#especially American English
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
"Tautonym" was the word I was looking for. It's a word or phrase comprised of the same word used twice, either in the same or different languages, to specify a certain type of that thing. It's usually used to refer to taxonomy in which the latin name of a species and genus is the same (ie: gorilla gorilla or vulpes vulpes) but is also when a specific preparation or type of a certain thing is specified by using the same word in the language of the place where it is prepared in that manner or where the thing is located or when a word consists of two or more identical syllables (ie: bonbon)
"Chai tea" is "tea prepared in the style of the place where the word for "tea" is "chai. "Sahara Desert" is the desert in the area in which the word for desert is "Sahara", etc etc.
It's a very fun thing about language!
"Saying 'chai tea' is silly! You wouldn't say 'tea tea'!"
Except that yes we absolutely would and do, frequently, use words that mean the same thing to specify a specific variety of that thing. It doesn't even have to be two different words. A "fancy party' and a "fancy fancy party" are two different things. This is a common thing in English and, so far as I'm aware, many other languages as well.
(I believe there is a specific term for this ligual quirk but I do not remember it and can't find the big post I saw one time explaining it.)
#someone mentioned in the comments that it's especially prevalent in English#because of our heavy use of 'loan words'#a lot of the time English doesn't make its own word for things from other places#we just use the original word#which often then gets changed over time#or our language changes to incorporate it#English is a strange but very fascinating language#especially American English#it is extremely flexible and fast changing#we play things fast and loose
1K notes
·
View notes
Text
"Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order SVU" is available to read here
#novella#novellas#especially heinous: 272 views of law & order svu#carmen maria machado#21st century literature#english language literature#american literature#cuban american literature#cuban literature#latino american literature#have you read this short fiction?#book polls#completed polls
116 notes
·
View notes
Note
Idea: as Snake Claw and Thrushpelt share the comedic trait 'uses American words occasionally' could Snake have a distant descendant? Could be interesting as a little background thread to the concepts of Legacy and Inheritance through BB, plus could give a Trait to a background cat sometime. Bloodline curse/blessing of 'good at using violence as a tool, capable of putting that tool down. However, *American*...'
Oh that's incredibly funny I need to use this somewhere. Themes of legacy and inheritance in BB; Bloodline curses, what we choose to accept from our family and what we leave behind, that which can and cannot be rejected, american jumpscare....
I already made a design in my head for Snake Claw though, and it doesn't have the Tawnyrain Mullet... maybe he picked it up from listening to someone else. Or maybe I'll keep the genetic american jumpscare on hand and give it to the character you least expect.
#Everyone in BB has a Northern English accent except Thrushpelt when he says ''PRAWJECT'' like Toby Fox when he's speaking Japanese#Guy who says Howdy: Howdy :)#I think Prince River's Ripple is an objectively hilarious character to drop an American word#Especially if he has a normal accent 99% of the time and then he says ''DAGNABBIT''#fennelposting
73 notes
·
View notes
Text
controversial, but: jack being irish is a very common headcanon and i honestly just can’t see it. in chapter 2, jack says “we’re english, and the english are best at everything.” if lotf takes place in the 40s-50s like many assume, the irish war of independence had only happened about 20 years prior and ireland was freshly liberated. i’m sure we all know the atrocities the english committed against the irish, and i just don’t think an irish kid would say “the english are best at everything,” especially so soon after ireland gained independence. i don’t mean to bash anyone by the way, this is only my opinion
#it seems like most people only hc jack as irish because he’s ginger#which like. whatever i guess#but something also rubs me the wrong way about#headcanoning the first character to go ‘savage’ as irish#especially when contrasted against the ‘civilized’ englishman (ralph)#also how lotf is anti british imperialism#showing how the british are just as capable of the ‘savagery’ they accuse native populations of#so again it seems disingenuous to headcanon jack as irish#a native population colonized by the english#does this make sense?#sorry if youre irish just lmk if i’m overstepping#but i am native american and these are just my thoughts#august speaks#not tagging this 💗
55 notes
·
View notes
Text
Something that I think is really funny is that the word Anaklysmos (Riptide) doesn't even exist, it's just a combination of a suffix that means above and the verb κλύζω which means to ripple😭 [Help, even my Greek keyboard doesn't even recognize the word]
I read these books when I was 12 and as a native Greek speaker that also studied ancient Greek for 6 years, I fully thought this was an actual word because it sounds Greek but it's not 😭 Mf Rick Riordan gaslit me in my own language. Apparently he asked an ancient Greek professor and told him that this was the closest word he could use but like, my question is why😭? There are so many already existing words that are related to the sea and even if they don't directly translate to 'Riptide', just pick a Greek word and paraphrase it when translating it to English like it's not hard 😭
#percy jackon and the olympians#pjo#percy jackson#rick riordan#rick why#so many thoughts on (ancient) greek representation by american authors as a greek person#kinda tired of seeing greece being limited to ancient greece especially by non-greeks#cause I'm seeing 'traditional greek costume' in foreign websites and it's a freaking tunic and sandals??#i don't think of sophocles and euripides when you're asking me about greek writers#I'm thinking of papadiamantis who wrote a cold ass novella with a morally gray old woman#also everytime you misuse a greek letter to make your text look more aesthetic#it just makes it difficult to read and it doesn't even make sense#this Ξ isn't E#its a freaking consonant and i dont think it has an english equivalent lmao
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
not to be obnoxious on main but classic literature is not global literature. it's western literature at best
#not to vague but like. name one book from my country i dare you guys.#sorry this set of posts just makes me so fucking mad. like i'm also guilty of this because my ass can't speak any other language but#books of importance from other countries outside of the western hemisphere. especially if theyre in a language which is not english#go largely ignored by the western world at large despite their importance to their countries of origin#and its a double standard to have to expect to know like. for the most part the literature of native english-speaking or european#countries. when i'm certain a lot of these people don't know any of our literature or their importance to us#its so fucking pretentious. like i wont say im not guilty of it as a monolingual english speaker so that list of classic literature#is whats most accessible to me but like christ. get your head out of your ass. they didnt even say something bad about the book. holy fuck#sorry im just so fucking pissed. and i know these people are white or some form of american canadian whatever#im not denying the importance of the book in question its just Your Experiences Are Not Universal. why dont you respect our literature#before demanding the same respect for 'yours'#'uhh but i didnt know about those bools and their history-' YEAH BECAUSE THEY DIDNT HAPPEN IN YOUR PART OF THE WORLD. ITS THE SAME OVER HERE#BUT IM NOT CALLING YOU OUT FOR IT AM I? EVEN THOUGH THOSE BOOKS ARE THE CENTER OF A MAJOR HISTORICAL EVENT IN MY COUNTRY#im so pissed.#woe be upon ye
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
i feel like a lot of chronically online people would be surprised to find out that pro-Provisional IRA sentiment is not a particularly popular mainstream opinion in the Republic of Ireland, especially amongst people old enough to remember the troubles, and that it's usually a pretty big scandal when a politician is caught expressing support for the IRA.
#A lot of people online seem to think that a majority of Irish people support the IRA but that's not really true#A lot of irish-Americans especially assume everyone in Ireland passionately hates the English and supports the IRA
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
As much as I appreciate the historical context of what actually happened during the Salem Witch Trials and what it brings to the table when discussing The Crucible, I hate it when it’s brought up during my discussions with others about the play.
As a huge defender and unapologetic lover of Abigail Williams, and someone who tends to hyperfocus on the aspect of The Crucible involving her and the John Proctor affair plot, she’s the topic that’s the most relevant when this happens. I hate it when I’m happily discussing the play and going through her characterization and backstory, along with the uncomfortable aspects of the Proctor affair, and someone brings up history. “You know that she was 11 in history and John Proctor was in his 60s, so the affair never actually happened, right?”
Yes. I know. I’m aware.
We can iron out and discuss all of the weird implications in Arthur Miller aging Abigail up and aging John down to enhance the dramatic (fictional) affair between the two of them all we want, but that is a different discussion entirely. I don’t appreciate it when it’s lumped in during a discussion of the text itself. Yes, I know Abigail was 11 in history, but I’m not talking about that Abigail Williams. I’m talking about the 17 year old Abigail Williams portrayed in The Crucible, a fictional character. A character who I read as fictional. The play isn’t history; it was never supposed to be history. It was supposed to be a parallel to the mass hysteria happening around the time it was written: The Red Scare, McCarthyism, and the Hollywood Blacklist. A mass hysteria that Miller drew parallels to the Salem Witch Trials. The affair was added for dramatics, to make the story more compelling and add personal motivation to Abigail leading the girls to accuse the supposed “witches” of Salem. It’s supposed to reflect history, not be a 1 for 1 retelling of historical events.
The Crucible is a piece of fiction, a story, and when I speak about it I’m talking exclusively about it as a piece of fiction. The Abigail I discuss is the Abigail in The Crucible with the given personality and backstory the play provides.
I frankly do not give a shit about the real Abigail Williams when talking about The Crucible’s Abby, she’s irrelevant and almost completely removed from this variant of her. The version of Abigail in my Crucible rewrite “Salem’s Bond” is taken exclusively from The Crucible with no ties to reality.
The Crucible is a piece of fiction, and when talking about it I intend to treat it as such, and only bring up history when relevant.
#the crucible#abigail williams#arthur miller#salem witch trials#american literature#classic literature#classic lit#live laugh love the crucible#I may have come off as aggressive here I’m so sorry lmao#I’m just kind of tired of hearing about it#I’m happy to talk about how weird it is that she was aged up and a Venn diagram of her compared to her historical counterpart#but when im talking about how weird it is that she was arguably 16 having an affair with a grown 35 year old man#I don’t want to talk about history lol#I’m a writer who has grown attached to this play and especially this chatacter#I love English. History is only my second favorite subject lmao
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
one day I wish I could actually like understand songwriting especially for theatre so that I can I dunno actually put to use the random tunes I have in my head that just spontaneously appear while I'm doing the most mundane of shit. anyways patron has the concept of an opening number now
#im gonma call it Silakbo#the gist of this is um LOOK TO REALLY EXPLAIN WHAT PATRON IS UMM#understand that patron was originally two separate musical ideas whose events occur At The Same Time To Teach Other#so like yea same universe#Patron (pronounce it in the Filipino way) is about modern student activism in the philippines and the nitty gritty of it#Patron (english pronunciation) is about a young filipino playwirght struggles to find their voice in an american landscape (new york)#especially in the context of the events of Filipino Patron#both discuss what it means to be a young filipino revolutionary in this day and age#so um i first thought of this when i was 17-18 - and now im 20 and like the masochist i am i have decided to have them become one project#dual protagonist - one a new and rather sheltered stude of UP Diliman and one decorated young progressive writer in New York#the former is a journey of looking beyond privilege and what it really means to be among the masses#the latter is a story of how privilege blinds - and how susceptible we are to american neoliberalism#that it dulls once sharp pens + the irony of succumbing to such amidst environment and communities that scream for resistance#and whatever one protag does affects the other protag - whatever happens in america affects philippine events and vice versa yay#anyways openign number Silakbo is the arrival of these two protagonists to their respective settings - both with their own musical styles#(UPD protag progresses from broadway belts to pinoy hiphop - NY protag progresses from pinoy hiphop to broadway belts) (this is A Clue)#and most of UPD protag songs will be sung in Filipino while NY Protag will um progressively grow into being fully English#and silakbo can be used synonymously with storm so its basically a storm is coming who's gonna bring it#a change is approaching who's gonna chase it#tbh this out of all of my works is gonna be inspired heavily from lmm's work because tbh this is gonna be a beast to even conceptualise#so um yea thats a mini patron ramble woo hope its um understandable at worst 😭#personal shit#also yes the NY storyline is based on um once progressive Filipinos becoming subservients to conservative and harmful politics#either out of ignorance or power or simple nonchalance#i can name a lot of namess gjdjd
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
ive never gone to see an opera live in europe let alone one outside of a major theater that regularly records and broadcasts their productions so grain of salt etc but i think there's some kind of distinct cultural difference between how european companies do "reimagined" productions of operas vs how american companies do it
#sasha speaks#especially thinking about the number of 'canonical' operas that are recently getting adaptations over here#frequently into english language musicals/operettas#not like rent and miss saigon though i mean more like matchbox magic flute#and la périchole getting adapted as songbird by glimmerglass and wno#or the local company that's putting on a 'circus' version of rigoletto with a new english libretto here in dec#(not sure what that will entail yet but i'm intrigued to find out)#hell even the upcoming pirates of penzance revival on bway which is also weirdly enough getting the jazz age new orleans makeover#ik pirates and bway is a different story from Opera(tm) Proper but still. tangential#anyway don't expect much more elaboration tonight i'm in bed rn as i type.#plus i'd want some actual researched data to back up my claim here if i were to really go on#and i have enough school related research to be prioritizing rn as it is#anyway#oh also smth about what content does and does not appeal to american vs european audiences#and by extension what you can and cannot get away with depicting onstage#(for a recent example consider sancta susanna vs grounded)#(okay anyway gn for real this time)
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
i've heard leonardo da vinci's last name being pronounced as both da vinchi and da vinsi & whenever i use one of them, some asshole always "corrects" me with the other pronounciation. so i'm gonna settle on calling him da vinky like God intended
#not having english as your first language can get annoying bc theres always some person insisting that a word is pronounced the other way#and you are like motherFUCKER that word is NOT pronounced like that. like i know it by instinct#also the way americans and brits pronounce foreign names is so annoying to me#especially japanese names etc#shitposting
83 notes
·
View notes
Text
fucking hate it when people who are hateful little bigots make posts that are completely irrelevant to the thing that they are hateful cunts about and those posts are actually really good but i know they want me personally actually dead and in the ground so i cant be like Yeah
#red rambles#terfs stop making posts forever challenge but also especially can you not do posts that make a perfectly salient point about like#people refusing to engage with languages that aren't their own bc i KNOW that's going to be an in-road to 'transgender is just an american#concept and theres no other cultures with more than two genders' (factually untrue) 'and thats why transphobia is the only#globally acceptable movement' (hateful bigoted trash nonsense)#but like americans refusing to even make the slightest attempt to understand anything in any language that isnt english drives me insane#Google translate is right there also if its six words long and four of those words are english loanwords or cognates i do expect you to jus#use your brain and get with it lmao. its not hard#i was talking about this with a friend like a month ago. how it drives me insane how some of the people around me just refuse to pick jack#anything up and get with it
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
Not episode 6 casually reaffirming my stance that what if is the best thing marvel has ever made
#what if#what if season 2#marvel#‘mohawk superhero with carol danvers-adjacent powers beating all the monarchies of Europe into behaving’ is NOT something I had on my 2023#disney bingo card but. goddamn#also kiawentiio??? NEW KATARA HELLO???#(kahhori and katara would be sisters for life I guarantee)#I am a white anglophone american and I am so happy they didn’t go the pocahontas or general ‘the audience hears english’ route#I am ALWAYS a supporter of ‘just do the language they’re actually speaking people can read’ but especially with endangered languages#or historical settings
25 notes
·
View notes
Text
I still have so many other notes from Peter Pan Goes wrong the other night, but one of my favorite things in the preshow was Trevor making fun of American accents. He was looking for the hammer and I think a little kid said something about the way he said it so he corrected himself in an American accent and then said it sounded ridiculous
#i was trying so hard not to laugh obnoxiously#why is it so entertaining when English people make fun of American accents#especially when he’s already doing an accent#an english guy doing a scouse accent doing an american accent#pure comedy to me#if it’s not clear i love an accent#i also just love trevor#mischief theatre#mischief comedy#peter pan goes wrong#ppgw#trevor watson#chris leask
65 notes
·
View notes
Text
Dionysus!!! Was really wanting to draw him recently and especially since it’s pride month and at this point he’s basically the god of trans/gender fluid people.
-based somewhat off his Hades (game) interpretation because it’s gorgeous imo
-If anyone has other gods they wanna see me draw put them in my reqs box :>
-also his pre watercolour sketch!:
#dionysus#dionysus hades#greek mythology art#greek mythology#art#greek myths#artwork#watercolour#watercolor#woah both English and American spelling there#hellenic deities#hellenic gods#the bacchae#god of wine#and gay people#especially gay people#hellenism#tagamemnon#I’m very sad his smugness didn’t manage to stick through the painting process#rip#traditional art#dionysos#greek myth art#greek pantheon
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
Seriously, it's not so hard to find a Slavic person to consult when you're coming up with a Slavic character for any media. The number of inacuracies in that is astounding. As if we were an extinct nation and the only information about us was in inelligible scripture experts struggled to translate.
You don't have to pull stuff out of your ass. We are real people and we're not savages, either, we do have internet. Don't you wanna be the cool sort of Westerner, who knows how to present their Slavic character without making them wrong and cringe? Wouldn't it feel nice to know your audience appreciates your efforts instead of thinking you're an idiot?
Don't be an idiot.
#slavic#writing#characters#there are rules in naming many of our nations follow#not a bad idea to learn about them before you go picking out a “cool” name#deities give me strength -_-#and for dummies:#yes Slavic people are mainly Russian people (by the sheer number of them)#but as you might be aware there are others#like Czech (hello)#but (especially) Americans don't seem to grasp the intricate differences of European nations#and English speaking nations (especially those who don't have a second official language) have real trouble understanding#how language changes the rules of naming#it's okay to make mistakes#but please learn from them whenever you realize that you've made them#don't make “cringe wrong Russians” into a thing other people copy to not sound fake instead of actually portraying them authentically
9 notes
·
View notes