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When people get a little too gung-ho about-

wait. cancel post. gung-ho cannot be English. where did that phrase come from? China?

ok, yes. gōnghé, which is…an abbreviation for “industrial cooperative”? Like it was just a term for a worker-run organization? A specific U.S. marine stationed in China interpreted it as a motivational slogan about teamwork, and as a commander he got his whole battalion using it, and other U.S. marines found those guys so exhausting that it migrated into English slang with the meaning “overly enthusiastic”.

That’s…wild. What was I talking about?

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We Were There Series: Caeneus

Caenis was a young woman, part of the legendary Greek people known as the Lapiths, who was abducted by Poseidon. He laid with her, and was so pleased with himself afterwards that he promised to pay her a favour. Caenis demanded that he would transform her into a man so that she could never be wronged again or bear anyone’s child, including the sea-god’s. Poseidon obliged and also granted him impenetrable skin. Caenis changed his name to Caeneus.

Caeneus is best known for his efforts against the centaurs, being described as the strongest man on earth. The centaurs could not harm him with weapons, so they piled fir trees and stones over him until he sunk waist deep into the earth. Some stories say that Caeneus sunk all the way to the underworld, or that he flew away as a golden bird.

He is also noted as being the father of Coronus who sailed amongst the Argonauts.

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We Were There Series: Apollo & Hyacinthus

Apollo once fell in love with a young man named Hyacinthus. However, Zephyr, the god of the wind had once been in love with Hyacinthus and became jealous. When Hyacinthus and Apollo went outside one day to play a game of discus, Zephyr made the winds blow strong. The discus Apollo had thrown struck Hyacinthus in the head, killing him.

Distraught, Apollo cradled him in his arms and wept. Hyacinthus began to transform in his arms, becoming dark blue and purple flowers. He had turned into a flower now know as the Hyacinth.

In other regions, a similar myth is told but instead focuses on Hermes and his male lover who transforms into a crocus.

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We Were There: Ganymede

Ganymede was a divine hero from Troy. He is described as the most loveliest among the human race by Homer. His beauty caught the attention of Zeus who needed a cupbearer to replace Hebe who had married Herakles.

The young man was tending to his herd of sheep when an eagle abducted him. The eagle, under Zeus’s command or perhaps even Zeus himself, brought Ganymede to Olympus where he was given immortality in exchange for duties as the gods’ new cupbearer.

In many stories, Hera sees Ganymede as a romantic rival. The Iliad even depicts Hebe as retaining her cup bearing duties while Ganymede is appointed Zeus’s personal cup bearer. Some tales suggest Ganymede is the constellation Aquarius, placed in the cosmos by Zeus next to the eagle constellation Aquila.

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Bonus of the best sheep ever:

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We Were There: Tiresias

One day, a man named Tiresias was walking on a path when he spotted two snakes mating. Instead of walking around them, he hit them both with his walking stick. Hera, outraged by his display of violence, transformed him into a woman.

Tiresias lived for seven years as a woman. She married a man, gave birth to several children, and became a priestess of Hera. Then, one day, she spotted another pair of snakes mating on her path. She killed them both by trampling them, and was transformed into a man.

Hera and Zeus, curious that the man had experienced life as both a man and woman, asked him who enjoyed more pleasure in bed. Zeus thought the woman, and Hera thought the man. When Tiresias answered that a woman receives more pleasure, Hera blinded him. Zeus could not reverse the affects of his wife’s curse, so he gave Tiresias the gift of foresight and long life.

Tiresias is later known as Apollo’s blind prophet in Thebes. He is said to have the powers to understand birds and read the future in smoke.

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We Were There: Iphis and Ianthe

In Crete, a poor man named Ligdus told his pregnant wife Telethusa that they could not afford a baby girl. A dowry was far too expensive, and if the child was female, he would have to kill it. In the middle of the night, the distraught Telethusa was visited by the Egyptian goddess Isis. Isis had sympathized with her, and told Telethusa to keep the child no matter the sex, as she would help her in the future if needed.

Telethusa gave birth to a baby girl. She kept the sex of their child a secret from her husband and raised her as a boy. Ligdus named the baby after his father: Iphis.

When Iphis became an adolescent, her father arranged her to marry Telestes’ daughter, Ianthe. The two had gone to school together, and Ianthe fell in love with Iphis, believing her to be a man. Iphis fell in love with Ianthe, but feared that her secret would be exposed if she married her.

Telethusa delayed the wedding as long as she could, until she called upon Isis to assist her. The goddess was deeply moved by Iphis’s love for Ianthe and transformed her into a man. Iphis and Ianthe married, their wedding overseen by Hera and Aphrodite.

The tale of Iphis and Ianthe is the only story in Hellenistic myth to explicitly include desire between two women. 

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We Were There: Hermaphroditus

Hermaphroditus was the son of Aphrodite and Hermes. He was said to be a beautiful young man who was raised by the fresh water nymphs known as the naiads.

When he turned fifteen, Hermaphroditus decided to travel the country. He ventured into the woods where he met a naiad in her pool by the name of Salmacis. She was immediately attracted to him, but he rejected her advances and sent her away.

Instead of leaving, Salmacis hid behind the bushes and waited for the boy to let his guard down. Hermaphroditus, believing to be alone, began to bathe in the pool. Salmacis came out of hiding and forced herself onto the boy. He struggled and struggled, but couldn’t get her off of him. Salmacis wished for the gods that she and Hermaphroditus should never be apart, and taking her quite literally, the gods granted her wish and melded their bodies into one form.

Hermaphroditus became the god of two sexes and patron of intersex people. He was also used as a symbol of androgyny where he is portrayed artistically as a woman with male genitalia. Sometimes, as an Erotes, he is given wings.

Despite the violence in his origin, there are some sources that say Hermaphroditus was simply born as intersex and erase Salmacis out of his narrative completely.

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i hate when i send someone a meme in another language and they're like "uhm... translate? 😒" fucker i sent you a meme where 90% of the words have an english cognate and/or you don't need to know what they're saying to find it funny. can you at least TRY

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Little me is so happy right now they're gonna explode

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Cat incubating eggs and raising chicks

(Source)

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More star cats! ^_^

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bijou!

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it's hamtaro time

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Howlies Bucky :)

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some of my favorite replies to this tweet. happy lesbian visibility week!

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