#especially American English

[luxlightly]

"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.)

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

"Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order SVU" is available to read here

[millionsofbooks]

something about the tiktok ban that i haven't really seen people here talking about is the experience of tiktok users not from the usa, which was, as far as i can tell, on the whole, very positive. it was actually really nice to, for a short period of time, be on a major social media network and able to interact with people across the world without usamericans constantly inserting themselves into every conversation.

usamericans kind of take over people's fyp regardless of where you're from. this is partly to do with the fact that the creators fund is only available to usamericans so most of the shitty content farms are from the us. then there's also the cultural aspect of the fact that being a citizen of the most powerful empire in the world is a significant privilege, and also a privilege that 99% of usamericans are seemingly unable to acknowledge, plus the us centrism and exceptionalism, plus the constant need to cast themselves as the underdog, and, well. it's annoying.

so, like. everything of what i've seen (which is not to say that other opinions don't exist, just that i haven't seen them) is that it was really nice when the usamericans were gone, and it kind of sucks that they're back.

[bonefall]

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.

[autismguy55]

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

[ratnix]

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 😭

[just-wublrful]

not to be obnoxious on main but classic literature is not global literature. it's western literature at best

[thewhizzyhead]

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

[indoorcoyote]

monolingual anglophones pronounce any word in a different language without first remarking on how difficult it is to pronounce challenge

[supercantaloupe]

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

[grimark]

i get the impression that a lot of white yanks on the internet feel that making fun of (in particular) UK regional slang or accents or whatever is in some way punching down, when it actually makes you look like the exact same kind of arrogant, ignorant american stereotype that the rest of the world is embarrassed by. you're not throwing tea into the harbour right now or what the fuck ever, you're just making it extremely clear that you think america is the centre of the world, and you've never experienced anything to challenge that belief.

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

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.

[lil-oreo-crumbles]

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.

[thehealingsystem]

ughhh pretty nitpicky complaint maybe but I hate how some words in native american languages are simplified for the benefit of white people to the point where the original spelling(s) is rarely ever even mentioned. like my tribe, for example- the mi'kmaq, is about 98% of the time spelt micmac, its simplified english form and demonstrates to english speakers how it's (roughly) pronounced. which is usually fine, but like. last year there was a few small lessons we had about the wabanaki nations, and it was only ever spelt micmac. it's original spelling is never brought up ever. and it's a dying language, yknow? it's really not that difficult to say "mi'kmaq, pronounced and alternatively spelt micmac in english," but I don't even think the teacher even knew that. not even asking for it's singular form (mi'kmaw) just the actual title of what we're called in our language. like it's just one word. it's not asking them to learn a whole other language

[heavensickness]

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

[enter-drfrog]

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