#linguistic differences can be hard sometimes </3

[akuma-tenshi]

wait how did kolya die. im p sure it was a long time ago during one of olya's stalker missions or whatever but i dont know the details. what happened to u funni man

dissolved in the grinder. in the incident where olya lost her eye and sergei got all fucked up. it's depicted in the mill n you can see sergei's scars in that one scene in punch it, punk! and some official art. i think nikita got his neck scar there too. iirc sergei saved olya instead of kolya and nikita (kolya's brother?? i think??) was upset at him for it, which.. understandable but also that's a really fucking hard decision to make.

my thing is we never saw his exact death, and we don't know if olya, sergei, and nikita saw the moment he died either (plus trauma kinda changes memories so they may remember it differently); we only know the aftermath. meanwhile with nikita we saw him get shot and like.. heard / saw his final thoughts in message lost (very underrated song btw i sometimes just go listen to it on loop for a bit). it's extremely unlikely that kolya is alive and is probably just getting attention / spotlight bc yura is becoming more entangled with the stalker lifestyle and therefore closer to both past and present stalkers, but i think it's a funky theory and fun to speculate on. i also just rlly like kolya's design, he feels like he'd be fun to chill with (i know nothing about his personality). if he's actually well and truly dead i won't be too fussed abt it but i like theorising lmao

[leohttbriar]

I think Michael like for all that she is she is definitely an anthropologist like I think she takes a very great cultural lense before a scientific

you know, i think you are absolutely right! thank you so much for bringing this up! i wasn't even thinking about her academic specialties when i wrote this post. her first question being about "praying" could very easily just have been the way she was trained to meet alien peoples where they are first before obnoxiously being like "what is that, tho"

and, to your point about the cultural v scientific lens:

for better or worse, i'd say star trek collapses the boundaries between a lot of academic disciplines. "hard" v "soft" science doesn't seem to be a distinction in the star trek speculative world, where linguistics and anthropology are as much about physics and biology and no one is going to pretend like learning languages is a different kind of Study to learning chemistry. this sometimes does not work, imo, because sometimes the writing will accidentally slip into an unexamined essentialism with the alien cultures, which renders the whole of the allegory sort of silly and potentially all kinds of offensive. but it sometimes does work.

discovery, from what i remember of the first two seasons (i'm only just now starting the third, bc i lost my cbs account between 2 and 3, alas! etc), seems more able than other series to collapse the distance between disciplines and walk the line between what is cultural and what is material culture informed by biology. like saru constantly talks of his alien species and how their history of being hunted on his planet manifests in a perpetual anxiety and tamed-curiosity for him but also lends a level of care and sensitivity that he excels in---all of which fleshes out the character while giving him the awareness and consciousness to know why he may be acting a certain way compared to others and why he shouldn't ever be demeaned for it and where his body and his body's millions-of-years-old natural history can be challenged with that consciousness and how his consciousness can be valued precisely for its origins.

the klingons and vulcans, while not as sophisticated as the character saru, also seem to be largely cultural products that are informed by their specific biology. michael, somewhat caught between the cultural product and her own biological reality, can affect vulcan mannerisms and is very often portayed as thinking like a vulcan, while remaining very recognizable to us. her phrasing and her pattern of speech, while not monotone, are normally utterances that move from established fact to logical conclusion. I have nowhere to go back to...the only thing I can do right now is trust something, she says, upon being thrust nine-hundred years in the future. it's the statement of a stoic philosopher (probably one of the "vulcan" influences). she is concerned with what is material and what is real and what is real to others.

which is why i really like what you pointed out about her anthropology expertise--culture is real and often naturalized to those who live in it. michael is definitely someone, what with her studies and how she was raised, who is intimately aware of how the alien can be made familiar, how bodies can't be denied but you can learn to know them, how consciousness is strange and existence-in-causal-time stranger, and how people (all creatures included) are never all one thing or another.

obviously there's no perfect speculative fiction creating speculative cultures. the hurdles of making a sell-able show and the ingrained biases and limitations of the writers are not insignificant. but the storytelling here is engaging with conceits concerning the preciousness of life and the immutability of that preciousness--even if you don't understand it.

(also i just love michael burnham with all my heart. don't think it was a coincidence she was named after the angel who carries a sword.)

[wrencatte]

mini-fic 3! Cere POV. linguist!Cal, Mantis Crew as Family, Merrin & Cal bonding 1.2k words

“This one?”

Cal squints at it for half a second, says “yes,” then looks back down.

“What about this one?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t even look!”

“Greez, that’s the third time you’ve shown me that one.”

“No, it – oh, wait, haha, yeah it is. Okay. Let me see….”

Cere watches in fond amusement as Greez goes back to the shelves. Merrin comes over with a tome from deeper within the city library and angles it in a way Cal can look at it without straining his neck. His expression brightens and he takes it, running his fingers over the edges and corners.

There’s a slight twist in the Force that Cere’s beginning to learn means he found an echo. She has to focus pretty hard to feel it so she only pays it enough attention to be sure Cal’s not about to fall into anything nasty – not that she can do anything about it if he does, but she likes to be prepared – and tunes back into the softly murmured conversation between Merrin and Cal.

The Nightsister looks absolutely delighted at having found something in a language Cal doesn’t recognize, all quiet pride and subtle preening. Cere hides a smile behind her hand. Adorable. Cal flips the tome open and the two of them duck heads, Cal underlining a few words with his finger and saying something that Merrin repeats. He shakes his head and says it again. Her face twists in thought as she sounds it out before giving it voice and he nods rapidly, grinning. She smiles back, one of those small soft ones that pops up whenever it’s just her and Cal.

Cere is just about to go back to her own readings when Greez arrives, BD-1 whirling on his shoulder, a book held over his head in triumph.

“Ha! Try this on for size!”

Cal takes the book carefully. “I know this one,” he tells Greez, who groans in disappointment. “But, oh wow.” He flips through a few pages, lips moving as he reads the text silently to himself. “I can’t believe they have a book written in pre-Reformation Gwyrdd’tafodi. Do you know how rare that is? When they switched over, they deliberately destroyed all they could! An archivist hid this away for a hundred years in order to get it safely off the planet. It kept getting passed down the family line until one of them got passage on a ship.”

Greez crosses one set of arms, his free hands on his hips. He watches Cal fondly as the young Jedi’s excitement grows with every page flip. “You know, I would’ve never pegged you as such a gigantic nerd.”

“Jedi were scholars and peacekeepers before they were soldiers,” Cere says quietly. A hush falls on the group. Cal ducks down, shoulders hunching, eyes kept resolutely on the page though it’s obvious he’s not reading a single word. She smiles and adds lightly, “We’re all nerds.”

Cal laughs first, tinged with grief and legitimate delight. He tucks the book Greez brought under the one Merrin showed him, which makes Merrin throw Greez a smirk and for the latero to throw his crossed arms up in the air in a huff. Cere rolls her eyes fondly and catches Cal’s gaze. He grins, unrepentant, enjoying whatever contest is going on between their friends. It gets Cal more books without him getting up, so he’s not going to stop them.

Greez’s frustration is amusing to watch, especially when he snatches BD from scanning the book Cal has open so he can co-opt the droid’s database to help find a language Cal doesn’t know. It’s not helping. BD-1’s database might be filled with years and years of history and culture but knowing the intimate details of a language instead of just a simple dictionary is completely different.

Merrin listens to Cal read out loud for a few minutes, humming at all the right moments, but obviously thinking hard about something. Cere gives up on reading her book and focuses on the two of them, curious as to what’s going to happen next.

“How many languages do you know?”

Cal’s teeth click he stops talking so fast. “I don’t know,” he admits with a shrug. “Sometimes I don’t even realize I know a language until I see or hear it again. Sometimes not even then! It doesn’t always register it as a different language. It’s just…words I understand.”

She tilts her head, expression intense. “Could you learn Dathomiri?”

He grins and quips something in the smokey, gritty sounding language of Dathomir. Merrin’s eyes widen, and then, suddenly, they glimmer with a wetness both Cere and Cal pretend they don’t see.

Knuckles pressed to her lips, she breathes a very quiet, “oh,” before clearing her throat and adding roughly, “Your accent is terrible.”

“Is it though?” Cal asks smugly.

Merrin scowls. “I will teach you more…if you want to learn.”

Cal’s expression softens. “I would love to. Thank you for sharing it with me.” He adds something in Dathomiri at the end that has Merrin abruptly turning back to their shared book, expression pained and grieving.

Cere nudges the Nightsister with a tendril of the Force and gets a small smile in response. They don’t share the same bond as Jedi do, but theirs is enough for Cere to believe her. She settles back in her chair, musing on what her life has become, sharing a bond with a Nightsister, before she shrugs it off and fully intends on finally going back to her reading with Merrin and Cal’s back-and-forth as a background noise.

Except Greez comes back again, the book he carries is much thinner than any of the ones stacked around Cal like a barrier. BD-1 clicks excitedly and Greez is grinning smugly as he waves the book in the air.

“Did you know this place has an unknown language section? Guess who found it!” he all but brags. Merrin frowns, nose wrinkling while Cal laughs brightly and holds out a hand for the book.

Greez slaps it in his hand, earning a scandalized look from one of the librarians. Merrin and Cere laugh as he hunches down with quick apologies. Cal inspects the book carefully. If there are any echoes, they’re soft and quick. He grins.

“Congratulations, Greez, I don’t know this one.”

The latero cheers silently, all four arms thrown up in victory.

Merrin rolls her eyes. “You still lost. I found one first.”

Cal hums. “Best two out of three? This place is open for another five hours.”

The two of them exchange looks for a full second before Merrin jumps out of her chair and rushes into the depths of the library. Greez yelps and follows her as fast as he can without running. Cere hides her face, as though that will keep people from realizing they’re with her. Cal laughs, covering his mouth with his book. His eyes peek over, glittering in mirth. He pulls the book away, and holds it to his cheek, leaning in like he has a secret. Cere can’t help but lean in to hear it.

“I already know the language,” he admits.

Cere blinks at him then laughs loudly – nearly getting them kicked out of the library.

[ask-the-clergy-bc]

What would the Emeritus brothers be like with a bilingual s/o? Specifically, one whose mother tongue they don’t speak? Like Spanish, Portuguese, or Mandarin, to name a few examples.

Thanks for opening up requests! Love your blog! 🖤

Thank you so much!! <3 I hope you enjoy!! <3 

Papas with a Bilingual S/O 

You did ask for an S/O with a mother tongue the Papas did not speak, so I’m going to follow that guideline. But I DID just want to add a fun fact in there as well! 

The Papas are actually all polyglots, meaning they can all speak multiple languages! Some more than others for one reason or another. When it comes to being a demonic pope with legions in so many parts of the world, you HAVE to speak so many different ones! However, this doesn’t mean they all speak every language to exist (except maybe Primo.) 

I also kept the reader’s native tongue vague so you can apply whichever you’d like! :)

-

Papa Nihil: He might speak several languages, but he’s not exactly the best at picking up new ones these days. Sometimes you can’t teach an old dog new tricks… but that doesn’t mean he won’t try! Whether he learns your native tongue or not, Nihil is happy to listen to you speak. Nihil adores when you playfully teach him new words or phrases. He is happy to use the best ones on you! Nihil is happy to know enough of your first language to convey his feelings or know yours. So expect him to at least know how to tell you he loves you, or that he wants you to have a good day. Truthfully, when it comes to his love of horror movies he might ask you to translate certain iconic scenes into your native tongue! And best of all? He will be putty in your hands when you flirt in your native language! Daily you get a lot of, “Amore, how do you say *insert random mundane word* in-?” Random words he has asked about so far; TV, blanket, carrot, window, Ghoul, screw driver, and swimming.

Papa I: You would be hard pressed to find a language Papa couldn’t speak, or at the very least understand everything you were saying. Papa is a legendary linguist within the Ministry, and has led many apprentices in keeping dead languages alive. But that doesn’t mean his verbal speaking is perfect in every tongue! So he was delighted when you were open to letting him learn more from you with your first language. These impromptu lessons are actually what caused you both to become close friends and eventually a couple! Papa appreciates all your efforts in teaching him, and he is a fast learner. He has even gone so far as to encourage you to teach lessons to the siblings of sin, if you were so inclined! In your daily lives he will always speak to you or leave you thoughtful notes in your first language. The only difficulty he has is learning slang and common sayings… but you find it both hilarious and a bit adorable when he tries!  

Papa II: Funnily enough, you both don’t know each other’s first language. Most of your communication has been through English! So it was a fun time for you both when you became closer to deciphering each other’s native tongue. You mutually wanted to be able to understand each other in all three languages; Your first language, his Italian, and English! So it was a lot of work and fun together. Papa absolutely loves teaching you Italian every chance he can. Claiming that it just sounds so much better rolling off of your tongue. And in turn, he cherishes every time you sit in his lap to teach him more of your language. Papa picks it up rather fast, even if it’s not entirely perfect. You both eventually know enough to hold a conversation in each other’s mother tongue! Though Papa prefers letting you get to speak, no matter what the language is. He just finds your voice soothing overall. He also happily teaches you how to curse someone out so you can use it in the ministry! You laughed at the generous offer! 

Papa III: Ever the romantic, Papa finds it incredibly charming when you flaunt your linguistic skill around him! Language is such a beautiful and fascinating subject! There is nothing more interesting to him than learning how each different language communicates- especially when it comes to poetry and music. He is wrapped around your finger each time you use your first language to flirt with him. Papa will constantly encourage you to try and seduce him with your words (even if you only pretend. He’ll never know what you’re ACTUALLY saying if you say it with enough flirty tones!) While proficient in the languages he uses regularly for his Papal duties, it takes him a little longer than his eldest brother to pick up your first language. But that doesn’t stop him from trying! Papa will go out of his way to make sure he knows the basics so he can always tell you the most important phrases of your mother tongue! Such as ‘Good Morning/Night’, ‘Thank you’, all the pick up lines, and eventually ‘I love you.’ Though the majority of the time, he uses it to flirt with you or gossip. 

Papa IV/Cardinal Copia: One of the original reasons you fell for Copia was that he went out of his way to learn your native tongue when you first became friends. According to him, you always exclusively used Italian when speaking with him. It was only fair that he learned your first language too! Copia was a hobbyist linguist on top of being an official tome translator for the ministry at one point. So he was happy to learn a new language to converse with you! As a couple, this is one of his favorite ways to bond with you. He sees it as a chance to grow closer to you while perfecting his grammar and pronunciations! Typically, Copia will switch to your native tongue when you are alone or at home. But he’s also not above utilizing it in public when he doesn’t want others to eavesdrop… or just shit talk someone in the room he can’t stand.

[honeekyuu]

hi honey! im sending this to ask you how you decided that you wanted to pursue a PHD. im thinking of getting a phd in economics because I’ve always been super interested, but im not sure if that’s the path for me yet. what do you think are some pros and cons to getting one and how did you know that this was the right path for you??

-b.

hi!!! omg wow what a question. i will say first that everyones phd experience looks a little different, so i can talk ab mine but definitely take it with a grain of salt!!

i knew i wanted to do a phd because 1) i love being in school, and 2) while i was getting my B.A in linguistics, i had a lot of questions that were higher level and more specific than my undergrad classes could really get into. I also worked as a research assistant to a professor in the East Asian Languages and Civilizations dept for about 3 years, and she was my closest mentor and advisor in that time. she was a korean historian, and she encouraged me to keep studying something related to korean, because that had been my specialization of sorts when it came to choosing classes and research projects. i had a feeling around that time that i wanted to go on to a graduate program of some sort.

after i finished undergrad, i took a year off to figure my life out, and in that time, i worked one on one with a professor in the Linguistics dept at my undergrad for about 9-10 months. under her guidance, i wrote what would have essentially been a masters thesis about korean linguistics, and i knew in that time that i wanted that paper to be the paper i submitted to phd programs.

i think there are a few things to consider when thinking ab a phd:

phds are extremely individual research focused. my program doesnt offer a terminal master's degree (it's included within the phd program as a milestone), but phds are NOT like "undergrad 2.0". ive seen a number of people make that mistake in my program, focusing only on coursework and waiting for their advisor to give them research to do. im not sure how econ works, but in ling, we're thrown straight off the deep end into research. im only a 3rd year, and my master's degree research project was accepted into the top korean linguistics conference in the world, which is 100% a FLEX but also this is only happening because my advisors are cutthroat research gods who pushed pushed pushed me from the very first day. so please be aware that phds are very self-driven. you need the motivation to work on your own for long periods of time.

some people think a phd is a lonely experience. i think it certainly can be, because everyone is working on their own hyper-specific research project, but it's also very important for that reason to have friends. my closest friend in the department is 3 years above me, and we only became friends because i arrived screaming crying throwing up with fear and anxiety ab my work and he literally clocked me as the kid who needed the most emotional grounding LMAO. my other closest friend was literally my research assistant. he was an undergrad. but he was my age (korean military service delays college quite a lot, it seems), so once his contract w me was up, it turned into us helping him apply for grad schools too!! and now the four of us (them + my partner) have weekly stardew valley screaming sessions on discord and saturday brunch with animal crossing. it's not lonely, and i think that's because i knew it would be if i didnt make friends.

i think ill say one more thing before i stfu. grad school is hard. it's so so hard. please be aware of that. some days im drowning in mental health issues and fearing even a chance encounter in the hall with my advisors because i know theyll ask about something i havent gotten done yet. sometimes im literally sobbing on my couch, overwhelmed beyond belief wondering if i can do this. sometimes i become self-destructive and isolated and so terribly unwell that my mom starts calling my partner because i wont pick up the phone. it's fucking hard. but it's also the happiest ive ever been, truly. the really really hard days are worth it, because the really good days or even just the decently good days are much more frequent and amazing. running down the hall to avoid my advisor seeing me is worth it because, when things are good, he invites me to coffee and we spend 2+ hours talking about my future. he tells me he pushes me because he knows i can do what needs to be done and change the field. he makes my life hell because, once im through it, no one else could ever question the quality of my work and the job market is going to be so beautiful once i get there. i started grad school a nervous wreck with terribly low self-esteem who thought that my research could never cut it or be interesting enough. im barely going into my 3rd year, and ive been broken down and reformed into the kind of person i used to look up to, by my own sheer willpower to be the strongest i can be. im not afraid to fail anymore, because ive failed a million times in the last 2 years. im not afraid to fuck up, because ive fucked up so many times, in front of the two people who hold my future in their hands, and im still here. grad school is worth it to me because im the version of myself that the me from undergrad would never believe exists.

[thecrazyworldbuilder]

Hey I love your work. Listen, I want to hear what your favorite topic is. What's something you could talk extensively about and never get bored? What has your unflagging enthusiasm and dedication?

Make it a long post! Put your heart out there! You do so much for us, I want to hear about your favorite things now. (If this isn't allowed, I am also always eager to hear about map making!)

Oh. Oh hoho.

Well I in general love worldbuilding. But in total, my interest leans towards things that are... Easier, so to say.

Neography, for example, as the "flavor" of worldbuilding. Conlangs, albeit I do tend to lean towards cryptolangs more. And mapmaking, solely geographic that is. Nations and stuff gets too trickier after a while.

I am planning on making a YouTube channel with me ranting about majority of my worldbuilding-related stuffs, with no bullshit statements like "hard worldbuilding is objectively better than soft worldbuilding" because... Those are made up terms. And as a linguist/etymologist I fucking hate made up terms. A rock is a rock, no matter what language. Things like laziness, gender, or duty and honor. Those are abstract, and easily manipulated, easily twisted. Hell in many cases these things do not exist at all (I personally don't believe in nationality, laziness and gender. Nationality is a defunct tool of uniting primitive people together, laziness is always a sign of disability or dismotivation, and gender is just bullshit).

But I could rant just a little I guess, for you the asker xD

Neography.

How genius it is to sometimes see a whole script become the face of a franchise, instantly recognizable and fancy. Tengwar, Klingon, Vulcan, Daedric, Aurebesh - You name it, they are all tasty as pie. They are done beautifully and by experts, high standard and fancy looking, unlike some scripts I prefer to call "cereal box ciphers" (The most notorious example for me is the Artemis Fowl Gnommish script. Just why.)

My @thecrazyneographist and now @fuckyeahasemic sideblogs are dedicated just to that - Neography. As well @verical, dedicated solely to my Verical script.

I have been commissioned by a comic artist in Chicago to create a script for him, have worked with r/starfall for a while, and right now my already invented scripts Satuuoorn and Wisehand/Xeotaijuep'af are being used by a gamedev for a first-person shooter/slasher >:D

I have. So many writing utensils at home. I have written calligraphy with a sharpened chopstick once. I still own it I think.

Gods just. NEOGRAPHY. It's knowledge put in written form - I am writing right now and it's a whole experience! I know how to write in Latin yes, but other scripts, scripts of MY making... That's a different experience. I can write in several made-up scripts by me: Age Mason, Verical, Taenic/Taenian and Bosutoku/Tetumonigo.

Conlangs.

Me and a friend are running @conlangcrab about them.

Conlangs are such an intricate part of worldbuilding. They give the world their own sound.

Though I am too driven-crazy by ADHD and unable to keep my sails steady on a singular conlang project, unmedicated, I usually prefer cryptolangs instead; An invention/coined word o'mine standing for "the middle between conlangs and ciphers; ciphers that change written information while keeping it pronounceable". Check out @cryptolangsguy for more info on that.

I so dislike when conlangs are done bad* in worldbuilding; Just as I dislike bad neography. In many cases writers are monolingual and really don't know the struggle of knowing several languages (fyi, I know 3 irl. bugger, ong).

Mapmaking.

I will just share all the maps I've ever created JUST for the RP server I am DMing, as well as the current map of Raskol - The setting for the oncoming Caramel Dice playtesting campaign.

Raskol

RP server

[frenchiepal]

don't worry about late reply clearly i am also late...i hope your thesis is going well i know how busy it can get i also just finished up my degree D: (what am i going to do with myself now that i'm done???)

ah, yes I think it's normal to push phonetics/phonology. i've talked to some professors and they've said my uni is a bit of an outlier because it has profs who specialize both in formal linguistics (with the more traditional focus) and more functional/applied linguistics. so i guess it's me more so with the unique experience!

yes...i really didn't like learning about UG and syntax trees etc etc (i seriously don't get the point like why try to fit a language into pre-conceived UG when you could study it with an open mind and learn so much more?) I was lucky! I was actually able to take hist ling both during my undergrad degree (i did a ling minor) and again for my MA...it was !so fun! and a lot of hard work too, but often the best classes are. hopefully you'll be able to take one sometime!!! it's just such an interesting topic

p.s. all ling memes are welcome

you 🤝🏼 me

replying late

(must be a linguistics thing lmao)

first of all congrats on finishing your degree ahh?? 🎉🎉 i wish my uni would offer more applied linguistics tbh if only to give me more arguments against the "linguistics is useless and you're gonna end up as a taxi driver/jobless" crowd :') imo it's a fifty fifty chance what kind of syntax course you get - either the cool one (yay how to different languages operate?) or the loser one (ug, also trees) dbdbs

i'm gonna post all the lingi memes i have soon there are so manyy

lots of love! <3

[studyof-love-and-life]

Hi! I’m a first year uni student and I was wondering if you could help me out with something? It’s my second week and I’m already having trouble balancing my time. In general, how much time should I spend on each class outside of lectures a week? If it changes things I go to a decently prestigious school

[don’t feel pressured to respond if you don’t want to. I just saw your other advice posts and thought it was worth a shot :)]

Hi lovely! Figuring out time management was hard for me when I started undergrad, too. A general rule of thumb I've heard from professors is that for every credit/hour of class you have per week, you should spend 2-3 hours outside of lectures on that class. So in theory, for a 3 credit class you should spend 6-9 hours on it per week. However, I'd say that that isn't always the case! Sometimes you don't need that much time and sometimes you might need more, and I think that comes down to the class and professor more than the school (not the most helpful answer, I know, and I'm sorry for that)

I'm just going to brainstorm some general ideas below 💕

What are you studying? If you're in STEM, you might find yourself doing a lot of problem sets (my best friend was a math major and she was constantly doing work because each class would assign a certain amount of problems, and each would take a long time to do), and maybe some readings on top of that. She said that something that helped her was working with study groups can help keep you on track, and if you like them then it's even better because then you're hanging out with a friend too. She also set a cutoff time everyday where she would stop doing work so she could have a little time for herself

For me with linguistics, I had a LOT of readings to do for all my classes. Learning how to effectively skim texts and still understand the general point is a valuable skill, and it saves a lot of time! Most professors don't expect you to remember every single detail from readings, they often just want you to understand the argument and the general takeaway so you can apply it to the class (my point with asking what you're studying is that depending on the types of assignments, you might need different tips - even though I'd say my friend's tips can apply to anyone)

On a related note, lots of people take notes while reading. I had so many readings sometimes that I didn't have time for that, so if you're in a similar situation, instead of doing detailed reading notes, try reading your chapter/article, and then take a couple minutes to figure out your top 3 concepts from it that you think are most important and write those down with a quick blurb to refer to and what chapter/article the concept is from

Plan ahead and prioritize what you NEED to get done. Sometimes you won't get to everything, and you can't be too hard on yourself about it (which is easier said than done)

I've not tried this personally but I have some friends who set timers when they have multiple classes to study for. When the timer is up, they switch to the next class so they know they at least spent some time on it (it worked for them, maybe it would work for you! Again, I've not tried it)

As classes move forward and you have essays and projects come up, try to break them down into steps over multiple days/weeks. I've found doing that helps keep me from waiting until the last minute

I live by my planner. I tend to forget things if they're not written down, and it helps keep me organized as well (I write down my assignments in different colors based on what class they're for). I've found that if I can see everything I have to do it helps me prioritize and keep on track. Also it's silly but it really feels like you're getting things done when you get to cross things off, which can be oddly encouraging

Schedule in some time for yourself when you can. Part of balancing time in uni is making sure you're not being over worked. Join a club or make sure you have time to do something you enjoy, or even just time to relax :)

I hope this helps and I'm sorry I couldn't help more! Figuring out how to balance time can be pretty tailored to the individual and the classes being taken, but I hope any of these ideas are helpful! Also feel free to keep asking me things, or DM me if you want! You're going to do WONDERUL and AMAZING things ✨️

I'm also going to tag @peregrination-studies! She is my go-to studyblr buddy for if I need any tips or encouragement or a buddy to talk to 💛 check out her blog too (also hi grace! If you have anything you'd add, feel free but of course no pressure <3)

[farrukh-schumann]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers :D

(No pressure obviously ;) feel free to ignore)

Hi darling! How are you? It’s been a long time!

Hmm, it’s hard to think of that, but I’ll try.

1. Music

My favourite. Music makes me feel so many things! I can sense things so ethereal I sometimes think that I’m imagining it.

2. Video games

No matter what I play on: Nintendo Switch or PC, I always get so many happiness just from the process of playing. More than that, I adore exploring details about the production of my favourite games, it makes them become more vivid, full and interesting in my mind! They are wholly unique and new worlds ready to be discovered.

3. Sweets

Chocolate, especially milk chocolate is my favourite.

4. Linguistics

I adore studying on my program in university, examining languages and different ways they work. Further to add, I like speaking English on my English lessons. It brings me pure joy.

5. Comfortable things

I like buying things, although I try to by the things that are really useful and will be used by me for years, if not more. But when I buy especially expensive, beautiful and comfortable thing, I feel so happy that I cannot wait to put it on and wear it everywhere. The possibility of choosing cool clothes gives me not only the opportunity to express myself, but become more confident and feel better.

Thank you so much for asking, that was fun ❤️

[shihalyfie]

Kōshirō/Koushiro/Koushirou and Jō/Jou/Jyou: Is there a correct or most accurate version or is it a free-for-all? (I don't know any Japanese apart from baka! and I don't know how romanization works.)

Yep, they're all correct!

So what's going on here with both names is that that the kanji in their names map to the readings "ko-u-shi-ro-u" and "jo-u". Therefore, if you want to show the embedded reading most accurately from a linguistics perspective (since there is a difference between "o" and "ou" in that case), yes, you should be including the u -- but as long as we're talking on social media and not in a linguistics conference, the priority should be more on what's easier for the average person to read (or what looks nice).

Japanese has a quirk where if "o" and "u" are next to each other in that order, it's usually read off as a long "o" (or in other words, "o-u" and "o-o" are pronounced the same). For the sake of neatness, a lot of things will drop the "u" because it can get confusing to have too many of those in English contexts. And, I mean, I think even the most stubborn of "but the spelling!" diehards will have a hard time writing JoJo Part 3's protagonist's name as Kujou Joutarou. A lot of people will get mad at you if you do that.

The use of ō is the same principle in that it drops the u to make it look nice, but also has the line (called a "macron") to correctly indicate it's a long "o", not a single-syllable "o". Personally, I don't prefer it because I just don't like how it looks (and my American keyboard can't type it easily anyway), but it's a compromise for those who don't want to see potentially confusing romanizations but want to be more linguistically accurate.

As for "Koushiro" and "Jyou", those originate from the Ryuu-Rogue fansub of Adventure. I'm not from that team, so you'll have to ask them about their reasoning, but my guess is that "Koushiro" was just done for how it looks (as you can see, it's not linguistically accurate since it mismatches by retaining one "ou" but not the other). "Jyou" seems to be a byproduct of the fact that, for some reason, the fansub group liked to transliterate "j-" as "jy-". To be honest, it's kind of an odd decision because no standard romanization system does this, and the main translator for Ryuu-Rogue (onkeikun, whom you probably owe something to if you follow any fan translated Digimon stuff) stopped using that romanization several years ago and currently uses "Jou" in any Adventure-related stuff she translates now. But due to the important position of RyRo's fansub and all of onkeikun's early translations for anyone who follows Digimon in Japanese, a lot of fandom veterans picked up on that "Jyou" romanization and still use it today.

Incidentally, official stuff sometimes romanizes the name as "Joe", even when using Japanese names. This is a total Anglicization and a "stylized romanization" rather than a linguistically accurate one, but it's actually pretty common for characters or even public figures named "Jou" to use this romanization on an official basis (for instance, the protagonist of Cyborg 009). Probably because it looks cool.

Personally I use "Jou" and "Koushirou" just because I think it feels consistent, and it's also the romanization used in PositronCannon's 02 fansubs, so there's precedent. To be honest, I don't think Digimon fans have ever really been that picky about romanizations for the Japanese names, so I just recommend using whatever works best for you.

[paradoxcase]

QuCheanya post 3:

I have added an extra tense:

"Sideways" tense is for talking about things in other timelines. What I've discovered when trying to write this story is that this tense is actually quite necessary. You know the gay fanfiction problem? Where you have two participants in the sentence, and they both use the same pronouns, and sometimes it becomes hard to figure out which pronoun refers to which person? Well, time travel stories have an even worse version of the gay fanfiction problem, which is that sometimes two participants not only have the same pronouns, but also have the same name because they are both versions of the same person from different times, or different timelines, or something. I never realized it until now, but Homestuck actually handled this so seamlessly I never realized it was an issue. We have all the pesterlogs where people are specifically labeled with whether they are from the past, or the future, or the present, and we have people talking about "past Karkat" or "future Karkat", etc. which is basically exactly what QuCheanya does with noun tenses. And then in another place, we have an alternate timeline Dave being referred to as "feltsuit Dave" (ok, I can't remember if that term actually existed in canon or only in fandom, but he was identified in canon by the outfit he was wearing), Dave who comes back from the doomed timeline becomes Davesprite, Jade's dead dreamself becomes Jadesprite, etc. I remember people joking about how Homestuck was just all about coming up with new modifiers for "self", e.g. "dreamself", "past self", "spriteself", whatever, but the thing is, it needed to do this in order for all the time travel to make sense. And then at the end, we had that conversation between Vriska and (Vriska) which had the potential to be extremely confusing, but Hussie utilized a fandom meme to make it clear who was speaking when. Anyway, I digress. The point is, the noun tenses solve this gay time travel fanfiction problem pretty well.

I now have actual interlinears explicating the tense system:

Those are the simple past/present/future tenses. I think that use of rinu may be new content, but we'll get to that part later.

Here's an example of the time travel tenses in action:

Imagine, you're asked to design a conlang, and the next day someone shows up with a grammar of your conlang and the example sentences are actually about YOU.

-me indicates a noun is a title, so, neaSapfita just means "priestess" with a little p, while neaSapfitame means "Priestess" with a big P that has to precede someone's name. You can also stick on the back of regular names to mean Mr. or Mrs.

Here is an example with an embedded clause with a different tense:

And here is the "I don't like you" example spelled out in the document, complete with a sideways tense example:

Side note at this point, that I'm now no longer using tables to make these interlinears and instead using the dedicated package for linguistics examples, expex, which is why they look so much better, and why there are more of them. It's great.

That's it for today.

[disastardly]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag @hereforanepilogue!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 16, with more on my mostly-abandoned FF.net account

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 163,682 (and about ~200k more unpublished in my WIP folder)

3. What fandoms do you write for? Right now the big one is Stranger Things but my forever fandom is Power Rangers/Sentai/Kamen Rider. I've also written for Psych, Doctor Who, and Supernatural. (Most of my SPN and DW stuff is sequestered to my FF account.)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Descent into the Depths of the Earth (Or at Least Milwaukee) (1093)

To Find a King (869)

Dream On (112)

In the Mood (112)

Cold Hard Bitch (104)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I really try to, but sometimes it gets away from me and I worry it's been too long since they left the comment, and it turns into a whole thing (in my head ofc).

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Descent, easily. The post kiss freakout being resolved in another fic? When the fic was originally going to end very differently? Yeaaaaaaah.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Toss up between TFaK (fully resolving's Descent's angsty ending) or California (literally a mini-fic about the OTP getting married).

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not so far?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have, mainly some pretty straightforward m/m stuff. A few funkier attempts swim around my WIP folder, almost certainly never to see the light of day.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I've written a lot of subtle crossovers, but only two overt ones, and I think the craziest would be the Doctor Who/Office one I wrote back in high school. Dwight is a Dalek!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? If anyone has, they didn't ask or tell me (or it's been long enough that I forgot).

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have not!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? At this point, feels safe to say Maddie/Nick, even if that's at least 75% my own interpretations and projections. Destiel, Shassie, and Steddie are pretty darn close, especially Destiel, even if I haven't been involved in that fandom in over a decade.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? A few of my orphaned fics on FF.net will probably never see the light of day, as well as some of the half-formed works in my current WIP folder. Technically have the finished final chapter of Magical Mysteries but no motivation to edit, so still holding hope for that one.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, I think. I spend a lot of time trying to imagine the scenes I write and hear the dialogue how I think the actors would deliver it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Conciseness, clearly. Takes a lot of self-editing to wrangle a story to a manageable, clear narrative.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I've done bits and pieces of it here and there, mainly with the like five languages that I can double-check against my own thin linguistic knowledge.

19. First fandom you wrote for? if you dig back far enough, pretty sure it was Pokemon on the Bulbagarden forums

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Descent, easily. Despite the angsty ending, it was fun to write a slice of life centered on two characters I love, going to an event I love even more.

no pressure tags for @eriquin @serpentinegraphite and whoever else sees this, go wild

[juni-ravenhall]

a story or small book or a poem about stuff i thought about

i didnt have any responsible adults in my entire life. i dont have any still now, when im a disabled adult living in poverty. i think a lot about how nice it would be to find some lonely old middle class people who take a liking to me and adopt me as their kid or grandkid since theirs doesnt talk to them much. how much it would help me to have support from anyone.

i was the most bullied kid in my entire elementary school. i never thought of it that way until recently when i randomly said it out loud during a convo on some related topic. after elementary school i was still bullied and isolated and judged, but not always the no.1 victim. i have a lot of damage from how bullied and alone ive always been, including how isolated i am now. i had friends sometimes, but i lost them.

i live in poverty and cant afford a dishwasher or a good bed. my back hurts a lot on top of my other illnesses. i have to wash a lot of dishes and cook a lot of food alone. the bed is uncomfortable. it hurts my back. when my back hurts, it makes it harder to focus, or rest. it makes everything harder than it already is. i cant really think at all on the days when the pain is worst. i stretch. i try. but im also stuck without money inside a small apartment in a bad neighbourhood, and its hard to feel the motivation to do anything.

the wellfare system and the healthcare system doesn't care to help me get healthy. i'm supposed to simply "find a job", even though my resumé is empty with an unexplainable gap of a decade. i dropped out of uni maybe 3 or 5 times. i dont have a degree. i barely made it through highschool. i didnt know that it was mental illness and symptoms of the abuse. i didnt understand that until i was over 20. i still didnt understand that when i tried to do uni, over and over. i kept trying because i am a hopeful person. i tried to learn alone and create alone, too, because i had hope. but hope doesn't get you anywhere if you don't have any support. i know that now.

i think about that im smarter and more knowledgeable and more effective than most people ive ever met who earn 30k sek a month. like the people who yell at me from the wellfare office for asking questions. or the doctors who conclude that i require no treatment despite my obvious disability. or the people making videogames who dont understand anything about game design. i do understand it and i could teach them so much in one hour, if they talked to me. i could make someone a master artist if i taught them for a few weeks. i am fluent in english on top of my native language and understand linguistics and etymology really well. i can read and write in 4 different alphabets at least. one time i composed an original piece of music for my sibling's school project in the span of a few hours of a night, and they told me everyone in their group was amazed that i made something unique for them, from scratch, that quickly.

i don't think that i'm less capable or less skilled or less intelligent or less rational or less efficient, than middle class people. i don't have any proof that this would be the case. the thing i do have proof of is that i have a lot of struggles that come from being a childhood and adulthood abuse victim and bully victim with no support network, with no help, with no money to ask for help. maybe i wouldn't be this damaged today if i had had 15k sek a month for a few years.

i wouldnt even know how to spend 30k sek a month. well, that's not true. i would save it for the future, to stay safe, while also donating to people in my communities, like my tumblr dashboard. that person that often struggles with rent and meds. that person that does emergency commissions. that person with a sick cat. those people, i would give 1000kr each of my 30.000kr salary. if i gave 1000kr to three different poor people every month, i would still have 27.000kr. if my rent and bills were around 10000kr (in a nicer place than now), and i eat food and use hygiene products for around 3000kr, and i buy meds and clothes and bus tickets and small things for around 2000kr, i would still have 12.000kr left. thats pretty much just completely insane. if i saved 12k sek every month, i would have saved more than 100.000kr in one year from my salary, and still given away 1000kr every month to three poor people, and still been able to live happily with food, medicine, bus tickets and cinema visits, and warm clothes in my size.

i could save 12k sek a month, or i could use 2000kr more, to give 1000kr more to two more poor people. for a total of 5 different struggling humans who i could give 1000kr each month. and still save 10.000kr for my future safety. every month. more than 100.000kr savings a year.

the people who earn 30k sek a month in sweden are earning relatively small salaries. there are many who earn 35k, or even 40k, or even more than that. they don't usually give 1000kr a month to 5 different poor people. they also don't usually get therapy, which they can afford, although some do. if i had 10.000kr left just for savings every month, i would get horse therapy, every week. but i might not even have to use the 10k for that. i might be able to cover that partially with the 2000kr i calculated for other spendings. i would be really happy if i could get horse therapy every week.

if you are middle class, you don't live in the same world we do, i don't think. i don't really understand how it works anymore. if you could give 1000kr to 3 or 5 starving people every month, and still save 10.000kr every month, and still live freely and happily and healthily yourself every month. why would you not do that? i think that's why they say "poor people stay poor because we give money away". when we have it, we share it, because we understand how valuable even the smallest sums are. but it's still hard for me to understand how people earning 30k+ sek every month are the majority of this country and how the majority of people are not doing anything similar with their money as what i would do.

my skills, logic or knowledge don't earn me anything. because if you don't have a network, if you don't have support, if you don't have anything, you can't get anything, either.

my only way out is to keep having hope even though i've learnt that hope doesn't actually help me at all, beyond keeping me from killing myself, sometimes. mostly it's the fact that yasmin would be alone that keeps me from it though. because she also has no support, she also doesn't have anything. at least we are together, in the cold without proper winter clothes. at least we are together, when the drug addicts are banging on our window at 4am. at least we are together, wondering how to ever find any means of employment, in a system that's built against us. how to find support in a society where middle class people will tell you that you aren't trying hard enough, while they don't know even how much 100kr is.

112kr is bus tickets back and forth to downtown for two people. that means we can go windowshopping together, or to the library, but we can't buy anything. 200kr means we can go downtown *and* buy a small trinket or a snack. 500kr, means we can go downtown and buy a piece of second hand clothing, or go to the cinema together, or eat a restaurant meal together, one of those things.

1000kr to a poor person every month can help them buy their meds. pay their rent. or to go to the cinema to cheer up, because sitting in a cold small apartment in a bad neighbourhood can make you feel really bad. it doesn't make it easier to work, or easier to study, or easier to get healthier and move up in society. it's really hard to make a "class journey upwards". middle class people seem to not realise that they've been fed propaganda about poor people. i can understand that the upper classes don't know and don't care, because they are horrible unempathetic people all throughout. if you have that much money and don't help the ones less fortunate, or fight the system for us and with us, there is no redemption.

but middle class people, for some reason, it feels as if you should know. as if you should understand how much 100kr is, or how much 1000kr is, or how much 10.000kr is. because you are only one car accident or one severe health problem away from starting to trickle down in class. well, that wouldn't be enough if you have a support network, or if you have a lot of savings, or if you have a loaded family. but over time, with long-term disability, you might lose your middle class. or maybe your sibling does, or your best friend.

it feels as if it shouldn't be that far away from you, that you can't imagine, that you can't understand that some of us right here around you, in your communities, would have our lives changed by having even half of your money every month. the fact that you don't even have to donate a few 100s "instead of" saving it, or "instead of" spending it on games, or on netflix, or on restaurants. you can spend 1000kr on 5 different poor people each month and still have 10.000kr left over just for savings, or for as many gacha tickets as you want, or for trips to spain, if you prefer.

middle class and upper class people's ability to be patrons to those stuck in lower classes without losing any of their own priviledges is just very interesting. i've seen middle class people tell lower class people that their commissions are too expensive. but if you earn 30k sek a month, paying 1000kr for one single commission is actually more or less nothing to you, on average. the same goes for buying products not made in sweatshops. if you have 10.000sek left to save every month, i think you can afford to not support fast fashion, or fast food. poor people are being exploited, ruined and killed to create those products. not for any fault of their own, but because they were born unfortunate. and poor people on your dashboard are unable to pick up their medicines or pay their rents or buy food and warm clothes, not for any fault of their own, but because they were born unfortunate.

we were born without support networks, without responsible and healthy adults around us. we were bullied and isolated in school. we didn't have the opportunity to make "class journeys upward", because we didn't get healthcare or wellfare or other support to help us get through school, or to help pay for it. we didn't have any energy or ability to "network" and lick boots and kiss ass to get special treatment from richer people, even if we wanted to. the bullying and the abuse gave us PTSD, social phobias. reclusiveness. somehow they really don't understand how hard it is to create a network out of nothing, if you have damage from abuse and bullying. how it's not actually your fault that you don't have support. how it's not your fault you didn't just "get better", when the systems are built against you.

i've been a "free psychologist" to many people online for many years. people tell me "nobody understood me that well before", or "wow, that really changed my life". but i'm actually very tired of being a good therapist for no rewards other than seeing people feel better. no payment. and every time i play a videogame, i imagine i could have a sit-down with the developers and outline to them every single thing they could do to improve the game and sell more copies and have happier players. it comes very easy to me. but there is no way to just become a paid psychologist or a videogame fixer out of an empty resumé. i am not able to try to get a uni degree again, because then i would have no money at all for food and rent. so i am here with my empty resumé, without any support, without warm winter clothes in my size. without 1000kr to give to 3 or 5 poor people every month, and 10.000 for savings, for a safe future.

i really don't know what to do anymore, and i don't know how i will ever be able to take a middle class person seriously ever again, either. not if they earn more than 25k sek a month. below that, maybe they still know what 100kr is worth. i'm not sure. but the majority of sweden's working population earns a lot more than that, and has a university degree, because they weren't fucked up so bad that they couldn't finish school. nowadays, i side-eye everyone i see outside, and wonder if they know how much 100kr is worth. i don't think the drug dealers and users in this neighbourhood know how much 100kr is worth. i wish i could have gone into drug dealing, or into drug using. even just drinking. that's what everyone else does in this social class, for a reason. i just had hope that things could be different some day. that if i was responsible and kept trying, things could get better. it doesn't. i don't know if it matters if i spent my wellfare allowance on food or on drugs, or videogames. i don't know if my life will ever get any better regardless. but i spend it on food and medicine and hygiene products, because i have always been responsible, even though it has gotten me nowhere.

another job i could do would be to give middle class and rich people advice on how to spend their money. i would help them both save and invest properly with my knowledge and logic, as well as spending on a healthy mature life for themselves, and investing in their own happiness as well as their family and community's happiness. i could do all of that. it comes easy to me. i think i could be a counsellor. i could be a game designer. i could teach people how to be great artists. i could teach people how to improve themselves. or i could make music and some people would enjoy it enough to pay me for it. there are really many jobs that would come easy to me. everywhere around me that i look, i see people who don't understand as much about the world as i do. who don't know how to improve or how to move forward, when i can see it easily. i don't think that i'm lesser than people who earn 30.000kr a month. i heard that they take coffee breaks and smoking breaks. i heard that they go get sushi for lunch. i heard that you actually even get extra money for healthcare and other things through benefits of your work. i don't know why they don't know how much 100kr is worth.

the doctors told me that there is nothing they can do to help me, but if i pretend that i have autism, i might be able to get more help. because there are systems in place in sweden for people who have autism, and there might be ways for me to get more support and more different kinds of help that way. but i am a responsible person, and i felt that it would be wrong to pretend to have autism if i don't. the help that they said might be possible is also just a "might" or a "maybe". i think i would pretend to have autism if they told me that i would get 30.000kr a month by getting a job through a special programme for autistic people. but i don't know if anything like that would ever happen, so i don't feel comfortable taking a gamble on it. i also feel really angry that the system is like this, and that well-meaning psychologists at the city hospital feel pressured to tell me that the only way they can help me is if i say i have autism.

the only idea i really have for how to not die is to eventually be able to finish making a serious videogame, all alone or with the help of yasmin, or my sibling, or someone i havent met yet. there are people like me, who are creative and analytical, who made very successful videogames alone or almost alone. and i think im a very good game designer, because it comes easy to me. i always know how to fix other people's games, even though nobody asks me to. i know what's wrong: it's usually the same few things. they lack clear direction, in gameplay, art, story, or in everything. they lack a clear sense of their target audience and their desires. they lack understanding of the fundamentals of good game design and what makes games fun and enjoyable and satisfying to play. they lack focus on making the core of the game strong and solid and focus too much on unnecessary things outside of the core gameplay and other pillars of the game. they lack skills in design, or skills in art, or skills in writing. which again comes back to lacking focus, because almost everything is about focus. it's about understanding what the most core things are, what is the most important, both to you and to your audience. it's about pushing design into interesting unique places, or about pushing boundaries for realism, or about limiting your scope to your resources and goals.

when i said i could make someone a master artist by teaching them for a few weeks, it's more or less the same thing. i would teach them that they need to find a core and find focus. they need to push the limits of their art and their ideas, and maybe the limits of the world and society. to focus on shapes and colours and feelings and pushing extremes, while also learning fundamentals of anatomies and perspectives and layouts just to back up the important parts. or if they just want to make ugly vectors for a boring company for 30.000sek each month, i would teach them to focus only on improving those skills necessary for that and to have a full understanding of what their niche means and what the market is like for them. i would also teach them that they can still push their personal limits and make interesting work even if they have a job making ugly art for a boring company, if they wanted to. i would teach them how to market and advertise their art. most of everything is just about focus and about cores and about disregarding useless things. those kinds of things come easy to me. i think it doesn't come easy to most people i see that earn 30.000kr a month. i could even be their therapist to help them stop feeling inferior about their art or stop having impostor syndrome. i understand how the world works and i'm able to teach others about it, if they want to listen.

the biggest evil in the world is expansion, the concept of expansion. our planet and our societies are going to be destroyed because of expansion, and we are hurting today, especially those of us in lower classes, because of expansion. the opposite of expansion is to make smaller and make less. the balanced version is to sustain. if the rich people stopped expanding, the planet and its poor people would do so much better. if we started sustaining instead of expanding, we would be good on our way, and if we started lessening, we could reverse most problems we have.

expanding comes in many forms, everywhere, all the time. when you want to have more money even though you already have enough to live a healthy, safe and happy life, that's expansion. when a company wants to make more money this month than last month, even though its owners have enough money to live a happy life, that's expansion (unless their only purpose in making more money is to help society in some way). when a government wants more land, that's expansion. i could really go on, but almost every evil in the world is expansion at its core. it's about someone wanting to get richer, someone wanting more priviledges, and that someone is someone who doesn't need it, someone who already has it. a company who already has it. a billionaire who already has it. a government who already has it.

i understand a lot about fixing the world. i understand that solving homelessness is possible and would logically be a good investment for societies. i understand that keeping people poor and exploiting them is a way for powerful people to stay powerful. i understand that nobody who has power or money actually wants to help fix the world, because it wouldn't benefit them personally. i understand that those of us who do want to fix the world never get the resources to do so, and won't receive funding from the people who don't want it fixed. i also understand that if i became a politician, i would get death threats. my life would be even harder than it is now. i don't have the option to gamble with my safety like that, when i can't even afford warm winter clothes in my size. it's also not the very easiest job for me. the very easiest would be game designer. the second easiest would be counsellor. politician comes a bit later. i think it would be nice to perform a job that's easy for me and earn 30.000kr every month.

i have a hard time focusing on creating things these days, or focusing on learning things that would help me, like programming. i know a bit of programming, and i know the logic of it very well. i could map out the way the code should work on paper. but learning all the phrases and exact ways of putting it together takes a lot of effort from me, and with my disability it's difficult to do that. i used to draw a lot, and i studied animation very deeply for some years. i read everything about the history of animation that i came across, and about all the fundamentals, the ideas, the ways to make good animation. different mindsets, some that i agree with and some that i don't. i don't think that good animation has to be smooth, or anatomically correct, or correct in perspective. i think anything can be great if it's done with a lot of feeling and honesty and genuinity. you have to have focus. you have to know what your core is, and what the core of your animation is, what the core of each movement, each action, and each scene is. the core of each character. the core of the story, and the colour palettes. the feelings and the motifs. i don't agree that it matters if its two frames or thirty frames. the part that's going to blow people away is the feeling and the extremes. the wild bold colours, or the extremely minimal colours. the massive movements, or the nuanced tiny ones. the ones that tell a story, or the ones that give you a feeling and a sensation without a story. the ones that are anatomically correct and twenty-four frames per second are never going to matter to anyone if they don't feel like anything. that's what i think.

most things are about focus and cores and about not wasting resources on the wrong things. it's about not expanding in the wrong direction. things that come easy to me. if i had the energy, if my back didn't hurt so much, if i could buy sushi for lunch, i would make the best horse videogame in the entire history of the world. i would get more than 30.000kr per month for it, and i would give 1000kr each to 3 or 5 poor people every month to help them with their rent, or their meds, or their sick cat. i would be the responsible adult in my life who has got my back, who can support me, who can help me, and i would be that adult for others. i would pay to go to horse therapy every week, and i would still be able to save 100.000kr every year, and i would be safe, and i would be happy.

[motsimages]

This is going to be a bit long but I feel linguistical today. This will be an article about languages, leave aside all political questions because this is about language acquisition, focused mainly in the use of singular and plural. I am also using English as an example (with some other languages for comparison) because it is the lingua franca of the internet and because, well, I am writing in English.

I am using the example of the sentence "Inuk is singular, Inuit is plural" because I see it very often and I think people will be familiar with it. It belongs with the misconceptions of "Ha, silly English speakers saying chai tea, they don't know other languages". However, this is not exclusive of English speakers because, as I will explain later, languages tend to do that. I have read full articles in Spanish about how you should say paparazzo in singular, and not paparazzi, but it is pointless because now, the Spanish word for it is "paparazzi" and its plural is "paparazzis", it is not Italian because the moment it was used in Spanish for the first time, it was Spanish.

It is virtually impossible to have one set of grammar rules for everything and then, randomly, sometimes, for a very new and specific case, another. In English, suddenly bringing greek plurals out of the blue makes native speakers doubt or even say it "wrong" and this is why. It doesn't fucking make sense and it is very hard. They have to artificially remember "what is the plural for octopus?". And everyone who has studied English as a foreign language has had to specifically study many irregular plurals (foot-feet, mouse-mice, etc.) and probably still gets it wrong. There may be some hidden English grammar intuition behind man-men but, unless you study it or develop it, it will just be two random words that for some reason are related.

When people say "Inuk is singular, and the plural is Inuit" seems like it is simple and easy if there is 1 singular and 1 plural, more or less like English does. We tend to assume that's how it works for most languages so yeah, no problem. Plus, we have seen that English has irregular plurals, so what?

Thing is languages are fucking hard, they are very complex systems that require a lot of memory, deduction and inference. It is not as simple as "the singular is patata, and the plural is the same with an s, so patatas". For that to happen, you have to actually learn two different words, the grammar rule for how the plural is formed (and what plural means) and remember when each one of them is used. It is easier if you use it often, if you see it often because it loads the mental database of examples but if you don't use it, it's just not there, all those skills are not used. Think of babies. How do babies speak when they are one or two? Do they even have full sentences? Do they use the plurals at all? When do they use the plurals? Which plurals? Do you think that because someone is 43, their knowledge of a language they have never been exposed to is better than a native speaker aged 2? (Hi to you, learners of foreign languages being frustrated because that language doesn't make sense).

And I used a very easy example with Spanish. It seems logical, right? Singular = no s, Plural = -s. Much better than whatever is going on in English with ox-oxen or sheep.

Russian has declinations (like verb conjugations but for nouns, pronouns and adjectives). When you count, the declinations change depending on whether it's 1 thing; 2-3-4 things or 5+ things. This gives Russian "two plurals" (so to say). There is also a whole set of endings for singulars and plurals, just like in Latin, depending on the syntactic part of the sentence. Are you expected to know this when using Russian words in English? Is every single English speaker in the world forced to study Russian so that they can specifically use the correct plural according to this rule? I don't think I've ever read about "bolsheviki" in English (plural for more than 5) or even less so "bolshevika" (for 2-3-4 of them) or any other of the plural cases (bolshevikov, bolshevikax, bolshevikami) that could be used because it would require actually knowing Russian and because it wouldn't make sense in English (sometimes the syntax would have to be changed too, it would be a mess), people would be confused if they were reading about Russian history and suddenly were faced with "Two bolshevika met here" or "A lot of bolshevikov marched to the palace". How did it feel reading this? Very likely, many people would think it is a different type of bolshevik or that there is something they don't know (I mean... there is, but it is irrelevant in English).

Now let's look at "person" in English and the plural "people". I guess you could use "persons" but who uses that and when? One person, many people (not "many persons"). Let's make a rule out of this. Imagine that is the only information that you have about English. One deduction could be "if person is singular and people is plural, and they both share "pe-", it means that "pe-" is "person" and "-rson" is the marker for singular" and "-ople" is the marker for plural." So when faced the word "apple", I could think that the singular is actually "applerson" and the plural is "applople". Or I could get very confused and create a new rule: "the singular is the word as it is, and there is another different word for the plural, so I only know the singular for "apple" and if I had to say "more than one apple", I wouldn't know how to". In this case, how do I know which one is singular and which one is plural?

All of these deductions, btw, are automatic the moment you are faced with new information about other language. I am making them explicit but if you think of your foreign friend who makes some mistakes when speaking, or any toddler you've met, you will notice that this is the usual in language acquisition.

Again, what is the plural for "octopus"? Why? Did it come naturally to native speakers or did they have to artificially learn it? And in languages that are not English? If you have to deduce what is the plural for "pulpo" based on the English rule for "octopus-octopi", what would be the plural? And based on the Russian rule I gave above (assuming those endings are the only endings)?

All of this if we sit to figure out singulars and plurals. But if, like with paparazzi, I'm only faced with plural because they're often seen together in groups, how can I know the singular?

And since you all like so much to complain about naan bread and how silly the English are:

The answer is: I just don't know the singular (think of the deduction I made about person-people). I take the plural as is and use it in English, with English rules. It will now become an adjective.

With nationalities, it can be a noun, but isn't a group of people plural? Isn't it more likely to speak about "the Inuit" than "the Inuk"? Isn't it more likely for people to hear about all of the people who are affected about the same thing? When would it be used in singular? Probably, with less frequency than the plural. People will make a rule out of what they know. When English speakers say "this Inuit singer", the English word might actually be "Inuit" which is coherent with the grammar and syntax of the whole sentence "this Inuit singer will hold a concert on this date". They are, after all, speaking in English, not Inuktitut, so they could very easily create "Inuits" and that would be correct... in English. Of course, it is interesting and important for many people to show that that is not the Inuktitut way, but it is linguistically counterintuitive so it will be hard to incorporate. Also I may know the difference between Inuk and Inuit, but if nobody else around me does and I speak of "an Inuk village", they might logically assume it's a different group of people with the knowledge that they have. They will be inferring this information based on other similar phrasings they have actually been exposed to like "a Russian village", given that in English adjectives do not show difference between plural and singular. "A Russian village" and "Many Russian villages" so, logically "An Inuit village" and "Many Inuit villages" OR "An Inuk village" and "Many Inuk villages".

And this is all just the very simple concept of one vs many, that I think most cultures have. We can see, like in Russian, that there are different manies (many-s? manyes? what's the plural and why?) or different ones, but overall everyone has been faced with one thing and with more than one thing so generally speaking, it's easy to grasp and adapt to your native language. However, some languages, even when faced with several things do not have plural and have to find alternative ways to show that.

In short, while it is fun to mock colonialists for whatever the reason, please remember some things are not done on purpose out of pure evil, some things come along with how the brain is wired to understand it and to adapt to it, with more or less cultural influence. And while some people will use this as an excuse, most people are really just not linguists and not aware of all these processes. Think of your own native language and you will probably find examples of weird turns like this too, with foreign words.

I also hope that this article shares some light into why some people struggle to even acquire language and to communicate with more than just some words.

[halt-kun]

Hunter x Hunter Chapter 215 - Last words

BACK to Hunter x Hunter

it's been a while, it's nice to have time to catch up before a chapter comes out but it also doesn't press me to keep up the pace

I've been quite occupied with Baldur's gate 3

Dr Lee must be a badass if Netero considers her the best in medicine. Is she a regular surgeon or a veterinarian ? Probably specialized in magical beasts too if Netero called her specifically

I'm saying "her" because from what I remember from the anime the main doctor was a lady but I may be wrong

DAMN Netero, cutting your hair like that, don't you know a nice hairdresser. Actually he also cut his beard and mustache I think

The french translation really did a : "Kokoro t-shirt - note : Kokoro means heart"

Everything went according to Keikaku

Netero is asking Colt, he already valued his opinion and considers him an ally

I love Colt

BURN

Poor Morel and Knov, they're in way over their head

even if they're probably as skilled or more skilled (considering their age and experience) than PT for example

He doesn't look like you're laughing Netero

So Netero is off to see some old friends

By that he means someone several decades younger than him

We all know he has older friends around

Cool all the annoying people that would have tried to kill them left

The oddballs are always the best characters

Koala = peak chimera ant

Is that Dr Lee ? Because she looks badass

a nice scar on her face, I want to know more

Does she uses nen ?

Sometimes Togashi bothers me because he introduces very cool background characters that we'll never hear of again

I LOVE HER

bring her back later TOGASHI

poor Colt, he is very distraught

Yep, you can't do anything, that's how things are

some things are beyond our control

Morel noticed too, he's very emotionally intelligent

She picked up the signal on her equipment ? Nice

Poor Queen, so delusional

Colt doesn't want to add to her current organs failing one after the other but it's not really a good idea to lie like that. What if she survives

Knuckle is listening intently too

The queen is really all about birthing like most insect queen who don't have any commanding role actually

but I feel bad for her

she really didn't care about anything else

Colt will have to come to the realization she didn't care (as a mother) about him or even about any other ants lower than the King

Poor Colt, it must be so hard to have someone you deeply care about, acknowledge to your face they don't care about you at all

It's weird she only cares about one of her sons

What is Morel pondering ?

About Colt ?

Meryem and Meruemu, each translations is different

french translations tend to stick to the pronunciation in hiragana when in reality the /u/ at the end of japanese words is barely hearable

In french it tends to be /ə/ in a parisian accent (the schwa, some kind of eu in french or huh in english I'd say). It's not that in belgian french or quebec french. In other french accents from France like mine I couldn't find what the central neutral vowel was (I'm not a linguist)

It's the same vowel in English apparently, you end your words with a schwa

Enough random facts

THE LIGHT THAT ILLUMINATES ALL

I wonder if it'll scorch the earth or feed the plants

If his name is actually Maryam (an arabic name) his actual name would be the equivalent of Mary

She died

poor Colt, again

I feel for him

not for the Queen though, I can't see her as just a random animal slave to her instinct

she could have been educated though and maybe choose not to eat a bunch of humans

We finally get a small explanation on why ants can talk

I love how the queens artificial organs make her look like a cyborg

AWWWW a bebe

my baby now

I wonder if the queen was going to birth more soldiers or go directly to making new royal guards

considering the fact it's small it shouldn't have a lot of power

But also, it has an umbilical cord and only the King actually grew up in the Queen's womb, the rest were separated from the Queens quite early on. I bet the eggs were expulsed when they didn't have a full body plan yet

and even less able to cry and breath

So the only explanation is : this is Meruem's twin

it didn't get much from all the humans the Queen ate

I'm tearing up

this panel of Colt is soooo good

They won't Morel

Everyone is crying

Damn you Togashi

the happy family flashbacks get me everytime

The mother is still out there searching for her kids

[crimzoncrow]

ty for tagging me @mamawasatesttube !! <3

1. are you named after anyone? Not really! My middle name is my mom’s mom’s mom’s name (I think? Might be another generation back), but my first name isn’t for anyone.

2. when was the last time you cried? Almost exactly twenty four hours ago, I was having one of my bimonthly identity crises <3

3. do you have kids? Unless we’re counting friends barely younger than me who’ve declared me their mother, absolutely not lol

4. do you use sarcasm a lot? It depends on who I’m with! I guess not really? I use it a lot more when I’m upset about something or joking about something I don’t like I think, I just realized

5. what sports do you play/have you played? I used to play soccer, when I was little! Like, elementary school. I guess I also did gymnastics when I was even younger but it wasn’t sport-y gymnastics

6. what’s the first thing you notice about other people? Depends on how we first interact! Online it’s typically typing style, formality, and tone. Helps me figure out how I should respond, if I interact with them

7. what’s your eye color? Brown!

8. scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings!!! Scary movies give me really bad paranoia lol. Sometimes I can avoid it by pointing out mistakes or production details I notice, but then I’m not really… watching the scary movie as a scary movie anymore. I’m also just a sucker for a good happy ending!!!

9. any special talents? Hey look at how hard I can hyperfocus *crochets for 17 hours straight no breaks*. More seriously though, none that I really know of? I guess I’m kind of flexible but that’s more of a my joints really suck thing than a talent thing

10. where were you born? New Jersey, gotta keep up my mom’s family’s tradition of having some Jersey in them even if they were raised elsewhere (It’s like… kind of strange LOL. They’re literally all over the place but we’ve all got some tie to nj somehow?? I think I know one single person in the entirety of my moms family who wasn’t born in nj or spent the majority of their life there, and it’s bc their parent moved before they got them).

11. what are your hobbies? Drawing, writing, crochet (apparently?? that ones still kinda new to me even if it’s ,, been a few months lol), reading, uhhhh. I’m sure there’s more they come and go

12. do you have any pets? NO I WISH I DID im screaming and sobbing i cannot at the moment but as soon as i can i WILL

13. how tall are you? 5’ 4” ish? I thought I was just under 5’ 5” the second to last time I checked but last time I went to the doctor they said I was like 5’ 3.75” or something so it’s very confusing to me 😔😔 Most of the people I’ve spoken to think the 5’4” is most accurate tho

14. favorite subject? Uhh art? That feels like a copout lol. Overall, probably english? English, art, sciences in general… I can also like history? I don’t have anything against math either?? Most of the time whether or not I like a subject has more to do w whether I associate them w good or bad teachers I’ve had LOL

15. dream job? MAN i have NO IDEA . Ive been agonizing over this so bad . My current goal for career is just “something where I can do something I love and make things that make people happy”, probably in the arts, but you know that’s . Not really very specific lol. And also I’m just interested in other things too!!! If I were going to a different college there’s a super huge chance I’d be looking at stuff w/ linguistics more. Idk!! A job I like that’s stable and secure and also I can make enough money to do hobbies I like and spend time with friends!!! Whatever that is, if I can ever find it!!!!

i am so very terrible at tagging people so if someone sees this and wants to do it just say i tagged you <33 this was very fun!!