#nerd's words

[the-nameless-nerd]

I can't wait to see in what way each and every companion in Veilguard will be incredibly problematic

Genuinely, Bioware is great at making fucked up little people that you help make either better or worse, and I'm here for it

[iamanerd1]

The blob is having a normal time in that well

[the-nameless-nerd]

This.

I did not have health insurance for years after I turned 26 and was dropped from my parent's plan.

When I caught covid and was struggling with limited lung capacity, I had to convince my roommate not to call an ambulance because healthcare is too expensive.

I'm lucky I survived, but so many aren't.

[shattered-daydream]

The worst trauma comes from those who you love

[onionninjasstuff]

carrying each other :з

[infiniteglitterfall]

People talk about how the Jewish population of the world is still smaller today than it was in 1939.

The 1948-49 American Jewish Year Book says that there were an estimated 16,633,675 Jews on earth in 1939. (Yes, "estimated!")

And that a decade later -- three years after the Holocaust killed nearly 6,000,000 Jews -- there were 11,373,350.

Today, there are (an estimated) 15,736,800.

(It can be higher, depending on how you count it. But this is the number that seems consistent with how the American Jewish Year Book was counting it.)

But it occurred to me recently that that doesn't tell the whole story.

Because today, 0.02% of the world is Jewish. (Really, 0.019%.) But I bet it was different back then.

How different? And different how?

Turns out there are 8 billion people alive today. But there were a little more than 2 billion back then.

16,633,675 divided by 2,300,000,000 is freaking 0.72%.

0.72% of the world was Jewish in 1939. That's almost 300% more than 0.19%?

Even after the Holocaust, 0.49% of the world was Jewish.

Those are still tiny percentages.

But the effect of the Holocaust, the massive ethnic cleansing of Jews across the MENA region after it, and the massive pogroms killing up to 250,000 other Jews before it, has been that the actual proportion of the world that's Jewish plummeted by 75%.

We went from 0.72% of the world to 0.19% just during the last 80 years of all that.

And because it was literally over 50 years of genocides and ethnic cleansings all over the place, we also went from vibrant Jewish communities with thousands of years of history across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, to being almost entirely concentrated in the United States and Israel.

Little bit more in Canada and Australia, neither of whom seem to be handling that fact super-well. And smatterings in many other places.

It's just really fucking wild to me.

Not only that this is true. But that I had to put these pieces together myself, from everything I was learning by studying recent Jewish history.

It's very fucking weird, as an American, to live with the incredible contrast of knowledge and history, versus the overwhelming mainstream leftist message that Jews are a white European oppressor group.

[tanis-zed]

You know, as much as Gideon leans into the dumb jock stereotype, girl DEFINITELY did her reading. How else would she know a million ways to call Harrow a spooky weirdo?!

[babyblankyerror]

Ford having trauma with the childhood name 'Sixer', yeah makes sense.

Now, I propose: Stanley's trauma with 'Knucklehead'. The same name his father used before he kicked him out.

I see a lot of fics and post where Ford calls him 'knucklehead' and no reaction while when Stan calls Ford 'Sixer' it's usually mentioned he's at least a bit uncomfortable with it and either asks Stanley to stop completely using it or tries to heal past that. We don't get that with Stan and it's a whole lot of wasted stangst food there, pals.

Imagine Stanford calling hom 'knucklehead' and Stanley, fully grown ass man, shrinks and looks like the saddest puppy ever. He doesn't understand that Ford is saying it in a fond way, he thinks he's being called stupid- it's a word that is associated with leaving home, with anger and dissapointment. It feels like he's getting yelled at, like he did something wrong (especially when it's from the one person that looks like his dad).

Take that as you will♡

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Someone asked me to expand a little on a topic that was buried down in a big chain of reblogs, so I'm doing that here--it's about the use of the archaic "thee", "thou", "thy", etc. in LOTR and what it tells you about characters’ feelings for one another. (I am NOT an expert on this, so it's just what I've picked up over time!)

Like many (most?) modern English speakers, I grew up thinking of those old forms of 2nd person address as being extra formal. I think that's because my main exposure to them was in the Bible ("thou shall not...") and why wouldn't god, speaking as the ultimate authority, be using the most formal, official voice? But it turns out that for a huge chunk of the history of the English language, "thee," "thou," and "thy" were actually the informal/casual alternatives to the formal "you", “your”, “yours”. Like tú v. usted in Spanish!

With that in mind, Tolkien was very intentional about when he peppered in a "thee" or a "thou" in his dialogue. It only happens a handful of times. Most of those are when a jerk is trying to make clear that someone else is beneath them by treating them informally. Denethor "thou"s Gandalf when he’s pissed at him. The Witch King calls Éowyn "thee" to cut her down verbally before he cuts her down physically. And the Mouth of Sauron calls Aragorn and Gandalf "thou" as a way to show them that he has the upper hand. (Big oops by all 3 of these guys!)

The other times are the opposite--it's when someone starts to use the informal/casual form as a way to show their feeling of affection for someone else. Galadriel goes with the formal "you" all through the company's days in Lórien, but by the time they leave she has really taken them to heart. So when she sends them a message via Gandalf early in the Two Towers, she uses "thee" and "thou" in her words to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli because now they're valued friends and allies. And--this is the big one, folks, that was already alluded to in my previous post--Éowyn starts aggressively "thou"ing Aragorn when she is begging him to take her along as he prepares to ride out of Dunharrow. She is very intentionally trying to communicate her feelings to him in her choice of pronoun--an "I wouldn't be calling you "thee" if I didn't love you" kind of thing. And he is just as intentionally using "you" in every single one of his responses in order to gently establish a boundary with her without having to state outright that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. It's not until much later when her engagement to Faramir is announced that Aragorn finally busts out "I have wished thee joy ever since I first saw thee". Because now it is safe to acknowledge a relationship of closeness and familiarity with her without the risk that it will be misinterpreted. He absolutely wants to have that close, familiar relationship, but he saved it for when he knew she could accept it on his terms without getting hurt.

So, you know, like all things language-based...Tolkien made very purposeful decisions in his word choices down to a bonkers level of detail. I didn’t know about this pronoun thing until I was a whole ass adult, but that’s the joy of dealing with Tolkien. I still discover new things like this almost every time I re-read.

[the-nameless-nerd]

did we actually get confirmation that Lucanis is the one who's never been in a relationship? or is this the fandom just running with the idea?

because I love it

but what if it's actually Emmrich, our sensual necromancer too caught up in his work for a relationship, until now?

or confident and charming Davrin, who's boldness guards a heart not wanting to let anyone in?

or our chillingly intelligent Neve, who's too busy fighting for others to think about herself?

just some things to consider

[iamanerd1]

Where the hell is all my Mettaton x Tenna fanart? I want that TV to take it good and well from that other TV!

[evelynpr]

Two times Katsuki and Izuku analyzed a battle with the same conclusion. First was Ochako and her self-sacrificing strategy, now it's Shoto's quirk ability.

A subtle show of how much they mirror each other in their ambitions and mind, narratively speaking.

As an in-world explanation, aside from naturally thinking similarly to the other from long time exposure to each other, maybe it is from watching the same Hero media analyses (like videos, articles, discussions, forums etc.) because of their similar interests in All Might and heroes throughout their life too! This is just a HC tho!

[bietrofastimoff23]

a/b/o, but John’s a beta and the Sentry is an alpha who’s trying to court him like an omega. John explains it away to himself and others, that Bob is just trying to be friendly (bc my boy is canonically terrible at reading the room, I’m crying, and also bc he thinks somewhat stereotypically, like only omegas get courted, that betas usually end up with betas, alphas with omegas etc.).

Maybe something like a 5+1, I don’t know. If anyone wants to adopt this idea, please tag me, bc I have to read this xD

[cursedpossums]

Ik you said you won't change ur URL but you post opossums, not possums. Learn the difference.

[mouthtapedguy]

I once said "colonel" like "co-lo-nel" and the silence was deafening

[uhhlifeig]

Locker Room - March 24 - word count: 261 - @wolfstarmicrofic

Remus crossed his arms, leaning in the doorway to the locker room as he waited for Sirius to notice him.

His boyfriend’s jersey was soaked through with sweat, due to the football team’s recent win against Ilvermorny, another private institution.

The rest of the team were celebrating out on the field, but Sirius's hatred of being sweaty always made him go to the locker room early.

“Oh, hey,” he said, finally looking away from his locker. “Sorry, didn’t see you, Moonshine. Are you enjoying the view?” He winked.

“Oh, very much so,” Remus said dryly, mouth twitching upwards despite himself. “It’s amazing to be standing here and watching you put away your sweaty clothes.”

“I bet it is,” Sirius grinned, stepping away from his locker and towards Remus. “Why don’t I make it up to you?”

“And how do you plan on doing that, sweetheart?” Remus asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Like this.” 

And then Sirius pushed their mouths together in what could only be described as an explosion: like a fireworks show going off at the same time, like fifteen dozen rosebuds blooming in unison. 

For some reason, it was more electrifying than their first kiss, most likely due to the adrenaline still pumping through them both.

They felt like one entity, a singular being.

Remus had once read that humans were once two-headed, eight-limbed creatures that were powerful enough for Zeus to fear them, so he split the androgynous beings- leaving them to look for their other half, their soulmate.

He’d never believed in soulmates before Sirius.

He did now.