#homogeniser

[scltbvrns]

homogenising something that has always been inherently diverse will kill us all one day.

[mekanikaltrifle]

fun fact: Gaelic wasn't the only ancient language spoken in what's now Scotland! There was a Brythonic language called Cumbric, which was visually very similar to Welsh (and I think mutually intelligible to some degree? tho don't quote me on that). The Kingdom of Strathclyde used it even after its conquering by the Kingdom of Alba, into the early mediaeval period :0

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia! I was rereading one of your works and was wondering if you’d maybe wanna discuss the quotations for dialogue? I know both are correct, but I just got a little curious about it the usage of ‘spoken words’ vs “spoken words” and your preference for one. Usually when I’ve seen the ‘spoken words,’ it’s been for older works.

Hi anon,

My preference is that I'm Australian, I learned writing at university many many years ago now (I am an old), and I was taught correct Australian grammar there! And while I still make mistakes on some things, dialogue isn't it.

Some people use the US "" instead of the Australian '' - and that's now okay simply because so many people were doing it, the editors of Australia were like 'fuck it, you can do it' (with exceptions) - but like, most of the Australian copies of international books that I have, actually don't use " " for dialogue at all.

I'm going to get some examples, because this is something you've likely never seen, because publishing houses change the grammar based on the country. This means that books that have double quotation marks everywhere else in the world for dialogue, have single quotation marks in Australia if you're picking them up in Australia or they've been published through most Australian publishers. Because buying books is more global now, Australians will likely have a mix of double quotations and single quotations books. Many Australians don't even realise there's a difference, they're so used to it.

Here's an Australian book:

(Skins by Sarah Hay)

So that makes sense for an Australian book by an Australian author.

What about the classic The Collector by John Fowles. Surely, that not being an Australian book, that'd have double quotation marks right?

Not if it was published here:

What about something a little more recent? Like The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy?

I'm not sure how to explain it beyond: 'Literally almost every book we pick up here that was published here does this, and it's not a like quirky preference, it's literally what we grew up seeing and reading. To us, double quotation marks is unusual and seems more 'quirky'.'

This is less common now as an attitude simply because of globalisation and the internet existing. But for most of my life, buying books meant only seeing dialogue like this. Right up until I was in the 30s, I think. Purchasing books online changed that, and people who grew up with the internet from the very beginning are going to be more used to seeing double quotation marks.

But many Australian publishers will still insist on correct Australian grammar with preference given to Australian grammar.

Our grammar is quite strange, and sort of a mix between US and UK but with some unique aspects of which you've probably noticed the single quotation marks is one.

That's because Australian grammar is built on journalism, and anything that saved space in a newspaper was prioritised. So Australian grammar eliminates double spaces at the end of periods. It eliminates double quotations because they take up extra space. There are dash rules designed to eliminate space that an article might take up.

And you know, I'm quite proud of that grammar. :D It does get me some heat when I publish something, usually from grammar puritans from the USA, which is why I now just post a blanket 'this author uses Australian grammar so you may notice some departures with dialogue grammar' caveat.

Anyway, the reason/s most newer works have double quotations is because a) they're being purchased en masse overseas and that's cheaper than publishing here, b) those Australians are young and have learned to write based on overseas writing, c) they don't know actually know Australian grammar, it's not actually taught well in our curriculums, d) it is just something they prefer, e) they publish with overseas publishers and because they have to edit their works to UK or US grammar anyway, they just adopted it because it's easier that way, f) someone erroneously corrected them for doing the right thing and they changed to another country's dialogue grammar, g) it really is okay to just pick the one you like best now and stick with it, h) some screen readers cannot cope with single quotation marks (which imho, is something screen readers need to address if it means ignoring an entire country's/continent's grammar style).

And finally, here's the Australian Government Style Guide, which still doesn't permit double quotation marks at all in dialogue.

[divinekangaroo]

Started reading Lymond Chronicles after @deadendtracks' comment that SK must've read them too / based Tommy on Lymond....

and like i'm what, at ch3 or 4 maybe and...

yeahhhhhhhhhh XD

[kumzorg]

I've been really digging at my brain about why your art is just screaming at me with how much I like it. And I think I came to the conclusion that you really just captured this almost perfect mixture of semi realistic style, that I think I want to hopefully reach at some point. This amazing style that captures a bunch of expression, as well as still keep this comfy feeling. I'm not anywhere close to where you've reached, but it's such an amazing inspiration to look at! Anyways, I'm done gushing about your art, love your stuff and thanks for helping me push my brain to strive further with my own art!

thank you <3<3<3 im really happy to hear i inspire you! i myself sometimes had negative thoughts that "man this artist is so cool im so behind them", but once i started to just draw what makes me feel happy and free, and focusing on perfecting things that i MYSELF want to be better, it became so much easier to create art. i wish you the best in your creative journey, make art that makes you happy, make art that makes you sad, make art without thought behind it, make self indulgent art that only you will get, experiment with different mediums and never let commercialism decide what your art should look like because its yours and noone elses

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The work of what we have come to call Progress is the work of homogenising the world. I capitalise the word because Progress is an ideology - even a metaphysics - and if we want to understand it we need to grasp its foundational assumptions. We are trained from birth to see the living world and its people as a matrix of interchangeable parts, all of them potentially for sale. Our bodies, our nations, our forests, our heritage: Progress will not stop until everything is measured, commercialised, commodified, altered at the genetic level, put up for sale, forced into “equitable” relationships with everything else, or otherwise flattened and sold.

- Paul Kingsnorth

[dogmouthhorse]

have been thinking about this

[strawberriesinmoominvalley]

tatooine slave culture has ar-amu. the mortis gods are canon. this gives across the implication that most planets an idea of the force as a deity

anyway so this shows that within the star wars universe belief in the light (god, if you will) is inherent, as within all people the acceptance for god is inherent. in this essay i will

[hopskipandarump]

my boomer ass every time i think about the upcoming (new-expansion-obligatory) ast rework

[felucians]

Microaggressions in therapy 🙃

[autistickaitovocaloid]

jesse what the fuck are you talking about

[cabybapa]

so mad tumblr has copied tiktok with the endless scroll videos

thats not why im here

[britomart]

also x2 everyone assumes i am or calls me emo when i dress in all black even when it's obviously a gothic look but i can't even refute it because i literally am emo. but we ball

[divinekangaroo]

thinking complicated inarticulate things about fanfiction over time, current dominant fanfic production trend, and flanderisation

[shamblz]

I think I'll be a miner actually