#But it is owned and operated by the developers

[read-marx-and-lenin]

Nobody was saying it was somber or respectful. They were saying the UK censored a video game about Palestinian resistance despite a glut of games where players can recreate Western military invasions of Arab countries remaining completely legal in the UK.

Were the US invasions of Iraq or Afghanistan not rife with abuses far exceeding any that occurred on October 7th? To say that depicting resistance fighters crossing into Israel during Operation al-Aqsa Flood is deserving of censorship because there were abuses that occurred during the operation must mean you agree that games depicting American military operations in the Middle East are equally deserving of censorship. Especially considering the fact that US military activities in the Middle East are incredibly unjustified imperialist aggression, whereas Palestinian resistance is entirely justified under international law as Israel is recognized as an occupying power by the UN.

The US, UK and Israeli militaries are far more terroristic and cruel than any Palestinian resistance militia. The only reason the UK government is treating this game differently is because they are an imperialist power and want to make an example out of a small indie developer in Brazil who dared to present an opposing viewpoint to their own.

[Link to tweet]

[golvio]

Finally got around to seeing all of Apotheosis’ new endings, and I’m still sitting with it days later.

OG Apotheosis was among the bottom of my Princess ranking list since I guess I’m not into the whole Domination bit as some other prople, though I figured there was more to her based on what was already there. However, I wasn’t ready to have my suspicions confirmed in such a viscerally upsetting way in the Paranoid version of the “make her feel what you felt” ending. Like…as initially satisfying as finally forcing her to stop hurting you felt, it stopped feeling like a victory when you actually saw what you’d done to her. You stop feeling like a helpless victim when you understand just how hollow she’d felt inside despite her boasts and your perception of her as untouchable and unstoppable helped reinforce this armor she’d built around herself.

She may have cruelly lorded over you to compensate for her own feelings of helplessness back when she was at your mercy, but you were the one who gave up and ceded all control to her in the first place. Your relationship is a conversation, not a one-sided Pygmalian molding of an empty blank slate, and the two of you built that abusive relationship and unbalanced power dynamic together. On one hand, the prison of your own mind within the role you assigned yourself is far harder to escape than any physical jail and can operate even in her absence, to the point where acting against its oppressive rules seems so impossible that it feels like “madness.” On the other hand, no one is actually keeping you there but you.

This ending and Fury’s “pacifist” ending feel like funhouse mirror reflections of each other—each hurts the other to try to force them to understand the harm they’ve caused and get an apology, but by hurting each other they diminish each other, by hurting each other they hurt themselves. Becoming the warden of the jail where you’re also held prisoner can only give you the illusion of control and freedom, at best. Any “victory” in such a power struggle, no matter how initially triumphant, is ultimately a Pyrrhic one.

And then there’s the “Grace” ending. As much as she’d hurt you, in her last moments, instead of selfishly clutching you to herself tighter for comfort, she hurls you towards the exit, giving you a single chance for a mad, impossible dash towards freedom. She didn’t have to do that, and ultimately there was no point in doing that because the hole she opened sealed itself back up before you could reach it, but she still did it. Despite her embracing her role as unstoppable, untouchable goddess to flee from the memory of her original weak, vulnerable self, deep down she didn’t actually want to hurt you. She missed you and wanted to be with you again, but since all she knew was domination and subjugation, she only knew how to express that through trying to paternalistically control you. When the chips were down and she was being reassimilated into the Cosmic Spaghetti of Shifty’s incomplete form, she finally relinquished control and was able to express her true feelings selflessly.

That…gave me some very conflicting feelings. Don’t get me wrong, I love when finding out more about characters I initially disliked makes me feel all conflicted. It’s just…a lot. Woof.

There’s also this theme of being “trapped inside yourself,” in this case literally when it comes to two fragments of gods living out an allegory for their own imprisonment. It may be true that the Vessels are only incomplete pieces of The Shifting Mound who weren’t meant to function on their own, but Shifty herself is so vast and all-encompassing that each of her pieces is complex enough to be a functioning individual in her own right, which is especially true of the Chapter 3+ Princesses, who’ve developed so much from their experiences that they feel much more like “real,” multifaceted people. If you find Tower/Apotheosis first, then reach Shifty’s heart, the Princess you find there is the version of the Heart that feels most like she’s her own person separate from Shifty, and rejects Shifty’s idea of godhood. Her rejection of “labels” after her being constrained by Shifty’s parameters feels a lot more meaningful as a result.

On top of that…now you understand what it feels to be trapped inside of a “bigger, more Important” version of yourself. If The Long Quiet is you, then your godly meta-body is also the prison that’s keeping both the conscious, individual, mortal You trapped along with the Princess. It’s not like you can just get up and leave because you have no conscious control over this part of yourself. And when you do wake up, you risk losing yourself as you are now to integrate into that greater whole. Is that really worth it, or is there another way that doesn’t require giving up your individual existence? It’s like the flipside of The Empty Cup, too, in terms of foreshadowing the possible “Third Way” you can escape without embracing godhood and staying trapped within yourself, within the role you built up for yourself.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

One of the things I liked about Wind and Truth was the way it built on all the previous books, in terms of both characterization and themes.

Kaladin spent four books fighting his depression and his internal conflicts around the nature of war. In this one he seemed to be really healing, and he found a purpose that wasn’t rooted in fighting and conflict – an especially poignant moment was the recapturing of the military kata as dance, connecting with Szeth’s childhood love of dance. The need for Kaladin to move beyond being a soldier, to find other ways to protect, had been building throughout the series, and I thought fit very well into the broader themes of the book: the enemy was never the people Kaladin had to fight as a soldier (other Alethi, the Parshendi/Listeners, the Singers), and the forces of Odium and Honor that were driving them against each other had a number of harmful commonalities. We could say that honor, the Alethi ideology of battle as the greatest aim and skill, drove Alethi civil wars in which Kaladin was initially sent to fight; in impetuses of both honor and odium drove the Vengeance Pact against the Parshendi. Kaladin cracked in Oathbringer because he realized something true: that neither the Alethi or Singers were intrinsically the bad guys, that fighting for either involved killing the innocent. The formation of Retribution feels foreshadowed, a little, in the mention of Teft’s former squires with an oath of vengeance against Moash – what is that oath (honor) of revenge (odium) but retribution? So we saw Kaladin at the end find a better path, protecting and leading and healing without fighting and killing.

For Shallan, I’ve seen so e comments that her arc and the way she dealt with the realization that Chanah was her mother was anticlimactic, but I thought it worked precisely because it built on her previous characterization. She wasn’t overwhelmed because she had friends, support, honesty, and the recognition that she wasn’t a monster. She faced her mother’s death head-on and recognized that it was not her fault; it was Chanah’s fault, and Shallan was a desperate child defending herself. And that knowledge is why she didn’t break at the idea that “the world ended, and Shallan was to blame”: because she could see that idea was a lie, that Shallan was not to blame; Chanah was. Chanah tried to murder her child, was killed by her, went back to Braize, and broke. That’s not on Shallan.

Navani’s development in ROW was excellently brought out when Odium tried to manipulate herand she just brushed all of it off and turned it back on him, because he was targeting weak points she’d already resolved in ROW; they no longer had power over her. Though I wish her sucess in that had more meaning rather than being undermined.

Dalinar’s developmemt I really liked – he seemed stalled in ROW, and I guessed that was going to be necessary for his arc in the fifth book, because the flaw that was really being drawn out was his need to be the one in charge, the one to fix everything. He’d let go of the Blackthorn’s violence, but he hadn’t moved past his own domineering personality. And some of the times when he had tried to do so hadn’t worked out – the thing leading to his beating of Elhokar at the end of TWOK was because Elhokar’s playing off of Sadeas against Dalinar in service of a completely fictional assassination claim was what had led to the Tower and the death of Dalinar’s men. The end of TWOK was Dalinar going from trying to operate by moral suasion and the power of example to operating by, well, the power of power. The problem – which he never recognized until WAT – is that both moral suasion and physical force were grounded in the same basic assumption: I am right and things will only improve if you do what I want. They both excluded truly listening to people or trying to understand why they did what they did. And Dalinar missed opportunities because his default answer to making the world better was “more people do what Dalinar wants.” (Come to think of it, this is a flaw shared in ways by both Dalinar and Jasnah – Jasnah is far more democratic, but her utilitarian ethos relies on the belief that it is okay to hurt people if you feel sufficiently convinced that it will be for the greater good. Taravangian, of course, is completely defined by the flaw of thinking he knows best and that any atrocity is acceptable in service of what he knows is best, so it fits perfectly that both Dalinar and Jasnah had to confront that flaw in themselves.) Dalinar giving up the power of Honor was the culmination of his arc – realizing that success would depend on people other than himself. And Dalinar himself is a mix of Honor and Odium, as is the Alethi warrior ethos that shaped him, which made him ideally positions to recognize the flaws not just in Tanavast but in Honor itself.

[bunniisms]

WALTER. C. DORNEZ HEADCANON DUMP

Blame this headcanon dump on the tremendous support from my friends and my unending obsession with this Old Fart and throwing him down the metaphoric staircases in my brain!

THE C IN HIS NAME ISN'T A MIDDLE NAME. Remind me to talk about it at length later, because it's an entire bullshit that would make this post far, far longer that I've already made it. Instead, the C in Walter's name stands for COURTENAY, the name of the old, old noble family he draws descendants from. Who had historical connections to the art of Vampire Hunting & the Hellsing Family via their connection to the Vatican and support of the late Abraham Van Hellsing.

Walter was the son of a daughter who didn't have the name (or any claim) to pass down beyond her and her late husband's friendship with Arthur Hellsing. As an adult, Walter's reclaimed the title and hyphenated his last name (i.e. Courtenay-Dornez)

TLDR: Walter C. Dornez but the C in his name is a desperate clinging symbol and claim to historic (and almost forgotten) notoriety and a connection to the business he’s attached his whole identity to but never found direct happiness from

WALTER DESCENDS FROM PEERAGE BUT ISN'T DIRECTLY OF ANY IMPORTANCE TO ANY NOBLE FAMILIES

This is sort of canon, but WALTER HAS DEEPLY STAKED HIS SENSE OF IDENTITY AND PERSON-HOOD INTO VAMPIRE-HUNTING and the concept of both his body deteriorating with age, and his gradual sense of being rendered obsolete behind New Operatives and Alucard is the heartbeat in the floorboard driving him to madness. FOR WALTER TO BE BENCHED OR TO BE RETIRED, HE SEES THAT AS THE DEATH OF HIMSELF IN A FAR MORE VISCERAL SENSE

WALTER IS AN OXYMORON OF ARROGANCE AND INSECURITY. Walter struggles with his sense of identity and his place in the world. It's not that he feels useless, but he feels like he has been doomed and damned to forever be third best - unable to move forward - unable to be better, to be wanted by existence (and himself), always envious and wanting for any claim of his own that he can truly sink his teeth into and use as a salve to cover the infected wounds of insecurity that have been with him since he was a child.

HOWEVER, the funny thing with Walter? As much as he feels this way, he is a haughty, arrogant, catty bastard. He views the vast majority of people, human and otherwise, as far, far beneath him, even with his insecurity being what it is. Walter knows he could be MORE, but these other people? It would be a miracle if they even got to his weakest position. Their words have precisely as much weight as the clucking of chickens.

WALTER HIDES THESE TRAITS WITH A JEEVES-LIKE FACADE AND PERSONA OF WARMTH AND HUMILITY. A lot of the time, the Walter seen smiling and bowing, offering his hand and advice, greeting the guests and answering the household's calls with a polite warmth is as superficial as a cardboard mockup - it's an act - the Walter we see walk out and make pot shots to scare Jan and quote his speech back at him. THAT'S THE REAL WALTER. Walter hasn't so much changed that part of him that we saw so much of in Dawn, as much as he's learned to hide it.

ONE OF WALTER'S LOVE LANGUAGES IS TRANSPARENCY. Walter has developed such a false crust of subservience and humility and comically stereotypical butler-like deference. You know you've sunk deeper into his person when he begins lifting the act in more intimate settings. Walter might seem to get sharper and cattier, a little more mean-girl-esc with his judgement and quips, but that's Walter! If you took him for a sweet old man, you bought the charade, hook, and sinker. THIS is the real Walter, THIS is what goes on inside his mind's palace. Either embrace it or take the check and go! Haha

UNLIKE THE HOUSE OF COURTENAY'S CATHOLIC ORIGINS, WALTER IS ANGLICAN and sparsely practicing, making sure to attend major Church Functions alongside the Household (such as Integra) but not making much of a habit of attending the small chapel inside the Hellsing Estate

WALTER HAS FOURTH NERVE PALSY, caused during The Dawn Arc after he sustained a massive skull fracture and very nearly died

YES, HE DOES BLAME ALUCARD FOR THE INCIDENT THAT CAUSED THIS, they were assigned to a mission together, flushing out operatives in Warsaw together, and yet, they became separated. Alucard's bloodlust or showboating slowed him down, and Walter was left alone to fend on his own. While successful for a while, Walter was a child, a lone child, and his enemies had no mercy. By the time Alucard dragged his carcass back to Hellsing, there was little to be done. But, despite rescuing him after, Walter never forgave Alucard for the part he feels Alucard played. His blame is partially misplaced, but it still burns hot, and the paranoia festering in the back of his mind forever wonders whether it was delayed by accident or if he orchestrated it all to stunt his abilities and prevent him from surpassing Alucard? (it's absolutely NOT that Walter, I can promise you)

WALTER HAS A SMALL HABIT OF ALWAYS LEANING/COCKING HIS HEAD SLIGHTLY TO THE RIGHT SIDE TO COMPENSATE FOR THE DAMAGE TO HIS EYE AND VISION

RE: THE MONOCLE, it's not there for the aesthetics of a Victorian nobleman, though that's not to say Walter doesn't carefully cultivate his image. Walter's monocle is a prescription medical device; it helps correct issues with his depth perception and acquired short-sightedness caused by his palsy (especially with reading). Additionally, it's been a wonder how ptosis symptoms in his right eye that've stemmed from the palsy have been eased with the monocle supporting that side of his face.

WALTER ALSO HAS PERIPHERAL HYPER-MOBILITY SPECTRUM DISORDER most notably impacting his hands, wrists and fingers, but more broadly affecting his ankles and feet too. In recent years, Walter's found that the symptoms have been worsening and spread to his knees, too, but he's never spoken openly about this and resents it greatly. The records from Hellsing-pocket Doctors making note of the degeneration of his condition have always been burned, almost as though destroying them could silence the truth in some way.

THE PURPOSE OF THE GLOVES, while Butlers wearing gloves is a tale as old as time, Walter wears them not to uphold old traditions of cleanliness and not smudging things - but rather to hide the slight but noticeable gaps at the center of each of his fingertips where he ejects the monofilament from, which is unfortunately essential when facing the public. He removes them the second he gets behind closed doors and happily does that.

WALTER HAS A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS DISABILITIES, BUT THEN AGAIN, HE HAS A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH EVERYTHING

WALTER RE: THE WIRES AND THEIR IMPACT ON HIS BODY, the designs of the Late Hellsing and Seward, while innovative, were... imperfect. Flawed even. Walter REFUSES to come to terms with it, but the wires, despite their impeccable qualities, have been degrading his body MORE than gradually. They are the single leading reason for his Hyper-Mobility Spectrum Disorder; they have been EATING at the cartilage and connective tissue in his limbs and making his gradual decline far quicker than had ever been previously believed.

WALTER GOT HIS WIRES IN AN OPERATION AT TEN. It was a deeply invasive affair that left Walter bedridden for months. Directed by Seward and Hellsing loyalists and conducted by the last design of the Late Abraham Van Hellsing and his mentee Seward. WALTER CONSENTED AT THE TIME, IN FACT, HE WAS EAGER ABOUT IT AND THE PROMISE. Walter wanted the prestige, the power, to feel purpose and drive and to have something that was his, that defined him, and the miserable life he'd been gifted that was always at the mouth of the river, leaving him looking up at the source and the promise he had been born outside of and dreaming. HOWEVER, IT WAS STILL SKETCHY AF AFFAIR, AND AS THE WORD OF GOD, IT WAS, WITHOUT A DOUBT, AN INCIDENT OF ADULTS EXPLOITING THE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE, INNOCENCE AND EAGERNESS OF A CHILD FOR PERSONAL BENEFIT.

WALTER'S LOVE LANGUAGE IS QUALITY TIME. Walter, while a womanizer, is no adept man in the art of romance - some would call him a tad clumsy, but that's not it, nor would it be right to call him cold or unromantic. Walter is simply... atypical. He doesn't enjoy grand gestures of romance or constant touch - Walter is a man of boundary, and his ideal form of love is the quiet, cat-like sort of co-existing in joy. Can he perform his duties and passions and look over to see someone he is fond of simply existing - caught in their natural environment and at peace WITH him? That's ideal for him.

WALTER IS A SOMMELIER. Read as Wine Snob, not only for his job, but he just really enjoys wine!

WALTER AND BEING A BACHELOR IS A DELIBERATE CHOICE. He's had proposals passed onto him, and thrice, he's declined. He's had his girls and boys, but never committed even to the point of being considered lovers. Walter is simply most at ease on his lonesome, and though it might seem lonesome at the surface, it's ideal for his line of work and his love style.

HE ALSO IS ALLERGIC TO DEEP COMMITMENT BUT SHHHH

WALTER DOES A LOT OF WORK AND TAKES A LOT OF PRIDE IN KEEPING HIS APPEARANCE. Sorry, I KNOW this man wears expensive colognes that he has organized for the seasons, has all his suits and tail coats properly fitted and has a skincare routine. He IS the type, and I love that for him. His toiletry cabinet is more stuffed with product than either Integra or Seras' COMBINED! He will not leave his room until his hair is slicked back and he smells like sandalwood ON GOD.

THOUGH THAT BEING SAID, HE IS LONELY IN THE SENSE THAT HE FEELS DEEPLY ALONE WITHOUT PEERS; he simply doesn't see most other people, most other creatures, as on his level. In that, and his arrogance, he is deeply alone, but it's a cage of his own creation.

HE LOVES INTEGRA LIKE A DAUGHTER, AND I REFUSE TO SEE IT ANY OTHER WAY; he helped raise that girl - a constant, familiar face in the background of her youngest years. He watched her be born in the house, he was one of the first that held her - she was one of few she gave a big smile to as a baby (she was one of few things that ever made him reconsider his decision to never want children), she watched her walk, then run and grow into a girl and then a confident young woman. And when it comes to the betrayal :,)

I could make an ENTIRE post detailing my thoughts about it and how I portray it, but Walter had been turned into a Freak a long, long time ago, and by the time he met Integra (as in, she was born), he was too far gone to be saved, and he knew it. There was a gun to the back of his head - he had the chip, and he could be toast at any moment; he... well, he selfishly did what he needed to do to survive. Sometimes, the awful truth is that both things can co-exist, and a person can be caught between love and survival and still choose survival, even after everything.

I'm 10000% on copium with this. Still, I feel his whole Ebony Darkness Dementia speech to Integra was to VILLAINIZE HIM AND HIS MEMORY IN HER MIND - he spent DECADES selfishly loving her and raising her, and he knows she returned those feelings. They never spoke about it, but he KNEW. She'd ask him his opinions (even when he, as a servant, wasn't entitled to those against the word of his lord), request him to have dinner upstairs with her and attend church functions alongside him, even when she was a grown woman. He was one of the most consistent fatherly figures she had. He became that for her, but he doesn't want her to spend any years agonizing or grieving over another dead father. Telling her he's a mustache-twirling evil that has always plotted her downfall is another selfish lie. Still, he hopes and needs to believe that maybe, maybe, that'll make it easier on her heart to cope with the rug-pull, his defection (and death) and losing yet another dad.

WALTER IS INTEGRA'S MOST ADAMENT APOLOGIST AND DEFENDER; this is another truth of mine I will take to the grave, and Hirano can fight me. It's not Walter's place as a servant to feel that level of protection over his master - even given his place, having watched her grow. Still, something alien takes over his sensibilities when he hears people speak against her brazenly, and he'll stamp it out in his own petty way. He's her dad, your honour!

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 63 Cool Posting

Hi, kind void. Today's chapter is straight out of an action movie! It's light on lore but chock-full of cool stuff (and some names at long last) so let's get into it.

Rough TL of editor's notes (don't take as competent):

Colour page: 音を割ぎ, 匂を割ぎ, 獲物の元へ忍び寄れ- [] Cut all sound, cut all smell, then sneak up on your prey- This one's fun because "cut" as in "eliminate" works in both EN and JP! Last page: 巻墨とチ-ムで!! [(Nakama) to chiimu de-!!] Teaming up with allies (the Masumi)!! The kanji for Masumi (巻墨) have Ruby over them spelling out nakama (なかま), the word that usually means ally/partner.

Really cool perspective shot on the colour page, by the by!

Code Name: Uh...?

Please live.

So, we finally got names for our Masumi Ninja Maids. But they're kind of, um. I feel bad for these guys if they aren't code names or nicknames ha ha.

"Ms. Masumi" is Sumi (炭): charcoal/coal "Minimura" is Rou (郎): son/young man (archaic) "Masumi Bro" is Moku (杢): woodworker/figure pattern in wood

Normally these kanji are combined with others to make a proper given name; they basically don't exist by themselves as a way to refer to someone outside of a family/surname from what I can find. I think I feel the worst for Sumi since her full name sounds like a Lalafell's from FFXIV: Masumi Sumi (巻墨 炭) lol. But yeah. Names at last, even if they're kinda headscratchers! Just like the nature of this ink sorcery.

Random bullshit, go!: the ability

At this point I'm definitely operating under the assumption that Sumi's sorcery is basically just Rule of Cool: Ink Version. I guess she can manifest anything she wants or needs if she has the time to write whatever inscriptions are necessary. I've never read Naruto in full (fake weeaboo, cancel me on TWT) but apparently this is similar to how Fuinjutsu works in that series? In the sense that a user can write a "seal" and concentrate their power into it to do something crazy cool that may or may not actually have anything to do with sealing something.

In the Masumi's case, I think their surname literally meaning "rolled up ink [scroll]" is a dead giveaway that this is basically how the technique functions- the user channels their sorcery into a written inscription for a desired effect. So they're basically OP if given infinite time to train and prepare for a fight, and will have all kinds of ass-pull types of clutch factor if they stick around.

...Speaking of.

I have a kind of ominous feeling about these guys beyond the jokes about how elite squads have a high mortality rate in this series. I don't want to be one of those doomsday prophecy guys, but this chapter ends pretty optimistically in a way that makes me think we'll be saying goodbye to them at some point. We have some significant emotional investment in them by now but they're not critical enough to keep around despite the deep ties to Samura. I don't think it'll be next chapter or anything, but... they could be another Elite Squad Statistic sooner or later is all I'm saying. I want them to live though. Rou's kind of growing on me, Moku's got amazing himbo energy in a series critically lacking in hunks, and Sumi can pat my head and call me a "good boy" any day.

(Warning, pure speculation ahead.) Also, referencing chapter 53 where it seems like Chihiro's hellbent on taking his own path but is trying to rely on others- if he loses the Masumi after seeing Uruha die and Hakuri be gravely injured, then he's probably going to spiral down even further and try to go it alone for real like Samura is. That could be when Hakuri comes back in for the save where Uruha tried and failed with his mentor. But I'm just spitballing with this so I'll leave it be until we get a better idea of where the Chihiro/Samura and Hakuri/Uruha parallels are going. Don't want to get too attached to a development that may well not even happen.

For now I will pray they live and keep supporting Chihiro in all kinds of silly and cool ways. Buck the trend and don't become an Elite Squad statistic!

"Quality" Analysis Section

Just in case you forgot how fucking exhausted Chihiro must be.

The author lampshading his own breakneck pace isn't just a cheeky jab at the people fretting about it- I see this as a deliberate callout that Chihiro is going to run himself into the ground and truly break. Referencing chapter 53- Chihiro thinks he's an irredeemable monster and is rushing down the path to hell. So maybe the rushed pacing of chapter 60 was intentional after all? As in Chihiro won't give himself a break so we don't get one either. I don't want to assume too much but I'll keep that in mind as we get closer to his breaking point. How he collapses and why will be very important. As will be the people who help him recover.

Chihiro looks fucking tired man. The new scars and extra thick sketchy lines under his eyes even when he's being a badass give me the impression that he's pushing himself too hard. The only other character consistently having the tired look right now is Rou and I'm willing to bet that it's done to give him a slightly more mature look to remind us of his true age- he's had them ever since he was woken up from his nap in ch. 55. I swear to God, if Hokazono-sensei has Chihiro buckle and shatter because he won't let himself rest, I will forgive absolutely everything about Chapter 60 onward and never doubt him again. Well, almost everything.

I'm not just saying this to cope. I went back through the whole story to check Chihiro's expressions up to chapter 62 and there's a pretty clear trend. Apologies for the huge cluttered images, probably should have made these on my smaller monitor.

Chapter appearances: 18 Examples: 18

Chapter appearances: 25 Examples: 22 (not present in ch. 35) I will mention Hakuri in every post one way or another.

Chapter appearances: 14 Examples: 41 (not present in chs. 55 & 56)

Basically: Chihiro is the most exhausted and emotional he's ever been in the shortest amount of chapters (even accounting for the lines under most character's eyes getting thicker starting around chapter 47). So yeah, he's tired as fuck and absolutely should not have been so gung-ho to do a rescue mission.

The real give-away is the end of Chapter 60:

Zoom in on the second to last page: he tired and burdened AF bro

Squad roll out on the last page: cool, calm, collected

Extreme zoom-in shots to character's eyes are how a mangaka draws attention to how the character's truly feeling without having them say anything out loud. Doing this to show Chihiro is exhausted before zooming back out to have him looking like his usual self reads as him burying that tiredness to get things done with the others. He is focused and ready to do whatever's necessary to protect Iori- but Rou knows how he's really feeling and called him out which is why we suddenly see all those panels of Chihiro looking as wiped out as he feels this chapter.

Like so.

Chihiro's exhausted but won't give himself a break. And this chapter's making a point of that, because now Chihiro's at the point where even shots of him being a badass have that tired look. He's going to break from pushing himself this hard sooner rather than later or I'm sixty toads in a wooden onesie. (Surely I won't regret making this assertion...)

I haven't forgotten about this flag from Chapter 1.

I feel like a colossal idiot for needing this to be pointed out to me, but I'll admit I'm dumb. At least I took the closer look I should have been doing all along for this post- better late than never and all that.

Rokuhira Chihiro: Forever Badass

Always the coolest guy in a 3781.2km radius

Yeah, Chihiro absolutely reminded us why he's the MC this chapter despite not having as much screen time as Sumi and the Hishaku. He's just that awesome- Hokazono absolutely nails every entrance this guy makes.

Shame the general public doesn't seem to agree.

Not so above it all (but we knew this)

Nice to see that people being frightened and thinking he's a mass-murderer still gets to Chihiro a little. It won't stop him from pursuing his goals, but he is absolutely not above caring about how he's perceived. Maybe fighting against the guy who broke through the window and threatened to kill defenseless students will help some people change their minds?

Iori's definitely going to have to take some time to reconcile her dismal first impression of Chihiro with who he actually is. I'm actually looking forward to how that plays out- Chihiro probably won't go out of his way to convince her he's a nice guy, so we'll get to see her evaluation of him evolve as they spend time together. Hopefully. Maybe. I can only rarely guess what's going to happen next in this manga and I'm not at all confident we'll get significant time devoted to developing the relationship between Chihiro and Iori. I'd like to see it though. Hakuri is the best character from anything ever, but Chihiro would benefit from getting to know more people his age- especially ones that have been able to lead a relatively normal life. She can bring a fresh viewpoint to this series that's so far mostly been limited to traumatized action hero types.

Kuguri Impressions

This guy is a piece of work. Definitely obsessed with "slicing" to an unhealthy degree.

Talking through fighting, that time-old tradition.

Taking a page from his... inspiration? Mentor? Whatever? Sojo, he wants to "talk" with Chihiro in a high-octane way. Sure let's go, love the fights and the spread of them engaging each other this chapter was epic! There's an interesting line from him that caught my attention, though.

The vibes are "these guys should have just let me kill them, now look at this mess."

We're reminded on the same page that "The Hishaku have no qualms about involving innocent bystanders." And this seems to hold true for Kuguri- he killed an unarmed teacher in cold blood, sliced up a bus full of people, was ready to kill students, so on and so forth. He's not a good guy. But talking about how more lives need to be sacrificed now snagged at me- it's a total 180 from Hiruhiko's joyful bloodbath approach.

He strikes me as the type of person who takes the shortest path to everything in life and killing is just a tool he can use to achieve that. He might actually be closer to Chihiro in that he doesn't really enjoy committing murder but views it as necessary. Just in way too many circumstances and with way less morality involved than our protagonist- again, Kuguri is absolutely 100% a bad guy who will deserve whatever death is coming to him. You don't have to murder your way through unarmed civilians to reach a defenseless target.

I'm a lot more interested in seeing more of him now to find out what he's really like and what makes him tick. I especially want to see him clash and contrast with Chihiro. Our poor protagonist is getting challenged on way more fronts than ever before, and in way finer detail, but I know he's up to it. At least for now...

Miscellaneous Thoughts

"This is a surprise tool that will help us later."

I will absolutely accuse people who ask "is Chihiro using Enten?!" or "where did Chihiro get the sword from?!" of speedreading. Yes, it's very silly that the motorcycle that appeared from a magic ink scroll had a katana built in to it. We're definitely not meant to think hard about the how and why of that- it's there because Chihiro needs a proper weapon to fight with while he can't use his magic fish nuke. Hopefully it's existence isn't on a timer or something.

It will be interesting to see how he fares with a regular weapon against a guy who can cut a bus in half with his own mundane katana. How good are Chihiro's basics, really? How much did he manage to pick up from Samura and others before he started to train with Enten's powers? We're probably about to find out!

Please don't let this raise a flag for the Masumi.

These front shots always look so damn cool. Chihiro is the kind of protagonist those edgy wish-fulfillment series wish they had. If Hakuri didn't exist he'd definitely be my favourite character, no contest. Pretty rare for a shounen series honestly! He might even win an official popularity poll if/when Kagurabachi gets one! Usually that honour goes to the deuteragonist or characters with wide appeal like Gojo while the MC is in second or third. Maybe. I want to collect the data on this but I've already got a ton of other half-finished things I'm working on, so maybe that'll wait until a poll is actually announced.

A lot of shounen MCs are good guys with a lot to learn and Chihiro's not much different in that regard. But all the little details about Chihiro add up to make him the first WSJ protagonist I've been sincerely attached to in eons. ...I'll get around to finishing that "why Chihiro is a uniquely compelling protagonist" write-up one of these days.

Hooray for magic skirts that ignore physics

Not much to say here other than I'm really happy for the yuri fans. They finally have "shippable" girls interacting with each other in Kagurabachi. And an innocent-yet-brave girl is clinging to a cool, deadly beauty for safety no less- that's really potent stuff. Let the lilies bloom!

Okay, dear void. We have one more break for brain rot before resuming a normal weekly schedule on the 19th. Great time to re-read the series for the five millionth time, wouldn't you agree? Yes? Wonderful! See you in two weeks or so if I don't finish up something that's gathering dust in the drafts before then. Take care of yourself and may 2025 be your best year yet.

[lynxgriffin]

What do you think of the new TADC episode about Gangle and mininum wadge? Did someone already asked you this?

Like all of the TADC episodes out so far, another banger, with some great atmosphere and character development! It was real interesting to see Jax be nice to Pomni for once, and get a bit of backstory on Gangle.

I was somehow extremely fortunate in that I never had to do the worst sorts of food service or customer service jobs when I was younger (mostly did office work or switchboard operating), but man even I could feel the agony of food service jobs leaking through in all of those lines and interactions. That was its own sort of horror!

[x-h3kk3ning-x]

I make jokes on occassion about the place I live being Gotham but with more trees (anywhere, USA) but like....yall...I cannot stress enough...How much This Municipal Election fucking matters and how god damned...ya know what here...

Raleigh, NC is one of the fastest growing cities in America. I HATE that about it. For YEARS we have had a Mayor named Mary Ann Baldwin, who took any bribe a real-estate developer would give her. She even, along with city council, lengthened her term WITHOUT TELLING THE PUBLIC!! Using some loophole in the city constitution or whatever. My hometown and birthplace has become gentrification displacement fucking central!

But THIS ELECTION is THE FIRST ONE that Baldwin is stepping down and NOT RUNNING AGAIN!! Do you want to know who the feont runners are for her position?

A woman whose entire job over the past few years has been converting the land that the Dorthea Dix Mental Hospital was on into a city destination park.

And a guy whose website looks like THIS...

His name is Terrance Ruth so his campaing slogan, I SHIT YOU NOT is "TRUTH FOR RALEIGH"

We don't HAVE a city seawall, thank fuck; But--ya know--at this point I wouldnt even be surprised if one magically blew up and flooded us.

[maggiec70]

First, once again I appreciate josefavomjaaga's perceptive and balanced account of Eugene; many people are not able to do this, unfortunately. She also is amazingly thorough in evaluating what she reads through the careful--and discerning--lens of historiography. Second, I think that the emphasis on Jaffa is rather loaded: constantly referred to as a massacre targeting soldiers and civilians, horrific, and so on. Certainly by 20th and 21st standards it was. But it occurred in March 1799, when opinions on the proper conduct of warfare were not so well-developed. Nevertheless, most civilians were allowed to leave, and the remaining Ottoman soldiers with the remaining civilians were indeed killed. The best way to look at this, or indeed any "controversial" historical episode, is in the context of the perpetrator and his times. Very difficult to do, but the only way to get a decent idea of the event and the circumstances surrounding it is to leave your own contemporary viewpoint behind. Third, I found this paragraph interesting: "However, the Jaffa episode is revealing. Bonaparte sometimes believed that instilling fear in his enemies was the only way to deal with them, even if it meant ignoring basic rules. What happened? His opponents, who were seasoned soldiers, only intensified their resistance. These were not impressionable civilians. Bonaparte's victories, or defeats, came at such a high cost that they were often humiliating, resulting in what could be described as a Pyrrhic victory. I have the impression that Bonaparte was occasionally unable to think long-term and focused only on short-term gains." I can't tell who is responsible for this bit, but it is definitely entertaining for several reasons. No, Jaffa is not revealing. Bonaparte had already killed plenty of Sardinian and Austrian soldiers during the First Italian Campaign from March 1796 through the late spring of 1797. More important, he had also ordered killing armed civilians in Pavia in Lombardy who attacked the French, and putting down the Easter revolt in Verona in 1797. So this is a case of "been there, done that, and now have the t-shirt." With regard to the seasoned Ottoman soldiers intensifying their resistance, that is true, but these were at Acre, not Jaffa, and the intensified resistance was effective enough to force Bonaparte to leave. The claim that Bonaparte's victories were Pyrrhic because of the high number of casualties and his defeats significant enough to be humiliating is innane. By the time of the Jaffa massacre the campaign in the Italian states had ended, although the Austrians intended to resume operations along the Rhine. The very few defeats occurred in the early days of 1796 with low casualties, but they were eclipsed by the significant victories sending the Sardinians to sue for peace within three months of March 1796, and the Austrians to sign the Peace of Leoben in April 1797.

Finally, I won't bother with anyone's opinion/impression of what Bonaparte thought about anything--unless you have something he wrote about a subject sitting right in front of you, and good luck reading his handwriting. And to end this on a cheerful note: Cyril Drouhet is [maybe by now he was]"deputy director of photography at Le Figaro magazine, not the newspaper; he curates and sponsors and goes on and on and on about a large European photography festival. He may have a degree of some kind in hostory, but he is not a historian. I read the archived psts by Drouhet and laughed through the first six or so pages of his pontificating. I read every single "memoir" he mentioned, even those that the real historian Jean Tulard labeled in his extremely comprehensive and rock-solid analysis of all the Napoleonic era works. I also read several of the Egyptian/Arabic contemporanious accounts by Al-Jabarti and Al-Turk. Finally, I spent weeks in the fortress with cartons of archival documents from the Egyptian Campaign that are maintained at Vincennes. And then I wrote my dissertation. And a book. I'm done now. I rarely rant on like this, but when something so absurd pops up, I can't restrain myself.

The Massacre of Jaffa: Bonaparte's Lies

This tragic episode of the Jaffa massacre will explore the events surrounding the massacre carried out by Napoleon Bonaparte, the lies he used to justify it, and how these falsehoods were later repeated by others, including Eugène de Beauharnais, to defend the executions. Although Eugène was not involved in the massacre, he consciously repeated his stepfather's lies. In this analysis, we aim to avoid both the golden legend and the black legend.

On March 7, 1799, Jaffa fell to the French army during their campaign in Syria. The city became the site of a particularly brutal massacre of prisoners, some of whom, according to testimonies, were civilians. The main figure responsible for this carnage was Napoleon Bonaparte.

The account of Jaffa’s capture has been shared in various versions, from immediate eyewitness accounts to official narratives published later. This diversity of perspectives raises important questions about how the events were perceived and reported, both by direct witnesses and by French authorities.

The siege of Jaffa was part of Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign. After capturing the city, the French encountered a determined garrison composed of soldiers from the army of Djezzar, the Pasha of Acre. The attack on Jaffa was intense and violent, leading to a massacre that targeted both soldiers and civilians.

Bonaparte justified this massacre with two lies. The first was that the prisoners had committed perjury (a complicated lie), and the second was that there was a lack of provisions (a simpler lie). Years later, Bonaparte even reduced the number of prisoners and continued to lie about the massacre, even on Saint Helena. This caused discomfort and raised further questions about the truth.

Men loyal to Bonaparte, such as Eugène de Beauharnais, also repeated these lies (although Eugène was not directly responsible for the massacre at Jaffa, he openly echoed his stepfather’s fabrications and must have known the truth, as he was present on the ground)to justify this massacre . You will see that these justifications do not hold up in the link I will share. Initially, I planned to write an article on the subject, but I found a French website containing the work of Cyril Drouet, who does an excellent job of debunking both the golden and black legends surrounding Bonaparte. His work includes testimonies and exposes the violations of wartime laws.

The golden legend justifies the massacre by relying on Bonaparte's lies, while the black legend portrays him as a man who enjoys massacring people for pleasure or executes people based on whim. Both of these views are false. I believe Bonaparte when he states that he did not take pleasure in such actions and was haunted by certain decisions (this perspective comes from someone who generally dislikes Bonaparte).

However, the Jaffa episode is revealing. Bonaparte sometimes believed that instilling fear in his enemies was the only way to deal with them, even if it meant ignoring basic rules. What happened? His opponents, who were seasoned soldiers, only intensified their resistance. These were not impressionable civilians. Bonaparte's victories, or defeats, came at such a high cost that they were often humiliating, resulting in what could be described as a Pyrrhic victory. I have the impression that Bonaparte was occasionally unable to think long-term and focused only on short-term gains.

Indeed, it has been observed that, contrary to popular belief, the victory against Delgrès in Guadeloupe was difficult. Richepanse himself acknowledged this, and for good reason: the soldiers facing him were experienced and well-trained in the art of war. Initially, Richepanse thought that the soldiers who fought against the restoration of slavery, having already faced the British, would bend under intimidation. This was an absolute mistake. Furthermore, the expected economic results never materialized. Similarly, in Saint-Domingue, the conflict ended with a victory and the proclamation of Haiti.

What is the connection to Jaffa? In a similar vein, the massacre not only strengthened the resolve of his enemies but also prompted the Ottomans to justify the execution of some French soldiers by sabre after this massacre ordered by Bonaparte. This is one of the many reasons why rules regarding the treatment of prisoners were established during wartime and should never be violated. (Interestingly, Ottoman forces, according to some testimonies, were more merciful than the French troops.) In short, Bonaparte’s attempt to intimidate the Ottomans by carrying out this horrific massacre under false pretenses failed, having the opposite effect.

I had initially planned to create a separate post, but I found an archived history forum, now closed, where a user named Cyril Drouet gathered all the testimonies and dismantled Bonaparte's and his allies' lies. It's an insightful read and provides a more analytical summary of the issue than I could. You can access it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20170629145019/http://passion-histoire.net/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=37621&sid=7f51b3c72ebbbe9534d2d163d70204fe (it’s in French, but can be translated into English).

For more information on Guadeloupe or Haiti, here are some posts I've written, which touch on the subject alongside Jaffa: More information on slave revolts in the Caribbean Louis Delgrès: Freedom Fighter Mini portraits of three revolutionary women A revolutionary and white battalion leader

The most comprehensive piece so far is about Haiti: The shocking acts by the French army

[feroluce]

Me: I wonder what Hook calls Sampo in the Japanese dub? Probably oji-san, since it's shushu in the original Chinese?

Hook: Sampo-ojichan!!

Oji is "uncle," which is hilarious because Hook calls Natasha by "older sister" when she wants something. So Hook either just really wants to get on Natasha's good side, or she takes Sampo at face value when he refers to himself as an old man. She trusts him a lot and takes him at his word and she calls him as such!

And Sampo calls Hook either ojou-san or oujo-san (I can't find the Japanese sub to see the spelling, and I can't tell them apart by ear)!

One spelling, oujo, means "princess," it's how you would refer to royalty. The other, ojou, (which I assume is what he's actually saying) is something you call the young lady of a high-class family with a high social standing. In Genshin Impact, the intro scene for a popular ship, chilumi, shows Childe calling Lumine ojou-chan, which the English dub translated as "girlie." Since Sampo uses -san instead of -chan, his is more formal and respectful, it's more like "young lady."

...It's also how you would refer to the daughter of a yakuza leader, which I love, since Hook leads her own little gang (the Moles) skzhkskdkd

But it really gets me in the heart, because! Hook is generally looked at as a delinquent by most adults. Which I mean. Not without good reason, she

calls Natasha an old witch

frequently sneaks out into the Fragmentum

has left graffiti all over the side of the orphanage

was constantly picking fights with other kids

beat a man unconscious for stealing from her dad

and has already picked up on how business gets done in the Underworld, and uses/actively participates in it to get what she wants- she basically acts an information broker

like Hook earns her reputation haha. The Underground is lucky that what Hook wants is just like. Candy and toys and to play hide-and-seek. I'm sure she'll have the capability to raise all kinds of hell and be more like an actual gang leader when she's older, even if she chooses not to act on it.

So Sampo calling her so politely and respectfully is really sweet and cute! Yes, he's polite and respectful with everyone, but that's just it- he treats Hook much like he does everyone else. He doesn't tell her to buzz off because she's a kid. He doesn't lie or try to cheat her or assume she's naive because of her age. He never talks down to her. He really does just treat her like a respected business partner and he takes her seriously, which Hook really seems to appreciate. And even when Sampo does treat her like a kid, it's not in a negative way; he guides her on little adventures and chats with her and takes her for joy rides on his moped. All of which Hook also really appreciates, since everyone else is too busy trying to get by to make time to play with her. She absolutely adores him.

I hope they officially join forces someday and terrorize all of Belobog with their shenanigans JSKJZNDKSJ

So Hook calls Sampo "Uncle Sampo" in a particularly affectionate/endeared tone, and Sampo calls Hook "Young Miss Hook" in a very respectful tone! And to reiterate:

[kanhotep]

Alastor would love to have a computer because while he still thinky vinyl is the superior medium for music he can't deny that it's more effective to have a digital music library.

He could also built a computer easily, the hardware is no problem for him.

Unfortunately he stopped keeping up with programming in the 60ies, there was just so much going on. And now he can't get any software that is not in some way connected to Vox he doesn't want to admit it, because he's the radio demon, this frivolous digital technology is beneath him, but there is a little part of him that is pissed about it.

Definitely pissed.

And in no way whatsoever melancholic, reminiscing of a past when he and Vox would build them together, Alastor working on the hardware and Vox doing the software.

A past where such actions were meant to be a pleasant hobby, a nice way to pass the time and not a commitment to an unreliable lifestyle that chained itself to whatever new trend arose.

No, he could never miss this old flight of fancy. But he can admit, that he misses the old Vox. His old chum used to be a nice company rather than a persistent annoyance.

[unopenablebox]

relatedly today the british coworker i have an only maybe disproportionate grudge against learned which six flags are the six flags and as the rest of my labmates groaned in horror he was like "well... it's part of the history though" and like. listen. i know you haven't lived in the US before. but when the room universally reacts in horror at something they think is racist possibly you should ask any questions you may have about it in "question" rather than "immediate defense of the confederate flag" format

[madewithonerib]

A Cup o’ Joe and a Heart Attack on a Rack, Please – The Delicious History of American Diner Lingo

Along with Uncle Sam, Civil War daguerreotypes, and hot apple pies on Thanksgiving, diners are one of those nostalgia-inducing cultural artifacts that somehow get under the skin of millennials and baby boomers alike. Diners have long been a quintessential element of Americana, but along with bottomless coffee and the time-honored tradition of dipping French fries in milkshakes (if you’re thinking I’m alone on that one, look it up – it’s real and delicious), diners have left us with an enduring linguistic legacy. A cup o’ Joe, ‘sunny side up’ or ‘over easy’ eggs, a burger ‘with the works’ or a ‘BLT’ – if you’ve ever used any of these terms, you’ve officially borrowed from the lexicon of American diner lingo.

A Brief History of the Diner

The precursor to the first diner was a horse-drawn wagon used to sell food to employees of the Providence Journal in Providence, Rhode Island. It was built in 1872 by Walter Scott & was so successful that, fifteen years later, ‘lunch wagons’ began to be commercially produced. As their popularity grew, wagons gave way to pre-fabricated buildings.

Because they were delivered onsite with only the utilities needing to be connected, they tended to be small & narrow enough to fit onto a rail car or truck, giving them their distinctive train-car style shape. And being small & narrow meant they were relatively cheap to buy and operate. This, combined with a traditionally affordable menu, meant when the Great Depression struck in 1929, the diner industry was not hit as hard as higher end sectors of the restaurant business. So, after World War II, when the economy started to boom, diners began to spread from the Northeast all over the country.

The Menu

With robust menus that often boasted more than one hundred items, as well as dozens of different ways to prepare basic items like hamburgers and eggs, the early nineteen-hundreds saw the advent of diner lingo, a colorful system used by cook and wait staff to help them remember customer orders.

Although there were certain regional variations to diner lingo, it stayed relatively similar across the board, and at the height of diner popularity, being an expert in the lexicon became a prerequisite for waiters and cooks applying for jobs. A lot of the terms were tongue-in-cheek, and occasionally even veered into racy territory – let’s take a look at a classic menu.

Can I get you started off with something to drink?

💬 Here you go, two jamokas and a cup of city juice. Are you ready for me to take your order?

💬 And what kind of condiments would you like? 🧂👛 Con Lumbre [Add Hot Sauce] Top it with White [Add Sour Cream] Top it with Red [Add Salsa] Sour it [Add Lemon] Baby sauce: Mustard on a hot dog Mickey Rooney: A hot dog with mustard and relish Cut the grass: A hot dog with mustard but no relish Paint a bow-wow red: A hot dog with ketchup Bloodhound in the hay: A hot dog with sauerkraut Hemorrhage: Ketchup

Dragged through the garden: A burger, hot dog, or sandwich with a variety of toppings and condiments, usually vegetables

Dogs and maggots: Crackers and cheese Frosty Joe: Iced coffee Hi-test: Coffee with caffeine Joe O'Malley: Irish coffee 50/50 Joe: Coffee with half-and-half In the dark: Black coffee No cow: No cream Boiled leaves: Tea Spot with a twist: Tea with lemon

At the height of diner popularity, hearing the wait staff call out your order to the cooks was as much a part of the experience as choosing your favorite song on the juke box or slurping down a malt milkshake.

And the amazing thing about diner lingo is the way it started to develop its own grammar in order to accommodate complex orders. While lettuce on its own was called ‘rabbit food’ and onions were called ‘bad breath,’ a well-done burger with lettuce, tomato, and onion, wasn’t referred to as ‘a hockey puck with rabbit food and bad breath on top.’

That would have been even more confusing than the original order. Instead, staff came up with all kinds of creative ways to make an order memorable. Let’s look at a few:

Biblical References

Now that we’ve run through the basic gauntlet of diner lingo, let’s take a closer look at one of the strange phenomena that seems to characterize the lexicon: biblical references. You may have noticed that quite a few diner idioms make references to biblical characters, such as Adam, Eve, and Noah. Though nobody knows the exact origin of these idioms, they started to be cataloged as far back as 1894, when the North Eastern Daily Gazette explained the common diner term ‘Adam and Eve on a raft,’ using the following example:

“One day he ordered poached eggs on toast. Going to the slide the waiter yelled out: ‘Adam and Eve on a raft.’ The order was changed to scrambled eggs, when the waiter rushed off, and in stentorian tones there came the alarming direction to those below: ‘Shipwreck that order!’”

Eve probably found more representation in diner lingo than any other individual character. An order for a stack of ribs would be called out as, ‘give me a First Lady,’ obviously in reference to the idea that Eve – the first lady on Earth – was made from Adam’s rib; apple pie was called ‘Eve with a lid on it’ in reference to the Biblical story in which Eve eats an apple from the garden of Eden.

Similarly, ‘Adam’s Ale’ refers to water, since Adam was not believed to have ever consumed any kind of alcohol.

And though we don’t know the exact origin of the majority of diner vocabulary, historians have worked out a few theories regarding two of the most enduring and universal terms:

Cup o’ Joe, and Eighty-Six.

Cup o’ Joe

There are three prevalent theories regarding how diners most popular beverage – coffee – earned the nickname, ‘a cup o’ Joe.’

The first suggests that the term arose in 1913, when Josephus Daniels was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson. Secretary Joe issued an order prohibiting the consumption of alcohol aboard naval vessels.

From then on, coffee was the strongest drink allowed on board, and, in lieu of asking for ‘a cup o’ whiskey,’ or ‘a cup o’ brandy’ in the mess hall, begrudged sailors took to asking for ‘a cup o’ Joe.’

Though this theory seems convincing, the first recorded use of the term ‘cup o’ Joe’ wasn’t until 1930, sixteen years after the issuance of that order, which leads historians to believe a second theory lends itself to a more probable origin story.

The second theory actually leans on extant terminology from the diner lexicon, suggesting that ‘Joe’ is a shortened version of two other previously existing nicknames for coffee: Java and mocha, which, by the way, already existed in a third slang word for coffee listed in the menu above, Jamoka.

The third theory also borrows from antecedents in the English lexicon. As far back as 1846, the name Joe was used as a neutral signifier of the common man, much as Jane Doe and John Doe are used today. Thus, a cup o’ Joe may have just been a way of denoting the common man’s drink. [the average Joe]

Eighty-six

If you’ve ever worked in a bar or restaurant, you’ve probably heard the term eighty-six being used either to instruct kitchen staff to ‘hold’ an item that was part of an original order (‘eighty-six that side of bacon’), to explain the restaurant’s run out of an item (‘the tomatoes are eighty-sixed’), or even as a code to remove problem customers (‘eighty-six the guy at the bar, he’s too drunk’).

Like ‘a cup o’ Joe,’ there are a number of theories about the origin of this number turned verb.

The first few theories all connect the term with official codes and rules of the era. Article 86 of the New York State liquor code, for example, deals with the removal of problem customers. Similarly, Army Code 86 deals with soldiers gone AWOL or ‘Absent Without Leave,’ and, according to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1926, Device Number 86 was a ‘lock out’ device, which turned off a problematic piece of electrical equipment so that it could not be turned back on until reset. The number could have also referred to capacity limits of dining halls frequently being set at eighty-five, so that the eighty-sixth customer would be denied entry.

Another theory, written about in the Merriam Webster Dictionary, suggests the term may have become popular as a code word simply because it rhymed with the word ‘nix,’ meaning ‘no’ or ‘to prohibit.’ The word ‘nix’ comes from the German word ‘nichts,’ which means ‘nothing.’

A more colorful theory suggests the term originated in Chumley’s, an old bar located at 86 Bedford Street in Manhattan’s West Village. During prohibition, the theory goes, police would call the bar before a raid and tell the bartender to ‘eighty-six’ his customers, meaning send them out the 86 Bedford Street door, while the police went in at the Barrow Street entrance.

The End of Diner Lingo?

In the 1970’s, with the growth of fast food companies like McDonald’s and KFC, diners, along with the renowned diner lexicon, began to fall into decline.

Today, diners remain popular in just a few parts of the Northeast and the Midwest. In other parts of the country, modern high-end brunch and breakfast restaurants draw inspiration from the vintage diner aesthetic and built menus filled with contemporary interpretations of classic American diner fare, like kimchi grilled cheese sandwiches and crab cake benedicts with wasabi dill sauce.

Sadly, American diner lingo has all but disappeared.

But as we develop new food-related lexicons, wherein idioms like ‘a quarter pounder with cheese’ replace their diner lingo equivalents (‘yellow blanket on a dead cow’), we’re left with a few enduring relics that don’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

And that means you can still have the pleasure of walking into a restaurant, sitting down, and making the following order: “One BLT with mayo, a burger with the works, two eggs sunny side up and two over easy, and four cups o’ Joe, please.”

Janet Barrow writes about the places where language meets history, culture, and politics. She studied Written Arts at Bard College, and her fiction has appeared in Easy Street and Adelaide Magazine. After two years in Lima, Peru, she recently moved to Chicago.

On the rail: Means fast, as in "Fries, on a rail!" Campers: Customers who take up a table for an extended period Make it cry: A waiter says this when customer wants onions added Black and blue: say this when s/o orders extremely rare meat Hockey puck: when a customer orders a well-done hamburger Drown the kids: when a customer wants their eggs boiled Wreck 'em: when a customer wants their eggs scrambled Side of Joan of Arc: when a customer wants French fries

Covers: The number of guests served or dishes prepared 87: In some kitchens, this term is used to indicate that an item is about to be unavailable

How to Talk Like a Seasoned Restaurateur

The hospitality industry has developed its own vernacular—one that is unique and efficient (and often peppered with expletives). While each restaurant will have its own unique jargon, many restaurant terms are commonly used across the industry.

We reached out to chefs, bussers, servers, hosts, line cooks, owners and managers to build out our list of restaurant terms, lingo and slang—from the most common to the most obscure. Here’s your definitive guide to restaurant terms.

2-top, 4-top, etc…

This is the number of guests you seat at a table. The host will typically use this term when informing the server their table has been sat with new guests. A 2-top has 2 people, a 4-top has 4, and so on and so forth. “I just sat you with a 4-top near the bar.”

86

Sometimes, the kitchen will run out of an ingredient in a menu item (no more cinnamon sugar rims on the fall cocktail), a drink or an entire menu item. This means it’s 86ed. Usually, the manager or the kitchen staff will alert servers so they don’t offer it or can tell guests. 

“We have to 86 the surf and turf special for the rest of the dinner service.” 

All-day

This refers to the total amount of a particular dish needed at a specific moment in time. So if you’re cooking three burgers and three more tickets come in with five more burgers between them, you’ve got eight all day. Think of it as another way of saying “total”. 

“Chef, can I get an all day?” “Eight all day—five medium rare, kill three.”

À la carte

This French term means a menu item is sold by itself. In a steakhouse, for example, it’s common for steaks to be sold with sides à la carte. This means the steaks don’t come with a side included.

“Does the steak come with mashed potatoes or is it à la carte?”

Back of house (BOH)

The back of house refers to staff who work in the back of the restaurant, out of sight of diners. These folks are the chefs, kitchen prep, and storage area staff.

[crimescrimson]

Joyce Price in Life Is Strange (2015)

[which-hospital]

Feel like I haven’t been posting very much lately and definitely not much (enough) about Teddy and it’s because I have like two thoughts on my mind:

1.) Sandra had to die.

2.) What if she didn’t, though?

[courfee]

just went through all my ao3 fics and edited all the tags because i feel like i overtag a lot and it always bothered me. tbf the most overtagging happens in my relationship/character tags but i find it super difficult to judge who/which relationship is important. like friendships are So Important in my fics i dont feel like i cant tag less there? especially my longer fics. amtc james&sirius and black brothers are in my mind at least if not more important than literally amtc jegulus. i know its a jegulus fic but also jegulus is just the catalyst for other relationship dynamics. how do you tag that stuff

[broodsys]

my male snail (aquatic) needs to clean up my female snail already. they usually crawl over each other's shells periodically but my boys been SLACKING and she's growing quite the algae coat