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imaminoccultation · 2 years

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Letter 2: The Case for the Prophecy of Women, Part I - The 6 Nabiyyas of the Andalusian Scholars

Peace be upon those who follow the right path. Which is to say, what’s up guys??

Okay, new letter, this time for one of my favorite topics, even though I know it’s not as pressing as some of the other ones I’ve got on my list. I’m procrastinating a little, forgive me: it’s kind of like how I’m still referencing Muhammad’s letters to diplomats and not the actual letters of Imam Mahdi because I’ve seen ar-Risaala but I still can’t find a good PDF with all the Imam’s letters in a format that doesn’t make my eyes hurt.

Y’all ready? Okay. Let’s do this:

If you don’t consider Prophet Maryam, peace be upon her, a Muslim Prophet, you are a fucking kaafir or a sexist or both.

(I mean that lovingly, but if you are gonna be offended by that, it is not gonna get better, I recommend a soothing night of Surat Maryam by Sheikh Abdulbasit Abdassamad, probably my favorite Egyptian reciter. I know my ancestors would be angry I’m recommending an Egyptian right now and not somebody like Sheikh Salih Ahmed Salih, who is great, but come on, Abdassamad is called “the Voice of Heaven” for a reason. Check him out!)

Okay, first of all, this is not just some 21st-century “oh, look, I wanna make Islam liberal” nonsense, this is a hot take that dates all the way back to Andalusia, Spain: back in the time Muslims ruled. When was it? Dunno, I hate numbers, don’t make me keep track of dates, but this is a take so hot it basically never left Spain. But I’m bringing it back, because I’m nothing if not a history nerd. I go crazy for this shit.

And so, let’s talk: the six female prophets (nabiyyas) of the Andalusian scholars.

“Hold the fuck up!” I hear a strawman calling out in the distance, “Aren’t Muslim prophets only supposed to be MEN, silly??”

Oh, get the fuck over yourself, ‘Umar, let’s have a look at this verse from the Song of the Prophets:

وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًۭا نُّوحِىٓ إِلَيْهِمْ ۖ فَسْـَٔلُوٓا۟ أَهْلَ ٱلذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

We’ve only sent to you people MEN, MEN, underlines, circles, provides several citations of Arabic dictionaries, walking on their damn MANLY feet, who we delivered Revelation to (AKA inspired in white Christian). Ask THE PEOPLE OF REMEMBRANCE (they mean the Muslims, obviously, and my favorite Muslims specifically) if you don’t got a clue (like you, Shi’i heretic)

Ugh, don’t make me do this to you, ‘Umar. Okay, why don’t we actually talk about Song of the Prophets instead of just playing linguistics games that make the Recitation seem way more complicated than it actually is. Okay, so, what is the Song of the Prophets?

The Song of the Prophets is the 21st chapter (or surah) of the Uthmanic Bible, AKA the mushaf, the written Qur’an that you probably think of when somebody says “Qur’an,” which I call the Recitation. Anyways, Recitation Songs lowkey follow the “Tupac naming rule.” Some dude once showed me this YouTube video where Tupac was talking about how the best way to make a rap song is to just be as in the moment as possible, mentioning “what’s the last thing that nigga said? Okay, let’s make that the title of the song.” Recitation Song titles are lowkey like that. They’re usually just a name people picked cause it made this collection of verses easier to refer to, so sometimes Songs have multiple different names, but don’t think the Song title will always tell you what the Song is about. That said, the Song of the Prophets is built different, as the kids say. Basically every other verse is about another Prophet up until like the last 20 or something lines, like:

وَٱلَّتِىٓ أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهَا مِن رُّوحِنَا وَجَعَلْنَـٰهَا وَٱبْنَهَآ ءَايَةًۭ لِّلْعَـٰلَمِينَ (91)

PLUS the one who kept her legs closed (look, the Arabic isn’t much better, trust me), so we blew some of our Spirit into her and we made her and her baby boi a Sign to all of humankind

إِنَّ هَـٰذِهِۦٓ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةًۭ وَٰحِدَةًۭ وَأَنَا۠ رَبُّكُمْ فَٱعْبُدُونِ (92)

This is your community: one community, and I’m y’alls’ Lord, so worship me dudes

وَتَقَطَّعُوٓا۟ أَمْرَهُم بَيْنَهُمْ ۖ كُلٌّ إِلَيْنَا رَٰجِعُونَ (93)

It’s just that later on y’all fucking lost sight of yourselves and started overcomplicating this stuff; you’re coming back to Us, don’t worry.

I hope people aren’t offended by the way I’m translating these verses. I just don’t think that translating the Qur’an into Biblical English is always the right thing to do, especially if I’m tryna talk to fucking normal people and not people who, you know, don’t know enough Literary Arabic to understand the Recitation by ear alone (like I can…most of the time, the Medinan surahs are SO HARD).

Anyways, those verses come after a list of people that includes:

Yahya (John the Baptist): asexual prophet famous for giving his cousin Jesus a bath and starting a trend that took over the Roman Empire (and most of the world now)

Zakariya’s Wife: name isn’t mentioned, but she gets a miraculous baby in old age, also mentioned as somebody who does “good works” and prays a ton

Zakariya: Johnny’s dad, who’s most famous for…being Johnny’s dad!

Zun Nun/Yunis/Jonah: dude who gets swallowed by a whale, has a great verse here, he’s all “OKAY GOD I’M SORRY MAN DUDE FUCK I SHOULDN’T’VE BEEN SO SELFISH please forgive me” and God saves him in the nick of time. Boom!

Zul Kifl: Oh, don’t get me started on this guy.

Idris: Not, as some Nubians would have you believe, Nubian for “man of knowledge,” although this nigga did apparently learn to write thanks to God

Isma’il: forefather of the Arabs, who Muslims believe was about to be sacrificed by Ibrahim v.s. Isaac like Jews and Christians do. Ya see, Isma’il was the son of Ibrahim’s…err…sex slave, to put it in modern terms, or concubine, to put it like a historian. Sarah didn’t like him or her mom cause she was a Karen and she told Ibrahim “hey, get those motherfuckers outta here” so Ibrahim totally left them in the Arabian Desert.

Ayyub/Job: Mentions the part of the book of Job where the Prophet (well, according to Muslims, Christians don’t consider him a Prophet) has God come in and save him from his suffering, leaving out the part where God…er…put him through horrible suffering to prove a point to Satan and was also a total dick about it

Sulayman/Solomon: mentioned as genie tamer king and ultimate airbender Prophet

Dawud/David: don’t get me started on this guy, either.

Nuh: Ugh, let’s leave this one for another time.

Lut: Oh we’ll get to you, motherfucker. We will get to you.

Ya’qub/Jacob: Uhhh, Yousif’s dad? Cries his eyes out, I think?

Isaac: Ugh, the lightskin if we were to compare him to Isma’il and imagine them as kids of one Black American dude with a white American wife (Sarah) and a Black American wife (Hajar), deadass

Ibrahim: Ooh, it has the story of him smashing the idols in this one, best Ibrahim story, no cap

Muhammad: The opening is vaguely about him. It’s tryna establish his credentials by comparing him to these other famous figures.

Hmm, what do all these figures have in common with the Prophet Muhammad?

Well…they’re not all Jewish: Isma’il is, you know, the original Arab who gets kicked out of Palestine (I mean that in an anti-Zionist way, not an anti-Jewish way, to be clear, fuck anti-Semites). They are basically old dudes, except for like, one person: fucking Zakariya’s wife. Now, what does she have in common with Maryam? What do these two women who gave birth to famous prophets (Yahya/John and ‘Isa/Jesus) have to do with Muhammad?

Well, I mean, you could go with my very simple explanation: they’re Prophets. I mean, why the fuck not? You know, Andalusian Sunni Imam al-Ashari said Hawwa/Eve, Haajar/Agar, Moses/Musa’s Mom, Asiyah (Pharaoh’s wife, Musa’s adopted mom), Sarah (Isaac’s mom), and Maryam (Jesus’s mom) were all Prophets.

I mean, why not??

First of all, all of them receive revelation and the same word is used for it: wahy. Now wait! ‘Umar says: a BEEEEE receives wahy/Revelation at one point. Gonna call a bee a Prophet?

Ugh, ‘Umar, Prophets can only be humans, you know this, ‘Umar! That was the point of the line you were using to refute me! This is why the Recitation keeps going on and on and on about how human the Prophet Muhammad is: the point of sending an Arab dude and not an angel or something more obviously from God is because people would think they’re hallucinating that shit. Bring them a dude that speaks their language and speaks some fucking sense.

So, I mean, maybe that bee is a bee prophet. Who cares?? We’re talking about PEOPLE, ‘Umar, why can’t these people be Prophets? Fucking Surat Taha mentions how Musa’s Mom receives Revelation to chuck baby Musa into the river. Ya see, if she’d done that on her own, we’d call her a lunatic (or at least a severely negligent parent). But because God told her to do it (and it worked out really well, as far as chucking babies into the Nile goes), we respect Musa’s mom. Not to mention, her son is a Prophet. Hmm, who else does that apply to?

Well, Haajar is also the mother of a Prophet: Isma’il. Despite her lack of illustrious background compared to Ibrahim’s legal wife, Sarah, God likes her enough to, you know, tell Muslims to follow in her footsteps every year at Hajj. Literally. Plus, her son is super important to Muslims as the ancestor of Muhammad, at least in traditional belief. You know, doesn’t she get Revelation when the whole zamzam thing is going on?

Okay, Asiyah, when does she receive wahy? You got me, I think Andalusian guys just really liked her cause she raised Musa, and who doesn’t like Musa?

See, now Maryam is even more special. She’s so special, she is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur’an, deadass, and she’s mentioned in a few hadith with some extended shahaadas, which Islamophobes love to point out to prove the Qur’an basically secretly worships Maryam???

I mean, people need to learn to read books. The Recitation likes Maryam because Maryam is literally the Mother of Jesus Fucking Christ, who is basically the most important Jewish Palestinian who ever lived. You know what that means, right??? This is the chick that RAISED Jesus, literally the most perfect Muslim boy to ever walk the face of the Earth. Dude was so perfect, God, depending on what you believe, either 1) loved him so much, he let that nigga get tortured to death then brought him back to life and took him to Paradise or 2) loved him so much, he saved that nigga from getting tortured to death in public (what most Muslims believe). And Prophet Maryam, according to Muhammad, was equally perfect: apparently the dude said that Iblis pricks every single child when they’re born, except Mary and Jesus. Now, literalists are gonna focus on how exactly it is Iblis, a being made of invisible fire, goes around pricking newborns but that’s really just not the fucking point. The point is, girl is pristine. The usual gross straight person way to read this is “well, yeah, she’s cool because despite not being a hoe she managed to still be a mom”

Uhhhhhh

What? No.

Muslims aren’t that obsessed with Maryam’s virginity compared to Christians, at least not in the same way. I mean, they care that she was a virgin when Jesus was born. Otherwise, what would be the point of making such a big deal about his birth? Dudes named Jesus were born all the time in 1st-century Palestine to moms named Maryam, these some basic-ass names. Like, I read this one book called Christians, Muslims, and Mary by some Catholic woman (I think she was Catholic? Might be wrong on that) who talked about how this one Muslim was arguing with a Christian whether or not Maryam’s hymen was intact after she gave birth to Jesus. The Muslim, having what I like to call “common sense,” said “who the fuck actually cares, like, seriously??? She gave BIRTH, how did her cherry survive that shit” while the Catholic was like “well, you know, if God can make a virgin give birth, why can’t he make her hymen survive the ordeal?”

I mean, flawless logic, but that’s besides the point. It’s notable that in Arabic, Christians call Mary Maryam al-’Adhraa’: Mary the Virgin, or Mary the Pure. The Prophet Muhammad, though, liked Maryam al-Batoul better: Mary the Secluded or Isolated, or Mary the Pure. But the point of the Recitation isn’t really to prove she’s a virgin, but it’s to prove she’s worth being Jesus’s mom. At the time Muhammad was walking around Arabia, dropping facts and hot takes left and right, Muhammad was pretty pissed with this thing a bunch of Jews who read the Babylonian Talmud were doing. They were spreading this pretty scandalous rumor: ya see, Mary wasn’t actually a virgin. Mary actually banged some Roman officer and gave birth to a bastard baby, Jesus Christ, who pretended to be the Messiah until the Jewish elite put an end to his misery by getting him tried and convicted as a sorcerer, before stoning him to death and hanging him on a tree.

So…Muhammad had some notes…

Which is why the Recitation, which is really concerned with correcting misunderstandings and refuting bad Abrahamic ideas, leaves Maryam’s supposed husband (Joseph) out of the story and focuses instead on how fucking badass Maryam is. Girl the son of Imran, a dude who’s LITERALLY named after Moses’s dad and descended from Aaron (Moses’ older bro, the Mario to his Luigi), plus her mom was also expecting to give birth to a prophet, cause, you know, that’s what descendants of ‘Imran do. They give birth to prophets. She dedicates her womb to God, hoping for a male prophet, and woops: it’s a girl! And God’s all:

إِذْ قَالَتِ ٱمْرَأَتُ عِمْرَٰنَ رَبِّ إِنِّى نَذَرْتُ لَكَ مَا فِى بَطْنِى مُحَرَّرًۭا فَتَقَبَّلْ مِنِّىٓ ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ

Remember when Imran’s wife was like “yo God, I’ve dedicated whatever’s in my belly to you man, completely, so accept it; you’re the one who knows and hears prayers.”

فَلَمَّا وَضَعَتْهَا قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّى وَضَعْتُهَآ أُنثَىٰ وَٱللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا وَضَعَتْ وَلَيْسَ ٱلذَّكَرُ كَٱلْأُنثَىٰ ۖ وَإِنِّى سَمَّيْتُهَا مَرْيَمَ وَإِنِّىٓ أُعِيذُهَا بِكَ وَذُرِّيَّتَهَا مِنَ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ

Then she gave birth and was like “Oh God, I gave birth to a girl! And God knew I’d give birth to a girl, and women are definitely not like men. I’mma name her Maryam – servant of God – and I pray God protects her from fucking Satan.”

فَتَقَبَّلَهَا رَبُّهَا بِقَبُولٍ حَسَنٍۢ وَأَنۢبَتَهَا نَبَاتًا حَسَنًۭا وَكَفَّلَهَا زَكَرِيَّا ۖ كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا ٱلْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِندَهَا رِزْقًۭا ۖ قَالَ يَـٰمَرْيَمُ أَنَّىٰ لَكِ هَـٰذَا ۖ قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَآءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ

And God accepted her prayer, made her prettier and more pure till she grew up and started living with Zakariya. Every time he came into her room he found tons of fruits around her. He was like “Mary, where the fuck did you get this shit?” And Maryam was like “I got it from God, dude, God provides limitlessly for whoever he likes.”

You think somebody God loved that much couldn’t be a prophet? Just cause she’s a woman who never got married?

I like to think of Maryam as the queen of the asexual women. Maybe her celibacy isn’t about her proving to the dudes she’s magic, or just about that. Maybe…she didn’t want to have sex. Maybe she was fine enough on her own. I mean, she fucking gives birth in the desert in the Qur’an and the only person who helps her out is God.

This is why Andalusian scholars were all so convinced. These 6 women are mothers of prophets, and in the Recitation, prophethood tends to be passed down familially. Well, that’s what I think, but I also think Imam Ali was a better choice than Abu Bakr for first caliph.

And you know, it makes sense with the Islamic worldview. Who’s the first Prophet? Adam. Who was the other Prophet there? HAWWA, EVE, his wife! Girl passing down the prophethood, too, like all the other prophet wives, cause somebody’s gotta raise the prophets. Even the Prophet Muhammad had a religious mentor: the love of his life, Khadija. In my opinion, she was the last of the female prophets. She raised Fatima, who’s literally known as the Queen of the Queens of Paradise in Islam, and was the Prophet Muhammad’s favorite daughter. The Prophet Muhammad had nobody but Khadija when he started out. She was literally the first Muslim woman, tremendously literate in Christian literature since her uncle, Waraqah, was a priest, plus she was a business woman who went to Syria (where a bunch of Christians lived) all the time. She was the one who encouraged him to be a Prophet. She was the first to identify the Light in him. She was taken early…before Muhammad left Mecca, after which, Muhammad actually starts getting called nabi (prophet) in the Recitation, not just rasuul (messenger). Almost like he took the position, filling a vacancy.

I like to think of a nabi as somebody charged with preaching God’s truth to their community, as opposed to a rasuul, somebody charged with preaching God’s truth within their community, like Prophet Maryam with the Jews. That is, assuming they’re different things. Maybe they’re one in the same, in any case, I don’t see a great reason not to count these 6 chicks as prophets.

Prophets Maryam, Hawwa, Umm Musa, Asiya, Haajar, Sarah: all women who received revelations and were also key parts of the lives of the 6 super important Muslim prophets, Jesus Christ, Adam, Moses…Moses again, Ismail, Isaac, and Ibrahim! Not to mention, God also inspires Musa’s sister, Miriam, to tell Asiya to bring in Umm Musa to nurse Musa. You know the Christians consider her a prophet? She did become a leper later, though, but I don’t think getting sick is disqualifying for a prophet…

You might say “hey! Never heard of this take.” But also, like, you know, this take is older than the entire country of Sudan and basically any of the modern Muslim theocracies y’all think practice “true Islam.” Be careful. You have more options than you think, gay Muslims of the world. It’s fine if you wanna be atheist, but don’t let people kick you out of a relationship with the God you want to have a relationship with, deadass. Wish I’d learned that earlier! Knowing this could’ve helped.

#islam #sudan #queer #women #islamic studies #ijtihad #tawhid

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

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April 10: 2x14 Wolf in the Fold

Watched Wolf in the Fold last night. The only thing I really remembered about this ep going in was that it was a Scotty ep. Which is true but also… slightly misleading. Also that it had to do with Jack the Ripper—which is more true than I remembered!

A decadent intro… I get why Spock isn’t here but I actually DO think he would be into it.

Matchmaker Kirk lol.

Scotty is so awkward. This is the other detail I remembered from this ep, actually: how Scotty wants to applaud using his hands no matter what. (Even with those cool lights RIGHT THERE lol). Old Aberdeen pub crawler…

This is honestly such a bizarre back story: Scotty got a concussion because someone who happened to be a woman made a mistake and now not only is his head all funny but he has a “total resentment toward women.” Like okay, nothing creepily sexist in that concept. Also –they ultimately barely even use it! I know it’s the implied rationale for why he would suddenly start murdering women and also not remembering it but it’s like such a flimsy excuse that they never say it out loud in so many words for fear it should sound too stupid. Which it would. Honestly, you really only need the concussion imo. Why go into the weird misogyny thing at all?

And now Kirk and Bons head off to a brothel, giving me a total resentment toward men.

Nice eerie fog out here. Very Aberdeenian.

Okay, so this woman was stabbed a dozen times but she only screamed once? And then a second later, Scotty had somehow teleported several feet away, still holding the knife? He’s good at his job but he’s not that good. This is already deeply suspicious.

“Therapeutic shore leave.” Trying to cure his hatred of ladies lmao.

So this weird little bald man, Hengist, from Rigel IV. Is he an alien? I suppose he must be. Rigellians are a race, as we know from Journey to Babel. It’s not always clear to me which groups of people are Earth colonists who have migrated to or been born on other planets and which are humanoid aliens.

The Aurelians are a gentle, harmless people. Cute. I like these aliens.

I wish we could hire aliens to be our administrators. Alien Overlord and Taylor.

“I’ll be taking over, since I am the highest official.” He out-officialed him.

I like this guy and his slightly creepy empath priestess wife. I feel like Spock would like them, too.

Speaking of: Spock in the captain’s chair. Hot.

I don’t get how this planet is the only space port around. Like… could not any planet be a space port? What does that even mean?

Oh no, a woman with the lie detector machine! She must be incompetent and/or to be despised.

I love Sybo’s outfit. Her hair and jewelry too. Honestly just a great head-to-toe look.

Another murder! Sorry but this one is on the Aurelian for just leaving the murder weapon out there unattended.

Generally speaking, the costume and set people are doing allllll the work in this episode.

Hengist went to look for suspects and he came up with the victim’s father and fiancé?? He’s not even trying lol. Anyway, he obviously did it.

How can you NOT tell if a lock was picked or not? I mean I know McCoy is a doctor, not a locksmith, but come on. It can’t be that ambiguous.

Spooky mumbo-jumbo.

Interesting that Spock doesn’t trust the mumbo-jumbo either. I guess he only approves of it when it’s Vulcan.

When Sybo says “monstrous evil” the camera is looking right at Hengist. Not suspicious at all. He’s only clearly railroading Scotty, looked right at the second victim before she was killed, was in the perfect position to take the murder weapon after it was carelessly left about, and is the most obvious non-Scotty suspect here.

I love how loyal Bones is. He literally saw Scotty holding Sybo and the knife with blood on his hands and is like “It’s impossible he could have done it.”

So many of the “truth discovery” devices on TOS are truly creepy. Like they’re all clear plot devices, and for that reason depicted as completely reliable, and the more completely reliable they are, the more deeply disturbing they become upon any reflection at all.

That’s a pretty computer though. All those pretty flashing lights! And it runs on floppy disks.

I literally just remembered what happened.

“Scotty, lie to me, how old are you?” / “Twenty-two, Sir.” Yeah, I’d say that’s a lie.

So like this allegedly all-powerful computer is literally just a lie detector. That’s it! A lie detector that picks up on psychological signs of lying, just like our lie detectors today. I mean… you could have just said that straight out. All they do is show what a person believes to be true, so in the case where someone truly doesn’t remember something, the usefulness is… limited.

My mom suggested a Vulcan mind meld which, actually, would pretty much solve the problem! But for once Spock actually treats it like something serious and not to be thrown out as a solution to all problems at the merest suggestion.

Someone needs to do a fashion line based entirely on the Argellian outfits.

Spock is internally eye-rolling at all this drama. I feel like he’s a real advocate for the computers today. That’s like… really his only role.

The computer’s linguistics banks don’t know what this word means? Maybe we should get Uhura on the case.

Plot twist: the killer was Jack the Ripper the WHOLE TIME! The last one you’d ever expect.

I don’t get how the computer made the leap from Redjac to Jack the Ripper since that is not a real word and no one outside of this episode of TOS has ever used it for Jack the Ripper.

“Everyone feeds on death, even vegetarians.” So dark, Spock. So emo.

Aw, alien creatures that derive sustenance from love. Adorable. There should have been an episode devoted to them. (Wait a minute…. Idea coming on…)

Speaking of gaseous cloud aliens…the Companion?

This episode really relies a lot on the computer to provide information and otherwise move the plot along.

Kirk keeps ignoring everyone to just talk to Spock.

“Cloud the issue” lol that’s a good pun. (Already can’t remember who said it but… point stands.)

The cloud entity feeds on women because they are more easily and deeply terrified. That sounds fake but okay. It’s also not in keeping with what Sybo said, is it? She mentioned a hatred of women. That’s not the same as finding women useful.

Hmm, when do we get our Martian Colonies, @ perseverance?

Oh, Rigel IV, you say? There seems to be a Rigellian right here!

This whole history of the entity is bizarre. The first killing sprees (that we know of) are on Earth, and Kirk specifically says that when man left Earth to explore, he took this with him. Does that mean… the cloud creature/entity originated on Earth? Truly a bizarre hypothesis, when you think about it.

Are you the entity, Sir?

There is actually very little Scotty in this Scotty-centric episode.

Lol the knife originates with the hill people of Rigel IV. What is this, Deliverance?

Omg Kirk punched the entity right out of that man!

So to summarize: “Jack the Ripper is actually a gaseous cloud that is capable of infecting the computer system of the Enterprise, thus hijacking the whole ship” is the basic, wacky concept of this episode.

This tranquilizer could quiet a volcano. Where was it during the volcano scene in STID hmm?

Kirk’s plan to keep people from being scared by the maniacal voice of the entity: Tranquilize the entire ship. That’s why he’s paid the big bucks.

Yet another twist on the old Kirk v. Computer plot. Time to use Math to defeat it.

Kirk is so unimpressed with the entity. “Eh, shut that off.” He would not be moved by a haunted house.

“This is the first time I’ve heard a malfunction threaten us.” Sulu can man his post AND be funny; he’s multi-talented.

Kirk and Spock don’t need tranquilizers because they’re smart enough to know this high-pitched voice yelling random threats just isn’t actually scary.

Kirk is really insistent that Sulu man his frickin’ post!

Oh no, not PI!! My nemesis, PI!

I’m really living for Sulu here.

If the entity entered a tranquilized person, it might take up knitting. I gotta say, that doesn’t make any sense as a plot point but I like it anyway.

That was a very efficient tranquilizing job! Everyone in a 400+ person ship in like 10 minutes? Get the medical team on the Enterprise in charge of the vaccine distribution stat.

Kirk just outright assumes that Spock won’t be a hospitable entity choice. And he’s not even wrong! The entity chooses the dead body over Spock or Kirk. It knows when it’s not wanted.

Hengist has been revived!

The entity is honestly, truly hilarious. Die, die, everybody die! Kill! Kill you all! Maniacal laughter! All while being carried by a still utterly unimpressed Kirk down the halls of the ship.

Spock’s like “get out of the way, you tranquilized idiot. Got some entity-scattering to do.”

“I gave them a pretty big shot, Jim!” Think you might have slightly overdone it, Bones? You didn’t need to make everyone useless for 6 hours for a problem that was solved in 5 minutes!

This is one of those moments, Kirk trying to get Spock to see the pretty ladies with him, when Spock seems super gay. Like, I don’t even think he is, that’s not my reading of him, and I also assume that wasn’t the intention here, but that’s just so clearly how it reads.

Aw, Kirk doesn’t want to go the strip club alone. Poor bb.

Weird how Lt. Leslie was in this when he died in the last episode.

Overall, I’d actually have to say that was a very crack-y episode. I liked the ending the best because it was so ridiculous.

What I don’t understand, in addition to whether or not the entity was really supposed to be from Earth, was how it came to be Hengist. Like, it can enter and leave bodies (or computers) at will, so perhaps it just entered Hengist, a normal Rigellian, at some point. But if that’s so, putting him on the transporter and scattering him into space was a pretty cruel thing to do. Also, why did he die (or appear to die) when the entity wasn’t in him? That implies he is the entity’s physical form. But then, first of all, how is also a Rigellian? Like did the entity mate with a Rigellian? Did the entity take over a baby Rigellian? Did the entity just claim to be Rigellian but is really just humanoid in its physical form—we did establish that some aliens, like this one, or creatures or whatever, are gaseous sometimes and solid others, so maybe its solid form is humanoid. Which would fit well with it originating in Earth, although that also brings a new and perhaps unintentional layer of creepiness to the story. I have to assume that’s the situation, but still, wild. And it doesn’t explain this: why does Hengist “die” when the entity “leaves” him, as opposed to just disappear entirely when the entity changes form??

Anyway, I know I’m overthinking this very wacky premise. Overall, I think the episode was fine. It didn’t have enough Scotty (for being a “Scotty episode”) and it changed genres an awful lot for 50 minutes. There was a tad too much misogyny going on. And overall I didn’t feel like the characters—even Kirk, and in actuality this was a Kirk episode much more than a Scotty episode, and purposefully so—were at their most interesting. Tbh Sulu ultimately stole the show in the final minutes.

Next up is the Trouble with Tribbles! Also a funny episode but at least undeniably purposefully so!

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek #star trek tos #wolf in the fold

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vocalfriespod · 7 years

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Southern Fried Addencum

If you found our episode on Southern American English, you can read more about it below. If you haven’t listened yet, you can find it here.

What other features are there in Southern American English (SAE)? We mentioned many features of Southern American English but managed to leave out a few interesting ones. My favourite one that we skipped is double (or even triple) modals. Modals are auxiliary verbs (in English, anyway) that tell you something about likelihood, ability, permission or obligation (e.g., ‘would’ or ‘can’, etc.). In SAE you can double up on modals, unlike in most other dialects of English. So you can say “I might could go to the store”. Why might speakers use more than one modal at a time? Because they can. But also, double/triple modals might be more polite than single modals, in dialects that allow them.

Other features that we didn’t get around to discussing (still not comprehensive, and varies from region to region):

(a) ‘dropping the g’ singin’ instead of singing. (This isn’t really ‘g dropping, since there is no /g/ sound in singing. Your tongue moves forward from the velum (soft palate) to closer to the front (behind the teeth a bit).)

(b) the pin-pen merger (both pronounced as ‘pin’) and fill-fell (both pronounced as ‘fill’)

(d) other kinds of pronunciation differences (genuine - genuwine; nuclear ~ nucular). People mocked George W Bush for this pronunciation, which was really unfair. Different pronunciations are normal in English. Think aluminum (North America) vs. aluminium (UK). Stress patterns are different too, like INsurance (instead of inSURance) or POlice (instead of poLICE).

(e) y’all - English used to have a second person singular/plural distinction (thou (you singular) vs you (you plural)). But we lost the singular form, leaving us with you (singular or plural). We seem to really like having a plural form and y’all is one of those. Other dialects have ‘you guys’, ‘youse guys’, ‘yinz’ etc.

What if I want to learn more about discrimination against Southern accents? Glad you asked. Accent discrimination is widespread, and it’s not only directed towards Southerners.

"Accent discrimination can be found everywhere in our daily lives. In fact, such behavior is so commonly accepted, so widely perceived as appropriate, that it must be seen as the last back door to discrimination. And the door is still wide open."

Rosina Lippi-Green

English with an Accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States

The study that showed that older children (9-10) already have a pro-Northern/anti-Southern bias - even when growing up in Tennessee - is an important read. Another study from Cupid.com showed that people think Southern accents is a sign that the speaker is sexist.

This stuff is insidious, and people carry it with them:

(Mimics Southern speech) ‘As y’all know, I came up from Texas when I was about twenty-one. And I talked like this. Probably not so bad, but I talked like this; you know I said “thiyus” [“this”] and “thayut” [“that”] and all those things. And I had to learn reeeal [elongated vowel] fast how to talk like a Northerner. ’Cause if I talked like this people’d think I’m the dumbest … around.

‘Bill’s college alumni group – we have a party once a month in Philadelphia. Well, now I know them about two years and every time we’re there – at a wedding, at a party, a shower – they say, if someone new is in the group: “Listen to Jo Ann talk!” I sit there and I babble on, and they say, “Doesn’t she have a ridiculous accent!” and “It’s so New Yorkerish and all!”’

Jeff Foxworthy also jokes about people treating him as stupider with a Southern accent. (This video also provides examples of double modals! And different stress patterns (THANKSgiving)!)

Cuz in a lot of parts of the country, you know, people hear me talk, they automatically want to deduct 100 IQ points.

Beth talked about trying to adopt a Northern accent. Is this normal? It’s certainly advice given to actors like Walton Goggins.

MCEVERS: Was your accent ever a barrier to getting roles, to getting parts?

GOGGINS: No, I don't think so. I think when you first come into this business, it is very easy for people to put you in a box. And if you come from where I come from, you can bet you're going to play a racist. It's convenient. You can bet you're going to play someone that's stupid. That's just how this business sees people from the South - at least, early on.

‘Accent reduction’ courses are all over the place. But this is the wrong way to think about it. You don’t reduce your accent; you adopt a new one. Reduction assumes there is a norm (the standard) that other dialect deviate from, but everyone has an accent. There is no baseline, there are just differences.

How can we fight the stereotypes against Southerners? You can tell people that it’s not cool to stereotype huge swaths of people. Or you could fight it with comedy, like Trae Crowder does:

"Yeah, I'm a white trash, trailer baby from the deep South... But I'm also educated, agnostic, well-read, cultured. I'm [all] of those things at the same time and if you can't reconcile those things in your head, that's your problem."

You can also learn more about linguistics, or more about linguists fighting this type of discrimination, like Walt Wolfram. Fight back against casual regionalism wherever you find it.

Where is SAE spoken? Well there are different varieties, but SAE more broadly is spoken here.

Carrie

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If you have any questions or comments - especially if something isn’t clear - please let us know here, or by sending us an email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on twitter @VocalFriesPod or instagram @vocalfriespodor on facebook at Vocal Fries Pod. Send us your questions or suggestions for possible topics!

#southernamericanenglish #southern #language #linguisticdiscrimination #southerners #discrimination #linguistics #southernfried

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scottadamsblog · 8 years

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Some Fake News About Me from Bloomberg

Last autumn, before the election, a writer for Bloomberg asked to spend a day with me to interview me for a feature piece about my blogging on Trump, and my life in general. I could tell from the initial conversation that it was going to be a hostile article. The reporter was open about being deeply frightened of Trump, believing him to be a racist, sexist, homophobic monster. So you can imagine how she felt about me for writing flattering blog posts about his persuasion talents.

I quickly determined that agreeing to the interview would be foolhardy. Obviously it was going to be a hit piece. The writer weakly tried to conceal that fact, but failed miserably.

If I agreed to the interview, I knew I would be making myself the target of ridicule and shame, baring my flaws to the world -- both the real ones and the fake news ones. No rational person would agree to such an interview. It was a suicide mission.

So I agreed to the interview.

Regular readers know I don’t experience embarrassment like normal people. I just thought it would be funny to have them write about how wrong I was. . . just as the election was about to prove how right I was.

The day I agreed to the interview, I told my girlfriend Kristina that I was going to be the subject of a “hit piece” in Bloomberg. When the writer asked to speak to my brother, for background, I told him it was a hit piece, but I invited him to do it anyway, just for fun. Obviously, no sane person would agree to be interviewed for hit piece on his own family.

So my brother agreed to the interview.

We’ll have a good laugh about it later today. He got framed as a gullible idiot for “believing” something my mom told us when we were kids.

Check the article here and see if you can spot the fake news and the places where context has been tweaked to make things look both true and misleading at the same time. I’ll tell you what you missed, if anything, after you read it. Compare your impressions to my Fake News Report Card below.

Here’s the Bloomberg article by Caroline Winter

Fake News Report Card

1. The article and headline used my old phrasing “master wizard” instead of the updated “Master Persuader” that I used in 95% of my work. That was an intentional choice by the editor to create the KKK association in your mind, or at least to make it all seem silly.

2. The anecdote about me showing her a Victoria’s Secret Whencast that I made didn’t happen. One of the hundreds of public Whencasts on the site included that content, created by a woman. I might have opened that one along with others as different examples of what the software can do. By highlighting that one bit of fake news (saying I created it), and putting it in the context of my girlfriend being too young for me, it created a powerful and intentional creepy vibe.

3. Kristina doesn’t live with me. She was staying at my house temporarily while her place was having some repairs and upgrades.

4. When an article is intended to be favorable, you see photos that make me look relatively good, like this one, from Peter Duke:

When an article wants you to look bad to the reader, you see photos like this, from the Bloomberg article:

This is standard practice on both sides of the political spectrum. Publications pick the photos that tell their bias, not the story.

5. The headline suggests I am somehow, maybe, in favor of genocide. Obviously I’m not in favor of genocide, and the article later weakly explains that. But by then, the damage is done. Your brain is most influenced by what you read first, especially if it is in a headline.

6. The headline says Trump hypnotized me. I would accept that as a hypothesis, but the article doesn’t address the point at all. The implication is that I’m a gullible nut-job, as opposed to one of the few people who predicted Trump’s win and provided lots of cognitive-science-backed reasons for the prediction.

7. The article was initiated before the election, and was originally intended for publication about then. But a funny thing happened that ruined everything for Bloomberg. Trump won, and in so doing, he made me look like less of a nut. My accurate predictions, against all odds, would have been the headline in any article that wasn’t designed to be hostile.

8. To explain my Linguistic Kill Shot idea, the writer focused on the Carly Fiorina “look at that face” incident. She could have mentioned Lyin’ Ted, or Low Energy Bush, or Crooked Hillary. All stronger examples, but they don’t make me look like a sexist when the context is omitted. The Fiorina examples does.

9. The writer refers to my wide field of interests as “unusual fixations,” thus turning ordinary discussions of fitness and diet habits into something that sounds like a fetish.

10. Last year, the author of a book about seduction called The Game mailed me a copy of his book. This is common practice among authors. Sometimes it happens because an author thinks another author would be interested in the book. Sometimes an author hopes to get a public mention to boost sales. I have lots of unread books all over the house for this same reason. The Bloomberg writer focused on this one. The Pre-suasion book she mentions was also signed and sent to me by the author, for the same reason. But I read that one. (It’s great.)

You might recognize this book-related persuasion trick as the Mein Kampf play. If someone gives you a book that you didn’t ask for, somehow the book still explains your soul.

11. The writer asked me what would happen for me personally if Trump won. I talked about the good and the bad of it. She picked only the following words to make me look like a douche bag: “If Trump gets elected, my profile will go through the roof, because I’m in a very small group of people who publicly said he would win in a landslide. ... I’ll be very popular,” he said, with satisfaction.”

Notice the three dots before “I’ll be very popular.” That is your signal for a manufactured quote. They assembled it from bits of what I said and left out the context that would have rendered it un-douche-baggy.

12. This quote is out of context: “In the kitchen, Adams installed three microwaves so he “can make a lot of popcorn at once.” The missing context is that I designed the house knowing that whoever makes the popcorn for the rest of the family misses the first part of the movie. Plus, the extra microwaves come in handy all the time. I use them at the same time quite often. How did that come out sounding nutty?

13. My girlfriend, Kristina, has an advanced degree from UC Berkeley, plays multiple instruments, has succeeded in several fields, and now has 3.3 million Instagram followers. The writer mentioned her bra size.

14. This quote was cobbled together to make me look like a racist and a sexist because I write about Trump. “Adams has said, his professional advancement was thwarted by diversity hires. ‘There was no hope for another generic white male to get promoted any time soon,’ he wrote in Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert. (Later in the book, he noted that his Dilbert TV show was canceled after ‘the network made a strategic decision to focus on shows with African-American actors.’)

Both events are true, but in the first case she left out the fact that my bosses told me in direct language that they couldn’t promote a white male. I didn’t imagine it. Likewise, the UPN network literally made the decision to focus on African-American viewers at that time. it wasn’t just my interpretation of events.

Here’s the problem with that sort of reporting out of context: I’m also the guy who thinks men should stay out of the abortion question and leave it to women to decide what should be legal. I also blogged about my ideas for slavery reparations. I also described myself to her as “ultra-liberal” on social issues, because I am. If you leave out that context, the anecdotes sound like an explanation for why I grew up to be so terrible.

15. The article quotes my friend and cartooning colleague Stephan Pastis as being appalled at my Trump support, and speculating that the reason might simply be that cartoonist crave attention.

Of course I crave attention. Plus, it’s my job. That part is not in dispute.

But I think Stephan’s quotes were from before Election Day, when people still thought I was nuts to predict a Trump win. Today, I think Stephan would add a second hypothesis: I did it because I thought I was right, and it seemed important to me to share with the world what I could see coming from a mile away.

Plus I crave attention. It was a twofer.

16. The writer badgered me on several occasions to make a comparison between Dogbert and Trump. I said Dogbert’s personality is based on my own dark inner thoughts and had nothing to do with Trump except they are both ambitious in the extreme. So she wrote this: “I’d thought the point of those strips was to laugh at Dogbert’s cruelty—not celebrate it. But Adams seemed elated by the triumph of a Dogbertesque president.” WTF?

That’s sixteen intentionally-biased or incorrect components in one story.

By the way, Bloomberg did have a third-party do fact-checking on the article by running a bunch of questions by me for verification. That is standard practice for the big publications. None of the things I mentioned here were in the fact checking. The fact-checkers don’t check the writer’s own eye-witness accounts for accuracy, and they don’t check for missing context.

When normal citizens read the news, they think it is mostly accurate. But when you are the subject of reporting, you can see the fake news all over it. I thought I would share this view with you so you can increase your skepticism when you see this sort of thing presented as truth.

Plus, I crave attention. I couldn’t solve healthcare funding without it, among other things. Attention is fun, but also a tool.

You might still wonder why I volunteered to be interviewed for a hit piece, aside from the attention thing. My brother just sent me a very short video clip of his first reaction when he opened the article to read it. I think this answers all of your questions.

youtube

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Update: An alert Twitter user sent me one of Caroline Winter’s 2015 articles. You might be wondering if all of her subjects get similar treatment.

You’re going to laugh when you connect the dots.

---

You might enjoy my book because I crave attention.

I’m also on...

Twitter (includes Periscope): @scottadamssays

YouTube: At this link.

Instagram: ScottAdams925

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fudeh · 8 years

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Since I’ve got nothing better to do for the next half an hour while I wait to see the doc I’ll do that life update thing now

Long post /// bc mobile still don’t got read more

I’m picking up where I left off like… A month ago

-typed out at the end of jan- [I don’t even know where to start like so much time has passed since i started the service and i still feel like I’m being thrown around. My routine changed when military started so I’m gonna be up at 5am everyday until i fuck right off this hellish 2 years. Which means 1. I’m gonna be too exhausted to draw 2. I gotta sleep early so i can get a decent amount of sleep 3. I can’t stay up late to do anything like what the fuck. My skins gonna be complete shit as well bc of the lack of sleep and the new train station construction near my house for the next 6 fucking years. And I’m so afraid of losing touch with drawing bc of this and i only have 3-4 hours when i get back to do EVERYTHING before i go to bed it’s just not enough time and I’m so fucking pissed that this goddamn shite country is robbing me of 2 years of my life I’m basically a prisoner of the government for 2 years or an actual prisoner for a longer period plus the 2 years i gotta serve after like… Fuck

And within those 4 hours everyday i want to draw and catch up with everyone and tumblr and i don’t even have the energy to wash my goddamn lunch box once i shower let alone draw so i feel like i have to force it or I’ll fall into the shitty brain rot routine that my seniors have acclimated themselves to. I’m so afraid of not doing anything and falling behind bc of this i don’t want to forget all the ideas i have i want to be able to create as much content as i can DESPITE of this really suck situation but i can’t bc i don’t have the goddamn energy. Everyone in the office is like “oh youre gonna end up just sleeping, watching movies and playing games like the rest of us during our days” and I’m like “UM FUCK NO” bc i spent so much time accumulating momentum i don’t want to lose that, i don’t want to get rusty, i don’t want to waste my time more so than i already am??

Not to mention that everyone here is a sexist racist homophobic ignorant fool and we’ve got 2 extremely loud assholes who don’t shut up i swear one day one of us will die and it’ll not be by accident. It’s like going back to the /lovely/ environment of secondary school being surrounded by 16 year old boys who punctuate their sentences with slurs without batting an eye]

For most of January and the beginning of February I dealt with what I assume was depression and at this point I’ve decided to take a break from art mostly bc the more I feel that I have to do it the more stressed I get so idk I’m still fucking pissed but I tired myself out

Now for some good things

The past 3 weeks I’ve been… Incredibly busy tbh too busy to feel shitty even tho I’ve been on like 4 hours of sleep 6 days a week. I’ve been super involved in my Kristang group and they’ve literally saved me I’ve never met such a great bunch of people. I feel engaged and reconnected to my heritage and I have something to look forward to and friends who I feel safe around. They’re also so mature and such great critical thinkers it’s it’s hard to keep up at times but I’m gonna catch up and I’m gonna grow and I’m so excited. I’m facilitating one class and going for another and eventually I’ll be a teacher, of my own heritage langauwg and honestly that’s fucking cool ok. We’re creating a board game as well and I ended up being in charge of it?? The art aspect anyway

I’ve gotten so much closer to the group over the past 3 weeks I admit its a bit scary bc I’ve spent less time with my other friends and I’m afraid of losing them but I don’t think it’ll be a problem. Even tho I’m the new kid, the youngest with the least experience they still treat me the same and its both an honor but also scary bc they move so fast I cannot keep up. They think on their feet on a level I’ve never seen nor expected of 23-31 year olds. The age range is pretty diverse too bc with me it’s now a 10 year range. Also racially diverse (there’s me, eurasian, a Chinese girl, Malayali guy, javanese guy, Portuguese guy and a Chinese eurasian and its that typical diverse friend group that universities try to sell to students ) sbut only 2 of us aren’t linguists.

I feel like I belong there. I’m not in some weird liminal space. They get me. They energize me. I cried when I told my mum about them tbh

There’s gonna be a Kristang language festival in May too and its the first in the country??? The first festival to celebrate the language of my people??? And I’m a part of bringing it to life like?? It’s so unreal. I’ve also learnt that both the government and our race support group organization are a shitty bunch of ppl so that kinda sucks but lol what to expect

I’ve finally picked up embroidery and I’m enjoying it so much. it’s a good alternative to drawing bc I’m still creating in a sense. I’m looking forward to this I can’t wait to customize my shit like catch me with personalized jackets and shit

I told my parents about religion, came out to my cousin, had my first kiss with a friend and nothing got messed up emotionally (still Platonic and we’re both so thankful) ( I also rlly like kissing and we’re cool doing it again)

That’s p much all there is to it rn, national service is shitty, language saving my ass and I’m making progress on being open with my family

#Andre talks

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drops-of-jupiter-and-neptune · 7 years

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Pussy.

Pussy is not short for pusillanimous.

That stupid post about “pussy” being short for “pusillanimous” pisses me off so fucking much and I’m going to tell you why. (PS: Masters degree in English linguistics talking here ya’ll.)

In short, no. “Don’t be a pussy” is not short for “don’t be a pusillanimous.” No. It isn’t. And people should stop saying it. You need some reasons to believe me?

1. It doesn’t make sense grammatically. Pusillanimous is an adjective — a describing words — not a noun. In the same way you can’t say “Don’t be a quiet” or “Don’t be a small” or “Don’t be a green” or “Don’t be a spicy”, you can’t say “Don’t be a pusillanimous.” You can’t tell people not to be a/an adjective.

2. It isn’t backed up by any scholarship whatsoever. Per Mirriam-Webster, the version of “pussy” that means “weak” or “timid” is short for “pussycat.” Not pusillanmous. Look up the word “pants” and you’ll see that it’s short for pantaloons, or the word “perks” and you’ll see it’s short for perquisites. Dictionaries do note origins like that. They don’t, however, state that pussy is short for pusillanimous, because it’s NOT.

3. There is plenty of documentation to connect the word “pussy” to the concept of women. It was for a while a term of endearment for women, especially for very old or very young women. (Read any Agatha Christie book starring Miss Marple and you will probably encounter someone who refers to Miss Marple as “a sweet old puss” or “a nice old pussycat.” In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Eva’s father calls her “pussy.”)

It also is well known as a slang for a woman’s genitals. Per etymology online, it is “Perhaps from Old Norse puss ‘pocket, pouch’ (cf. Low German puse ‘vulva’)” but might also be connected to cats, based on the “notion of ‘soft, warm, furry thing’; cf. French le chat, which also has a double meaning, feline and genital.’ “ It isn’t just a coincidence of words, morphemes or phonemes; there seems to be a cultural connection between the idea of a cat and the idea of a woman.

4. There is also plenty of documentation for it being used to degrade men for being seen as weak or feminine. Again per etymology online, from the 1580s it was used of effeminate men. For example, “To play pussy was World War II RAF slang for ‘to take advantage of cloud cover, jumping from cloud to cloud to shadow a potential victim or avoid recognition.’” At dictionary.com, the third meaning of the word “pussy” has four senses: 1) the vulva, 2) sex with a woman, 3) a woman viewed as a sex object and 4) a weak, timid, or effeminate man. Note that they didn’t separate these four senses into completely different definitions, either. The definition of pussy as “weak man” is seen as intrinsically related to pussy meaning “the sexual aspect of a woman.”

5. People hear what they hear, no matter what you think you’re saying. What if I decided to say that the word “dick” is short for “dictator”? And then whenever I called someone a dick I said, “but I don’t mean it as in penis, I mean it as in short for dictator!” Whether or not it was true, it wouldn’t matter. What people would hear is dick as in penis, and that would be what they would understand. Similarly, even if, buried in the far mists of time, pussy really were short for pusillanimous — which I again state definitively it is not — but even if it were, that isn’t how people understand it now.

6. Sometimes words are offensive just because of what they sound like. Consider, for example, the word “niggardly.” Did you sort of wince when you read that? Because I winced a little as I typed it. The thing about that word is it has nothing whatsoever to do, etymologically, with the n-word. The n-word derives from the Latin word for “black” (for example, the word ‘negro’ means ‘black’ in Spanish). Niggardly derives from a totally different source and means “miserly” or “ungenerous.” But we all know what it sounds like. So it has become a word that most people don’t want to use anymore. And you know what? That’s fine. I love language, and I’m sad to see a word die, but we have “miserly” and “ungenerous” right here to fill that particular void, and I am fine to wave goodbye to “niggardly” because it sounds like a very offensive word. So what I’m saying is, if a word seems offensive, then it is. That’s how language works. In a polite society, we don’t deliberately use offensive words when other words are available that aren’t offensive.

7. Using the word to draw a connection between women’s sexuality and weak, useless men indicates that feminine sexuality is weak and that men shouldn’t act like women unless they want to be ridiculed. And that’s fucking ignorant and sexist against both genders.

8. Because it is clearly offensive, just stop. STOP. And don’t fucking quote Stephen Fry’s “who cares if it’s offensive” quote at me. You’re probably taking it out of context anyway. Listen: offensiveness is important because this is a cooperative species and we should fucking work together to not be assholes. Simple enough.

TL;DR? Pussy is not short for pusillanimous. Going back through the research, the word is closely related to women, women’s genitalia, and weak, effeminate men. The use of the word to mean “coward” is offensive to both genders — somewhat more to women than to men — and if you have an ounce of maturity you will stop using it that way.

Source : anthrocentric

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