#anyway i want use case specific pronouns in english

[kenonade]

esalen………………………………………………………………………

[janmisali]

the official jan Misali styleguide

so uh I decided to compile together a bunch of rules that I've come up with over the years for myself for how I write videos. this is not comprehensive and is unlikely to be genuinely useful to anyone (very few of these are things I'd consider to be "good advice" for anyone else who wants to make videos, they're mostly just how I personally do things), but here we go anyway!

text

text should be typeset in Noto Serif by default, using other fonts for their specific aesthetic effects on a case by case basis, always presented in contrast with Noto Serif

text should be white, on a black background, with keywords highlighted in teal (#008472)

text should use justified margins, unless this looks bad or is too hard to do with the specific program being used

the pronoun "I" should always be capitalized

proper names should usually be capitalized, but may be left in lowercase to convey a less formal tone when appropriate

the name "jan Misali" should be written with a lowercase "jan" and a capitalized "Misali", following toki pona capitalization conventions (and in general, all toki pona text should follow toki pona capitalization conventions, only capitalizing proper names)

brand names with irregular capitalization such as "YouTube" should always be in lowercase ("youtube") as a sign of disrespect

words may be capitalized for Emphasis, but this should be avoided sentence-initially

avoid capitalization for any other purpose (such as sentence capitalization or all caps) unless this is done to imitate a specific style meant to contrast with the default Misalian style

in addition to the aforementioned teal-coloring and capitalization, words may also be marked as emphasized using italics

these three styles of emphasis should be used for different purposes: teal for keywords (emphasis primarily to aid in reading), italics for spoken stress ("normal emphasis"), and capitalization for the Other Kind (meant to get the reader to slow down and pay attention to the Specific Wording of the emphasized section, but without drawing immediate visual attention to it in the way teal text does)

punctuation should only be used when it is strictly necessary for the text to be parsed or when it conveys meaningful information about how the text would be read out loud (the apostrophe does not count as punctuation for the purpose of this recommendation; it is included as part of the spelling of words it appears in)

the word "amateur" should be spelled "amature" without explanation

numbers should be written out in full as words, unless they're being used for alphanumeric codes, entries in a numbered list, years, or a video about math

text should be written word for word as it would be pronounced out loud, including filler words ("um"s and "like"s) and contractions, following the manner of speech outlined in the next section

narration

everything should be written in a formal but conversational tone, with hesitations, filler words, and stutters carefully inserted to make it sound less "written", as though the narration is one continuous unscripted infodump

however, nothing should ever genuinely be unscripted. everything should be phrased very carefully to convey information precisely and efficiently in a way that is easy to understand

there should be some sort of attempt to pronounce non-english words authentically, especially with proper names (unless there exists a common-enough anglicized pronunciation that you can be confident is more likely to be understood)

nothing should be written in a way that assumes that the audience knows less about the subject matter of the video than the narrator, except in very rare cases where this assumption is appropriate (such as when using an explicitly educational style, or when the subject is so niche that acting as though everyone already knows about it would be actively detrimental). information should always be presented as though it's a recap of common knowledge ("right?"), something that the narrator only learned relatively recently ("apparently"), or something that the narrator is unsure of ("I think")

jokes should never get "in the way" of the actual video. they should serve a purpose just like everything else. (the key question to keep in mind here is "if someone doesn't find this funny, what could they take away from it instead?". the answer should be something like "it would just be information presented in an unusual way" or "it would just be an awkward transition between two unrelated topics" or something. if the answer is "nothing, it would just be a joke they're not getting" then it had better be a really funny joke to justify its existence.)

calls to action should be avoided. the video should respect its audience members to make decisions for themselves, and only directly tell them what to do in exceptional circumstances

[humankk]

I see there's In Stars and Time crossover thing going on so I want to join

...Also it's Let Papyrus Say Fuck day and I see this post from @entryn17 and I think... hmm, well why not just, do both of that actually

Read more for... it's not really Isat's spoiler or anything it's just general worldbuilding thing but I'm doing this anyway in case people want to like, experience it blind or something (please do that actually, play it, or even look at playthrough, just not summary or something like that it's much better that way, I say this like how you eat a specific type of food)

(Chara no)

...I speedrun drawing this, kinda... I don't think I'm that good at drawing Siffrin... he's just standing there... oh well, I can improve later

(technically this isn't him teaching swear to a child but it's him teaching swear... and maybe learning some more in the process, even if those're like... crab, and gems)

(...I probably could just use my own language but like I don't feel like making ocs...)

(I also could use like the one thing I want to do where Frisk is Thai but it would be very long and I don't feel like making all that in comics)

(and if it's a fic it would just be a very long infodumping on what I think the word come from and when it might be appropriate... and I have no idea the appropriateness of the English ones for Papyrus to teach it back so I don't think I could do that)

...

Anyway the infodumping anyway, I'm going to use the pinyin/chinese tone indicator for this because I don't know any other one (other than that just say it like English word I guess)

Did you know that one of the Thai swears is just แม่ง (màng) that means your mom. (said really fast it merge the word... also rudely, you pronoun rudely, we have rude pronouns... or really informal, depend on your relationship)

It's used in the middle of a sentence like 'fucking' and things.

there's also a dad version, พ่อง (pòng) the longer version that's used as a curse to kill the opponent's parents... (maybe don't do that) the middle version where you cut the death part and it's a come back like how english use your mom... แม่มึง/พ่อมึง (màe mūng/pòre mūng, maybe add a at the end)

There's also the one for insulting specifically (including the table that you stub your toes on) that means a type of monitor lizard. เหี้ย (hèar) ...it has another name that sounds a lot better that just, means money/silver-gold creature, which is. weird, so do we like it or not??? (money and silver is the same word)

mmmmmm another one that is used in the situation you would say 'oh shit' ชิบหาย (chib hái) direct translation is uhhh... chip-lost????? (I have no idea where it come from, also we don't have past tense verb it's all the same) maybe it's like 'lost your marble' or something I don't even know

there's also one that is pronounced like animal/สัตว์ (sǔt) (pronounced like cut/shut) in Thai but I'm pretty sure it's not the same word, noone knows exactly how to spell it. it's... some kind of insult, not as severe as the lizard monitor though

and uhh, the lower one which is the watered down monitor lizard, เชี่ย where you just change from hèar to chèar

[punctuation-completionist]

@kraglynn

okay! i suppose we can do this then!

. ? ! , : ; ' " – — - · ... [ ] { } ( ) / < >

here's our list of punctuation at current moment .

(gonna like really quickly assume you know what the first four are for. they're easy. periods end sentences, question marks end sentences when the sentence is a question, exclamation points express emotion (raised tone i guess? it could be excitement. it could be annoyance. you get it), and commas break down sentences and whatever. you know commas.)

colon and semicolon are kinda like a comma in that they will subdivide sentences. some schools of grammar like to do this thing where they all are like. supposed to represent a period of time you should pause for? so it's like the period/question mark/exclamation point pauses longest, then the colon, then semicolon, then comma. it's a whole thing. i figure most of you also know how to use these

an apostrophe is for contractions! i'm pretty sure you also know this. quotation marks are for quoting things or occasionally as irony punctuation (called scare quotes in this case)

for the en dash and em dash, i'm going to refer you to either of these posts (though one of them is slightly off. there is technically a separate minus sign but some people use an en dash)

the hyphen (or technically hyphen-minus. don't worry about it. it changed when typewriters were invented so it's basically just the normal hyphen but i don't like it so) is used for hyphenated words. and names. you know the ones. look up a list of hyphenated words if you don't know any. some people use two hyphens in a row to be an em dash but that's kinda dumb. sorry.

the interpunct is mostly used in non-english languages honestly. in french it's cool because it thwarts the horrible gendering by being fun and making the word gender neutral (basically it's "word with masculine ending·feminine ending" as in étudiant·e . it's not official but like. no gender neutral stuff in french is official. so . i don't care.) but also it's in a lot of twitter screenshots so. and also also, sometimes i will count bullets as interpuncts because. it's easier. they're similar okay • vs · is fine (it actually bothers me but we can redecide on it later)

... you know ellipses right? sorry i'm busy, so i'll skip em. they're longer than a period in the length thing i think

[ ] brackets like these are mostly used for adding information, context, whatever to quotes! they're sometimes called square brackets. it's mostly just quotes.

{ } curvy brackets/braces are mostly used in math. they do have uses technically but like. they're mostly here because i didn't want to leave them out

(you know these too right?)

/ good ol' fashioned slash. not a backslash that's this guy \ anyways. this is used for like. either/or a lot. or pronouns. those are fun

< > these are technically the less than/greater than signs but they're honorary angle brackets because it's easier to type. proper angle brackets are these ⟨ ⟩ and they're used to offset parenthetical information if you're not using an em dash or parentheses for whatever reason. sometimes called chevrons. afaik the less than/greater than signs can be substituted unless you're like. writing something extremely formal. also sometimes used in comics to indicate something has been translated! also sometimes used to denote thoughts! ⟨hm should i call this a day now?⟩

yeah. that's good enough. but if you want more info on any specific punctuation, you can ask me more specifically and then i will answer it when i am less busy probably

[ranshoku]

I saw a discussion on the second-person pronoun usage in Japanese for another fandom on my dashboard, and because I happened to also be working on the appellation table for Digimon Survive, it got me thinking about Shuuji and the multilayered way he speaks.

One thing non-Japanese speakers often don't realize is that Japanese people tend to avoid referring to someone with a second-person pronoun (i.e. "you"-ing someone). In a society where a hierarchal system is constantly enforced, you're expected to refer to other people with the proper title or honorifics when needed, so referring someone with "you" is like bypassing the established hierarchy and being too direct with the person you're addressing--therefore it can come across rude. "You" is acceptable when you have an intimate relationship with the addressee, like for example with a friend or family member who's of the same age as you or younger. However, even then, I feel like "warm" families tend to avoid referring to each other with "you" and instead just addresses each other with name (with the exception of あなた "anata" being used by wife to husband, which is similar in nuance to "honey" in English). Case in point: Takuma's mom addressing Takuma just by his name all the time and never once uses "you" with him.

Then we have Shuuji's family, who's a far cry from Takuma's family. First there's Shuuji's dad, who carries himself with an air of sophistication by using the stiff and formal pronoun 私 "watashi" even towards his own children (friendlier dads would refer to themselves as "Dad"). Despite that, he addresses Shuuji with お前 "omae" when not calling him with name--which is, anyway, a very rude way to say you, even for parents referring to their own child. Combined with how Shuuji strictly uses keigo with his dad (something that usually doesn't happen in normal families--but I've talked about it before on my sideblog), the way they communicate with each other does feel especially degrading for Shuuji.

It doesn't just stop with his dad--Shuuji's brother also addresses Shuuji by the rude お前 "omae". Sure, I'm aware that we see this with the Shinonome siblings with Kaito sometimes calling Miu お前 "omae", but the nuance is a bit different--Kaito defaults to speaking in a very rude language, so him referring to anyone with お前 "omae" is kind of... to be expected, for the lack of a better word. The older Kayama brother, on the other hand, speaks in an otherwise soft-spoken tone. The pronoun he uses to refer to himself is 僕 "boku", which feels gentle and relatively polite (it's the "male" equivalent of the feminine 私 "watashi" actually), so him using お前 "omae" to his brother creates a somewhat unexpected contrast not found in Kaito's speech.

Shuuji himself is actually a relatively polite and soft-spoken person. He may be domineering (and his language in the early game actually reflects this--he speaks in a way that subtly positions himself as the authority figure among the kids), but even during the heat of his argument with Kaito, he never once resorts to using お前 "omae" and at worst just addresses him with 君 "kimi". It's going to be long to explain the nuance of the pronoun, so please refer to this article to understand more about it. TL;DR it's nowhere near as rude as お前 "omae", however it can sound condescending depending on the context.

So, we've established that Shuuji is soft-spoken that he wouldn't stoop so low as to using a rude language in a fight. However, there's specifically one person that he refuses to extend his politeness to no matter what, and that's none other than Lopmon--at least in the beginning of the game. In fact, he doesn't even want to call him by his name and only addresses him with the insulting お前 "omae" every time--the same way his dad and his brother address him. And just like the case with his dad and his brother, Shuuji's use of rude language with Lopmon stands out even more precisely because it's juxtaposed with his usual "soft-spokenness" that isn't always found in other characters.

[sayitaliano]

Ciao, I have a few questions:

what is the difference between lesbica and lesbiche?

Also, if I wanted to list my pronouns (he/she/xe) in Italian, what would I say?

Which kinda a follow up- are there neopronouns in Italian?

grazie, buono giornata!

Ciao!

lesbica = lesbian, singular; lesbiche = lesbians, plural I'm leaving you a few links about the lgbtq+ vocabulary, just in case you need: Lgbtqa Vocabulary | Lgbt+ | non binary (writing)

for pronouns I suggest you to read here (and other posts in the grammar masterpost in the pronomi section, right after pronomi diretti/indiretti). Btw personal pronouns are: I = io, You = tu, He/She = egli/lui, ella/lei (there's no specific agender pronoun as far as I know but check point n.3) We = noi You = voi They = essi/loro, esse/loro The pronouns I "deleted" are the ones taught in school for declaring verbs conjugations while studying, but not much used in common language. The fact that English provides the 2 forms pronouns (eg. they/them), doesn't need to be applied in Italian too: you can simply write he=lui / she=lei / they=loro as necessary.

Italian is a pretty gendered language, every noun has its gender to which you need to conjugate articles, adjectives and sometimes other parts of speech. Eg. you wrote "buono giornata": that's grammatically wrong cause "giornata" is a feminine word, so the adjective "buono" -masculine- is not correct; you should use "buona" -feminine- -> "buona giornata". We're still kinda behind with neopronouns, so when talking it gets a bit difficult. You can call a person by their name or be formal before asking how they rather be called (formal speech needs you to use a general "Lei", which has nothing to do with the person's gender despite seeming feminine -we recognize you're being formal cause you need to use verbs at the 3rd singular person too); or you can use the noun "persona" = person. Persona is a feminine noun, but you can use it no matter the gender of the person you're talking with cause it's just the noun itself being feminine. When writing you can add an */u/ə/ä at the end of the noun, instead of the "gendering" vowel when it comes to other nouns/adjectives and so on: eg. sono alt* = I'm tall (no gender specified). You can try using "u" when talking too (eg. sono altu), I heard it once so... yeah, you can try. It really reminds me of Sardinia tbh (Regional stereotypes, sorry) but if it works... I'm no one to tell y'all otherwise. Not saying we're not working on finding a solution, but it's a tough research and translating from English, a language that has a different grammar from ours, is pretty impossible. I've been researching a bit online and I noticed that English neologisms are probably to be used in Italian as well so: “ze/hir”, “xe/xem”, “ey/em”, “ve/ver”... just go with what makes you feel better anyway. You can still explain what you mean if someone doesn't get it (it doesn't have to be a bad/rude person, it's just that is something new for many of us, especially the elders, that are not so much online or informed about this kind of pronouns/changes). BTW you can try watching tonight's show about the Diversity Media Awards, maybe you'll get some more recent news on that matter too (IDK).

Hope this helps somehow, please feel free to ask for further infos if you need!

[alder-saan]

French class time!

For the non native french speakers who want to write French readers. Or about Morticia and her French pet names.

Let's talk about pet names, shall we?

DON'T TRANSLATE LITERALLY, it's strange

"my darling girl" -> "ma fille chérie" (worst: "ma chérie fille" which isn't gramatically correct) -> in French it's used for CHILDREN, your daughter in this case, it's giving pedocriminal vibes.

We, French ppl, don't have as many pet names as English ppl do, but I can give you a list of what is used:

(used by almost everyone, less used now, specific to some couples, not often used but sometimes you can hear it, rarely used)

(neutral doesn't officially exist, I added it anyway)

Mon amour : my love (neutral) (cannot be used without possessive)

Chéri/Chérie/Chéri.e : darling (masculine/feminine/neutral) /!\ can be sarcastic (Mon/ma/man if you want to add a pronoun m/f/n /!\ French possessive is about the subject, not the owner, so it'll be "ma chérie" even if the one saying that isn't a woman).

Très cher/très chère/très cher.e : dearest (m/f/n) /!\ often used for teasing or sarcasm, or old fashion (if you write an historical AU)

mon cher/ma chère/man cher.e : dear, teasing or sarcasm, or old fashion (cannot be used without possessive)

Mon beau/ma belle/man belleau : my beautiful (cannot be used without possessive)

Mon ange : my angel (neutral) (cannot be uses without possessive)

Trésor : treasure (neutral) (can also be used with the possessive: mon)

Mon coeur : my heart (n) (cannot be used without possessive)

Poussin : chick (m/maybe n) (can be used with the possessive: mon)

Doudou : no literal translation, it's the French Creole word for darling, but doudou in French is also the cuddly toy (can be used with the possessive: mon)

Ma colombe : my dove (cannot be used without possessive)

Ma biche : my doe (cannot be used without possessive)

Mon chat/ma chatte/chaton : my cat/my female cat/kitten (m)/(f)/(n) /!\ careful with the feminine one, it means pussy with exactly the same double meaning.

Mon sucre d'orge : my little candy (n), cannot be used without the possessive

Mon chou : my... puffy cream? (M) can be sarcastic (F: always sarcastic or pitying)

Choupi/choupie/choupi.e : alternative way for saying "mon chou", often used for children but not only (can also be used with the possessive: mon/ma/man)

Ma puce : literally my flea... yeah it's weird... it's bcz it's tiny (f, can be sarcastic, more often used for chidren; m, always sarcastic)

Choupette : the feminine for "mon chou" (can also be used with the possessive: ma) (or for children)

Ma mie : my close friend (not literally but it's the idea) (f) /!\ really old fashion (like XVIIs-XVIIIs) but can be used by some ppl for teasing. (don't spell it "mamie", it means grandma)

Ma douce : sweetie, old fashion or teasing (f), never heard/read it for a man, but it'd be "mon doux", and the neutral'd be "man doux.ce"

Bébé : baby, not really used anymore by others than cringe men... (in French it's really giving pedocriminal vibes... Or it's just me, maybe)

Also: you can add "petit/petite/petit.e", (small/little), "joli/jolie/joli.e" (pretty), "beau/belle/belleau" (beautiful), between the possessive and the pet name. /!\ (doesn't work with "amour", "cher", "très cher", "mon beau", "ma mie" and "ma douce")

I think this is a good list... I might add some more if I remember.

Hope this is helping you.

[ahopelessprincessreincarnation]

Hey there, my name(or more so an internet alias currently at the very least)is Emanuel Marco aka Daniel, Julian or Edgar and welcome to my official alternative and somewhat not-exactly-secretive more diary-type internet journal space known as my blog on my brand new Tumblr Dot Com blog(aka where you are right now). I am a teenager and soon to be adult in my real physical life that's not on the interwebs, but I feel more as if I am some sort of childish adult, or atleast have felt grown up for awhile now due to stress. I guess you could say I'm "mature for my age" but that's barely the case to be honest with you and besides, I've sort of come to associate that term with creepy older men attempting to chat inappropriately in private direct messaging or whatever. Lmfao anyways, while I do want to keep my age a little vague for the reasoning being of an attempt at interweb safety(despite how far too late it seems considering other stuff at the moment), what I can say more in depth is that I am a neurodivergent person who is professionally diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum along with ADHD. I am considering that I may have other neurological conditions/disorders but I don't really know or care too much at the moment, by the way, I am also a white-latino who is bilingual in both English and Latin-American Spanish despite how I may struggle with the language along with attempting to reconnect with apart of my culture. I am an LGBTQIAPlus/Queer community member and supporter of other identities that I may not even fall under completly, though specifically I am a genderfluid bisexual aceflux person who uses both he/she pronouns(please don't use they for me unless I specifically asked to, thank you). I used to identify as a transgender male(ftm)but due to realizing the amount of harm being inflicted on women of both cis and trans due to violence and misogyny, I thought the most correct thing to do morally would be to stop being such and to instead just lean into more masculine types of gendernonconformity(I am still pretty feminine though so it's just an idea I guess lol(Please know that there's nothing inherently wrong with transitioning from female to male or something male-ajacent or whatever, I know it's probably more complex than just "all men are bad" like no duh but still, it's been really hurting my heart that I could possibly be giving off the idea that misandry is real or something roflmao. Sorry if that explanation is stupid, but I'm not the best at phrasing stuff sometimes♡).

For what I am going to be posting on here, it's probably gonna be different from my main page and other social media platforms but at the very least I wanna keep my alternative/side-blog more clean and organized when it comes to my interests and other stuff relating to my thoughts and ideas for different types of subject matters. While I am am an admittedly mostly digital artist and animator who intends to make more stuff involving my inspirations such as making more gay yuri anime and bara yaoi manga style graphic novels/comics, I want to use my alternative page/side blog to write not only fictional stories involving my original characters and even fanfiction, but also stuff about my life almost as if they were written storytime videos that would usually he formatted visually on my YouTube Channel. To be honest with you, I've been looking more into stuff involving the subjects of alterhumanity, soulbonding, therianthropy, fictionkin and just otherkin over all on here atleast. I don't know how much more I can possibly explain without falling asleep since it's night where I am on the planet Earth at the moment, so this is probably just gonna remain as a temporary pin but please keep in mind that updates are probably going to come soon♡.

I know nowadays on the interwebs and most public mainstream social media platforms, users usually put some sort of "before you follow" and "do not interact" criteria as a set of boundaries specific for those who want to support their account and become mutuals with them. Since I want to avoid any sort of needless drama situations or scenarios involving meaningless discourse, I am just going to leave my simple requests here for those who care enough to read through my little ideas of what I consider to call my own boundaries♡:

•Obviously, first and foremost, please just be normal as you would not using the computer or phone infront of you which means...use basic common sense and maybe possibly even kindness perhaps I don't even know anymore. This specifically means no racism, xenophobia, ableism, queerphobia/LGBTQIAPhobia and so on. If I do something that's considered any of the above, I can assure you that it was an accident and to please educate me on whatever I have done that may be offensive or wrong since I recognize I do have certain privilege♡.

•Secondly, please do not come to me if you support problematic fictional media or internet communities such as lolicons/shotacons/kodocons, radqueers, pro-paraphiles, fujoshis/fudanshis or himejoshis/himedanshis, proshippers/comshippers/profiction/darkshippers or whatever other name these groups go by nowadays atleast or enjoyers/condoners of feral nsfw content. I am against these groups due to the harrassment, sexualization/fetishization and grooming that runs rampant in these specific internet spaces though please don't attack any minor users in these communities. Many of the younger ones are traumatized children who don't have many healthy coping mechanisms and while these habits should absolutely not be encouraged, they still should be guided and helped into the right direction by others who know better atleast♡.

•Thirdly, If you are apart of other insensitive and hurtful groups such as endogenic/non-traumagenic "systems"(that's not how being a system works dummy), if you support mspec lesbians or male-lesbians aka "lesboys"(you literally cannot be attracted to men while being a lesbian or be a man and also identify as a lesbian so please stop making non-men loving women and the rest of the LGBTQIAPlus community look bad because you're literally just scared to admit you're straight or bisexual or something I don't know???) and others who use marginalized communities in order to hurt others by disregarding their concerns♡.

•Fourth, my last but not least important request, is for you to leave my alternative/side-blog(and other social media platforms if you know who I am yet somehow)if you support the unneeded cyberbullying towards those who may seem "cringeworthy" but in reality are harmless and at worst cheesy on their own(Examples being neopronoun/xenogender users, alterhumans/therians/fictionkin/otherkin/soulbonders etc or furries and cosplayers). Humanity can be very beautiful when using all of our differences for good and not for evil, otherwise we end up creating a very ugly and nasty pathetic excuse of a community for us all to reside in. We all have a story to tell, whether we're comfortable sharing or not and at the very least we should attempt to be understanding of others despite how cheesy such a thing sounds I know. Just please bare with me here)♡.

So it seems I've gotten atleast almost all thw words of what my brain wanted me to pour out onto the screen as I sometimes carry concepts that are hard to explain with me even through textpost lol. For those who care, my DMs are open 24/7 though sometimes I may not be motivated to reply exactly on time(again, please bare with me here. I know it sounds dumb but still-), now I'm gonna be signing off until something pops into my mind and makes me attempt to come up with a coherent post again, yours truly ~AHopelessPrincessReincarnation.

(P.S:Thank you to the kind internet strangers on here who have happened to wander onto my post somehow[maybe through the tags listed below]and were able to read through my whole, long and crushed up pinned introductory textpost. It means a lot to me that certain people on here are interested in what I have to say, so your support is very much not only appreciated but cherished! You all really do rock)♡.

Have a great day or night wherever you may be in the world right now and please never be afraid to check in and stay tuned for more>:]♡.

[ashwin-the-artless]

a "love" poem

Fairly recently a snippet of an ancient love poem was discovered in the Network of the Sunspot.

It is believed to be a scrap of something a Founding Terra Supremacist had held onto when they infiltrated the construction and population of the ship. Though, it may actually have more alien origins than that.

It's certainly not the kind of poetry that most people of the Sunspot would be moved to write.

I'm examining it here as both a linguistics lesson -- being in ancient Inmararräo, it provides an example of the timelessness of our grammar -- and as a cultural contrast to how people tend to think and feel today.

There is a possessiveness and obsessiveness in this piece of work that is anathema to the ways that love is expressed aboard the Sunspot today. One might even find it repulsive. Though, since my time here on Earth I've certainly encountered many verses with the same sentiments. So, I shouldn't criticize it too thoroughly, as I'm simply unfamiliar with the social pressures that may lead someone to culturally express their affections in this way.

Anyway, I'm not going to provide a pronunciation guide, as this post is already a bit too long with preamble, and I plan to make a whole post about that that you can reference any time once it's up.

And I'm going to keep my analysis somewhat light, just highlighting the details I think are interesting or particularly relevant.

But what I am going to do is provide my step by step translations into English, using the literal translations of the words to show you what Inmararräo word order looks like in comparison to the final English version. This will also show you the kinds of things I do to localize my translations, to render them closer to the true sentiments in which they were original written.

First, the sample script. We only have a stanza and a half of this, but I think it will give you a good taste of these cultural points, and you'll fully understand it by the end of this post:

Of course, we couldn't import the file directly from the Sunspot, but we've recreated the look using a custom font that Goreth is developing using FontForge.

The text is traditionally written vertically, from left to right, though there are some contexts where it might be written for right to left and/or horizontally.

The Latin rendering of it looks like this:

ʔomarrshif neb gunkyäk ʔängnänʔi me Merkäfirr winbaf bem ʔena mog hutyä mem ʔäkya närirr niyeb fetkurrmä ʔen mem Fukya wish rebʔito tegne neb ʔafgärorr mab bem Rrekaritirr kshibe ʔäorirr mem ʔomarrshif fogirr bem mem ʔuu bem rrifärerr ferrurirr

So.

One of the first things you might notice, if you can't speak or read the language, is the repetition and rhythm of the final words of each sentence (except the last one).

Inmararräo is a Verb-Object-Subject language. This means that it is very common for sentences to end in a pronoun. In this case, "me" is first person plural, "mem" is first person singular, and "bem" is second person singular. So this is a poem, presumably about "you" and "me" and how these two people are a "we" (or should be).

Now, it's really common in Inmarräo to drop the subject of the sentence when it is yourself. So, usually, those sentences that end with "mem" wouldn't end that way. The writer has specifically chosen to include the pronoun to create this rhythm, and then to drop it on that last sentence, thus emphasizing that last word.

So, I want to look at that last word, and the whole sentence it is in, and the actual extent to which the writer went to remove the pronoun from the end of the sentence.

"Ferrurirr" is a verb. So, normally it would want a subject or an object, at least, but neither is present.

Now, the word translates most closely to "to understand". So, it is important to this poet that continued active understanding as a verb is the focus here, not just "an understanding" that someone might come to.

On top of that, that's not the main verb of the sentence. It's actually in the object clause of the main verb, "rrifärerr", which means "must force", which is a pretty intense word to use in this case. And that is further emphasized by the ancient Fenekere particle "ʔuu" that has become part of Inmararräo and denotes that the sentence is a critical command.

But there's no subject listed, and the default is "mem" or "I", so it means "I must force understanding".

And, of course, there's that "bem" in there, the "you".

Normally, you'd put it with the verb it belongs to, making it the subject of the verb, but instead it is put before the verbs, in the adverb/predicate clause. This is to avoid confusion. Because if you put it after the last verb, it may be mistaken for the subject of the whole sentence. And if you put it after the main verb, it will become the predicate of the second verb, and mean something different.

In Inmararräo, when you see something like "must you force" in a sentence, what it basically translates to is "must force you to", the "to" being implied by the position of the pronoun.

So, this last sentence means "I must force you to understand."

Understand what?

Well, probably the subject matter of the previous lines. Which bring me to one of my favorite words and another one that I feel contentious about.

In the first line is the word "gunkyäk". It is a word that means "deep connection", "intense concern", "understanding", "visceral affection", and "familiar attachment" all rolled into one thing. And I feel like the sound of it comes from the gut and really conveys the intensity of it.

The English word that sometimes summarizes this is kind of wishy-washy in my opinion, and its sound is kind of reflective of that. Sometimes it can be spoken with the same intensity as "gunkyäk", but a lot of times its thrown around carelessly as if it can just float on the air and land anywhere and not really hurt anybody.

I, of course, speak of the word "love".

Just like in English, Inmararräo has a bunch of synonyms for this word, but this author has chosen "gunkyäk" for its profound connotations (which, in the context of this poem is not necessarily a good thing -- it's just significant to the meaning).

Now, the word following it, "ʔängnänʔi" is another one of many synonyms, each with their own connotations.

In most contemporary Sunspot literature, people have preferred to use the old term "beshakete'i" or just "beshakete", which I then translate into "Outsider", with a capital "O". This is in reference to old poetry in which Outsiders were foreigners to the world who were then eventually embraced, and who brought with them many arts, skills, knowledge, and wisdom.

Where-as "ʔängnänʔi", I would translate into "aliens". But, on our predecessor ship, the word was used not to describe foreigners from afar or even off world, but to refer to non-people. Individuals who were considered so anethema to Feruukepikape itself that they were marked as outcasts and shunned, if not killed. It's a nasty word, and carries with it the stigma of ignorance and obliviousness, the inability to comprehend important things.

I feel that there is another English word that works very well for this one, that I will divulge later in the final translation.

So, what's that sentence saying?

ʔomarrshif neb gunkyäk ʔängnänʔi me

"ʔomarrshif" is a long looking word that basically means "to", and it's in the predicate clause along with "neb" which is a negation.

But, there's no visible verb. "Gunkyäk" isn't a verb. It has no verb suffix.

This is a dropped or omitted copula, such as "is" or "are". You can just sort of imagine it in there. A lot of Earth languages do this kind of thing, too. (look up "zero copula" for more information)

And, "gunyäk" is in the descriptive or adjective clause of the object "ʔängnänʔi". And the first word of the whole sentence tells us how to understand that whole relationship.

So, that sentence literally can be rendered to the clunky, improper English:

"to not [are] love aliens we"

This might give you an idea where this is going, so I'm just going to give you the two stages of translation now, literal and then the localized figurative translation. And I think you can probably examine it yourself to learn a few things about it from there.

Literal:

to not love aliens we know the rules you and so do I of am thinking a full commitment what I from any other guy not would get this you tell how am feeling I wanna you I Gotta make you understand

And now the figurative, more accurate translation:

We're no strangers to love You know the rules and so do I A full commitment's what I'm thinking of You wouldn't get this from any other guy I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling Gotta make you understand

[emeritus-fuckers]

Hiii, I'd like to request a match up !!

First of all, sorry if it's written weird, English is not my first language and I'm in need of a few days of sleep lmao :') also this is very long because I have no idea how to write concisely to save my life, so, sorry for your eyes? brain? Idk but sorry

1 - I'm AFAB genderqueer, might be a demigirl ? idk gender is confusing. anyways, I use any pronouns because I'm extra like that lmao, and I prefer my sexuality to stay unlabelled for now

2 - Papas !! (they're so silly I love them)

3 - I'm rather small (163cm/5'4") and kinda pudgy. I would not say I'm plus size but I'm definitely thicker than average, especially around my hips and thighs (stretch marks n cellulite gang WYA). I used to be very insecure about it but thankfully I got better at loving myself (still working on it but I'll get there eventually). I'm also getting a tattoo on my upper left arm very soon (inspired by Kafka's Metamorphosis because yes) and hopefully some more piercings (I only have triple lobe for now). my hair's light brown and very short, I buzzed it back in August and I'm growing it out. Yes, I do have a terrible case of bed head. I also trim my eyebrows to be very short, makes it easier to do my makeup. Almost forgot to talk about my eyes, but basically they're blue-ish green and usually overshadowed by the huge dark circles I have. I don't dress according to one particular style, although I enjoy being in full goth fashion, makeup and all. I would probably describe my style by 'satanic grandma' because as much as I love my band shirts and inverted crosses, I also cannot live without my extensive collection of grandpa sweaters and ugly ties.

4 - I'm an introvert - and an awkward anxious ball of nerves at that, but I don't mind stepping up to the task in social situations if the people I'm with are not comfortable ordering food/asking a question. I usually am very cautious of how I act with new people I meet as I am autistic and don't want to 'scare them off' or make them uncomfortable. However, if we vibe, you get to know the still anxious but also very silly me. I especially love coming across other people that are on the spectrum, because we usually have a certain understanding of each other's way of acting and just be silly together. Speaking from experience with my closest friends, at least (not generalizing autistic people !!).

5 - I've been hyperfixating on Ghost for a good while now, but apart from that I'm very much interested in art. Learning about it of course, but also making it (I'm in art prep class rn and it's kicking my ass, send help). Drawing, writing, taking photos, making zines and stuff... hopefully after prep class I can get into a proper art school and study illustration, and maybe look into becoming a graphic novel author. My favorite artists would probably be Dora Maar, Gustave Doré and Gustav Klimt tbh. I also have an interest in geopolitics and history, especially in the Middle Ages' witch hunts and black death, but also in more recent topics such as the satanic panic. Basically all things occult and satanic. I also love internet horror media such as ARGs, like My house.wad or the Hypnagogic Archive. Music taste wise, I listen to everything, but my favorite genres are hard rock and metal. I'd say my all time fav artists are Ghost, Slayer (South of Heaven walked so that Year Zero could run, change my mind), Iron Maiden, SOAD, Twin Temple, Radiohead, alex g and Mitski.

6 - I'm a huge cat person but I also very much love crows and rats and reptiles and overall all the animals that would seem weird to keep as pets. Also I love love LOVE having deep conversations about complicated philosophical topics at night in a calm spot at a party or smth, specifically while drinking off-brand soda. Idk why I included this, I just thought of it and I'm too tired to question how my sleep deprived brain thinks right now.

Sorry again for the huge wall of text, y'all are the best !

Have a good day/night !!

This post is part of the 1000 followers match up event. Entries for the event are now closed.

Your match is...Copia

He's all for helping you love yourself, he'll kiss any part of your body you are insecure about and everyday he tells you how amazing you look. The thing that really makes it work is that he means it, you can see the sincerity in his expression.

He can also be an awkward anxious bundle of nerves. But what is so cute is that both of you try and step up for the other in social situations. You see Papa Emeritus IV come out a lot at those times.

You vibed immediatly with him it was just an instant connection. He just got you, and you him. He treasures that so much.

He will help all he can with your art class prep. Like whatever you need. If you want him to just keep you company he's there, if you need models he'll get his rats to pose with him (it's just adorable). Or if you need to work super hard he'll bring you food and drinks to keep you going.

Sometimes he joins you but drawing isn't his strongest skill so it's a good giggle, he can laugh at his mistakes and he enjoys seeing you smile at them. Other times he'll sit and write songs as you work, he wrote one about you just the other day.

He got so excited when he found out you had an interest in the middle ages, witch hunts and black death. He literally squeaked with joy and you discussed it long into the night, while drinking lots of off-brand soda.

He also finds some really cool books for you to read from the clergy library, occult, satanic panic and so on, it's all there.

~

Written by Nyx

[nabooro]

*Victorian orphan voice* spare any conjugations, sir?

I’m writing some Naboo-based fics and I’m sprinkling in some of your Nabooro for ✨effect✨ (probably will never be posted but I’ll drop your @ if I ever do)

Relatedly, I compiled the pronouns into a table, and I’m assuming a nominative (green) and combined accusative/dative (blue)

I also grabbed the possessives and reflexives (green for singular, blue for plural). I didn’t see any first person possessives or any other reflexives, but it’s entirely possible I missed them in the dictionary.

But yeah, can only get so far with infinitives unless they’re just used as-is.

Relatedly, is it a straightforward past/present/future deal? Or do they get fancy with it? Throw in perfect tenses? Plusquamsperfekt (does that even exist in English? I only know it in German) or subjunctives? What about command form (imperative, I think)?

Side note, I’m assuming that adjectives don’t have endings due to the lack of gender, but do they have regular comparative and superlative forms?

Anyway, don’t worry if this takes awhile or even gets broken down into multiple posts, I know it’s kinda asking a lot. I only know enough about linguistics to read IPA and overthink when to use // and []. Keep up the good work 🫡

Hi!

First off, I'm wildly flattered that you'd want to sprinkle some of my silly little language into something you're writing! I'd be happy to help / clarify any questions you have anytime re: that.

Regarding pronouns - you're right, it's Nominative, and a combined Accusative and Dative. The 1st person sing. possessive is nod, and the plural is tad.

The reflexive damâ is kind of used in place of what in English we might call the 'royal we'? It's more like a deeply formal and rarely used version of 'I' than the reflexive as it's used in English, used to refer to a removed version of yourself. Not a lot of people would have cause to use it often, just the ruler and their handmaids, and anybody in religious mask that is meant to negate self-identity. Those who would use it wouldn't use it interchangeably with 'I/me' - when applicable, you are at all times damâ. I hope that makes sense!

Verb conjugations... I have them. Unfortunately, they're an absolute menace to explain in any way that's not just ... a table, I guess. Stay tuned, I guess; I'll try to set up a table for that. Unfortunately I also have more irregular verbs than I would like there to be, which is just something I'm dealing with.

The conjugation system accounts for number and person, as well as conditional statements, subjunctives, pluperfects, and imperatives. [nervous laughter]

This is why I simply haven't gotten to putting it on here. But this is excellent reason to do so!

Adjectives are easier. No accounting for case, just bare forms. The comparative version of adjectives is just loon [adjective], translating to 'more [adj]'. The opposite would be shishee [adj], which means 'less [adj]'. There isn't a superlative form per se, just a matter of emphasis and phrasing.

Please feel free to drop into my DMs for further info on anything specific while I work on that conjugation table, and hope this helps!

[jkgnggj]

hii welcome to my little twin stars / kiki and lala themed blog! my pfp is a zoomed in poff bear of a drawing i commissioned my friend @aoki553 i like to combine my love for little twin stars with my other interests, in this case tori (⁠*⁠˘⁠︶⁠˘⁠*⁠)⁠.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡

i post / rb any toritsuka reita content I can get my hands on (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠) i try posting daily (for now) feel free to msg me or ask me anything! i take drawing reqs and ff prompt suggestions! im always looking for new friends and other tori enjoyers <333

˳⁺⁎˚꒰ఎ about me ໒꒱˚⁎⁺˳

my name is ruby but you can call me ruchan ♡ im currently 20 my pronouns are she/her i speak spanish and english and im an artist, writer, cosplayer, roleplayer, and the number one toritsuka reita enjoyer (self proclaimed) xp

i like fairy kei fashion, pastels, unicorns, cats, musicals, sanrio esp kiki and lala / little twin stars ☆

i enjoy watching slice of life, sports animes, and anything involving delinquent / yakuza characters, the fictional character im currently obsessed with and have dedicate this blog to is my baby boy ꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡ toritsuka reita from saiki k ♡⁠˖⁠꒰⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠⑅⁠꒱

˳⁺⁎˚ ꒰ఎ tags ໒꒱ ˚⁎⁺˳

#mikorei monday

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ every monday i try posting / reblogging mikoto aiura x reita toritsuka related posts (art, hcs, coms, ffs, etc.)

#torikechi tuesday

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ every tuesday i try posting / reblogging touma akechi x reita toritsuka related posts (art, hcs, coms, ffs, etc.)

#yumetori wednesday

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ every wednesday i try posting / reblogging chiyo yumehara x reita toritsuka related posts (art, hcs, coms, ffs, etc.)

#torisai thursday

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ every thursday i try posting / reblogging kusuo saiki x reita toritsuka related posts (art, hcs, coms, ffs, etc.)

#satori saturday

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ every saturday i try posting / reblogging hiroshi satou x reita toritsuka related posts (art, hcs, coms, ffs, etc.)

#ruchan writes

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ tag i use for when i post / promote my fics (my ao3 acc is the same as this one, as well as my twt, insta, discord in case anyone wants to talk thru those platforms instead)

#ruchans art

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ tag i use when i post my art, whether it be my half of an art trade, a gift for a friend or just a drawing i thought id share with everyone <3 i only do traditional art as of now

#ruchan rambles

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ tag i use for mainly text posts of me rambling about my hcs or aus

#commission

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ tag i use for keeping track of all the amazing drawings ive commissioned (im the number one lu-kario fan btw (also self proclaimed))

#art trade

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ tag i use for keeping track of all my wonderful art trades with friends and mutuals :> i try tagging their tumblr or instagram so anyone can follow if theyd like <3

˳⁺⁎˚ ꒰ఎ misc ໒꒱ ˚⁎⁺˳

ofc I cant promise ill be able to post every single day or that ill post stuff thats specific for the theme / tag of the day, sometimes ill post torisai stuff on a monday if i really feel like it (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧ and theres gonna be times i wont be able to post or run out of stuff to post but ill do my best to stick to this schedule ive set! ʕ⁠ ⁠•⁠ᴥ⁠•⁠ʔ⁠ᕤ☆ also if u have any suggestions for what the theme for fridays and sundays should be then pls lmk! I'm thinking psychickers sunday and art trade fridays? name still pending...

anyways i hope u enjoy ur visit, baii ~ ♡⁠(⁠˃��⁠ ⁠દ⁠ ⁠˂͈⁠ ⁠༶⁠ ⁠)

[defectivegembrain]

Here is my linguistics question:

Do you feel there is any benefit to the idea of an "inclusive we" and an "exclusive we", like a we that includes the people the user is speaking to, and a we that excludes them?

For example, if Alice and Bob went to the store and then Alice was talking to Carol, she could say "We went to the store" using the exclusive we, to indicate that thought she is using a plural pronoun, Carol in not included. But if Alice was talking to Bob, she could say, "We went to the store" and use the inclusive we, because she is talking about both of them. I think in the case where she addresses both she would still use exclusive, because even though Bob was present, Carol was not.

I feel those were bad examples for why I care about this. Sometimes I use "we" because multiple people including myself did something, but then I feel concerned the people I am talking to might get confused and think that I thought they were involved, or if it was something in the past, maybe even think maybe they were involved.

Anyway, my questions are the following:

Does this concept already exist, does it have a real name (inclusive/exclusive is just what I call it because I am a math person), and are there any languages that you know of that have this sort of pronoun?

2. Whether or not it exists, do you (as someone who has studied linguistics) feel it is a useful concept? Does it convey useful information or does it add too much complexity to pronouns?

3. Is the idea of exclusive we being used for a group of mixed included and excluded people make sense? If this concept actually exists, does inclusive or exclusive get used for mixed group? Would using the inclusive form make more sense for the mixed group?

Thank you for your time.

Oh okay that's really interesting. Just want to clarify I only have an undergraduate degree in linguistics and this particular subject isn't something I've studied in detail, but I do know a little bit.

1. It does, and I've heard inclusive/exclusive as the standard term actually, with "clusivity" used sometimes to describe the concept itself. It occurs in many languages, for example it's common in Australian and Austronesian languages, as well as the Dravidian language family. The World Atlas of Language Structures online has a page showing distribution here:

2. I think it's definitely a useful concept. I know there's been times in English conversations I would've benefited from it. Of course, we can get along without marking it explicitly too, but it could help. I mean, maybe if you're concerned about this miscommunication, you could just clarify in other terms to people to make sure? But like, it is a really cool system and probably helps in a lot of circumstances.

3. I'm not quite sure about this, I think in a mixed group you would probably still need context cues to know who was included? The way I've heard it generally relies on whether it includes whoever is being addressed, but I don't know if maybe some languages might have a way to make more specific distinctions?

Anyone out there know more about this? This is really fascinating, sorry I don't know more but thank you for talking to me about it!

[paradoxcase]

QuCheanya post 5:

Some changes to syntax. I've more precisely defined what order everything goes in in noun and verb phrases:

I am waffling a bit on whether to allow multiple -fye modifiers. This language is pretty weak in terms of noun compounding, so it might be a good idea, but I want to try sticking to genitive phrases and postpositional phrases and see if that can pull enough weight to not need a lot of noun modifiers. We'll see how it works out. I've been officially challenged by a coworker to describe the plot of Primer in this language, I am already thinking up how I will translate "stock market".

Here are the specifics of the order of components of the verb phrase:

The noun complements of copulas are in the nominative case in this language:

At one point in the past, I had an Essive case, which was specifically for noun complements of copulas, and then I decided I had too many cases and threw it out. I think it's ok to have two nominatives and let word order decide which is the subject and which is the complement.

Topic-reflexive pronoun is now required in most cases, which is why it showed up in those early tense examples. This allows us to topicalize the noun complement of a copula and still indicate that it is the complement and not the subject, as you will see below:

Sentence-final particles are the same as before, but with this addition:

And here are examples of the three uses of tyua:

And here are examples of complement clauses:

So you can see that the topic-reflexive pronoun is useful for being able to topicalize any noun in the sentence without ever having it be ambiguous what role the topic plays in the sentence. It is also another strategy to help solve the gay fanfiction problem - if there are two third-person nouns in the sentence, and one of them is the topic, that one will always be referred to using the topic-reflexive pronoun, rather than the regular third-person pronoun.

Note that in the original example 3, there are actually two ri pronouns that are elided - one that is the subject of fyoanyo and one that is the subject of ceyai. In this version of the sentence, the subjects of those two verbs are no longer the same and can't be elided.

Some examples of relative clauses using qqhoafye:

There are cases where pronouns other than ri can wound up being repeated, because of the way this language nests clauses. For example, if you wanted to say "I was talking to the boy I gave the flowers to" and topicalize the flowers, that would wind up as:

Pfecyuaqeya noi [[noi risua tse pfaire cä] qqhoafye] yelire quyu

that is:

flower-PST-TOP.PL 1S.NOM [[1S.NOM RFL.ACC.PL REL.DAT give PRF] CMP-ADJ] boy-DAT talk

but I think since the two nois are in different clauses, there would be an audible change in intonation between them, and not eliding them is the right answer. I guess it's sort of what happens when you have two thats in a row in English, it feels a bit weird to elide one of them, even though it's technically possible. Of course, if you topicalized "I", you could elide both pronouns because they would become ri. Possibly I may make it a rule that you can only elide one ri, or maybe that you can only elide a ri that is the nominative subject of the outer clause. Interested if anyone has any opinions on this.

Anyway, that's all for updates to syntax.

[fenmere]

Ememe'e looked up from kihns crossword puzzle to scowl briefly at me, and then kihns expression softened, "No, that's not fiction anymore."

Maybe I should back up.

I'd met kihn in our favorite a coffee shop, the Black Drop, several years back, and that's where we were now. We're not friends, but definitely friendly acquaintances, especially after keh'd granted me a wish I hadn't realized I'd made.

I was rereading one of my favorite series, the Chronicles of the Black Company, by Glen Cook, when keh had sat down opposite me, politely asking if keh could sit there.

Then keh'd asked me about the book, and I told kihn all about it. I think it was White Rose, but I could be wrong at this point, because, well...

"Oh, allow me to introduce myself," Keh had said. "My name is Ememe'e, and my pronouns are keh/kihn/kihns. It just so happens I can help you with this memory thing."

"What?" I'd asked, watching keh take a sip from kihns small cappuccino. I had tried to recall all the words I'd spoken to them up to that point, but I couldn't quite make the connection. It had felt like the mention of memory had come out of left field.

"You were saying that you wished you could fully relive the first time you read that series," Ememe'e had explained. "And that has to do with memory, correct?"

"Oh, yes," I had said, frowning into my mocha and examining the details of the table's surface. "I suppose it would."

Ememe'e had, at that point, leaned forward onto kihns elbows and lowered kihns head to look up into my eyes, and had said, "I'm the Dragon of Memory. Well. Not precisely. That's just the easiest set of English words to use for myself. If you'd like, I could set that up for you. Totally non-invasive. Just a little tweak, only affecting fictional novels. Movies, too, if you'd like, but it can be very precise."

I don't fully recall the rest of the conversation or how I got to the point of agreeing to let kihn monkey with my memory (or dragon with it, as the case may be), but I did agree to it and it had worked! Up until today.

I'd tried rereading several different stories, and it was brilliant! I could not remember a single thing about them besides their titles, the author, and the fact that I'd read them. But while I was reading them, I could vividly recall all the previous chapters, and retain that information until I picked up the book again specifically to reread it.

This meant that I could reread an entire series and make complete sense of it, and be just as surprised and horrified by all the twists. And then I could live with the inspirations and revelations of the books for as long as I liked. But then, if I wanted to relive all of that, all I'd have to do is pick up the first book and start reading the first lines of it all over again.

And, poof, the memories would be gone, to be remade.

And I do remember talking to my friends about this, and trying to figure out if it really was some miraculous power that Ememe'e had somehow bestowed upon me. They'd had all sorts of theories as to what was going on, including the possibility that I was faking it and having a laugh at their gullibility. Not really a thing I'd ever do, and I'm not sure why they'd think so, honestly.

But, anyway, one of the things I do remember clearly is that while I reread a lot of different stories, I did keep coming back to the Chronicles of the Black Company. And maybe it got to the point where that's all I was reading. I'm not sure.

But then, just this morning, I'd picked up the first book and tried rereading it, and I remembered all of it. Every damn twist and turn. Every joke. Every quip. Every name of every character and what little of their backgrounds that Croaker, the first narrator, thought to share. And in a bit of a panic, I tried each of the other twelve books. No dice.

And then I'd stuffed them all in my backpack, removing my sketchbook, pencil pouch, and laptop to make room, and caught the bus to the coffee shop. Where I'd then emptied the books onto the table in front of Ememe'e and said, "It's not working! I can remember all of them!"

Ememe'e looked up from kihns crossword puzzle to scowl briefly at me, and then kihns expression softened, "No, that's not fiction anymore."

Keh looked human enough. It wasn't at all unusual for any regular of this coffee shop to say things like, "I'm a dragon, actually," and for everyone else to just accept it. We all knew who we were and the world we were living in, and when a person shared their inner-most identity and experiences, the right thing to do was take them at their word.

The Black Drop was, after all, the first place where I'd heard my own name and pronouns called aloud for the first time. And with no snickering or scowls from anybody.

Sometimes bigots would try to infiltrate the place, but the entire community there would catch them in their act and chase them out. And the owners fully empowered the baristas to 86 anyone who displayed hate. Even just a Trump hat was grounds for expulsion.

So, when Ememe'e had given me kihns neopronoun and explained what keh could do, I took it that I was speaking to an otherkin enby who believed in magic.

But, somehow, when I had experienced the return of my memory, to find my brain functioning again in a neurotypical way, and then heard those words, "that's not fiction anymore," that's when I became filled with dread and belief.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well," Ememe'e said. "What's your name?"

"Murgen," I heard my mouth say.

Ememe'e smiled a smile that could maybe have been a smirk, eyes twinkling, and said, "And can you tell me why you've found these books to be so compelling that you reread them every week?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but watched my hand fall onto Bleak Seasons, pinky finger landing onto She is the Darkness, which was lying right beside it. "Oh," I said. Those in particular were my books.

I tried to remember who I was before I'd met Ememe'e. But all I could recall was serving time as the Company's standard bearer.

"This wouldn't happen if you were the only one in there," Ememe'e said. "If it was just you, it would only affect the books that you are in."

I was not really feeling anything but shock and confusion at this point. But, anymore, I have to say, I'm pretty used to feeling like I'm out of my body and in a world or time or place that's not my own. So, I think I was taking it better than most others might. "Is this a thing that happens a lot?" I asked.

"More often than you might expect," replied the Dragon of Memory. "Anyway, it was beginning for you long before I gave you my gift. But my gift certainly helped it the rest of the way. Welcome to Earth, Murgen. It's bleak, but at least there are books here, too! It's an immortality of a sort."

A lesser God has bestowed you the power to erase your memory but only of works of fiction. It’s a mediocre gift, but you get to enjoy your favorite movies and books anew. Settling down to enjoy your favorite fantasy book/movie, you once again invoke your gift. The memory does not fade.

[virmillion]

rambling to self bc i have a pen but no paper

anyway so the thing where you say “ok now set x equal to twelve” and the kid starts typing the Words “set x…” and you have to correct them to type “x = 12”, whether that’s an artifact of language in general or just a missed translation of the literal phrase

like it might be to do with age, kids start to extrapolate what you mean better and understand alternate phrasings (set x equal to, update x’s value, change x to be, et al). versus when they’re younger, maybe they take it more literally?

or it might not be related to age at all, or at least not completely

- could be due to neurodivergence, if the kid takes everything literally bc of how their brain is wired

- could be that they’re thinking of coding languages as equivalent to spoken languages, sort of how a new learner from english to spanish translates things directly, eg confusion over las vacaciones just being vacation in general

- could be based on home situations, maybe their parents are the type to mean things very literally when they say it, so it’s what the kid is used to? (which would then extend to where the parent gets that from, depending how many layers back it goes)

anyway just generally whether the acquisition of languages is comparable with coding vs spoken languages, not to mention sign language? obviously if a kid starts learning coding younger then it’ll be easier if/when they do it in college, but is it the same advantage a kid would have learning a ‘standard’ second language young? i want to say i’ve seen it be that learning a new language is easier the younger you are, but would that apply to coding languages? even outside the matter of syntax and stuff, since of course you wouldn’t have the typing verbatim words “set x equal” problem when working in scratch. scratch might be comparable to kids using building letter blocks, grabbing each letter and placing it where it goes to form a word? it’s more complicated, since they’re also learning about logic (loops, if statements, broadcasting, movement), but it feels tangential to the unus annus spelling game video

then you might also have to worry about the fact that, similar to how there’s multiple Standard Languages, there’s multiple coding languages, where each of those has their own basic building blocks (usually)

standard languages typically have verbs, nouns, pronouns, infinitives, tenses, et al

coding languages typically have functions, variables, operations, im sure there’s more i’m forgetting, et al

and obviously there’s edge cases, like how that one languages doesn’t have any numbers, and how there’s no native string functionality in C (i think, it’s been a minute since i took that class)

but the same way a kid learning spanish is not the same as a kid learning german, a kid learning python is not the same as a kid learning java. obviously python and java use the same Standard Language, but their syntax and such is different. versus the standard languages, at least with spanish/german you’re still going to be working with the same set of alphabetical characters (plus ñ, ß, accents, …), but it’s the construction and order that differs

eg in standard languages, you might have to worry about if the adjective goes before or after the noun, which extends to the lovely little old green dragon issue in english. in coding languages, python lets you just say “x = 17” and then two lines later say “x = ‘bootypants’”, and it’s fine. in C++, you have to declare x as an int first, and then it’s an int forever

new tangent but it’s a lot harder to just casually learn coding in your down time. you typically need either a huge textbook or an interactive tech device, and usually it’s learned through practice (either specific instructions or general guiding along making whatever you want), at least in my experience. with standard languages, you can really just do that however you want - find books for basically any grade/age, listen to podcasts, watch shows and movies, …

the closest equivalent to that is watching/hearing people talk ABOUT coding, but that’s usually more about quirks and pros and cons of a given language or syntax, and less about actually learning the language itself.

then also the matter of how there’s usually at least three components to standard languages - listening, speaking, and reading. then additional necessities, eg expression and gestures (obviously more significant in sign language) and indirect phrases (sarcasm, metaphors) that are more nuanced

that’s all i’ve got for now i think, tbd if i rb this post or just make a new one every time i have a thought but im gonna give it an organizational tag just in case ✌️🫶