreating Your Own Shadow PunsTips for Crafting Effective Shadow PunsCommon Themes in Shadow PunsEnjoying Shadow Puns with FriendsShadow Pun Games and ActivitiesShadow Pun CompetitionsSharing Shadow Puns OnlinePlatforms for Posting Shadow PunsConclusionFrequently Asked QuestionsWhat are shadow puns?How can I create my own shadow puns?Why are shadow puns amusing?Where can I share my shadow puns online?What games can enhance my experience with shadow puns? Understanding Shadow Puns Understanding Shadow Puns You’ll find that shadow puns play with meanings in a whimsical way. They often involve a word or phrase that has multiple interpretations, allowing for a clever twist. Think about how word associations can lead to unexpected connections; that’s the heart of shadow puns. Recognizing these nuances is crucial for enjoying shadow puns. Listen closely to the context and consider how the words interact. They often rely on phonetics and semantics, creating delightful surprises that tickle your funny bone. Getting creative is key. Try inventing your own shadow puns by combining a common phrase with a word that sounds similar but has a different meaning. Experimentation could lead you to clever results that might even catch your friends off guard. Trying to share these puns can enhance their charm. Utilizing them in conversation adds a fun ever-changing, sparking laughter and curiosity. Captivating others in this playful language encourages connections and shared humor. Remember that the joy of shadow puns lies in their layered meanings. Explore these layers to fully appreciate the wit behind the words. Each pun serves as an invitation to think outside the box, showcasing the richness of language. Exploring the Wordplay of Shadow Puns Exploring the Wordplay of Shadow Puns Shadow puns are an inventive wordplay that plays on the dual aspects of shadows. Captivating with the meanings of words related to shadows creates a playful atmosphere. You might think of how shadows can signify both a physical presence and deeper, metaphorical meanings. The clever twists in these puns often lead to an array of humorous expressions, making language more entertaining. Definition of Shadow Puns Shadow puns incorporate references to shadows to produce witty expressions. They can combine literal shadows, like silhouettes cast by objects, with metaphorical meanings that hint at hidden or darker aspects of situations. Humor arises when you exploit multiple meanings or sounds in words related to shadows, generating delightful surprises and clever amusement. These puns thrive on the creativity of language, inviting you to explore the nuances that make them so enjoyable. Examples of Shadow Puns in Popular Culture Several examples exist that spotlight shadow puns in popular culture. You might remember the classic quip, “My shadow always wants to be the highlight.” It cleverly suggests a shadow’s desire for recognition, using wordplay to evoke humor. Another memorable line is, “Shadows love hanging out in the shade.” This pun plays on the literal habit of shadows hanging in shaded areas, making it relatable and fun. Consider this one: “When shadows gossip, they always throw shade.” It captures the playful essence of shadows while cleverly employing a contemporary cultural reference. Prominent in discussions, you might hear, “My shadow’s always behind me; it’s a big fan,” showcasing the loyalty of a shadow in a humorous light. By connecting these puns to familiar themes, they invite laughter and creativity into everyday conversations. Creating Your Own Shadow Puns Creating your own shadow puns is a fun and creative process. With just a little inspiration, you can create humorous lines that play on words associated with shadows. Tips for Crafting Effective Shadow Puns Use wordplay: Explore words related to shadows like “shade,” “light,” “dark,” and “reflect.” For example, “Why did the shadow bring a ladder? To reach new heights of fun!” Mix concepts: Combine the idea of shadows with everyday activities or common objects. You might say, “What’s a shadow’s favorite book? ‘The Great Gatsby’ – it’s full of depth!” Play on idioms and phrases: Take familiar sayings and twist them with a shadowy spin. You could try, “A shadow of a doubt is all I need to believe you.” Use humorous situations: Create laugh-out-loud scenarios involving shadows. For instance, “Why did the shadow go to therapy? It had some deep-rooted issues.” Personify shadows: Give shadows human characteristics to make your puns more relatable. A funny example is, “Why did the shadow get kicked out of the party? It couldn’t stop being a downer!” Common Themes in Shadow Puns Shadows often play with common themes like light and darkness. Some puns draw inspiration from the contrast between these elements, leading to clever twists in humor. Reflecting personal experiences also comes into play. Shadows can symbolize feelings of loneliness or introspection, allowing you to tap into deeper meanings with your wordplay. Popular culture references often enhance your puns, creating connections that resonate with others. With this in mind, think of movies, books, or quotes that incorporate shadows, helping to inspire your creativity. Consider how shadows relate to daily life. Merge everyday situations with the concept of shadows to generate relatable and laugh-inducing content. Enjoying Shadow Puns with Friends Enjoying Shadow Puns with Friends Sharing shadow puns with friends can be a fun way to spark laughter and create memorable moments together. You can engage in various activities and challenges to bring these delightful twists on words to life. Shadow Pun Games and Activities Captivating in shadow pun games can boost your creativity and humor. Consider playing “Pun-Off,” where you and your friends take turns crafting shadow puns based on a exact theme, like seasons or animals. You could also try “Shadow Charades,” where one person acts out a pun while others guess the phrase. These games work well for all ages, making them ideal for family gatherings or casual hangouts. Hosting a fun pun-themed trivia night can also add excitement. Prepare questions related to popular shadow puns or ask friends to guess the punchlines. You’ll find that laughter becomes contagious, and the playful atmosphere will keep everyone entertained. Shadow Pun Competitions Competing in shadow pun competitions can elevate your pun skills and entertain your friends. You might want to set a timer and see who can come up with the most clever shadow puns in one minute. Everyone enjoys a little friendly competition, and this way, you can encourage each other’s wit. Organizing themed events with prizes can motivate participants further. For example, you could host a “Best Shadow Pun” contest, where each person presents their favorite pun, and attendees vote for the funniest one. Incorporating a judging panel can spice things up and provide a structured way to enjoy the fun. Utilizing social media can also enhance your competition experience. Encourage friends to share their favorite shadow puns online by using a unique hashtag, creating a community of pun enthusiasts. You’ll discover plenty of new puns while enjoying the friendly rivalry. Sharing Shadow Puns Online Sharing Shadow Puns Online Sharing shadow puns online opens up a industry of laughter and creativity. You can easily connect with others who appreciate this playful form of wordplay and inspire each other with clever humor. Platforms for Posting Shadow Puns Social media is a fantastic place to post your shadow puns. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok allow for quick sharing in posts, stories, or captions. Consider using a pun like “I’m feeling a little shady today!” to spark a smile among your followers. Blogs and websites dedicated to humor are also worth exploring. Sites like Punsify, PunnyPicks, and Punfinity boast extensive collections of shadow puns that you can share or draw inspiration from. Finally, don’t overlook online forums and communities. Reddit and similar platforms are great for sharing your puns and captivating in discussions about your favorite wordplay. Conclusion Embracing shadow puns can transform your conversations into a delightful experience. They not only spark laughter but also invite deeper connections through clever wordplay. By experimenting with your own creations and sharing them with friends, you can foster a playful atmosphere that enhances social interactions. Don’t hesitate to jump into the industry of shadow puns. Whether you’re using them in casual chats or captivating in fun games, you’ll find that these clever twists on language can bring joy and creativity to everyday moments. So go ahead and let your imagination shine—your next pun might just be the highlight of the day! Frequently Asked Questions What are shadow puns? Shadow puns are a creative form of wordplay that combines literal meanings with metaphorical interpretations involving shadows. They rely on phonetics and semantics to evoke humor through clever twists on familiar phrases. How can I create my own shadow puns? To create your own shadow puns, mix concepts, play with idioms, and incorporate relatable experiences. Use humor and personify shadows for added charm, while drawing inspiration from everyday situations and pop culture. Why are shadow puns amusing? Shadow puns are amusing because they exploit the multiple meanings of words, layering humor with unexpected twists. This playful approach invites curiosity and laughter, enhancing everyday conversations. Where can I share my shadow puns online? You can share your shadow puns on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Humor-focused blogs and forums like Reddit are excellent avenues for engaging with others who enjoy this playful wordplay. What games can enhance my experience with shadow puns? Games like “Pun-Off” and “Shadow Charades” can boost creativity and humor. Trivia nights and shadow pun competitions also foster friendly rivalry and community engagement while sharing laughs with friends and family. https://lolpuns.com/?p=848 LOL Puns

[ticklepinions]

I think there's many problems in the community. But I feel like 2 in particular are merging quite a bit. So before I begin, this is in no means supporting or condoning the negative actions of others, I'm just thinking out loud basically, trying to understand why it's a problem and what not. The "explains but doesn't excuse route" to help me process things. My heart goes out to everyone who has been a victim of gro*ming.

So I've had a discussion about certain words being thrown around a lot. Words that are used as an insult, a word that triggers people immediately and follows with loads of hate comments and the classic kys.

While there is most certainly predators and p*dos in the community. I think there's a secret third option that doesn't really get talked about a lot- if at all. And that's "well intentioned adults". Adults who got the spirit! But execute in very questionable ways compared to people who are more, for lack of a better word, mature in their experiences.

I think I was one of them to an extent, but had some incidents that made me have to make decisions that would have been difficult in the past with my previous thinking (will explain later). Personally, my blog was open to all. And I hear the sfw doesn't mean safe for minors which is so true. But I still let minors follow my blog and that was a choice I own up to. Up until a couple months ago I was somewhat ok with it. Until things started happening that made me ✨uncomfortable✨. I got 13 year olds following me, minors trying to initiate tickle talk in asks/dms, trying to befriend me in ways that were just not great lmfao (trying to comfort me if I made a vent post, or in turn trauma dumping in the DMs). And this led to a LOT of reflection. I didn't want to have this responsibility so to speak, of taking care of children, who I have no previous relationship (/p) with in an online setting. So I changed my blog to a dnf. That's just me tho, I curated my internet experience to suit me after realizing that what I was doing or rather passively allowing before, made me uncomfortable. I didn't engage in the conversations that were initiated, it made me queasy lmfao.

But for *other* people. This feeling doesn't occur. You can have the extreme of being so delusional and enraptured in your own personal gains/pleasure as a p*do. Or... Be the self appointed teacher, parental figure etc. Which is a lot like gr*oming (actually it is a sign of gr*oming). It's such a complex issue in terms of the way some adults could have a genuine desire to help and not harm/manipulate but there's this disconnect where the adult doesn't recognize the harms they're causing unintentionally.

There are adults who don't mind being the educator because that's what they needed when they were a child. And I get it! They want to help. But! We've seen what can happen. And I think the reason some people are hesitant with the whole it "DEPENDS on the context" is that you're taking away their ability to *help*. But they don't realize by shutting down those conversations *is* helping. There are very few circumstances where a 30 year old should be speaking to a 16 year old about sexual topics. And in an online context, even fewer. There are SO many resources online that people can use to educate themselves, you do not have to be the sole educator for those slipping into your DMs.

From experience, minors are very impressionable and still have a lot to learn when it comes to boundaries. There was this time one of my friends sent an ask teasing me and then I got flooded by people sending in their own teases. Minors unintentionally (giving the benefit of the doubt) making me extremely uncomfortable trying to befriend me through "innocent" tickle talk. There are other instances of minors as I mentioned before trying to comfort me when I'm venting. Very thoughtful of them for reaching out and all but also they're endangering themselves. There are adults who would easily respond to them and because the adult themselves are emotionally not stable in that moment, may explain their worries to someone they realllyyyy shouldn't be sharing experiences with, sexual or not. The adult has the responsibility in this situation, as they hold the most power in the dynamic. So yeah I'm not gonna put the blame on the minors. Gonna hold the adults accountable. Because it's absolutely not okay.

I always say while intentions are cool and all it doesn't really matter much. The impact, and what your actions will be after the fact, holds much more weight.

It's so frustrating to see the same old arguments pop up in this particular community. And I've said it once before, at our core, seeing the recent discourse and posts from both parties I can see the want to keep minors safe. However, there are some people who don't see how their perceived innocent actions are actually harmful in the long run. Not only for minors but yourself as well. You deserve to have a community your age as a healthy support system. What's not okay is the waters being muddied under the pretense of helping other people. You can't fix people, and it's really not your job to do so as hard a pill that is to swallow.

I'm losing my train of thought so...

TL;DR. While there are p*dos, there are also adults who mean well but go about it in very wrong/harmful ways, and I hope that eventually (sooner rather than later) they realize the harms they caused and work towards bettering themselves.

[pumpumdemsugah]

how do you think is the best way to respond to the queer theory fandom when they say shit like this: "I don’t think you can fully understand transmisogyny without understanding how it’s weaponized against cis Black women" and then go on to give examples of calling black women men. How does any of this make sense.

Claiming cis Black women experience transmisogyny is going out their way to remove racism from the conversation and invent something that does not apply to us. We have trans Black people. It's decentres Blackness cause 90% they do this to talk about their gender and feelings. It's completely self serving

How is this not normal classic standard anti-Black racism? Black women are beastly, is Stage 1 of racism. We're not reinventing the wheel. idk why so many people have convinced themselves otherwise . 'Black women aren't refined' is CLASSIC racism first edition. Black women should have never let online whites learn this because now there's never ending convos about Black women's bodies being gleefully had by white people to one up other white people. I'm so sick of it.

The trans that's relevant to cis Black women is trans-Atlantic slavery. There is no way to argue this that makes sense without validating the way slaves masters saw enslaved people as factual. Black people needed to be super strong animals so working my ancestors to death for profit seemed like a mercy, so we needed to be "civilised" and needed chattel slavery. If we're going to bring up Black women and gender and we don't start talking the propoganda whites created to justify mass rape, pedophilia and torture of enslaved Black girls and women, then when will we ? They're bringing up Black women as one size fits all tokens and go on to not talk about the Black experience or Black trans people

I want to know why they don't want to talk about racism so badly? It's a very strange way of centring whiteness because it treats how Black women are viewed as factual and not part of the oppression. They can understand why talking about Black men as strong and beastly is racist and why people focus on Black male bodies but not for us ? Why is it that cis Black men aren't also experiencing a form of transness as well ? They're dumb so repeat shit they think looks smart. These people aren't thinking . If racism disappeared, this way of viewing Black women would go but if transphobia disappeared, this way of viewing Black women would still exist. Things are interconnected but not so much that race stereotypes won't go without ending racism.

Some think, ' not seen/treated as a woman' = maleness instead of abuse. The context people ' don't treat us like women' is always because they're trying to abuse us, humiliate or use us. If they're saying we experience this, would they be comfortable if we started talking about trans stuff? Nevermind we have Black trans people.

Convos about civilising Black people do not come up because this dumb way of talking about anti-Black racism is dominant and unhelpful. Implying Blackness as a gender identity always ends up pushing race science. I know some Black people do this but I rarely come across Black people that do this who don't have a history of Black self hatred because of racist bullying. I don't think that's a healthy basis for describing identity and I don't think people newly dealing with self loathing belong at the centre of most convos because they will come to toxic conclusions

[ddrqoyote]

a post about gestalt got 2,400 notes AFTER i joined tumblr and NOBODY TOLD ME????

so context. there's these beings that are manifestations of different concepts. in the 80s, they started merging with people, and also just showing up themselves. so you have normal powers, like a Gestalt of Light or a Gestalt of Determination. but you could also have a Gestalt of Finances or a Gestalt of Theater or a Gestalt of Football or a Gestalt of Supervillainy. This system-agnostic free download comes with a laundry list of ideas.

And two different Gestalts of the same concept can represent different sides of it. There's a Gestalt of America who's your classic Superman, Captain America idealist type, but there's another one who represents the government and the status quo, the side of America that overthrows socialist governments and invades the Middle East.

If you're playing Mutants and Masterminds, you might need to tinker with the official builds; this book was designed for Champions and the conversion isn't the best. Also, unfortunately the sequel books it refers to never got published. There's a FEW official Champions builds and histories online but it's far from complete.

RIP Scott Bennie.

Please enjoy my compilation of the most bizarrely specific superpowers I've ever seen in a superhero product

(from https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/54983/Gestalt-The-Hero-Within-MM)

[rabbityshen]

something that i dont think is exclusive to social media or online discourse/drama but does fuel a lot of interpersonal issues on both when you're someone who's generally progressive and trying to become a better person is the (very true) concept that learning about oppression and social justice is going to be often psychologically uncomfortable because it requires some self-interrogation of your current biases, assumptions, and ingrained behaviors. challenging yourself is a part of growing up in general but becomes especially vital if you come to understand systemic oppression and inequity, and how those affects yourself and other people. particularly in how most oppression results in warped cultural priorities around boundaries, consent, and ethical values.

however i think this can result in two kinds of unhelpful, totalizing reactions:

i end up perceiving any and all personal discomfort as only a result of external systemic oppression and bigotry. if i feel annoyed, upset, or hurt, that's because of other people and society and they need to work it out so i am not harmed anymore, regardless of context.

i end up perceiving any and all personal discomfort as a result of internalized systemic oppression and bigotry. if i feel annoyed, upset, or hurt that's because i am still mired in my bigotry. it must be my problem as someone raised in this society and i must do better to work through my discomfort regardless of the context.

the first i think gets a lot of spotlight because, well, it's a classic anti-social justice rhetoric strawman to paint all discourse about oppression as people with "victim complexes." though there is some truth to people weaponizing social justice rhetoric to disguise abuse or hurtful patterns/dynamics of behavior. this is also especially tricky when abusive dynamics often rely on people ignoring their own gut reactions of discomfort and pain. so sometimes there is overcorrection to intellectualize all personal discomfort as morally sound. you see this a lot in say, "kink at pride" discourse.

the second is a bit harder to parse because as i said before, feeling discomfort is necessary in engaging with social justice concepts. growing up and becoming a better person in general requires questioning yourself. you must learn you are not the center of the world and beyond that, you must challenge base reactions of who you find disgusting or comfortable without thought or critical thought. but i also think it's easy to gaslight yourself into situations in which you must always feel bad or anxious as a form of self-improvement, or even "praxis." see what i said above about abusive dynamics.

the fact is there is no hard rule for what discomfort is internalized bigotry or insiduous cultural norms, and what personal discomfort is you reacting to harm and oppression. this is not even a correct or productive dichotomy to judge anything by, maybe a sliding gradient at best. there is no solution for this problem especially when you cannot spend 24/7 researching "the correct position" and simply "be kind and compassionate, within reason" is very nebulous.

the best course of action imo, which is something i struggle with too, is being willing to talk to friends and ppl in your community* that you respect about these topics. this can even mean ppl you know you disagree with on some stuff** just to get their perspective, which can be more enlightening than just ppl who are like-minded. and this can also just be listening to/reading what ppl say (so you arent just bugging ppl all the time to figure out your ethics) but i think it's worthwhile to discuss things as an active choice than just "listening" bc you can sometimes end up inside your head for too long or pulled into black/white thinking by the most extreme, loudest voices. discussion and conversation does have their own merits!

and part of that means willing to be honestly incorrect or ignorant (while still respectful and thoughtful) and part of that means willing to expand emotional bandwidth to talk people through your perspective in good faith, both being kind and maintaining boundaries. that's also how you build community. they are also maybe the hardest and most mortifying things to do in the world even under the best of circumstances, let alone the constantly churning outrage social media economy. so. lol (lol)

*i realize this is also a nebulous concept that gets bandied about as a utopian ideal but what i mean is just like, whatever makes sense to you under that umbrella. it can be family, colleagues, ppl in your hobby subculture, etc.

**obv i dont mean anti-sjw concerntrolls or whatever lol

[bellaslilpapercut]

Brooo this Bad Art Friend situation puts such a bad taste in my mouth. Both of these women sound insufferable in their own way, but there's something really uncomfortable about the way race dynamics entered the equation. I think I understand the direction Larson was taking with her story, and in another context it would be an amazing subject, but I find it really disingenuous of her to claim that she was writing about something "bigger" than Dorland when her comments in the group chat suggest that she projected this whole white savior thing specifically onto Dorland's self-congratulatory, but ultimately race-neutral organ donation. (Then again, I'm white, so I might be doing the exact thing she was talking about where white people and people of color essentially talked past each other in her class.)

I was pissed off by Larson's comparison of being "inspired" by Dorland's posts about her kidney donation to being inspired by a neighbor watering petunias. That's such obvious bullshit to me -- the two things, a life-altering surgery versus a household chore, aren't at all equivalent. Obviously aren't equivalent, because no one writes a fucking cringe letter to their geraniums whenever they turn on the hose. Like, I get it, I know exactly the kind of obnoxious Dorland was probably being on social media, but it doesn't excuse Larson's weaseling around the plagiarism issue. I understand the resistance to having a white person claim an artist of color somehow "owes" credit to them -- broadly, that's a really good point and important concern, but in this case, there would have been no story without Dorland, and especially Dorland's letter.

She's all "It's not about Dawn, I don't care about Dawn," but Larson was obviously hashing out some intense feelings and ideas using Dorland as her punching bag. Which would be absolutely fine...except then she went and published it, and to me the inherent spite undermines what could be valuable messages about race and class. This shit is just embarrassingly petty.

Oooh yea fully agree! I think Sonya knew exactly what she was doing too bc some of the stuff she tells the article author directly contradict stuff she said in the group chat (brilliant writing on the authors part to arrange that the way he did, side note). Like she knew Dawn was "kooky" and called her a gold mine!! Like she knew she wanted to mine this specific vaguely unhinged woman for content and even the other writers in the GC were like "I'm glad you worked your dawn takedown into something that can actually mean something" but dawn starting a private FB page for what she thought were friends and colleagues so she could share her journey, like as kooky as that is, it isn't like "classic white women TM" and was clearly very specific to dawns bizarre schtick of empathy obsession. (also side note i hate that a lot of conversations miss that whiteness behaviorally doesn't exist, you can't act white! It's in how other people react to you. Anyone can play the victim but white women are the ones who have that victim complex nourished. It's weird to me to see anything in dawns actions getting framed as like an Inherently White Thing lol).

I definitely wouldn't wanna meet either woman though. Dawn fully went into online stalker mode, sued for a ridiculous amount of money, and was the one who had this article written instead of heading to r/AITA lol. I think Sonya and the group chat are meanspirited and disingenuous though and that if Sonya had just had a smidgen of shame when dawn was messaging her frantically about the fiction piece- like enough to maybe...delete the fucking plagiarized letter from the piece!- then this could have been avoided. Also could have been avoided if dawn didn't feel the need to message people who didn't like her FB posts! There was never a point in the whole article where I was like "ah yes a decision that makes sense" it was just constant escalation lmfao.

[stewblog]

OLD (2021)

M. Night Shyamalan needs to let someone else write his movies.

The central concept of Old is fantastic. “An exotic beach inexplicably makes everyone who visits it age at a highly accelerated rate” sounds like a fun scenario to watch. It also seems like a setup rife with interesting thematic avenues to explore. So it’s incredibly disappointing that Shyamalan only occasionally taps into the juice of the premise while all but ignoring anything that would otherwise give the story any amount of dramatic or emotional heft.

We’re led into the film by a family on vacation. The mother, Prisca (Vicky Krieps), “miraculously” finds online some heretofore unknown fancy schmancy hotel in an unnamed exotic beach location. But Prisca is there just to soak up the sun. She and her husband, Guy (Gael Garcia Gernal), will have an easier time breaking the news of their impending divorce if their two kids, Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and Trent (Nolan River) have had a few days in paradise first. They’re told by a friendly concierge that he’s giving them exclusive access to a private, hidden beach. Who could turn that down?

They’re not alone, though, as two additional families find themselves on the beach and I suppose this is where the script really begins to buckle under its own weight. We have 11 characters total, all vying for time and attention. And while some exit the story sooner than most, it still feels like too many people vying for attention, especially when you consider that there’s essentially no real story to begin with. It has the trappings of an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit, but those at least are driven by the likes of a Miss Marple or Inspector Poirot. There is no single driving personality here, no one character we can ever look to for any kind of a narrative or thematic focal point to center the proceedings.

Whose story is this? I honestly couldn’t tell you. I’m not sure Shyamalan could either, honestly. None of these characters have any real defining qualities beyond their surface level identifier of doctor, mother, kid, teen, gold-digging trophy wife, rapper named Mid-Sized Sedan, etc. The only thing driving the film forward is the central mystery and even that only remains interesting for so long when there are no characters worth investing in or rooting for. There’s about enough material here for a solid 30-45 minutes of television. Had Shyamalan made this an episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits, it would likely be considered an instant classic. But as is, the limited material is stretched far beyond its capacity to sustain interest. There are some moments of body-related horror that stick out, but those moments are fleeting and far between.

Tying it all together into a package that is, at times, simply excruciating to watch is the utterly abhorrent dialogue. I can’t remember the last time I saw a professionally made film with dialogue this poorly written and delivered. Though I suppose I should be far less hard on the actors tasked with reciting words this amateurish. It’s as though the script was written by an artificial intelligence program that had no real understanding of how actual people converse or even talk.

My perception of Old might have been salvaged at least minimally if the ending hadn’t gone so hard into explaining everything. Once the reveal is made, it makes sense in context but then it just...keeps explaining things. I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that nothing be explained, but leaving things with a more sinister or even minimally mysterious edge would have done wonders for how thin everything before it ends up feeling.

It’s been nearly 20 years since Shyamalan released his last universally liked film (Signs in 2002), and yet I still have yet to be able to put my finger on what or why it all went wrong. He’s been on the outs, as it were, in terms of perception for too long for his bafflingly bad output to be the result of ego. And it’s not like he hasn’t made a few good things between Signs and now. I’ll readily defend his script for Devil (yes, the demon-possessed elevator movie). But on the whole, I’ll likely never be able to reconcile the fact that the guy who made a stone-cold, pop culture-defining classic his first time at-bat theatrically with The Sixth Sense could fall so hard, and just...keep falling, for the most part.

Is Old the worst thing Shyamalan has made? Almost certainly not. Even The Happening can be enjoyed as a gloriously stupid b-movie and it’s hard for a bar of failure to be lower than The Last Airbender. But Old may be the film that feels like a strong case of a wasted opportunity, and that stings more than a disastrous failure.

[allthingslinguistic]

8 years of All Things Linguistic

It’s my eight year blogiversary! Wow! Let’s celebrate by looking back at some of my favourite posts from the past year:

Because Internet

My book about internet language came out in July 2019. Here are a few of my favourite blog posts about it:

Because Internet hit the New York Times bestseller list its first week out

that classic tumblr flowing jungle river post is now cited in a real book, like an actual paper book

Linguistics jobs: interview with an internet linguist

A very special leather-bound edition of Because Internet that my publisher had made just for me, in celebration of my book becoming a bestseller!

A sample of me reading the Because Internet audiobook (previous thread about recording it)

I now have a speaking reel, if you're wondering what it's like when I'm giving a talk about internet linguistics

Someone dressed up as my book for Halloween!

I also did over 200 media interviews for the book, but I've already summarized those on my 2019 year in review post.

Wired Resident Linguist column

I kept writing my Ideas column for Wired, which included these articles:

Fans are better than tech at organizing information online (about the Archive of Our Own)

The meaning of all caps -- in texting and in life (excerpt from Because Internet)

New emoji are so boring -- but they don't have to be

Boomerspeak is now available for your parodying pleasure

Other writing

We Learned to Write the Way We Talk (New York Times Op Ed)

How Can You Appreciate 23rd-Century English? Look Back 200 Years (New York Times Op-Eds From the Future - I was very proud that this op-ed got me no fewer than five (5!) entries in New New York Times, a twitter account that tracks words that appear in the New York Times for the first time.)

We Will Have Meme Folklorists (New York Magazine)

How to use irony on the internet (Wall Street Journal)

The Big Idea: Writing towards the future  (John Scalzi’s Whatever)

I also co-wrote an academic article with Lauren Gawne, Emoji as Digital Gestures in the journal Language@Internet [Open Access], for which Lauren wrote an accessible summary version for The Conversation.

Surprising internet crossovers

After 7 years of blogging, I thought I had pretty much figured out which sections go in this yearly summary post. But for year 8, I've found myself needing to add a delightful new one.

I’m in an xkcd hovertext (about ok vs okay)

Lingthusiasm's tote bags are in an SMBC comic

Because Internet is on the official tumblr books blog and tumblr's twitter account

A Because Internet cameo on the official Steak Umm brand account

A Because Internet fact featured in the QI twitter account

Lingthusiasm

We celebrated our third year of making Lingthusiasm, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics! This year we were recommended by Buzzfeed (!!), which called Lingthusiasm “joyously nerdy”.

The most exciting Lingthusiasm episodes this year were the ones where our guests helped me and Lauren Gawne push the boundaries of what a podcast typically is: this video episode in ASL and English interviewing Lynn Hou about her research on signed languages in real-world contexts and the one where Janelle Shane used a neural net to generate fake Lingthusiasm quotes based on our existing transcripts, and then we performed the best ones out loud (see also Janelle's blog post about making this).

Here's all twelve regular monthly Lingthusiasm episodes:

Why spelling is hard - but also hard to change

Emoji are Gesture Because Internet

Putting sounds into syllables is like putting toppings on a burger

Villages, gifs, and children - Interview with Lynn Hou on signed languages in real-world contexts (also a video episode!)

Smell words, both real and invented

Many ways to talk about many things - Plurals, duals, and more

How to rebalance a lopsided conversation

Making machines learn language - Interview with Janelle Shane

This time it gets tense - the grammar of time

What makes a language easy? It's a hard question

The grammar of singular they - Interview with Kirby Conrod

Schwa, the most versatile English vowel

And the twelve monthly bonus episodes:

North, left, or towards the sea? With guest Alice Gaby

Words from your family - Familects!

Welcome aboard the metaphor train!

Behind the scenes on Because Internet (Q&A)

Jobs, locations, family, and invention - Surnames

Reading fiction like a linguist

The sounds of sheep, earthquakes, and ice cream - Onomatopoeia

What might English be like in a couple hundred years?

Generating a Lingthusiasm episode using a neural net

Teaching linguistics to yourself and other people

When letters have colours and time is a braid - The linguistics of synesthesia

A myriad of numbers - Counting systems across languages

We also started a Discord community that's enthusiastic about linguistics, to solve the problem of “Your podcast got me (back) into linguistics, but now I don’t have people to fan out about language with! Where do I make lingthusiastic friends?”

Finally, we released more Lingthusiasm merch: schwa pins and more that say Never Stressed, greeting cards that say “thanks” or “congrats” on them in IPA; the pun-tastic “glottal bottle” and liquids for your liquids bottle/mug; and shirts/mugs/bags that say Linguistic “Correctness” is just a lie from Big Grammar to Sell More Grammars. (See photos of all the Lingthusiasm merch here.)

Other projects

Lauren Gawne and I also started working on several other projects in the pop linguistics ecosystem online:

LingComm Grants - grants to help the next generation of linguistics communication projects get started, which we were able to expand from one grant to four thanks to the support of our patrons. Grantees to be announced in upcoming months!

Mutual Intelligibility - a newsletter summarizing existing linguistics resources on specific topics to help instructors moving their courses online, including shorter 3 Links posts and longer Resource Guides

Linguistics Crash Course - a series of intro linguistics videos in collaboration with the educational youtube channel Crash Course and linguist Jessi Grieser, to appear later in 2020

Blog posts, generally

Internet linguistics

An analysis of the meaning behind different kinds of screenshots

Bridging the internet’s digital language divide

Scots language on twitter and How Twitter is helping the Scots language thrive in the 21st century

Wikipedia is helping keep Welsh alive online

Voicemail and voice chat

How grammatical systems cause machine translation mismatches

The complicated decisions that come with digitizing indigenous languages

The Bender Rule: why it matters to name the language(s) we study, even when it’s English

Duolingo and smaller languages: useful, but also complicated

Smartphone keyboard support for under-represented languages

An article about efforts to translate internet resources into Kaqchikel and other indigenous languages

Linguistics memes and humour

Are your teens secretly texting about languages using ISO-639-3 codes?

“linguist with questions” as the goose in Untitled Goose Game

Linguistics takes on the Roses are red meme

académie française: you can’t just make up new words willy-nilly like that!!! linguists: haha language machine go brrrr

Bohemian Rhapsody but linguistics

Falkland Islands – new favourite example of pronunciation ambiguity from TikTok

Last Christmas / I gave you a chart

Good King Wenceslo / Good King Wenceslas

xkcd: vowel alignment chart

two wugs social distancing

Gricean Humour: how did you find your meal?

Which Indo-European Subfamily are you? (the Buzzfeed quiz we didn't know we needed)

General linguistics

Guides for teaching or self-teaching the International Phonetic Alphabet

Lox: the English word that hasn’t changed in sound or meaning in 8000 years

Why parrots can talk like humans

To B or not to B – Sir Patrick Stewart on Sesame Street

The chicken/poultry cow/beef animal/food loanword phenomenon also exists in isiXhosa

No, that dog on instagram can’t really talk

Watching a “language” develop when kids can’t speak to each other

These students speak perfect Spanglish — and now they’re learning to own it

Interpretation/translation, subtitles, and a speech by Korean director Bong Joon-ho

Comparative evolution of Cuneiform, Egyptian, and Chinese characters

Grammatical gender in Greek and Latin is more complex than most people think

Indigenous languages of Taiwan are regaining prominence

This is not a joke: a baby was named Diot Coke in 1379

Things that should happen in a sci fi story with a universal translator

A linguist on what Baby Yoda’s first words might be

When people move their hands and arms while using their voices, listeners are able to hear it

Linguistics jobs (mostly by Lauren Gawne)

learning scientist at Duolingo

communications specialist

product manager

software engineer

marketing content specialist

community radio outreach coordinator

exhibition content manager at Planet Word, an upcoming language museum

transcriptionist (for Lingthusiasm and other linguistics podcasts)

A parody post about linguistics jobs: wug farmer

New grad school advice post: do I need to have done a linguistics major to apply for linguistics grad school?

Creative linguistics creations

A very linguistic wedding cake

Cookies decorated with IPA symbols

Linguistics Halloween costumes/pumpkins

Wug fingernail art

Happy Purim from two wugs!

Language Files videos

I collaborated with Tom Scott and Molly Ruhl on a series of short youtube videos about linguistics.

why typing like this is sometimes okay.

Why “No Problem” can seem rude: Phatic expressions

The language sounds that could exist, but don't

Can the words you read change your behaviour?

Why do we move our hands when we talk?

The sentences computers can't understand, but humans can

The hidden rules of conversation (Gricean maxims)

Abso-b████y-lutely: Expletive Infixation

A series on Weird Internet Careers

A reflection on how starting All Things Linguistic back in 2012 was the seed that led to all of the interesting and exciting things I'm doing now, including writing articles, writing a book, and doing the podcast -- and how to approach trying to do something similar.

Part I – What is a Weird Internet Career?

Part II – How I Built a Weird Internet Career as an Internet Linguist

Part III – How to start a Weird Internet Career

Part IV – How to make money doing a Weird Internet Career

Part V - What can a Weird Internet Career look like?

Part VI - Is it too late for me to start my Weird Internet Career?

Part VII - How to level up your Weird Internet Career

Haven’t been with me this whole time? You can see my favourite posts of year one, year two, year three, year four, year five, year six and year seven. 

For shorter updates, follow me on twitter as a person, as my blog, or as the podcast, or for a monthly newsletter with highlights, subscribe on substack.

[desticuleconfessions]

hey desticule. so i have a supernatural-themed girl best friends story that i’ve wanted to share for a long time, especially because none of my irl friends ever rly understood the gravity of this experience w/o the context of spn. there’s a lot of fun parallels to stuff on the show, and its given me like years of brain rot and therapy lmao. so i really deeply appreciate this page as an outlet, thank you so much to the mods for making it. anyways uh. here goes. sorry it’s so long.

[tw: queer trauma, religious trauma, mental illness]

okay so. in 3rd grade i met this girl. we'll call her kate. we became best friends, as in our names were never spoken separately, we did (and won) every science fair together, she came skiing with my family every winter, i stayed with her family at their beach house in the summers, our younger siblings were friends, etc.

our birthdays were exactly 6 months apart (jan 22/jul 22) so we literally believed that we were celestially intertwined.

we wrote a novel together in 8th grade. her family is baptist, we attended massachusetts catholic schools. i would go to church with her family when i slept over, i held hands and said grace with them at meals. they are all tall and blonde and beautiful. classically angelic. i am south asian. i remember introducing her to harry potter in the 4th grade, her mother hadn't let her read em because it was "blasphemous", but i snuck her my copies and she would read them during lunch n recess and keep them in my locker. sorry this seems like a lot of unnecessary detail but it will be important later.

anyways we both got into doctor who and subsequentally supernatural (s1-8?9 at the time). i specifically remember getting her into supernatural. i also remember her instinctive disdain for destiel when i talked about it, i was showing her a meta or fanfic i think, and i talked her through undoing some of her christian household’s internalized homophobia (fully assuming we were both straight at this point) (we were fucking 12). we'd do the whole "bitch" "jerk" thing, i (the older one) affectionately called her 'sammy', her phone password was dean, mine was cas (and they still are). on my 13th birthday, she gifted me a samulet, which i still wear to this day. (additionally, she gave me a vonnegut 'so it goes' necklace one year) (thats not vital but) (goes to show the extent of my dean coding) (im also an aquarius lmao). im highly protective of her. i carry extra rubber bands on my wrist for her. i keep our money and phones in my jacket when the school takes us skiing. i sit next to her in the halls during lunch and organize her binder. on an 8th grade field trip, a boy made a gross comment at her and i broke his nose.

so we start high school together at coed catholic school nearby, i join debate, make a friend also into spn, she's bi. she asks kate out over text. kate's mom sees this. things turn.

now the rest of these things happened over the course of a couple months and due to my trauma memory loss, i have no idea how accurate some of these memories are so uh. don't hold me to them.

- her highly religious mother is not happy with this obviously. at some point, she brings a priest home and tries to have kate exorcised.

- at this point, we learn that kate is schizophrenic; it never seemed to create noticeable issues before bc her home life and childhood was a perfect happy dream (not an assumption, her words).

- she's still coming to school, sporadically now, i bring home her work, spend hours helping her.

- when she comes to school, she has seizures: sometimes we're fortunate enough that they happen in a class we have together. she freezes up and the teacher empties the room. i refuse to leave. i hold her hand and softly sing her favorite song and sometimes she comes back to me. sometimes she doesn’t and the bell rings and the teacher forces me to leave and let the nurse handle it.

- another time they announce a medical lockdown (to keep ppl out of the hallway if someone is being escorted to an ambulance) while im in catholicism class, i immediately know it’s her; she fainted in the pool during swim team practice.

- i stay awake for 6 days straight bc i read online that sleep deprivation induces some of the same symptoms as schizophrenia and if i could understand what she was going through, i could help her

- she shows up at my house w both of her parents 15 minutes before the winter ball, begs me to go bc her parents will only let her if i go. so i do. her mom lurks by the gym doors with the chaperones. during a slow song, kate and debate girl start to slow dance, i grab our friend’s hand, drag him in front of them so her mom can’t see and make out with him.

- i wanted to tell her to stop but i was too afraid i would lose us, that it would seem like i was homophobic or i was jealous, but i knew her in my marrow and it didn’t seem like she was in love or into the relationship, it was willful self destruction

- we talked in the last few years, she confirmed this.

- at some point, she says she’s sorry she didn’t tell me about the voices before.

- when we talk, she’s not her anymore, she doesn’t remember our inside jokes, our codes, i can feel her being slowly ripped away and apart in real time

- i have a vivid memory of arguing with her and her telling me im not real, that her mind made me up, while occasionally speaking to something? someone? else in the room. i hold her hand and point to the matching thin scars on our thumbs and try to convince her im real.

- she eventually drops out entirely, taken to some mental facility that im not entirely sure wasnt conversion therapy (it was definitely a religious facility) (and conversion therapy was not outlawed in new hampshire until 2019) and im not allowed to see her.

- every now and then i get cryptic distressing emails or texts from her.

- one in particular has the subject, “youandiwalkafragilelineihaveknownitallthistimebutineverthoughtidlivetoseeitbreak” which is the first line of the song ‘haunted’ by taylor swift (our shared favorite)(the summer after this happened we collectively decided we needed a new swift Our Song and chose ‘breathe’). the body of the email read “what the hell have i done”

- i pray for the first time in my life, every single day for a few months, in different languages, at temple with my parents, in the chapel at school

- on a club trip, i get a call at 2am from her, crying, asking me why i didn’t help her, why i didn’t stop her, that it was my job to protect her

here’s something i wrote about her, three yrs after:

I wasn’t careful enough and she caught quickly. She burned so close and so bright that for long afterwards, I could not see. And like that, she was gone. I walked into the chapel. Mea culpa. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

[that last line is from the latin version for a catholic prayer called the act of contrition, it translates to “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault”]

in the fall, i hear she’s starting at a small baptist school almost an hour from her house. she is dating the principal’s son. the principal is also her pastor.

in my second year of college, i have a bad acid trip in a snowy park in december. i put my hands into the snow and when i look at them,i see blood. i see her body in the snow adorned like it’s a funeral

i still have dreams about her. sometimes i meet her in a grassy field, flying kites and i invite her to my wedding. in others, i catch a glimpse of her ponytail and catholic school skirt and chase her up eight flights of stairs and when i grab her hand, she turns to ash.

at some point in a separate argument w my parents in which they went through my texts and found out i wasn’t straight (amongst other things) my dad says:“i knew i should’ve listened to [kate’s dad] when he told me the things you would talk about. he knew what you are. and he took his daughter away from you.”

last christmas we met up and drove around together, she tells me that for years she thought i hated her for letting me down and for abandoning me, and i literally have the dean winchester in ‘sacrifice’ five stages of grief when sam says “you know what i confessed in there?” because i could not even begin to fathom that she ever blamed herself. it had always been my fault. i had failed to save her. i corrupted her and i failed to save her.

anyways she’s fine now, she’s okay, im okay, we’ve talked and unpacked and we’re alright. but uh. yeah. that happened. the parallels make me crazy. now they can make you crazy too.

‎

[ghostsofmemories]

Writing My Obituary (context on my weird poetry collection)

I realized today that I very casually bring up my poetry collection all the time and a large majority of my followers have no clue what I’m talking about, so here’s a WMO explanation post thing! I should definitely give a content warning though: this book deals with suicide, abuse (both physical and emotional, by both parents and other people), homophobia and transphobia, allusions to major appetite and stomach issues (which while reading sound a lot like eating disorders), toxic relationships, just a lot of really heavy emotions in general. Please don’t read the book or this post if those things could trigger you. This post also ended up super long, so the rest is under the cut.

So. first thing’s first, this collection is being published by Pure Print Publishing this fall (due to covid there aren’t any exact dates available). I didn’t query it, someone reached out to me after reading my poems on Instagram, hearing that they were in an unpublished collection, and basically connected me with their friend who runs the indie publishing house and is an author himself.

A big part of the reason this book is so difficult to talk about in context is because that requires getting pretty vulnerable - most of this book is just me dealing with everything I’ve struggled with over the last 4 years of my life. So if there’s discussion about the book in the replies, please keep it to the content of the book and not the validity of these experiences or details of things that happened to me.

The collection is about me and my journey from 13 to 17, starting with my suicide attempt at 13. There are several poems from around that time in my life, but they’ve changed a lot over the four years of editing. However, you can definitely still see changes in the way I write and the way I approach poetry by the end of the book - which was the goal. The book is centered around learning about identity, about how relationships should work, about friendships, about learning to handle mental and chronic illness, and above all, growing. There’s really no “breaking point” where everything about the way I write changes all at once, so in context, the change is almost difficult to see. So to sort of represent these changes, I’m putting a poem from the beginning, from the middle, and from the end all right next to each other (and some bonus analysis of my own poetry!).

Call me a monster is probably the most stark change from the past to the present. I almost never rhyme my poems anymore and if I do, they’re fleeting and mostly for rhythm. The lines are also extremely short, which I only do now when it really fits - in general, I make an effort to avoid consistently short lines. I like to tell myself that it’s symbolism I did on purpose to represent how all over the place my brain was, hopping from one thought to the next, but I don’t think it’s symbolism. I think my brain was really too jumbled to have more than five words in a line.

 I also took my own poems very seriously back then - writing a poem was an Occasion, so the first letter of each of those lines is capitalized like I’m some sort of English classics major. Both stanzas are also the same length (I still do that now sometimes, but back then it was in so many of my poems that I think I thought it was a requirement). Basically, I wrote this like I was going to turn it in somewhere.

Still pretty heavy on the capitalization here, but I definitely got more flexible with stanza length and slightly longer lines (7 whole words, yay!). This poem was somewhat of a turning point for me, basically realizing that I could not only vent through poetry, but still make it poetic and artistic in a lot of ways, and also explore contrast in my own emotions and conflicting feelings. For some reason, prior to this, I thought a poem could only be one emotion at a time, but now I think a poem can be one topic and the way multiple or conflicting emotions revolve around it. This is also one of the first poems I wrote that I was proud of from beginning to end.

This poem isn’t totally representative of the last couple changes I want to talk about (especially line length - for being relatively recent the lines are still pretty short), but I don’t want to use too many poems that haven’t been posted online before and this one has been posted and read aloud on an Instagram live, minus one stanza I added, which I’ll get to. I also wanted to choose this one because it has a direct reference to The Universe In You and several other poems, which gives me a chance to talk about how much I love referencing my other poetry in my poetry. Buckle up, this one might be long.

By this point, I had pretty much realized that there actually aren’t any rules at all. I’ve figured out what I want to say and I’ll say it however the hell I want to - I don’t need to capitalize things unless it suits the form, I don’t have to be totally consistent, I can repeat things as much as I want. I reached back into my 15 year old angst for this one, though, so I could more properly write about the relationship in a way that made sense. 

Now, I could honestly write a whole other book about how I reference other poems in each poem, but for now I’ll just break down the ones here.

Sort of a half reference right at the beginning: I have so much to say. I bring that up in different words in so many poems, both about my relationship and my dad. This is probably because, growing up as someone who had a speech impediment (meaning I talked too much no matter how little I said because of how long it took to say it), I always felt like I never had the space to say everything I wanted. It’s brought up in at least 3 other poems.

lost signals: a direct reference to my poem Thread Unavailable:

We’re riding down a dirt road in the middle of a conversation and lost signal. Message failed.

empty spaces: a reference to The Universe In You!! Pretty much the whole reason I included this poem.

burned poems: this one is basically just a reference to all the poems in the collection that are breakup poems, or poems where I directly addressed my ex saying don’t read this, you don’t have to read this, I shouldn’t have written this, etc. Specifically, A Long and Lonely Letter, Tired Eyed (The Homecoming Poem), and The Poem That Shouldn’t Exist.

another July come and gone and I didn’t write about you: this reference is hard to really understand the context of unless you know me in real life, but in two other poems I mention the month of July, in a couple others I reference summer, but there are dozens of poems that didn’t make it into my cut of the collection that talk about July. Basically, in context of the relationship, it was the only time we were actually happy and we split up and got back together over and over trying to replicate that fleeting, 30 day feeling that was overtaken by school, seasonal depression, and our own instability as people. For so long, all I could think about was that one month, and that line was my way of showing how I was done writing about it.

you told me, once, that we’re soulmates: this entire little stanza is directly copied from Tired Eyed (The Homecoming Poem). In order to continue talking about it I’ll throw a piece of that here:

If you want to come back, be sure of me. Be sure of yourself. I don’t want to be a consequence of your impulses.

You told me, once, that we’re soulmates. That once you find a person you want to spend forever with, it feels like nothing else matters. Do you believe that like I do?

That’s just a really short chunk of a really long poem, but basically the re-use of that section goes to say that me truly believing nothing else mattered was not good and extremely unhealthy. I put it there even though the poem was just fine without it because I really wanted to get that message across, especially since most of my target audience falls between middle and high school.

I know love in so many shades and I give it in every color: this references a couple different poems that aren’t in the collection, but in terms of the book, it’s a reference to Red, Like You, which is about color association and love and stuff? I I still don’t totally get it. I say in the poem that I don’t totally get it. No one totally gets it, but all in all I went from loving just one person in just one way to loving everyone in tons of different ways and realizing that those other types of love are just as, if not more, fulfilling to me, and that romance is not the be-all end-all of love and happiness.

All the other references are repetitions so I’ve pretty much already explained those. But anyway, that’s my book! It has 77 poems total, quite a few of them more than a page, and some that are probably several pages once in paperback format because, you know, I never shut up. Since I did my mini beta reading round (I got a lot of necessary feedback but that was so much to keep track of, I’ll probably just get a couple feedback partners next time), I’ve cut 34 poems and added 16 newer ones, edited the crap out of the whole book, and gotten the perspective of a professional editor.

 This book, even though there’s a lot of it I’ve grown out of, is super important to me and it’s so hard to let it go. Part of me wants to keep this book going forever and just keep growing until it has thousands of poems, but all of these “character arcs” in my life are finished. I left my toxic relationship and friendships, I figured out my gender and sexuality, I learned how to love openly, I cut off my dad for good. There’s obviously always more to learn about my relationships with these other people and myself, and I do that unconsciously every day. But in all honesty, I have nothing left to say about these people or events that would change the conclusions I’ve already come to - they would only further prove them to be true.

I absolutely always want to talk about this book, so if you have any questions, send an ask! Also feel free to scroll through the poetry tag on my blog and ask me about any poems I have posted there, there are a few that I’ve written since the completion of the collection that’ll (most likely) end up in whatever I write next. Basically, I’m obsessed with poetry and want to talk about it all the time. Please ask me about it.

[novastarlyght]

That Time I Named an Invader Zim Background Character and Everyone Thought it was Canon: The Story of Ixane

Like a lot of others it seems, the premiere of Enter the Florpus has recently made me think back to my first stay in the Invader Zim fandom many years ago. For me it was between 2006 and 2007, and I was 14-15 at the time. IZ was and still is a very special cartoon to me, not only for how it influenced me creatively but also the fact being a part of its fandom was my first really positive experience in a fan community. And I wanna talk about that experience because it... lead to something very interesting. Something that only could’ve happened in the now bygone days of the early internet where reliable sources were harder to find and misinformation was much more common, but somehow, has lasted until today. 

This is how Ixane, a silent extra that appears only in the episode “Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars,” got her name.

So first off, you might be wondering “Who the heck is Ixane?” As I mentioned, she only appears as a background character in the 21st episode of the original series, titled “Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars” which I’ll abbreviate for the rest of this post as just Backseat Drivers. She’s a member of The Resisty, a resistance group against the Irken Empire who also only appear in that episode, although they were planned to become more significant recurring characters later down the line before the show was cancelled.

In 2006 I LOVED the Resisty. They were my favorite group of characters in the entire show, probably because I was fascinated by all their potential which sadly didn’t get the chance to be explored before IZ was canceled. What planets did each of them come from? What are each of their individual species like? How did they form into a single resistance group? What were their names, their personalities? Their hopes, dreams and fears?! THEIR FAVORITE DRINKS?!?! I attempted to provide my own answers to some of these not-so-burning-to-anyone-but-myself (or so I thought at the time...) questions by writing a fanfic called “Resisting Authority,” which I published on Fanfiction.net and later DeviantArt. It’s since been taken down on FFN while the DA version is currently in private storage on my old account, so here’s a screenshot just to prove it existed:

(click here for larger image)

Despite being more adult in tone than the show it was based on and rather melodramatic (then again, I was 14, and probably so was everyone else reading it), “Resisting Authority” became really, REALLY popular... at least for a fic that didn’t feature any of the show’s main characters, given it was entirely about the Resisty and told mostly from the perspective of its leader, Captain Lard Nar. Regardless it got a large amount of positive feedback and significant fan art on DeviantArt, most of which is no longer online although there’s still a little bit hanging around - mainly featuring Lyn, an Irken OC from the story who chooses to rebel against the empire and falls in love with Lard Nar, leading to a star crossed lovers conflict.

Because the purpose of the fic was to further explore the Resisty along with the idea of “What if an Irken betrayed their own?” several characters that appeared onscreen for only a couple of seconds in Backseat Drivers were fleshed out considerably in “Resisting Authority,” where they were given names, species names, home planet names, backstories, motivations and personalities. And of these the one who received by far the most development was a feminine, blue-eyed alien in a hooded purple cloak who I decided to name “Ixane.”

Ixane would become one of the most important characters in “Resisting Authority” right behind Lard Nar and Lyn. She is a Xanan from the planet Xana, a race of spiritual mystics. She is initially distrustful of Lyn, despite her actions and claims to be as much of a rebel as the rest of them, due to her hatred for the Irken Empire and how they destroyed her home. She believes Irkens are more like machines than living creatures, their bodies merely being empty shells to carry their PAKs around, making them incapable of genuine emotion. When she discovers Lyn and Lard Nar have been in a secret romantic relationship, she becomes even more hateful towards Lyn both due to jealousy, since she’d been harboring feelings for Lard Nar herself, and her genuine belief that Lyn’s feelings aren’t real, something that will only hurt Lard Nar in the end.

However throughout the course of the story her views are challenged and eventually Lyn manages to prove her wrong by displaying what she can’t deny is anything but legitimate love for Lard Nar and compassion for her allies in the Resisty. Unfortunately Lyn is fatally injured during a battle with a number of Irken soldiers sent to hunt down the rebellion. Now wanting nothing more than happiness for the person she loves, Ixane uses her mystical powers to save Lyn’s life while sacrificing her own in the process.

This character development (both in the meta sense and in the context of the fic itself) plus her selfless heroic sacrifice is what I think made Ixane one of the fic’s breakout characters and caused her to stick in the minds of those who read “Resisting Authority.” They were no longer thinking of her as just some extra, but as this fully developed character complete with an arc that I’d made her into - as the character of Ixane. But it didn’t occur to me just how big of an impact this may have truly had until about 9 years later.

In 2015, the official Invader Zim comic series by Oni Press began publication and I found myself extremely hyped about IZ again for the first time in almost a decade. It was during this time I came across a particular IZ wiki article and section of its TV Tropes page...

(Sources are here and here)

And I thought to myself “Wait... I thought I named her Ixane...?”

Because at this point I seriously couldn’t remember. I hadn’t thought about “Resisting Authority” in years, and with TV Tropes in particular noting that Ixane’s name was given “in the [episode] script” I wondered if I didn’t actually come up with the name. Maybe it was in the script for Backseat Drivers after all so I used it in the fic. Being unable to find said script (the original script as made by the episode’s writers, not a transcript) I couldn’t confirm it, so I mainly shrugged it off and thought more than likely I just had a bad memory. It wouldn’t be on a (still regularly maintained) wiki if it didn’t at least have a high possibility of being canon, right?

Cut to last night, August 2019. Me and all my other friends and fellow nerds who also grew up loving IZ are still buzzing over Enter the Florpus and our childhood/teenage fan content comes up in conversation. I dig up “Resisting Authority” from my old DA storage for perhaps a good laugh and a bit of nostalgia when more of when I first wrote it starts to come back to me. “I know the wikis all say her name was in the script, but I swear I came up with the name Ixane myself,” I thought, wondering if there was any way I could prove it.

Turns out I could. All the proof I needed was in a drawing of the character I posted to DA in January of 2007, which like the fic was still in storage:

(click here for larger image)

“Um...I bet a lot of people who read Resisting Authority got the impression she was an OC. She technically isn't. She is a Resisty character we saw VERY BRIEFLY once or twice in Backseat Drivers and I just elaborated on her for the story. The cloaked girl, yasee. Just look here: [link] “

That link no longer works normally, however putting it into Wayback Machine provides a snapshot taken in September of 2006, which would be around the time “Resisting Authority” was first published on FFN. Scrolling down on that page gives us...

(click here for larger image)

Additionally, opening the image itself reveals the filename “resistycloak.jpg” rather than something like “ixane.jpg” or “resistyixane.jpg”

For those who weren’t in the fandom back then, The Scary Monkey Show was a very well known IZ fansite and its Encyclopedias section was basically a resource for the show’s lore, one considered highly reliable, before things like fan wikis became commonplace. I actually used this site as a reference for the different types of Irken ships and other planets in the IZ universe brought up in the fanfic and so did many other fic writers at the time. If any site on the internet would know a minor or even background IZ character’s name, if it really was in the official episode script, it’d be The Scary Monkey Show. Yet her name is listed as unknown.

So why am I telling you this?

Because as wild as this whole situation is, I’m not a person who likes misinformation. I feel like IZ fans, both young and old, should know Ixane is not actually this character’s canon name as given to her by the writers of the show. That being said...

I see no reason to stop calling her Ixane. That’s just her name now.

Heck, it’d probably be difficult to go back to thinking of her as having no name given how long the name has been used on all these wiki pages and whatnot. And I’m completely fine with receiving absolutely zero credit for actually being the one who came up with the name in the first place, because here’s the thing...

I may have made the name, but it was the fandom that spread it. The IZ community, primarily in my absence too, were the ones who codified, legitimized it. Who added it to those wikis and accepted it as canon all these years. Who believed in it enough to assume it came from the official episode script, from the IZ crew themselves!

Ixane isn’t my name for her. It’s our name for her, as the fans who made Invader Zim the cult classic it is today.

And I want that to be something we all can have and be proud of ❤︎