eastern-lights - Tumblr blog

[eastern-lights]

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?

[eastern-lights]

So basically

Ishido when he sees a competent and intelligent woman: Marry me. (derogatory)

Toranaga when he sees a competent and intelligent woman: Kill yourself. (affectionate)

something about how toranaga recognizing mariko's intellect leads to him trusting her with his true plan versus ishido seeing ochiba's cunningness and wanting to have sex and how those narrative foils reveal things about both regeants

also, the fact that mariko could keep up with toranaga in free verse poetry when her husband could barely string a line together was crazy good characterization. no wonder she felt uninspired by buntaro. she was leagues ahead of him

[eastern-lights]

Welcome back, Nagakado

[eastern-lights]

When you're stressed out about exams so you put on some relaxing music, but now it's just

[eastern-lights]

Shoutout to Toranaga for having his own unique take on being a disappointed parent.

He's not even mad his son brutally murdered like 30 people and started a war.

He's just angry Nagakado didn't come up with the idea himself.

[eastern-lights]

Why is it kind of funny to me that two of Hiroyuki Sanada's most acclaimed roles (at least where I'm from) are the polar opposites on the ambition spectrum.

Toranaga: will not rest until he has the power to micromanage the entirety of Japan

Seibei: will literally risk being sentenced to death rather then accept more responsibility

[eastern-lights]

Historical Meta: Blackthorne and Mariko's Prayer in Shogun 1.6

So there's a moment in Shogun 1.6 "Ladies of the Willow World" where (spoilers) Mariko and Blackthorne are both praying, specifically they're speaking the Lord's Prayer.

Mariko recites the Lord's Prayer in Latin.

Blackthorne recognizes this and joins in, reciting it in English.

So far, I've seen all reactions to this scene focusing on the intense yearning it depicts between them and this moment of shared connection.

While I definitely do believe that emotion of connection and yearning is there, I think one thing many people in a modern audience wouldn't grasp is that there's an added shade of meaning to Blackthorne joining in English.

Specifically, it's a bit of a "fuck you" to Catholicism. Yes, even in this moment of shared connection and yearning with Mariko. Let me explain.

One of the points of contention between English Protestants and European Catholics was on the language that mass would be given in. The English Protestants believed (to vastly simplify an incredibly complex period in history) that the Bible and Mass and prayers should all be in the vernacular, because people should have an individual right to commune directly with God and save their own souls, so to speak, without priests as a favored intermediary.

Latin as a separate language that largely obscured the holy word from believers, was seen as emblematic to English Protestants of this sort of Church monopoly on access to God that Catholic priests were imposing on believers.

Mariko is a Catholic because she was converted to Christianity through Portuguese Catholic missionaries. The people Blackthorne hates. And Blackthorne hasn't been above insulting Mariko's Catholic faith to her face, let's be clear, so it's not out of the question for this scene that he continues in that vein even in a private moment.

But I don't see it entirely as a "fuck you" to Mariko's beliefs.

Rather, I see it as him in his usual, in-your-face way, trying to show her a better faith, his faith, a faith where prayer is said in a language the believer understands.

To Blackthorne's beliefs, Mariko should be saying the Lord's Prayer in Japanese. She should have a right to her own personal relationship with God that isn't dictated by Catholic priests represented by the prayer being in a separate language she doesn't speak.

So it's a bit of a "fuck you" as he tries to drown out her Catholic Latin prayers with his Protestant English ones but I think to some extent to, there's a sort of missionary desperation to his prayer, trying to show her an alternative, better (in his mind, I'm not impart a value judgement here just trying to explain a historical viewpoint) form of Christianity.

And just to be clear, the Catholic Church didn't allow mass to be in the local language until the Second Vatican Council in 1960.

And yes, in fact as part of the lead up to Protestants splitting away from Catholics, one of the major points of contention was the right to hear mass in the local language and leaders who called for this were often persecuted as heretics by the Church. I only mention this to explain some of the buildup of vitriol that Protestants like Blackthorne would have felt towards Catholic priests as these events would be much more recent history to them (along with Bloody Mary's persecution of Protestants in England in living memory, which is a whole other story).

[eastern-lights]

[eastern-lights]

thinking about how in czech "rozdat si to" can mean either "to fight" or "to fuck" depending entirely on your intentions and I think that's beautiful

[eastern-lights]

so the thing about english is that people think it's so divorced from other germanic languages based on like. words. I've even heard people try to insist that english is a romance language. because of that whole messy business in 1066 with out-of-wedlock willy and his band of naughty normans. and now a good chunk of the vocabulary is french or whatever and they're prestigious so not using them makes you sound like a rube and this and that and the other

and yes william the conqueror will never be safe from me. I will have my revenge on him. he fucked up a perfectly good germanic language is what he did. this will be me in hell

but the thing is that most words in, say, german do have a one to one english equivalent. not all hope is lost, for those who still dare to see it. it's just that you 1066pilled normancels aren't looking in the right place

dog (en) ≠ der Hund (de) but der Hund (de) -> hound (en)

look with your special eyes. that one was easier. not all of them are this intuitive because of semantic narrowing and broadening and waltzing and hokey-pokeying and whatever else. I'll give you a few more

animal (en) ≠ das Tier (de)

aha! you think. I've got him on the ropes now.

but then

das Tier (de) -> deer (en)

nooooo!! you whine and cry in gay baby jail. the consonants are different!!! listen to me. listen, I say, putting both my hands on your shoulder. /t/and /d/ are the same sound. you just put your voice behind one of them.

nooooooooo!! you wail. deer are animals but not all animals are deer!!! listen to me. LISTEN. they used to be. animals used to be deer. that's just what we called them. it was a long time ago. it was a weird time in all our lives. it's okay.

let's try for a verb this time

to die (en) ≠ sterben (de) but sterben (de) -> to starve

same principle with the consonants, we're just changing a stop (where we completely stop the airflow and then let it through) for a fricative (where we still let some air go through. idk where it's going. maybe to its job or something.)

to starve used to mean generally to die, not just to die of malnourishment. we do that a lot. we take one word for a lot of things and make it mean one thing. or take one word for one thing and make it mean a lot of things. this is common and normal.

"okay but roland," you say, suddenly coming up with an argument. "what about tree? trees are super common. I don't think we'd fuck around too much with that. the german word is baum! what about THAT?"

"when did you learn german?" I ask, but then decide it isn't relevant right at this very moment. but fine.

tree (en) ≠ der Baum (de) but der Baum (de) -> beam (en)

beam??? you ask incredulously. beam???? BEAM?????? you continue with the same tone and cadence of captain holt from brooklyn 99.

yes. beam. like the evil beams from my eye I'm going to hit you with if you don't stop shouting.

but the vowels!!! you howl.

listen. listen to me. the vowels mean nothing. absolutely nothing. they're fluid like water. it got raised in english.

"WHAT DOES RAISED MEAN"

it doesn't matter right now. they were raised better than you, at least. stop shouting. open your eyes and see what god has given you. they're the same word.

"they're NOT the same word. they mean different things!"

we've been over this. they didn't used to. a beam was (and is) a long solid piece of wood. much like the long solid piece of wood I showed your mother last night.

FAQ:

Q: could english be some kind of germanic-romance hybrid?

A: do you become a sexy thing from the black lagoon just because you dressed up as one for halloween? english may have gotten a lot of vocabulary from norman french, but its history and syntax are distinctly germanic. that's what we base these things on.

Q: okay but what does it matter? this doesn't actually affect my day to day life

A: you come into my house? you come into my house, the house of an autistic man living in vienna austria and studying english linguistics and you ask me what does it matter? sit back down. I was going to let you go but now I have powerpoints to show you

Q: you're stupid and wrong and gay and a bad person

A: I know it's you, Willy

[eastern-lights]

FJSJFJAJFJAHFOSJHDJAJDHAHDJAJDHA

[eastern-lights]

Uhtred + text posts

[eastern-lights]

speechless. the pose. the expression. this should be a painting.

[eastern-lights]

"Toranaga is the villain!"

"Toranaga is the hero!"

Some of you guys really aren't appreciating the tangled mess of motivations that this man is if you don't believe that he is both.

[eastern-lights]

"My sweet summer child. You actually thought I didn't know that."

John: I fed you shit. I. Fed. You. SHIT.

Toranaga:

Don't worry... :)

I fed you shit too.

(And I'll keep feeding you shit.)

[eastern-lights]

Kiri out here cementing her superior status as the only person who gets to snark at Toranaga and live.

I love her so much.

The way Kiri straight up roasted Toranaga's poetry skills: "Those words are too beautiful to belong to you."

They're such an old married couple I love them 🤣