#Langblr

[strawb3rryqueer]

Táim ag léamh an leabhar ghrinn "Ortha an Tuama" agus an leabhar "To Hell or Barbados"!! Tá "Ortha an Tuama" i nGaeilge agus tá "To Hell or Barbados" i mBéarla. Tá siad araon go maith :) ach is fearr liom "To Hell or Barbados". Tá go leor eolais agus staire aige faoi Éirinn

If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading

[a-word-a-day-for-writers]

𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐜

A person who displays ardent or excessive enthusiasm for Christ; an overzealous Christian.

[hizerain]

2025.01.19

This month has been hellish. I'm fully aware that's a gross oversimplification, I've done some frankly amazing things such as run a 10K for the first time but my mental health has been a complete disaster which has led to ruined exams, a relapse of sorts I've rarely had in years and a general apathy that cut so uncompromisingly deep that all things life were horrendous to even imagine. I'm processing, working with it. It's provided me with the unsurprising yet completely novel insight that the many things I do have more than a slight twinge of OCD infused with them. It's already quite a year.

[meowbrown]

I remembered this one from Frieren, and decided to look for more anime examples.

たった１０年の冒険だよ (00:18)

From: Frieren - 🥰

The second た sounds like だ to me, so I always get it wrong, now is the time to correct this!

いや　それだ��じゃないな

From: Chobits - this one brings me so many memories. I even bought the book だれもいない町 in the anime.

That's why I want to help you all.

Audio

No, that's not all...

Audio

そこの店で買ったばかりの　シベリヤです

From: The Wind Rises - another Studio Ghibli classic

It's sponge cake. I just bought it.

Audio

すばらしい では あとは行動あるのみ

From: Fruits Basket - I just realized they had a remake! Thinking whether to watch it or not

Wonderful! Now we just need to stick to the plan.

Audio

Important resource

While writing this, I recalled only the one from Frieren. Super happy to have learned about https://www.immersionkit.com!!!! Fantastic for searching Japanese phrases that return anime clips. MUST HAVE!

ways to say "only", "just" in Japanese

When I started learning Japanese, I quickly discovered that “only” translates to だけ (dake). Soon after, I learned about しか (shika) and then ばかり (bakari). This led me to wonder how many ways there are to express the idea of "only" or "just" in the Japanese language. I began exploring the fascinating world of adverbs that convey limitation or exclusivity, each with its own specific nuance.

Here are some of the terms I’ve discovered (which I may continue to expand upon):

だけ (dake): Strongly emphasizes exclusivity, meaning that nothing else is included or considered. Example: 水だけください��� (Please give me only water.)

しか (shika) (used with a negative verb): Often conveys a sense of disappointment or limitation, implying that there’s nothing but the mentioned item, often with a sense of restriction. Example: 私は日本語しか話せません。 (I can only speak Japanese.)

ばかり (bakari): Suggests the dominance or prevalence of something, often with a sense of excess or monotony and a negative nuance. It does not imply strict exclusivity. Example: お菓子ばかり食べている。 (I’m only eating snacks.)

ばかし (bakashi): A casual variant of ばかり, used mostly in spoken language. It conveys a similar meaning but carries a more informal tone. Example: 遊んでばっかしいる。 (He’s only playing.)

のみ (nomi): Used in formal or written contexts, conveying exclusivity. It can sound elegant and refined. Example: 本日のみ有効です。 (Valid only today.)

ばかりか (bakari ka): This expression expands the meaning by introducing additional information, indicating more than just "only." Example: 彼は優しいばかりか、面白いです。 (He is not only kind but also funny.)

だけしか (dake shika) (used with a negative verb): This term combines だけ and しか, emphasizing strong exclusivity when used with negative constructions. Example: これだけしかない。 (There is only this.)

こそ (koso): Indicates that the highlighted item is particularly special or the best choice, often implying that nothing else can compare. Example: 今日こそ勉強する。 (Today, of all days, I will study.)

たった (tatta): Implies that an amount is minimal and often inadequate, highlighting a sense of limitation. Example: たった一人で旅行した。 (I traveled with just one person.)

わずか (wazuka): Emphasizes a minimal quantity or degree, often with a sense of surprise. Example: わずか10分で終わった。 (It only took 10 minutes.)

ほんの (honno): Indicates a small or trivial amount, often used to downplay something. Example: ほんの少しだけ食べた。 (I ate just a little bit.)

に限る (ni kagiru): This expression is used to convey that something is the best or only suitable choice for a situation. Example: 夏はアイスクリームに限る。 (Ice cream is the best for summer.)

だけでなく (dake de naku): Similar to ばかりか , this phrase is used to express that there’s more than just one thing happening. Example: 彼女は賢いだけでなく、優しいです。 (She is not only smart but also kind.)

単に (tan ni): Indicates simplicity; often used to clarify or explain something in a straightforward manner. Example: 単に冗談だよ。 (It’s just a joke.)

あくまで (akumade): Suggests that something is true only to a certain extent or in a specific context. Example: あくまで私の意見です。 (This is just my opinion.)

たかが (takaga): Often carries a dismissive connotation, suggesting that something is not very important. Example: たかが試験一回でどうなるものか。 (It’s just one exam; it won’t change much.)

I love discovering all these subtle differences and nuances, even if it can be frustrating at times. If you know of any more, please share!

[corvid-language-library]

和製英語（わせいえいご）

Japanese word constructed of elements from one or more English terms; pseudo-English word or phrase coined in Japan

和 = Japan, Japanese style (also: harmony, peace, soften)

製 = made in...; manufacture

英 = England, English (also: hero, outstanding, calyx)

語 = language, word, speech

Examples

A non-exhaustive list. Please feel free to reblog and add more!

サラリーマン (salaryman) white-collar worker

オフィスレーディー (office lady) female version of "salaryman"

フライドポテト (fried potato) fries

スーパーボール (super ball) rubber ball, bouncy ball

ガソリンスタンド (gasoline stand) petrol/gas station

サイン (sign) signature

マンション (mansion) apartment block

ツインテール (twin tail) pigtails, bunches

ソフトクリーム (soft cream) soft-scoop ice cream

ホットケーキ (hot cake) pancake

タッチ (touch) high five (does also mean "touch" apparently)

キーホルダー (keyholder) keyring

ブラインドタッチ (blind touch) touch typing

シャープペンシル (sharp pencil) mechanical pencil

シール (seal) sticker

アメリカンドッグ (American dog) corndog

バイキング (viking) buffet

ワンピース (one piece) dress

ビーチサンダル (beach sandal) flip-flops

[mehilaiselokuva]

generally i do like how finnish makes use of grammatical cases (learning about locative cases as a native english speaker blew my mind tbh, why dont we have that?!?!?!) and its been fairly easy learning how to apply them, but for some reason i just still cant wrap my head around partitive case (i.e. when and when not to use it)

Hi!

Partitive is a difficult one for sure. There are a few places where it kind of makes sense to use it at all times:

When the noun is part of an action where (currently) there is/cannot be a result. For example: I am watering the flowers = "Kastelen kukkia" VS I water the flowers = "Kastelen kukat", the focus shifts. "Tanssin tanssia" (I dance a dance (I am currently doing it, might not finish it)) VS "Tanssin tanssin" (I dance this dance (a set dance which I will surely finish))

When there is a word expressing quantity: (works a bit like English, you wouldn't say "many the flowers" (paljon kukat), you would say "many flowers" (paljon kukkia), as in you aren't specifying the flowers and in general there are many of them) (Keep in mind that if you are asking for a price with "Paljonko ... on/ovat?", you do not use the partitive. "Paljonko (nämä) kukat ovat?" = How much are (these) flowers?

In existential sentences, for example "there are flowers in the garden" (puutarhassa on kukkia), where it's a general statement that there exist some quantity of flowers in the garden VS "the flowers are in the garden" (kukat ovat puutarhassa) where the flowers are known and there is a known quantity of them. Similarly, when you are asking if something is somewhere, you can use the partitive: "Onko puutarhassa kukkia?" (Are there flowers in the garden?) and "Ovatko kukat puutarhassa?" (Are THE flowers in the garden?"

When something is fully something or the whole thing/area is something: "Kukat ovat punaisia" (The flowers are red) VS "Kukat ovat punaiset" (These specific flowers that I am referencing are red). If you want to put "Kukat" into partitive, you must turn the sentence existential; "Punaisia kukkia on olemassa" (Red flowers (in general) exist) "Tässä on punaisia kukkia" (Here are some red flowers)

As a predicative: "Olemme kukkia (We are flowers) VS "Olemme kukat" (We are THE flowers (which you are referencing right now))

Then there are some things that you just have to remember:

When referencing a way in which something is done: "hiljaa" (quietly)

When referencing a relation between entities: "Kosketin kukan lehteä" (I touched the leaf of the flower), "Otin kukkaa kädestä" (I grabbed the hand of the flower) (Compare this to the first entry on this list)

After a preposition: "Keskellä kukkaa" (In the middle of the flower) "Keskellä kukkia" (In the middle of the flowers). You could also use the genitive and say "Kukan keskellä" and "Kukkien keskellä", but you would need to flip the word order accordingly.

In some sayings and other irregular stuff (of course)

The Finnish Wikipedia article also mentions that "the place expressions kaukaa, kauempaa, ulkoa, kotoa, vastapäätä are sometimes read as partitive, but from a linguistic-historical point of view they are a remnant of the Uralic proto-language separative." which of course caught my eye.

Another thing you should know with kukka:

"Onko sinulla kukkia?" - do you have flowers?

"Onko sinulla kukka?" - do you have a flower?

"Onko kukka sinulla?" - do you possess the flower (which I am referencing)

BUT:

"Onko sinulla kukkaa?" - do you have a flower (at all)? OR "do you have [green product which I think I shouldn't mention here] ?"

If someone asks you the latter out on the street, you can now answer accordingly to your possession of said green substance!

[meowbrown]

Can't believe how many vocabulary and grammar is here for me in one sentence.

語彙

覆い被さる (おおいかぶさる) - covering

咲き誇る (さきほこる) - blooming magnificently

里桜 (さとざくら) - it's pronounced as りお when it's a name

日差し (ひざし) - sunlight

遮る (さえぎる) - to block

The village cherry blossoms, blooming magnificently as if to cover everything, block the sunlight.

文法 - ように (adverb)

Meaning: as if/like

Usage:

verb (casual)/noun + の + ように + verb/adjective

Examples

覆い被さるように咲き誇る - blooming magnificently as if to cover (everything)

風のように走る - running like the wind

Related - ような (na-adjective)

Meaning: as if/like

Usage:

verb (casual)/noun + の + ような + noun

Examples

雲のような白いドレス - white dress like cloud

世界が終わるような大事件 - an event as if the world is ending

Reference

I actually like this reference more than treating ように and ような as different cases like most articles on the internet.

I think it is best if you just treat 様 (よう) as a normal noun. With other nouns, you should be using のよう because that is how nouns modify each other. With na-adjs, you should be using なよう because that is how they modify nouns.

sunshade

2017年、 立会川緑道。

覆い被さるように咲き誇る里桜が日差しを遮る。

[bogreader]

people talking about the cultural exchange going on with americans going to rednote and i have to remind myself that most people haven’t ever sought out social media or media from another culture in another language before. i do that every time i wanna learn a new language lol, i end up 3 hours deep in indonesian youtube or latam twitter or on the türkish side of tiktok or watching astronomy videos in mongolian etc

[meichenxi]

The known-ish words of intermediate Chinese, or: What does it mean to know a word?

We all have this intuition, especially in languages like Chinese, that there are words we 'kind of know'. These are the known-ish words. In the case of Chinese, most people would recognise at least three axes:

1) Do I know the meaning? 2) Do I know the pronunciation? 3) Do I know how to handwrite it?

You might answer yes to some, but no to others. Voila! You know the word - ish.

And then you can also add the dimension of passive and active knowledge:

1) Do I recognise this word passively? 2) Can I use this word actively?

Great. Even more ways of kind of but not really knowing a word. But that's far from all. There's also the different domains of listening and reading, writing and speaking.

So passively, that looks like:

1) Do I know the meaning when listening? 2) Do I know the meaning when reading? 3) Do I know the pronunciation when reading?

Once we add in the active dimension, it all starts to get a bit more complicated. This is far from an exhaustive list, but consider the follows ways you could define 'knowing' a word:

1) I can read the word out loud (but I don't know what it means, and I can't use it in a sentence) 2) I know what the word means, and I can use it in a sentence (but I can't handwrite it) 3) I can use the word in a spoken sentence (but I don't know how to type it, or which character it uses) 4) I can recognise the word when reading (but don't know how to read it out loud, and can only guess at the meaning) 5) I can use the word in a written sentence (but not a spoken sentence) 6) I can type the word and recognise the word (but I don't know how to handwrite it) 7) …

Okay. What else?

Chinese is a compounding language.

Have you ever had the experience that you can't recognise a character individually, but as soon as you see it in a familiar compound, you know what it means? So:

1) I can recognise the word individually 2) I can recognise the word as part of a compound 3) I can recognise the word as part of an unfamiliar compound

Chinese is also a language with a long and storied tradition of writing in Classical Chinese as a literary language and a lingua franca across the whole of East Asia - even two hundred years ago, people were writing in Literary Chinese. 'Mandarin' as a concept did not exist.

So often the meanings of familiar characters can be quite different in formal language or chengyu in the modern language, which uses more classical / literary structures and grammar.

Take, for example, the character 次. The first layer of meaning in modern Chinese - the most foundational layer - is its meaning as time, like 'I have been to Ghana two times'.

But its second layer of meaning is secondary, or next best, or just next. For example:

1) 次货 - substandard goods 2) 次子 - second son 3) 次年 - next year

And so on. Many common words have this kind of polysemy.

So we can add another dimension:

1) I recognise this word's common meanings 2) I can use this word's common meanings 3) I recognise this word's less common meanings 4) I can use this word's less common meanings

Add in the reading and listening dimensions, and things get even messier. I am familiar enough with this basic secondary meaning of 次 to fairly quickly be able to understand that it means 'next' or 'second' rather than 'time' if I see it in a written unfamiliar compound or chengyu. But I am most definitely not quick enough to do that every single time whilst listening to the news, for example!

And what about pronunciation? Once you know a fair amount of Chinese characters, you can often guess the pronunciation of new or unfamiliar characters. How?

Because of phonetic components.

For example:

请

清

情

Notice how these all have the same component on the right? This tells us that these characters belong to the largest group of Chinese characters, phonetic-semantic characters. That is - some part of the character gives a clue to the meaning, and some part gives a clue to the pronunciation. In this case, we know they are all pronounced some variety of qing.

But it isn't always that easy. Some phonetic components tell you the tone and pronunciation - some tell you the pronunciation, but not the tone (like qing above). Some phonetic components, to go even further, are only really decipherable if you have a particular interest in phonology or historical linguistics, or learn the patterns. Consider:

脸 - lian3 (face)

险 - xian3 (dangerous)

验 - yan4 (test)

剑 - jian4 (sword)

签 - qian1 (to sign)

捡 - jian3 (to pick up)

There are far more. If you look down the whole list on Pleco, they all show a similar pattern of variation. You can see some patterns, but also numerous exceptions - most end in the -ian final, except for those that are yan of various tones. All begin with l, x, y, j, q. Most are pronounced jian3, but that is far from a rule.

All this to say - you can see a character, and know vaguely how it is pronounced. If I know that a character is pronounced qing definitely, 100%, but don't know the tone - does that mean I know the pronunciation? Or would you only say that knowing it 100% means knowing it? And in that case - how can you account for the fact that learning a character when you already know 90% of the pronunciation is significantly easier than not knowing it at all?

Let me add just a few more scenarios. Bear with me!

1) A character has more than one way to be pronounced. For this word, you read it incorrectly (but you usually know it). 2) A character has more than one tone. Some people pronounce it always with one tone, and some alternate between the two pronunciations. You only knew it with one - but you're half right? 3) You make the same mistake that a native speaker would make with tone or pronunciation of a rarer character.

In some way, these are all more knowing than not knowing anything at all.

And none of this is even taking into account different writing systems, traditional and simplified.

Here are some more scenarios:

I recognise the character in traditional (but not simplified)

I can type the character in both, but I can only hand-write in simplified

I know the Taiwanese pronunciation, but not the Chinese

etc

And of course Chinese characters are used across multiple different languages.

So you could conceivably have these kinds of situations:

I know the pronunciation and meaning in Cantonese and Mandarin

I know the pronunciation and meaning in Cantonese, and the meaning in Mandarin

I know the pronunciation and meaning in Mandarin and recognise it in Cantonese, but know it means something different

I know the pronunciation in Mandarin, but don't know what the whole word actually means in Mongolian (Chinese characters used to transliterate Mongolian words)

Plus there's handwriting and calligraphy!

Personally, I can't read a lot of calligraphy and have accepted my happy illiteracy in many styles. All Chinese learners and heritage speakers know the feeling of sitting in a Chinese restaurant or museum and having a well-meaning friend say, 'Oooo, what does that say?' It's depressing! So let's add some more nuances to our known-ish characters:

I can read this character in common fonts

I can read this character in less common fonts

I can read this character when handwritten

I can read this character when handwritten quickly / by a child / by a doctor

I can read this character in grass script / seal script / etc

Then there's the question of naturalness.

I frequently add words to my Anki decks that I would be able to understand, no question, if I were reading or listening - but I probably wouldn't have thought to say it in that way. So:

I recognise this word, and would have said it exactly like this

I recognise this word, but would never have thought to say it like this

I can use this word, but didn't know you could use it in such a metaphorical way

I can use this word in a metaphorical way, but didn't realise it corresponded so closely to English / was so different from English in its meaning

And finally there's the simple question of memory.

I know I've seen this word before, but I can't remember it right now and I want to drown myself pathetically in the vast uncaring sea

I know I used to be able to use this word actively, but now can only use it passively

I can still type it, but have forgotten how to handwrite it

I can still use it in writing, but I wouldn't be able to use it in speaking

I can recognise it in set expressions, but wouldn't remember how to use it on its own

I can remember the simplified character, but not the traditional

…

So how many ways do you know a word?

I often feel embarrassed to post my vocabulary lists, because I feel that people will be surprised that I don't 'know' certain more foundational words. I think they will be confused as to why I have very 'advanced' vocabulary alongside 'simple' vocabulary. I feel a lot of pressure to be 'advanced' because of the amount of followers I have, but there's a lot of more basic characters I still don't fully know in a holistic way.

And the truth is that all of those characters and words are in Anki for different reasons. I might have a vocab list that looks like this:

略

松懈

星光

缕缕

薄雾

博览

I don't know any of these words in exactly the same dimensions as I know the others! Let's look at my reasons for including each in detail.

略 - lve4 - slightly. I have this word here because although I know it well in set expressions like 略有耳闻 'have heard a little about'，略有受损 'has suffered slight losses' etc, I wouldn't remember the pronunciation if I saw it alone or with another verb apart from 有. I would still know the meaning - but I wouldn't remember how to pronounce it. So even though I 'know' this word, it's still there in Anki.

松懈 - song1xie4 - to relax, lax, slacken. This is a rare example of a totally 'new' word - most of my Anki words aren't. I know 松 already well, but have never seen the character 懈 before: I didn't know its meaning, or pronunciation.

星光 - xing1guang1 - starlight. I know both characters, pronunciation and meaning, and I can easily understand this word. I just never would have thought to say it so simply. I want to use it actively, so I put it in Anki.

缕缕 - lv3lv3 - fine and continuous (i.e. rain, drizzle). I know 缕 already on its own as a measure word for sunlight, thin hair, gossamer, mist, smoke, fine threads etc - I often forget its pronunciation, but I know its meaning reliably when reading. But together the compound 缕缕's meaning isn't quite extricable from just knowing 缕, so I put it in here.

薄雾 - bo2wu4 - mist, fog. I know 雾 well, but hadn't come across 薄 before (or wasn't sure if I had or not). This is an example where I knew its pronunciation, because of phonetic components, but I didn't know the meaning of the character.

博览 - bo2lan3 - to read widely. I know this word very well. So why is this in there? Literally just because I remembered the pronunciation and meaning of 博览, and when I was racking my brains trying to see if I knew the 薄 in 薄雾, I thought it might be the same character. I looked it up, and it wasn't. So even though I know the word, the meaning and the pronunciation, I had to put it in - because I didn't remember which character was used for the bo2.

When you acknowledge all of the different ways of knowing a Chinese character, it makes sense that your learning after the beginning level is going to be full predominantly of known-ish words.

Accept this! Form your own relationship to it! For me, a huge part in my motivation to return to learning Chinese after a year-long break was just to accept that I was likely never going to 'fully know' most of the characters and words that I partially know.

But that's okay. Think about your native language.

If your native language is English or you speak it very well, consider a word like monadic. Could you say you knew this word? Fully knew it? Like me (I learnt this word in the context of Linguistics yesterday), you might have an idea that it has something to do with one - mono, monorail, monotropism, monologue, monolithic etc. But would you be able to use it in a sentence? Would you be able to explain it to a child?

Or let's say you're learning two new English words: lithology and dreich. (The latter is a Scots word, not English - you would hear it in Scotland frequently.) Neither word you completely know. Which one is going to take you longer to learn?

It's likely going to be lithology. You can form connections with words like monolith or paleothic or maybe even lithium - even if you couldn't say for sure what the Greek element lith means, you're passingly familiar with other words containing it. You also know -ology, and you know how to pronounce the word. If you learn that it means 'the study of rocks', that is probably quite easy to remember.

Dreich, on the other hand - what is there to tell you a) how to pronounce this, or b) that it means 'dreary' or 'bleak', as in, dreary weather? You can't form any connections with similar words at all, and the [x] sound at the end - like in German or Hebrew - might be unexpected to hear if you don't live in Scotland.

That's what Chinese is like in the beginning. All words are like dreich. But the more you learn, the more words begin to be like monadic or lithology.

Learning ten new words a day like dreich would be very difficult. But if you've seen monadic a few times over the last few months, know vaguely when to use it, know how to pronounce it - it's not so hard to imagine that you could learn ten of those a day.

I find all these known-ish words very overwhelming.

And I also find recognising the potential for overwhelm in the Chinese language - because of its unique properties - very helpful in letting me feel less guilty about my current known-ish words. I do know them - ish.

But when I finally get around to properly learning them, all that ish-ness will make them that much easier to remember!

Now I try not to stress out about these types of words. I recognise that, in many ways, they are inevitable. Unless you're a poet who composes out of thin air, you're not going to ever say a literary word for emerald green as frequently as you'll read it in descriptive passages in novels.

It's natural to know certain words in a spiky profile: to know them very well in some ways, but not at all in other ways.

The more you read, the more pronounced this can become.

So here's what I've learnt, and here's the message of all this big, long, rambling post:

Putting 'easy' words that you feel you should know into Anki isn't regressing. It's adding another dimension of knowledge to your understanding of the word. You shouldn't feel ashamed or frustrated when you find you don't know one aspect of an otherwise 'easy' word. I'm still trying to learn this.

Because -

Having lots of known-ish words is not a unique failing on your part. It's a reflection of Chinese as a language and its unique complexity -

And it's part of what makes it so uniquely beautiful.

Have a nice day, everyone. meichenxi out!

[juniorlove]

There’s something cozy about this list. 🤔😊

Archaic Words for your Fantasy Novel

and other story/poem

Ablode - bloody; with blood

Acopus - either a herb or stone, introduced by Middleton, in the Witch, as an ingredient for a charm

Arseverse - according to Blount's Glossographia, ed. 1681, p. 51, "a pretended spell, written upon the door of an house to keep it from burning."

Bloudsupper - a murderer; a blood sucker

Boneless - a kind of ghost

Cantrap - a magic spell

Devinal - a wizard

Devineresse - a witch; a prophetess

Dragons female - water dragons

Elfe - a witch, or fairy

Familiar - a demon or spirit attendant upon a witch or conjurer, often in the form of an animal, a dog

Fayry - magic; illusion

For bledd - covered with blood

Gytrash - a spirit, or ghost

He-witch - a wizard

Irp - a fantastic grimace, or contortion of the body

Kitty witch - a female spectre

Night bat - a ghost

Night spell - a spell or charm against the nightmare

Periapt - a magical bandage

Permansie - magic; necromancy

Phitonesse - a witch

Quarter evil - a disease in sheep, arising from corruption of the blood

Signwynarye - a blood stone

Spellycoat - a ghost

Tilstere - a magician, or charmer

Tregetour - a magician, or a cheat

Warlau - a wizard, or sorcerer

Weche - a witch

Wicche - a witch; to use witchcraft; to bewitch

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[a-word-a-day-for-writers]

𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐲

A collection of choice passages from an author or authors, esp. one compiled to assist in the acquirement of a language.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Pop Culture Terms

Brat - someone who is confidently rebellious, unapologetically bold, and playfully defiant. This new definition celebrates individuality and a carefree attitude, often with a hint of sass and a love for fun. Being labeled “a brat” or “bratty” in this context is more of a compliment, recognizing a person’s ability to challenge norms and express themselves freely without concern for conventional expectations. It is widely used by fans of Charli XCX and similar artists, as well as by individuals who identify with the rebellious, free-spirited attitude it represents.

Clickbait - describes misleading internet content or shocking headline titles that aim to drive traffic to a website. Since 2017, clickbait has been used in tandem with another internet term fake news, as fake news stories are often dressed as clickbait.

Clout chaser - a critical term for a person who is thought to be intent on attaining fame, especially one who tries to do so in ways considered desperate, such as leveraging their proximity to famous people or doing things considered foolish, degrading, or dangerous. It seems to have emerged on social media around 2012.

Compulsion loop - (or core loop) is a cycle of activities that are encouraged to be looped or repeated because of a neurochemical reward (in the form of dopamine) released into your brain. In other words, it’s when you continuously do something because it provides pleasure. Evidence for the phrase compulsion loop dates to the 1990s, though it was applied to technology at least by 2001. If you’ve ever checked your Snapchat, then Twitter, then Instagram, then Snapchat again because, well, it’s been ten minutes and maybe something new came in, then you’ve gotten stuck in a compulsion loop. This happens when you are compelled–often by design–to habitually repeat an activity, especially on the internet or a video game, because it gives you pleasure. And the tech companies know it.

Dream gap - describes a phenomenon where young girls, due to social constructions that women are less capable and valuable than men, are held back from living up to their full potential. It’s notably featured in the Dream Gap Campaign, toymaker Mattel’s efforts to empower young girls.

Grandfluencer - an older influencer, especially one who seems at least old enough to be a grandparent. The popular sense of the word influencer refers to a person who’s known for being influential due to having a large social media following. Though the age of people considered or called grandfluencers varies widely, the term is most often applied to people who are older than 60. It is thought to have been popularized in part by a September 2021 Associated Press article that prominently used the term to discuss the growing trend of older people developing large social media followings.

Mermaid effect - coined by the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, states that, the more time a man spends with a woman, the more he’ll find her sexually attractive–even if he initially finds her unattractive. It’s also sometimes used to refer to a trend in beauty featuring such styles as holographic pastels or mermaid-inspired details. It’s related to a real phenomenon in psychology. The mere-exposure effect says that humans are more likely to develop a preference to familiar things.

Pay it forward - an expression for when the recipient of an act of kindness does something kind for someone else rather than simply accepting or repaying the original good deed.

Pretzel logic - an expression used to describe someone’s “twisted reasoning.” The term spread in the 1980–90s, but it is closely associated with the acclaimed 1974 album and title track Pretzel Logic by rock band Steely Band. The song is, apparently, about reckoning with the passage of time.

Weeping Angel - a type of monster with the capability of sending others back in time by touching them. They are unable to move while being watched by any living creature, including their own kind, and are turned into stone while an observer’s eye is on them. It first appeared in the 2007 Doctor Who episode “Blink.” The episode’s title comes from the advice the Doctor gives: “Don’t blink. Blink and you’re dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink. Good Luck.”

Source ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[2456788sworld]

DAILY CHECK-IN : Tue , 21 January🫧🎀

Today's Priorities: Let's get it done~

sketch at least 2-3 panels for my comic

Chinese learning: watch convo videos+put on some chinese lesson audios while doing other task

Note what I learned in Chinese yesterday & the day before

Print templates for monthly time block+ tab (write what I planned)

Set weekly & monthly chinese learning goals

List Pilates and yoga routines in a pink template

Work on mechanism part of the model

[la-cosmonauta-extraterrestre]

When I made this post I specifically had literature in mind, but then I remembered that I've also seen some anime that had really good translation and cultural notes.

Also, I recently saw someone online saying that reading a good translation of a favourite book in a new language is like reading it for the first time again, so I guess there's that.

Most of us who have learned another language end up with the attitude that it's best to read books in the original because some things just don't translate and in a real sense, you never really read a book if you read it in translation. While I generally agree with this attitude, at the same time I think it is unappreciative of the work that translators do.

Yes, there are a lot of bad translations out there, but there are also good translations. Good translation is a skill, and it's an incredible skill given what a good translator has to be able to do. They have to be fluent in not just two languages, but the nuances of two cultures. They have to be able to understand literature. They have to have writing skills on the level of the writer they are translating. If translating classical literature, they have to understand the historical context.

A good translator will include translator notes to try and explain the nuances that get lost in translation, cultural nuances, and historical context if it's classical literature. Yes, this means that they have to teach you a little bit of the language and culture of the original. Therefore, a good translator will give you an appreciation for a language that you hadn't had before.

[frenchiepal]

20.01.25 🌚 silent hill academia (help)