#and it's creative commons

[publicdomainbooksdevotee]

A fun thing about Southern California is that Obon has Elvises.

[noecantsleep]

WE ARE SO BACK

[null-entity]

COLLAB WARNING!!!

Finally happy to talk about this and start getting excited!

Next weekend @blumineck and I will be meeting up for stock shooting!. (Puns).

I will be handling the tech and the camera, he will be providing the real archery skills and pole dancing XD.

The plan is to shoot stuff of him Solo and some together as well.!! (he might get me on the pole.. but I would not hold much hope for me XD).

Damned excited but now the real question/request is...

GIVE US POSE SUGGESTONS AND IDEAS!!

[yeoldenews]

While we’re on the subject of names, is there an explanation for how traditional nicknames came about that are seemingly unrelated to, or have little in common with, the original name?

ie- John/Jack, Richard/Dick, Henry/Harry/Hank, Charles/Chuck, Margaret/Peggy/Daisy, Sarah/Sally, Mary/Molly, Anne/Nan, etc

I am actually over a week into researching a huge follow-up post (probably more than one if I’m being honest) about the history of nickname usage, so I will be going into this in much, much more detail at a hopefully not-so-later date - if I have not lost my mind. (Two days ago I spent three hours chasing down a source lead that turned out to be a typographical error from 1727 that was then quoted in source after source for the next 150 years.)

As a preview though, here’s some info about the names you mentioned:

The origins of a good portion of common English nicknames come down to the simple fact that people really, really like rhyming things. Will 🠞Bill, Rob🠞Bob, Rick🠞Dick, Meg🠞Peg.

It may seem like a weird reason, but how many of you have known an Anna/Hannah-Banana? I exclusively refer to my Mom’s cat as Toes even though her name is Moe (Moesie-Toesies 🠞 Toesies 🠞 Toes).

Jack likely evolved from the use of the Middle English diminutive suffix “-chen” - pronounced (and often spelled) “-kyn” or “kin”. The use of -chen as a diminutive suffix still endures in modern German - as in “liebchen” = sweetheart (lieb “love” + -chen).

John (Jan) 🠞 Jankin 🠞 Jackin 🠞 Jack.

Hank was also originally a nickname for John from the same source. I and J were not distinct letters in English until the 17th Century. “Iankin” would have been nearly indistinguishable in pronunciation from “Hankin” due to H-dropping. It’s believed to have switched over to being a nickname for Henry in early Colonial America due to the English being exposed to the Dutch nickname for Henrik - “Henk”.

Harry is thought to be a remnant of how Henry was pronounced up until the early modern era. The name was introduced to England during the Norman conquest as the French Henri (On-REE). The already muted nasal n was dropped in the English pronunciation. With a lack of standardized spelling, the two names were used interchangeably in records throughout the middle ages. So all the early English King Henrys would have written their name Henry and pronounced it Harry.

Sally and Molly likely developed simply because little kids can’t say R’s or L’s. Mary 🠞 Mawy 🠞 Molly. Sary 🠞 Sawy 🠞 Sally.

Daisy became a nickname for Margaret because in French garden daisies are called marguerites.

Nan for Anne is an example of a very cool linguistic process called rebracketing, where two words that are often said/written together transfer letters/morphemes over time. The English use of “an” instead of “a” before words beginning with vowels is a common cause of rebracketing. For example: the Middle English “an eute” became “a newt”, and “a napron” became “an apron”. In the case of nicknames the use of the archaic possessive “mine” is often the culprit. “Mine Anne” over time became “My Nan” as “mine” fell out of use. Ned and Nell have the same origin.

Oddly enough the word “nickname” is itself a result of rebracketing, from the Middle English “an eke (meaning additional) name”.

I realized earlier this week that my cat (Toe’s sister) also has a rebracketing nickname. Her name is Mina, but I call her Nom Nom - formed by me being very annoying and saying her name a bunch of time in a row - miNAMiNAMiNAM.

Chuck is a very modern (20th century) nickname which I’ll have to get back to you on as I started my research in the 16th century and am only up to the 1810s so far lol.

[alifeoffairytales]

Details from Arthur Rackham’s illustration "And now they never meet in grove or green," (1908) from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

[titleknown]

So, while I've talked about this in other posts, I figured I may as well compile it in one post with this nifty propaganda poster (more on that later)

Long story short, they're bringing back KOSA/the Kids Online Safety Act in the US Senate, and they're going to mark it up next Thursday as of the time of this post (4/23/2023).

If you don’t know, long story short KOSA is a bill that’s ostensibly one of those “Protect the Children” bills, but what it’s actually going to do is more or less require you to scan your fucking face every time you want to go on a website; or give away similarly privacy-violating information like your drivers’ license or credit card info. 

Either that or force them to censor anything that could even remotely be considered not “kid friendly.” Not to mention fundies are openly saying they’re gonna use this to hurt trans kids. Which is, uh, real fucking bad. 

As per usual, I urge you to contact your congresscritters, and especially those on the Commerce Committee, who'll likely be the ones marking it up.

Those senators are:

Maria Cantwell, Washington, Chair

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota

Brian Schatz, Hawaii

Ed Markey, Massachusetts

Gary Peters, Michigan

Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin

Tammy Duckworth, Illinois

Jon Tester, Montana

Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona

Jacky Rosen, Nevada

Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico

John Hickenlooper, Colorado

Raphael Warnock, Georgia

Peter Welch, Vermont

Ted Cruz, Texas, Ranking Member

John Thune, South Dakota

Roger Wicker, Mississippi

Deb Fischer, Nebraska

Jerry Moran, Kansas

Dan Sullivan, Alaska

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

Todd Young, Indiana

Ted Budd, North Carolina

Eric Schmitt, Missouri

J.D. Vance, Ohio

Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia

Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming

Again, it doesn't work unless you do it en-masse, so make sure to call ASAP and tell them to kill this bill, and if they actually want a bill to allow/get sites to protect kids, the Federal Fair Access To Banking Act would be far better.

Also, this poster is officially, for the sake of spreading it, under a CC0 license. Feel free to spread it, remix it, add links to the bottom, edit it to be about the other bad internet bills they're pushing, use it as a meme format, do what you will but for gods' sake get the word out!

Also, shoutout to @o-hybridity for coming up with the slogan for the poster, couldn't have done it without 'em!

[rapidpunches]

The Age of Fish!! :)

[shy-raccoon]

The damsel in distress slowly starts getting more and more unstable from the unaddressed trauma of being frequently kidnapped. One day they completely snap and the villains start being found mysteriously murdered with increasing brutality.

[farm-grown-queer]

Homemade linux wallpaper featuring xenia!

[ineffable-gallimaufry]

okay i think that's all the oceany valentines i'm going to do . happy (early) valentines day!

[triona-tribblescore]

Reading can just be a little hard sometimes

[tink27]

Saw a video on tiktok of someone re-binding a copy of the Hobbit and giving it a really beautiful new cover and I could not get the idea of Steve doing that for Eddie out of my head.

He hears Eddie mention in passing that he's always preferred homemade gifts (partly bc of the thought that goes into them but also because people spending money on him makes him uncomfortable) and Steve decides he needs to think of something he can make Eddie.

Steve may not be considered "clever" by the others but I'm convinced that boy is a do-er. When it comes to physical and practical skills, he will just learn and do it. He painstakingly researched and buys leather and special glue for book blinding, and even learns calligraphy so he can write beautifully on the inside cover.

And when he presents it to Eddie, wrapped in stiff expensive wrapping paper, Eddie asks where he got it and Steve says casually

"I made it"

As if he didn't spend months, didn't ruin at least 5 other copies of the Hobbit before he got it right, as if it wasn't so much work and time.

But Eddie gets it anyway, he understands and that's why he immediately bursts into tears.

[pad-wubbo]

"green gloomy"

Infinite Painter.

It's a gloomy octopus, but coloured wrong for artistic effect, okay.

CC-BY-SA 4.0

[null-entity]

Bring the magic!

Want more, @adorkastock and I made an entire BOOK of hand poses!

Model: Me.

Photographer: The Remote Camera Trigger.

If you want to help support me and get awesome stuff like early access/polls & pose requests Become A Patron or you can check out my Ko-Fi store for exclusive stock!

Read My Rules Before You Use My Stock.

[jstor]

The twelve signs of the zodiac, from the Horoscope of Prince Iskandar, grandson of Tamerlane, the Turkman Mongol conqueror. Apart from being a horoscope, the manuscript of 1411 is an exquisite work of art and an exemplary production of the royal kitabkhana "publishing house" or "workshop."

The manuscript is lavishly illustrated and reflects the efforts of a whole range of specialists: astronomers (among them Imad ad-Din Mahmud al- Kashi), illuminators, gilders, calligraphers and craftsmen, and specialists in paper-making.

The images and info come from the always fascinating Open: Wellcome Collection on JSTOR, which is open access with no login needed! Creative Commons: Attribution.

[writingwithfolklore]

3 Most Common Notes I Give While Editing

              I’ve gotten to edit a whole lot of your guys’ work (thank you for trusting me and engaging on our discord, by the way!) and have noticed a few pieces of advice that I give more often than others. So here’s the most common notes I give while editing pieces!

1. Subtext is key!

Subtext in dialogue can be really tricky, and I’m still finding parts in my own work that could benefit from it. Essentially, your character’s goal when in dialogue with someone else isn’t to be understood, but to protect themselves. Rarely do people ever say what they really mean, because saying what you really mean is vulnerable and scary. The extent someone would put up defenses against another person depends on the situation, their relationship with the person, and context of their conversation, but there are few times when you're really, truly vulnerable.

Of course, the big exception being neurodivergent characters and if your character is just the type to really speak exactly what they mean. You can decide if a certain character of yours is more or less guarded than others, and whether any of them aim first and foremost to be understood over their own wellbeing, safety, or comfort.

Read more about subtext here:

2. Show don’t tell

Classic and true! While telling is totally fine in certain circumstances, I tend to leave notes around wanting to experience something with a character, and wanting to see exposition in action rather than be told it. Consider when you need to share information about your world or characters how you can show it in conflict and action, and when your character is experiencing something—what it feels like to experience that.

Check out my Symptoms vs Affliction post for help here:

3. The beginning is critical

I always pay special attention to the hook and opening scene because how your story opens is critical to encouraging people to read it and get invested from the top.

Your hook (the first line) tends to introduce what’s wrong with your character’s life—why it isn’t perfect. That’s because their arc is the plot—how they grow is the story we’re here to read, so why things aren’t perfect for them begins the story with why we should care and what kind of journey we’re getting ourselves into.

Then, that beginning scene should contain some sort of conflict for your character to face. How they face said conflict is an effective way to show off who they are, what the norms of their world are, and leads into the inciting incident. It’s a lot more interesting to read than a page of exposition, right?

Read more about your beginning here:

Want me to look at your piece? Read the guidelines here!