#i know these phrases are used as figure of speech sometimes but this seems to be literal

[ghirahimbo]

hey. hey Nintendo, let's talk. did you just kind of imply—just kind of throw in there—that Rito can maybe talk to birds?

did you really?

did you rea

[silversodas]

Interesting Alastor Insights

I think I may have figured out what was up Alastor’s ass in Dead Beat Dad. On one hand it may be a deeper issue that I am missing some context for, but I actually think it’s a little simpler then we think.

Even before Lucifer arrived, Alastor was clearly not happy about him coming over, and yes Alastor was 100% full of shit in the dad off song, BUT! Something note worthy is that he was not only being possessive of the Hotel (claiming to be its host and even greeting Lucifer as the master of the house does) but is also weirdly possessive of Charlie

And right down to the “fuck you” to Lucifer’s face it was projecting “get your feet off of my damn coffee table and get outta my house” energy. At first I was wondering what crawled up Alastor’s ass and died, and then Hell’s greatest Dad starts playing and..

“Who’s been faithful as a Nun? Who’s been here since day one?”

And it dawned on me and I was like “Alastor, why are you acting like your being replaced?” And Charlie is just as confused at Alastor’s behavior, like this came out of nowhere. Apparently Alastor was determined to show Lucifer who the Genie of this bottle is. But I didn’t believe it at first, I was like “nah it has to be something else” but then Mimzy gave some VARY interesting insight

When Mimzy first arrived, Alastor has a look that says (oh this is all I need right now) but he still seems happy to see her

Like holy shit, he happily reciprocates the hug, but that’s not to surprising if you know who Mimzy is if you have been fallowing Viv for a while

When she mentioned that he frequented the club (speakeasy)that she preformed in I was like “oh! They are drinking buddies!” Drinking Buddies are someone you generally only know the fun side of because you only hang out together at the bar, but Mimzy highlights a different side to their relationship

“Put on some Jazz, and pour a few fingers of Rye, and he becomes a kitten”

This gives me insight that while they were alive, she wasn’t just his drinking buddy and dance partner, she was his comfort zone. The way she phrased this sentence, made it sound like this was something she used to do for Alastor when they were alive, maybe she was a soothing presence as well as an entertaining one in Alastor’s life. But bar friends can sometimes be pretty high maintenance friends outside the bar, actually I think a lot of us have had something close to a friend like Mimzy in our lives. Apparently she is so bad that even Husk is concerned enough about Alastor to try and talk to him about her

“You and I both know Mimzy only shows up when she needs something. That bitch is trouble, and who knows what demon she fucked with to come running to you this time”

Alastor’s response threw me for a loop

“It’s nothing I can’t handle, don’t worry Husker, who would cross me?”

So Alastor is not immune to having toxic friends? I always assumed he would just drop anyone who became to much trouble, this is an interesting surprise. And on top of that he’s…an enabler!? Huh…that is super interesting to know. Putting a pin in the rest of this interaction for another post because there is a lot to unpack with husk and alastor. Except for the being on a leash thing because it made me realize something.

What if the reason he felt upstaged by Lucifer was not because Lilith told him to keep him away (yeah I am subscribing to the Lilith theory, it’s to much to Be a coincidence) but because he is legitimately afraid of no longer being needed by Charlie? What if, if he isn’t needed by Charlie then he has to go back to wherever he was the last 7 years? Everyone assumes he is free because he acts as such, but is he? Like real question, what if he was a straight up gift to Charlie in a way? Even if it was a “look after my daughter” command I would still call that sending a gift.

And oh man, what if he was suppose to tell the whole truth to Charlie but gave the whole, “I am here for entertainment” speech instead.

And your probably thinking, Charlie wouldn’t tell him to leave. Yeah but does Alastor know that? And he probably thinks Lilith might call him back anyway if he is not needed but just hanging out. But as we have seen, he cant even except his own situation

I will unpack this whole encounter later, but for real I don’t even think he is that mad at husk, he was mad at the reminder that his soul doesn’t belong to him any more. Like look at his face, it’s the most upset we have ever seen him, and it’s so detailed. He looks enraged, but also hurt at the same time. He and Charlie are not friends, yet, but I think he does feel some what safe at the hotel and maybe that’s enough for now

I also think there is some stock in Alastor hating that Lucifer is a bad dad theory, because that contempt was so raw and he did calm the fuck down a little bit during the “more then anything” song

But those are my random insights of Alastor, there were more but this is already to long I just hope it’s coherent

[floweycidal]

do you think when flowey was a wee weed and just got into calling himself flowey that he had a kind of embarrassing stage he does not want to talk or even think about where he tried too hard to be the opposite of asriel and it was so obvious everyone could tell it was asriel

BAHAHAHAHA, YOU BET I DO! this is probably going to be as headcanon-y as it gets (kinda), sorry in advance. but really, making him a total sopping wet soggy loser is the best part of writing him. it's my favorite angle, no doubt.

the first month of being "flowey" was an exercise in second-hand embarrassment, except the person you're embarrassed for is yourself. and you can't even leave the room to escape it, because surprise! you are the room. you're a flower. stuck there. living it.

he had it all planned out. goodbye asriel dreemurr, the prince of crying-at-literally-everything, hello to... whatever cool and clever thing he was supposed to become. the details were fuzzy, but he figured being soulless meant the whole "evil" thing would come naturally.

it did not come naturally.

the cracks showed almost immediately. everything he tried just came out wrong. his threats sounded more like worried suggestions. his evil schemes kept accidentally making things better. his idea of entropy was essentially community service with attitude.

he couldn't even get the basics right. he'd tried tossing out sick burns, but they'd just hit with all the impact of a wet napkin. they weren't even insults half the time—just weirdly specific observations that petered off awkwardly.

he sucked at it. no way around it. he sucked ass.

so, he worked harder. determined to sound edgy, bad to the stem—whatever that meant—but it didn’t seem to take. every affront felt more like an accident than an attack. 

and the laugh. god, the laugh. he practiced it, forced it, tried every variation. dry chuckles, derisive cackles, even an exaggerated villain’s howl. none of them worked. what kept slipping out instead was the exact same dorky laugh that used to bubble up when #she would do silly voices during storytime.

this was the worst. he was the worst at being the worst.

his own body double-crossed him at every turn, still running on years of ingrained kindness his mind was trying to stamp out. he'd be right in the middle of his most "menacing" speech yet, really getting into the whole eternal suffering thing, when someone would sneeze.

"bless you!"

every. time.

the number of “villainy” monologues ruined by his automatic politeness was actually impressive. really, it was almost a talent.

it was a drawn-out process, this transformation. no guidebooks or cheat sheets. however... i’d argue the closest thing he had to a mentor here was toriel.

she didn't know it was him. obviously. somehow that made it worse, because she kept almost-recognizing things. little stuff he hadn't managed to burn away yet.

a familiar turn of phrase. how he'd end sentences. that godawful giggle that still sounded too much like pillow forts and frolicking in the mud. how he’d fill glasses, just enough to make them brim above the edge. the efficient way.

each time her eyes would catch on these moments, these tiny betrayals of self, he'd slam that reset button with all six petals. nu-uh, no buckaroo.

her reactions were the compass he followed, pointing to what needed to be carved away. reset after reset, he got better at it. harsher. finer. a little less like the kid who used to run up to her with flower crowns and scraped knees. 

the kindnesses got rarer; the callousness came easier.

never easy enough, though.

she'd still tilt her head sometimes, something glittering in her eyes like she was hearing the first few notes of a song she’d once known by heart. and he'd realize he'd effed up again, let some stupid little piece of asriel show through.

she’d never know she was teaching him how to stop being her son. to her, he was just some weird flower guy that occasionally felt eerily familiar, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on why.

every time she almost intuited something in him, he'd reload, desperate to finally become someone she wouldn't know at all.

ahhhhh. and so it came full circle. in his frenzied bid to unlearn being her child, he was still (by the most bruisingly contorted logic) turning to her for guidance. still just a kid, looking to his mom for answers. just… not in the way either of them would’ve wanted.

[alexanderwales]

A Pedant's Guide to Linguistic Mistakes

Language is a funny thing. It only works when everyone is on the same page, but it's so large that actually getting everyone in compliance would be an impossible task even if we all agreed to it. Loan words slip in, meanings change, euphemisms become canonized, words and phrases undergo reanalysis, reinterpretation, rebracketing, it's a big giant mess.

But people do make mistakes, deviations from the norm that are "wrong" because everyone agrees that they're wrong. If we didn't agree they were wrong, or they were used by a cluster of people, we would call them differences in vernacular or dialect.

No, what we're here to talk about is when people are wrong enough that you can correct them on it, and I'm taking the historical approach here, rather than the definitional one, though this will be in the form of a glossary.

catachresis - This is generally considered to be a catch-all term, with one definition being "the use of a word in a way that is not correct". The most common variant definitions are "use of a forced and especially paradoxical figure of speech" and "mixed metaphor", either in error or for rhetorical effect. I think here we see some of what marks the language of language mistakes: over-broad definitions, lots of vibes, and no one agreeing quite what the specifics are. The word dates to the 1580s. One of the classic examples of the "mixed metaphor" sense is "blind mouths" from Milton's "Lycidas", another is "take arms against a sea of troubles" from Shakespeare's Hamlet, both presumably for poetic effect.

mondegreen - This is when you mishear something and repeat back the incorrect thing. It was coined in 1954 by Sylvia Wright, you can read her piece in Harper's here. She says in the essay, "The point about what I shall hereafter call mondegreens, since no one else has thought up a word for them, is that they are better than the original." Sadly, no one includes the "better than the original" part of this in their definition. Instead, they say that this is an error that comes from mishearing a song or poem, better or not. Some only say "especially" from a song or poem, allowing that a mondegreen might be any kind of error produced from mishearing. Extremely common with song lyrics.

malapropism - A malapropism is named after Mrs. Malaprop from the 1775 play The Rivals, you can read it here. This is a comedy of manners, and Mrs. Malaprop's joke is that she uses a bunch of words wrong while making an effort to appear educated and upper class, a very classic trope from before this play was written. The self-satisfied character of Dogberry in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing was the go-to before Mrs. Malaprop, and these kinds of errors were called "dogberries" or "dogberryisms" before that. In 1858 there was a play Our American Cousin, with the character of Dundreary, and for a time these were called "dundrearyisms", but this didn't stick. (An interesting thing about class in these plays is that sometimes it's an upper class person being a twit, which is funny, and other times it's a lower person with pretensions to a higher class they clearly don't belong to, which is funny.) One of the key features of a malapropism is that it's exaggerated, ridiculous, or foolish, especially if it makes the person saying it look like a pompous idiot. That said, the word has been around for about 250 years, and it's drifted into meaning "an error", depending on which dictionary you read. Some emphasize the ridiculousness, some the pomposity and pretense to education, some seem to think "an error" is enough. Before you use the word "malapropism", watch a performance of The Rivals and then think to yourself "is this something that Mrs. Malaprop would say?"

metathesis - This is when you mixed up two parts of a word. The most common one I know of is when a child says "pasghetti". This is generally a speech error, so not something you need to worry too much about in text. The one I think irritates people most is "nucular" instead of "nuclear", unless we're going to talk about racially charged ones, in which case the one that annoys people most is probably "aks" for "ask". The word metathesis dates to the 1570s, comes from Greek.

barbarism - This one has no currently accepted meaning in linguistics, but it used to mean the mixing of languages, and has meant a variety of things over the course of approximately 1700 years, and no one really uses it now. If you wanted to use it in the classic sense, you would say that someone using a Spanish loanword is engaging in barbarism. Which sounds pretty racist. Probably avoid this one.

solecism - A grammatical mistake, like using "between you and I" instead of "between you and me". Funny enough, the word traces back to Σόλοι (Sóloi), an Ancient Greek colony where they spoke a "corrupted" dialect of Attic Greek. Crazy how millennia old geographical prejudice gets invisibly woven into our language.

vulgarism - This is when you make an "error" that's really just lower class speech. It's different from vulgarity, but if you use this word outside an academic context, or maybe even within it, expect trouble. Best examples are probably "ain't" and "y'all". I cannot imagine correcting anyone on either of those, but it's not always so clear cut.

hypercorrection - This is an error made while attempting to avoid errors. Someone corrects you on "whom" instead of "who" so you start using "whom" everywhere without understanding the rule (it's that "who" is a subject pronoun and "whom" is an object pronoun). One that English speakers make with Spanish loan words is pronouncing "habanero" as "habañero" since they've been taught Spanish loan words have the "ñ" sound.

mumpsimus - An error that's clung to. The apocryphal story is that a poorly educated priest was giving Mass and said "mumpsimus" rather than "sumpsimus", then kept doing that even after being told he was wrong. This story was told to make a point about obstinate refusal, which is what marks this. Comes from 1510s, but the word itself is a nonsense word, probably meant to be a mishearing. (Note: I have also seen this used for any person who persists in an error after being corrected, but this seems less common.)

sumpsimus - Coined in opposition to mumpsimus, this is when you use a word correctly in defiance or replacement of a popular or traditional (but incorrect) word. The pedant will often cling to old definitions even as the language shifts, and defend this even though they're in the minority. That's sumpsimus. It's unclear to me whether this is meant to be laudatory.

folk etymology - Folk etymology is also called reanalysis, and happens when unfamiliar words are replaced with familiar ones. It's not supposed to mean "made up etymology" by analogy with "folk tale", but I've seen "folk etymology" used that way a lot, and linguists sure seem to have bungled this one. You'd think they would know better. My favorite example is "shamefaced", which comes from "shamefast", meaning "fixed firmly by shame". People "decided" that "shame on the face" made more sense, so the expression changed. Is this "an error"? Only if few enough people use it. If you used "shamefast", you'd get laughed at, ha ha.

eggcorn - This is an error made through mishearing or misapplication that alters meaning. This is the most recent term on this list. It's from 2003! You can read the post here, arguing that it's a distinct thing. I kind of disagree with the definitions there, and part of the argument put forward is that an eggcorn should involve homonyms, which in practice is not how the word "eggcorn" is now used. Some definitions mention that this needs to be a single person's mistake, otherwise it's just a folk etymology, so perhaps we could say that an eggcorn is failed or nascent folk etymology. Funny enough, the OED first definition of "eggcorn" is "acorn", citing 1844 as its date of origin, and actually, if you use Google's n-gram viewer, you can see that "eggcorn" shows up (presumably in error) pretty frequently.

spoonerism - An error, usually verbal, where you transpose the sounds. There was an Oxford don and priest, William Archibald Spooner, for whom these are named. He did it a lot, and everyone was very affectionate about it. Dates to 1900.

kniferism and forkerism - Alright, look, these aren't real, but they were made up by Douglas Hofstadter, so I'm including them. If a spoonerism is when you switch initial sounds (this is in contention), a kniferism is when you switch middle sounds, and a forkerism is when you switch ending sounds. He also coined "sporkerism" and "foonerism", which require recombination. These are nonce words, don't actually use them, Hofstadter was doing a bit.

nonce word - A word made up for an occasion or "for the nonce". Not actually an error, usually, just someone making a new word to express something and be promptly thrown away. Sometimes it's got some etymological suggestion to it, but sometimes it doesn't. A particularly famous example is from the play Our American Cousin, the second time it's shown up here, strangely enough. The line "you sockdologizing old man-trap" was the biggest laugh in the whole play, which is why John Wilkes Booth chose that moment to shoot Abraham Lincoln.

Alright, that was my fun little guide, sorry to end on an assassination joke.

[eesirachs]

maybe this has been asked before but what are some non-translatable hebrew words in the bible? and what do they do to these words - do the translators then just leave them blank or guess-work them? i was reading psalm 141:6 and the second sentence seems to be translated in many different ways in different versions.

some phrases are, and remain, non-translatable in the hebrew narrative. they fell from ancient and foreign mouths and no longer have fit-ness in speech. sometimes redactors refuse to render them, opting for transliteration instead—this means that roots receive romanization and nothing more, as in ‘yhwh,’ ‘selah,’ and ‘hallu’. affective and needy, these referents sigh into the narrative, resisting neat reading. sometimes redactors, still knowing the non-fit-ness of a referent, reach for the nearest meaning anyway—this happens, for example, with moses’ shining face/veil/horns. the word here (קָרַן) has many open meanings, and version to version the noun offered is not the same

some redactors translate exhaustively and painfully, others poetically. some referents heavy enough to figure holes, others ask for seaming. the hebrew verses have natality elsewhere, far from our own mouths—somewhere warmer, farther, nearer a tent filled with brown bread and oil and votives in the middle east. they open themselves to us, never fully, yet filling enough

[ya-zz]

Hii! I love your work and I'm a recent follower, so I wanted to request something a little selfish for me! If it's okay, and if you're willing, could I have some headcannons with Ramattra, Genji and Lifeweaver with a deaf!reader? I'd love to hear your thoughts about how quick they would pick up on sign language, and maybe reader giving them a cute allias in sign language? Per example, instead of signing Genji ’s name letter by letter, I would simply sign "My Dragon". Again, this is an extremely specific request so if you choose to pass it on, it's completely okay! Much love to you 🌺

This was such a cute thing to write, selfish or not. I don't really see many fics or hc's out there about this sorta thing, so I am glad to write this! Hope this is what you were looking for! ♥

RAMATTRA

Ramattra never knew why you didn’t speak to him, only when someone mentioned that you couldn’t hear him did he realise the issue. 

It also explained why you never answered him. You didn’t even know he was talking.

He researched how to apologise so he could have some peace of mind. He wasn’t mad, but he did wish someone would’ve told him sooner.

He searched for any module possible to instantly talk to you. 

However, there was the issue of finding the right module. 

With the many variations of sign language, he had to find the one that matched yours. 

It took some time, but when he found the correct module, he was practically fluent in sign language, though he was still slow at talking. 

It warms his circuits the moment he first signed to you and you smiled with a sparkle in your eyes. 

His joints weren’t used to doing intricate hand signs, but over time, he got used to it. 

Day after day he would sit with you to learn how to sign efficiently. 

It was a learning curve to him, one he was grateful for as you were the one teaching him.

He was advancing in a way he had never imagined, especially with a human. 

One day while signing with him, having what seemed like a normal conversation, you had signed something he hadn’t seen before. 

It took his processors a moment to work it out and when he realised what you had signed, he chuckled, signing “thank you” towards you with a tilt of his head. 

“My omnic”.

GENJI

You had been responding to the ninja fairly well, but when you didn’t respond to his callout once, he wondered if you had ignored him. 

He approached you, a little cautious in case you were annoyed at him, but when he realised you were constantly looking at his lips, it clicked for him. 

Genji was close to you, figured you were just the quite kid, but being deaf was something he hadn’t thought about. 

He spent that night researching and practising sign language.

It was a slow process for the ninja; he was always too distracted, but he picked up words and phrases to impress you. 

Maybe a month went by before he finally managed to say a full sentence without any mistakes, but the fact that he was trying was enough for you. 

After awhile, Genji would try to learn more.

He would take online classes to make sure he was doing the correct hand movements; that he was making sense. 

Sometimes he would mess up, but that was okay.

The ninja spent his free time learning full sentences, eventually leading up to a full conversation with you.

It made you warm with happiness that he went through the effort to learn something new. 

Sign language was hard, and with Genji being constantly distracted, it only made it slower to learn and he was several months in to learning. 

Though, when you signed something to him that he had never learnt, he stumbled, thinking about it for the rest of the day before he researched what you had said. 

A genuine smile appears on his face when he learns what you called him. 

“My dragon.”

LIFEWEAVER

Niran had some knowledge of sign language prior to meeting you.

When he heard you were deaf, he was excited to speak to you, though his speech was limited. 

Seeing him interact with you was comforting, even if he did get embarrassed about his mistakes. 

He would spend most of his nights practising, relearning what he already knew and focussing on his weaker points.

Niran would always go to you for help, wanting to know if he’s signing right and what he needs to work on. 

It was like you were a tutor to him, one he felt comfortable around. 

When he wasn’t working on his biology and science, he would study some more.

There was always room for improvement. 

His mind was taken up by you, the want and need to impress you, no matter how many mistakes he made. It was all apart of the process.

Everything was going smoothly. His nightly studying was paying off and he was starting to fully understand conversation.

It only took a couple months for him to be fluent, the perks of being a fast learner but also sticking to a regime.

There was the odd occasion where he would mess up, but even you wouldn’t lie that you did it too.

He was fond of your presence, much like you were fond of his.

Niran was surprised when you signed a different name for him, one that made his cheeks flush the same pink colour.

“My lotus.”

[bzhitstruth]

About hints and patterns

Throughout the history of GGDD, we have noticed that they sometimes act as messenger birds for each other - one hints at some event, and then it happens to other. This is a direct hint.

But there is another type of hints - when the event that one of them hints at has already happened before, but we don’t know about it yet and don't understand this hint. But then the other person tells us about this event, and only then does it become clear to us that the hint has already been made. If we don't consider this a coincidence, then we will have to admit that such information could have been known to another person only through personal communication, because it was not publicly known about it.

I want to recall a few examples of such cases, they occurred over a not very long period of time - less than a year.

All this is fake, CPN and empty thoughts. Clownery. 🤡

DD's “Water show” — GG's vlog

On July 10, 2023, the event was held in Beijing dedicated to the premiere of One and only. DD participated in it, he danced and splashed water on the audience. While dansing DD made a couple of gestures that the turtles paid attention to - the “figure eight” and the famous “chongya” gesture. Everyone, of course, remembered the meaning of these gestures and was glad that DD made them. But then it turned out that he did them for a reason.

On July 11, GG’s vlog was released, and suddenly both of these gestures appeared in this vlog. Can this be considered two coincidences that occurred within 24 hours?

No one, of course, knew in advance what would be in GG’s vlog, the vlog was filmed a long time ago, but it turns out that DD knew this the day before the vlog was released.

Leica

October 3, 2023 DD, while in Paris, shows off his Leica camera. The turtles remembered that once upon a time GG also had Leica, and assumed that DD probably received the gift from GG.

But the next time a shocking surprise awaits us - at midnight from October 4 to 5, the congratulation to GG appears on his birthday and GG's photos with Leica, and even the camera model is similar. GG’s photos were taken back in the summer, and DD told us that “GG will appear with Leica tomorrow.” In this case, the version of coincidence seems quite weak.

"Do everything for your love"

On November 8, 2023, a new DD endorsement (YaYa) was released. A post appears on the brand’s Weibo account, the text of which contains words spoken about DD: “他为热爱全力以赴” (“he does everything for love”).

On November 9, NARS live stream with GG is released, at the end of which GG gives the wish speech, including saying: “希望大家为自己热爱全力以赴” (“I hope everyone will do everything for their love”).

As you can see, he uses the same phrase almost verbatim. It is not known what of this happened first - the stream was recorded or the advertising text was agreed upon, but if this accordance was intentional, then it was possible to find out the details only through personal communication. It could be a coincidence, but after a few months the following happens:

GG's vlog - Anta advertising

On March 1, 2024, XZS posts Milan vlog, where the viewer is offered the concept of a circle and round objects, the idea of the cycle of life or another interpretation. The image of the moon also runs throughout the vlog.

On March 2, the advertisement for Anta is released, in the video we see a suspiciously similar concept - a round basketball that flashes throughout the entire video and (suddenly!) turns into the moon above building, and the drawing of a lace that resembles the stylized name “border” in GG's vlog. There are even sunset. Even the text for the post uses the same words 边界 (“border”) - 去探索，多元未知的边界 "Go explore diverse and unknown borders” (full video is here).

I don't know what the brand had in mind, unless consider it pure coincidence, but they certainly couldn't make an ad copying GG's vlog concept overnight! Of course, it was known about the “border” and the stylization of the name since the GG's October vlog, but a circle, a setting sun, a ball that turns into the moon? Next day. How?

The Coin

And now, this coin. Five days passed between GG's vlog and the release of Chang Feng Po Lang trailer, but the consistent appearance of the coin that is the "protagonist" of the vlog and the coin that DD rubs his cheek with in the trailer is amazing. If you pay attention, even the sizes of these coins are the same.

I don’t think that the image of the coin in the vlog was subordinated only to the idea of hinting at the imminent release of the series with DD, probably the idea is much deeper, but what do we know about GG’s creative thinking and about his ability to convey a message very subtly?

All this could be considered coincidences if this didn't happen so often and according to the same pattern: event - hint – explanation. I’m sure I haven’t listed everything and there is more, this is just what I noticed.

Perhaps this is one of the things that keeps us firmly in this "rabbit hole" - their connection, which sometimes manifests itself in unexpected ways, their ingenuity to show this connection. I would compare them to the ocean, which always seems to remain the same, but which you never get tired of looking at.

💚❤️.

[sol-consort]

There’s a note from a turian somewhere on Elaaden written by a turian saying the human he’s with was gonna “butter up” the other human and the turian was just confused by what dairy products had to do with this new girl they were letting in the group and it got me thinking omg we have so many metaphors and phrases and and figures of speech and idioms and slang terms. Lorik Qui’in loved human phrases but we only hear a few from him.

“Hold your horses!” What horses? I don’t have horses? What even is a horse?

“Oh im just a little under the weather today.” We’re on a ship, what are you talking about?

God(s)/spirits/enkindlers help the alien who hears the phrase “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

And then whatever new age slang the young humans create that make everyone wonder if their translators are broken

Yes! I especially love the detail in ME1 of turians obsessing over human idoms. In multiple scenes, you talk with a turian who quotes a figure of speech he's been rehearsing for days and waiting for the right opportunity to unleash it.

Even the turian councillor does it! How he looks so proud after telling the idom, following it by "as you humans say"

Pop culture and slang change drastically throughout the years. Sometimes, it only takes a couple months for a new phrase to spread like wildfire. Weirdly, the turians seem to be as equally confused by it as they are intrigued and want to be "in with the joke" and all.

"Cunt" Yeah makes sense for an insult, we prefer quad but uh sure.

"Cunty" What do you mean that's a compliment?? Wasn't it just an insult a second ago, how does making it an adjective change the meaning—

"Break a leg!" No! what no. why would I? It's just a job interview. Hopefully, I won't break any legs, be it mine or others.

"Cool as a cucumber" What the fuck are cucumbers.

"Don't cry over spilt milk" ???okay. I wasn't planning to. that will just get sticky, mop it up.

"Hit two birds with one stone." Why do you want me to go throw rocks at birds exactly?

"Rain cats and dogs." You're just making things up because how is that supposed to translate into bad weather? Why the vivid image?

"That's the last straw." ...okay? Then get more straws. I can run to the store and grab a bunch for you. A whole 50 pack goes for 5 credits these days.

"Butterflies in my stomach." See a doctor immediately, please! This isn't normal. Or never mind, your freaky digestive system could probably handle them.

"Fish out of water." Well, put it back.

"Get something off your chest." I...uh..I'm flattered human, but I'm not stripping my armour off in the middle of the street. We should get to know each other better first.

"Barking up the wrong tree." Humans...bark at trees? That's informative. Is it a bonding activity? Are you inviting me to go bark at trees?

"Not my cup of tea." Well, yeah, I'm not a cup of tea, so about this date you asked me on, do any trees work, or are there specific bark only ones.

"Cold feet." Now that you mention it, I have been eyeing this armour with internal heating for a while.

"Call it a day." Yeah. that's what it's called. That's the word we use for a day. What else would you call it?

"Wrap your head around it." That is physically impossible.

[screemnch]

The Pathologic Russian and English analysis: Bachelor Daniil Dankovsky

So uhhh.... Turns out my priorities aren't as messed up as I thought, which is why it took me a whole month just to finish this thing. Let's cover some basics shall we? The approximate structure will, depending on the length of this analysis, go as follows: I’m gonna tackle Patho Classic and the three healers from each other’s perspective, look at shared dialogue options and then talk about all the other important NPCs and how they interact with the playable characters. Since Patho 2 only has the Haruspex run, we’re gonna move through that a lot faster in a similar fashion, and then we’ll look over Marble Nest.

What I’m going to be focusing on: there’s a huge amount of dialogue between all the characters in the story, and I couldn’t possibly note down all the differences at once. I will mainly be trying to relay the “voice” of the character that is present in the original Russian version and noting the biggest differences. If there are also pieces of dialogue that shine a different light on a few story aspects, I will point these out too. Mainly I will talk about how the characters in these interactions seem to treat each other (which will be difficult, since opinions of characters change frequently in this game), note interesting mannerisms and sometimes quote the fun differences and try and fail to explain why the use of this specific idiom is funny in this context. Sooooo yeah.

The Bachelor

The Bachelor in the other characters’ campaigns is, as we all know, a drastically different character. Before I dive nose deep, I’m gonna establish what kind of impression we have of our English Bachelor, so we can compare and contrast things easily.

Daniil in the English version is, as we all know, a prickly prick. He speaks in a usually rather conceited manner, gets irritated with people easily and likes to throw in latin phrases at random points. He sees himself as smarter than everyone else which then in turn leads to him being manipulated by most people that he meets. He’s having a no good, very bad week and he will let people know about it. In the Haruspex campaign the “asshole” part of his character seems to be a bit diminished, and when watching him interact with Artemy, I almost saw something similar to… Respect? He even appeals to Artemy’s knowledge of the kin, as opposed to his own Capital beliefs, when asking him to save the Polyhedron. In the Changeling campaign the Bachelor’s prickly prick factor is ramped up to a hundred. He’s arrogant, talks down to Clara while also being heavily dependent on her and does his best to seem unaffected by all the shit hitting the fan.

Overall, he does give off an impression of a capital dandy that’s in way over his head in both campaigns, and has a very distinct voice and mannerisms. Partially I’d attribute that to the fact that the speech quirk of “randomly starts speaking latin like a pretentious asshole” was a rather easy thing to translate. So, what do we get when we meet the Bachelor in Russian?

As the Haruspex: Before I even discuss the tone, I want to set a little groundwork - although it might be something people already know if they're that deep into learning about an obscure Russian game. And that is - the use of “you” in the Russian language. Similar to German, we have two versions: formal and informal. 

The formal version - “вы” (vy - phonetics are difficult) - is used in Russian when referring to strangers, figures of authority, people older than you, people whom you respect, as well as a group of people.

The informal version - “ты” (ty - once again, phonetics are stupid) - is used when speaking to a friend, someone younger than you (like a child), someone you have no respect for, or someone you’re familiar with. Also family, even if they’re older. This being said, for 90% of the time in the Haruspex campaign, the Bachelor uses the informal “you” when speaking to Artemy. More on that as we get into the nitty gritty.

Dankovsky’s tone throughout this campaign is separated into 2 groups - before and after you receive a letter with his list of Bound, where he decides to dedicate himself to the Kain's cause and to saving the Polyhedron. I’m not sure if that is clearly visible in the English version - reading them side by side has blurred a lot of things for me, but it’s quite apparent in the Russian version. 

In terms of consistent mannerisms, there is one detail that I think doesn’t shine as well in English as it does in Russian. You’d think that our bachelor of medicine would speak in a very formal tone, using big boy words and scientific terms only. You would be wrong.

The Bachelor speaks in very “deliberate” sentences. It’s like he is trying to get all the possible clarifications out of the way, before getting to the point of the sentence. That doesn’t make him sound formal or anything. He uses diminutives and “rough” words every now and then, and doesn’t overcomplicate his sentences too much.When I say rough words, I don’t mean cussing, per se. In fact, other than the equivalent of “damn” (which literally translates into something like “imp”) Daniil doesn’t swear at all. Even when he calls the Haruspex a bastard in English, in Russian it’s a lot softer and more akin to “scoundrel.” Rough words, I guess, would be more like… “Lower-class” slang terms. I say lower-class because for a long time many words in Russia were considered to be unacceptable, since they were, or at least were reminiscent of, prison talk. The closest example I can think of in English is the way one person might say “making love” and another one might say “screwing.” Except in Russian, there are “rough” words for eating, going somewhere, etc. And the Bachelor, even though you’d expect him to be a high-strung formal ass, is very liberal with those words. This goes into contrast with what we get in the English version, where he seems to mostly use very formal language, except for a few moments of frustration.

In the first half of the Haruspex campaign, Daniil speaks in an overall warmer tone, starting out with what seems to be boundless enthusiasm. It’s only slightly mitigated by the frustration towards the townspeople. In English he sounds like he’s only frustrated, but in Russian it sounds like he’s frustrated because of how much he wants to help. He expresses a lot of his frustration by riddling his speech with tiny connector words, as if rushing the other person to respond. It’s like if there were a bunch of different alternatives to the word “then,” and you’d see him being like “Well tell me then, what, then, is this thing?” This creates an appearance of impatience, desperation, and helplessness. Which is what I imagine the player would feel at that time in the Bachelor run. Anyways, now onto the fun little details.

Everyone’s beloved “far be it from me to call myself a person of mystical inclinations...” line is, for the most part, pretty accurate. The biggest difference, from what I found, is in the first sentence itself. In Russian, it’s simply “Yes… Mystical feelings/sensations are alien/foreign to me.” Everything else is pretty much the same. Though, tone wise, the sheer presence of an informal “you” makes it a lot more personal. Instead of someone talking about an odd, otherworldly and foreboding feeling, the tone is more of a person bitterly commenting on an unfortunate and cruel burden that they realise they share with another person.

Day 2 and it’s main quest have a fun little detail that I will talk about later when we discuss formalities a little more, but for now I will simply note that throughout all of Day 2, the Bachelor speaks to Burakh using the formal version of “you” (and being addressed informally right back). But also, in one of the dialogues that happens during that quest Artemy says “I’m beginning to like you, oynon” the Russian version instead has “I’m liking you more and more, oynon” which is a fun detail that I think some people may appreciate.After examining the samples, you can ask the Bachelor what he is working on now. In his reply he says he’s looking for the sources of the outbreak and needs hard evidence. In the Russian text, he specifically says he needs evidence of himself being right. In the rest of his dialogues he seems rather open-minded to unorthodox practices, as much as he sneers at them, but in this particular case he seems focused specifically on being correct, rather than right. Not too empirical of him, smh.

I found this difference absolutely hilarious. I imagine the main reason that this line was translated the way it was is because they wanted to maintain the tone of suspicion coming from the Bachelor. In a more literal translation (and keep in mind, this all has a bunch of little words strewn in to pad out the sentences) Dankovsky says something more like “And what sort of specimen is that?” except it’s not “specimen” it’s “subject” which in Russian can point to a person, and it’s very difficult to convey the absolute snark that comes with this question. Imagine a suburban mother in a polka dot apron and red glasses, as she stares down a dead bird that her child has brought in from the backyard. There’s suspicion, a hint of disgust, and a demand to know why this is being brought to their attention. That being said, I don’t know if there was a better way to translate this. Maybe “Who the hell is that?” is the best way to convey this. I just wanted to point out how starkly different it is in Russian.

Interesting difference here: in the English version the Bachelor says “Your father was a natural.” Here, the specific word used usually refers to a gemstone, something extremely valuable. A literal translation of the word would be “self-born.”

Additionally, Dankovsky seems to speak very fondly of Rubin throughout the campaign. Like, it’s something that’s present in the English version, I guess, but in Russian it genuinely seems that the two share a strong bond. There is a lot more warmth when talking about his expertise, and a lot more concern and sadness, when it's implied that he might be in danger.

Two things about this. 1: The whole “half-dead” thing is absolutely hilarious in Russian. Essentially the word that he uses can be loosely likened to smth like “half-corpselings” with the use of diminutives, as if the bacteria were a bunch of tiny little guys that were about to die. More to my argument that the Bachelor doesn’t sound professional, just very deliberate. Secondly, the whole “Oh yes, I would very much like to have a serious talk with Rubin” makes it sound like he’s an angry parent whose kid is absolutely in trouble. In Russian, he sounds like he’s talking about meeting up with a college buddy, or as if the desire to ask for someone else’s assistance is a sudden urge. That comes specifically from the word he uses - охота (okhóta). The primary meaning of this word is “a hunt.” But it can also mean a desire, or want to do something, often paired with the fact that it’s something that you can’t or won’t do at the moment.

Fucking this. I was so flabbergasted by this line when I came across it, because the entire Haruspex campaign these two get along really well. And then this happens, and it suddenly sounds like the Bachelor is spitefully making fun of Burakh for not finding something that they both believe is impossible to find. Like, it was so mean and petty and out of the blue, it immediately paints an image of someone who lashes out the moment they have to admit defeat - which is not something the Bachelor has been doing so far. In the original Russian dialogue? “Yes, after everything you were unable to find this creature.” Or something to that effect. I’m translating the vibes here to my best ability. Oddly enough, this is one of the instances in which the Bachelor uses the informal version of “you” again. It’s not mockery. This is Daniil drawing the line of all that he could accomplish, but also all the things he tried to help realise, all the people he supported, before he is executed (at least he thinks he will be). He mentions being unable to look in the eye of everyone he failed earlier in the conversation, referring to his colleagues at Thanatica, but at the same time - at this point he’s already insisted that he wants himself and Burakh to collaborate and sees their separate goals as one. Artemy’s unfortunate conclusion is one he feels partially responsible for. The meaning and vibe of the sentence goddamn changes near everything about this interaction! It goes from spiteful gloating of a cornered, near dead man, trying to find solace in another person’s failings, to instead something more akin to… Regret? Pity? Empathy? That’s it, Marble Nest, I’m coming for your “oooh, Bachelor Dankovsky has no heart” bullshit.

That being said, after the Inquisitor’s appearance, the tone that Daniil takes on shifts drastically. I wasn’t able to find or remember when he sends his letter about the Bound, but I’m pretty sure it all happens around the same time. And the main idea of that is - the Bachelor has his own agenda now. He’s found out about what happened to Thanatica and is now dead set on preserving the only other miracle he knows of - the Polyhedron. And, maybe I’m getting a little to interpret-y here, but seeing as the Haruspex can help lead to that goal of his, the Bachelor then starts giving Burakh the same treatment that the Kains have been giving him. 

His tone becomes a lot more familiar, a lot more personal. He constantly brings up the things that he’s done for Artemy and the looming threat of the town getting shelled. Oh, and I’m pretty sure around that time he also starts calling him by his first name. He does his best to act like he really cares about what the “udurgh” can be, while pushing his own idea, and condemning Aglaya for doing the same. He also doesn’t use those little exasperated and rushed filler words in his speech, despite the situation being arguably a lot worse. I remember seeing some of that even in the English version, but I don’t know if it’s the fact that I got to see all the dialogue, or that some Russian words just hit different, but it’s a lot more apparent when looking at it now.

Now here’s a moment where I’m a bit lost as to what translation I prefer. I want all these characters to get along in a universe where they’re nice and kind to each other, but that’s simply not Pathologic. Besides, if I’m sticking to my interpretation, I should really be telling y’all that the Russian version is more effective. Because in Russian, dude literally says “I’m sorry if you thought I was condescending” or something to that extent that would imply that him being an ass is simply Burakh’s own misinterpretation. But hey, this is also the conversation in which he decided to “play unfair” and pressure Artemy into speaking to the Foreman in his stead, so it’s not like this changes much. Maybe being manipulated for what, a whole week now, has finally gotten to him, or he’s just gotten familiar enough to use such tactics - interpret it how you will.

More fun differences - when asking the Bachelor about how to get into the Polyhedron, he will mention Maria and Khan getting into a spat and not being on good terms. In Russian, he refers to her as “my Maria” which he hasn’t done before or since (at least between these two).

That’s all I’ve got about the campaign as it is, but I’ve also promised a little tangent about formality and so here it is. Throughout the entire campaign, there are only a few instances in which the Bachelor addresses the Haruspex using the formal version of “you.” Those instances are: 1 - when asking him about his inheritance. 2 - when talking about chimaeras and how they don’t exist before heading off to face the Inquisitor. And 3 - when you’re speaking to him late at night. Instances in which he’s either asking you to leave him alone, or offering to use his own bed to rest in. My theory is that the Bachelor - as far as I’ve read in his interactions with Burakh - switches to a formal tone (with people who he’d usually speak to informally) if he is uncomfortable. Consider: he uses the formal version of “you” when speaking to Artemy about his inheritance - because that’s a really awkward topic. He needs to get crucial information from Isidor’s notes asap, but the person he has to speak to about them is the man’s grieving son, who’s still being blamed for his death. Awkward as hell. Next instance? He thinks he’s about to be offed by the inquisitor and is (at least in my interpretation) expressing a degree of guilt for the failures of someone who’s at the very least an acquaintance at this point. Very uncomfortable, especially for someone with an ego as big as the Bitchelor’s. And lastly - late at night, tired out of his mind, having to either turn away a guest, or offer them his own bed. Both awkward and uncomfortable things to do, for a city boy. Now, this is, of course just from what I can see of Daniil in the Haruspex route, my conclusions might change drastically when I get through the other interactions, but it's still a fun difference.

And I would say that about wraps it up for the Bachelor in the Haruspex run. The biggest differences have been mainly the fact that he is a lot less formal than his English counterpart, the interesting insights that come with addressing your fellow doctor formally, and the very precise moment where Daniil’s kind and determined attitude turns to that of a manipulative snake.

On a quick tangent here about that, actually - in both the English and Russian version, you can very much engage in a way that allows Burakh to catch on to the Bitchelor’s tricks, and even start lying back to him, when you’re trying to gain access to the Polyhedron. But there is a certain bitterness present in these interactions that I’m not sure is well conveyed. Maybe it’s in the way Artemy himself speaks like an old soul, a fairytale wiseman, that makes these interactions that much more saddening. It’s especially visible in the dialogue where he tells Dankovsky that they’re dolls - it’s sad in the English version, but god if it isn’t absolutely tragic in Russian. And weirdly enough, I feel like a little bit more of that could have been conveyed if people opted for the clunkier but more literal translation? Like what I imagine the old translation was, that everyone complained so much about. Like, if the line “They don’t love us, but they way.” was instead. “We aren’t loved, by the way.” I think it’s a bit more personal, a bit more sad, and doesn’t have the “they” in it, which I feel makes it a little more… Potent. In fact, for most of that dialogue, the “they” is omitted in Russian, because grammar and all, except for the moments where Burakh explicitly mentions the children. And I like that more, I think. It’s not about what the powers that be are doing in the sandbox. It’s about how their dolls feel. How they’ve been stuck into this situation and how they aren’t loved. Even the line of “I hope my side wins” is different, instead it’s more like “I hope I’m won with” as if these characters were a means to an end and they are!! They are a means to an end! They’re dolls!! It’s a lot. This is already long enough and I have the Changeling to deal with. However, as this turned out to be a lot longer than anticipated, I will have to give that it's own post as well. Feedback, question or recommendations on how to format this better are always appreciated)

[thelaithlyworm]

soooooo, halfway through Iron Widow. so far the premise is kinda Pacific Rim meets The Hunger Games, and the dystopian premise -- you need a pair of mentally synchronised pilots to run your world-saving battle mechs but quite often one of them dies so who gets labelled disposable, what sacrifices are deemed necessary for the public good, what's *called* the public good but's just about defending privilege and a rancid social order, what do you do when your rare and precious pilots won't comply with demands... -- the premise is fucking gripping, okay?

and i'm really enjoying the pov character's headspace. she's bitter, paranoid, rageous at all times, constantly interpreting people's words and actions in the most malicious possible way... and much of the time she's right to. but also, sometimes she really is stabbing a hand trying to feed her, her (justified) paranoia skewing every judgement and making some things more difficult. and her life is on the line: she doesn't need 'more difficult'. i'm curious how that will go. will she learn to trust people deserving of that? manufacture a semblance of a working relationship fuelled by intense pragmatism? go down in flames? should really go down in flames but plot armour...? i await with bated breath.

visuals are pretty strong. the author is having a lot of fun describing the big mechs. all the details on the protagonist's bound feet are queasy-making in a very considered way -- they are impossible for the protagonist to not think about and they are impossible for the readers not to think about -- props to that.

there's a fairly small cast of characters. we're tight on the protagonist's pov and she's not getting out much right now. 'learning to trust' is a really big part of the plot, lots of emotionality from the pov of someone who's mostly rage, an interesting perspective. i vaguely heard mention of an ot3 so i assume we're going to end up with wu zetian/li shimin/yizhi-the-prettyboy-scholar and it's probably going to affect the piloting in some way.

am on the fence on naming the characters after historical chinese figures. it sure is a shortcut to a given person's personality when i recognise the name, but also feels a bit of an anachronism stew. shrug. it's an interesting choice, and i respect people who make interesting choices.

my biggest iffy is linguistic register, in that absolutely everybody talks like a Middle-Class American Highschooler. the peasant girls, the upper-class boys, the elderly strategists, *everybody.* that might be a deliberate style choice to keep things neutral for the readers, i don't know. but. i feel pretty strongly that a peasant girl and an elderly strategist should not be using identical phrasing, and if they do, that should be a plot point.

oh, wait, we're all getting this in wu zetian's first-person past-tense retelling -- mebbe she's filtering sima yi's language and translating into her personal vernacular as she goes. huh. i will think on that.

there's also at least one too many people whose speech seems aimed at getting a good grade in therapy. eh. it is the fashion of the time. i just... prefer a more organic way of talking about people's feelings.

those caveats aside, i'm halfway through and still wanting to know what happens next, so, you know. the author has me engaged.

[halikyon]

Trying to give my OC's their own unique style of speech is proving to be a whole thing. Ryune is like a somewhat educated but street smart person who prefers simple language, but I don't want her to seem simple, she just doesn't know a lot of words for things or their meanings. Good critical thinking skills.

Kirui on the other hand is very educated and analytical, and has gotten used to explaining words and phrases to Ryune. She would speak more...eloquently? I feel she would have found it beneficial to be as clear and articulate as possible, especially with her more wealthy clientele.

The trouble ends up that sometimes Ryune comes off as simple and Kirui comes of as snobby, which is not at all who either of them are. And then trying to figure out what M'naago would say has been quite interesting as well. Her VA gives her a slight accent, like someone who moved to the US from Ireland many years ago and has almost lost the accent? Unsure. Lots of "Aye" going around. Formal, Kind, Compassionate, and while not immune to embarrassment or insecurity, she is able to push it aside when need be.

If I don't give them a voice they all just sound like me, which is fair as I'm the one writing, but also not what I'm going for. Chapter 3 is being an entire problem in my head. I am the slowest writer.

[dragontamerno3]

DS9 S2 E3 - The Seige

I appreciate the "this is going to be bad, so if you wanna leave, you should go" speech at the beginning but what I like more is how most of the crew was looking at Sisko like he was dumb and he should get on with it already. Like, of course we're gonna stay, just tell us what you need us to do lmao

Jake and Nogs hug goodbye! Heart hands for their friendship. I adore them.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Miles/Keiko scene about leaving cause it kinda felt like Miles was being a bit gaslighty but I think that might have been a poorly phrased line or two and my sensitivities so I'm mostly ignoring it. Keiko has every right to be upset at Miles, though, even if I do agree with Mile's decision to stay. He's kinda been more married to the ship (Enterprise) or the station than he has to her.

Quark and Odo's goodbye was def flirting. Also Quark totally deserved to be left being.

Also, them hiding in the conduits and having trenches humor was a nice touch. It was both funny and a bit unnerving knowing some bad shit might happen. I didn't have any concern for our named crewed, I knew the only ones that could die would be the red shirts and Li Nalas, but it still felt like the calm before the big battle.

One of my "nerd" obsessions is strategy on things. It's probably why I love TTRPGs so much. I love trying to figure out what someone's next move is going to be. I'm not talking in a fighting sense, though sometimes that comes in handy, but rather the quieter kind. The shady deals to get ahead, the diplomatic whispers, which politicians are in bed with whatever and what they might be getting in return, the ultimate game of who is actually ahead. It's part of what I liked about Dune, all of the political 3D chess going on there. It's what I loved about this episode, too. Specifically, General Krim's attempt to walk through Sisko's mind in this same way.

The second he walked off the ship and saw everything was too calm, he knew something was up. And then, later, when he was confronted by Sisko and he listened, he backed down with such grace. Krim is a fun character and I hope we see more of him. Not needed but a hope.

Day, on the other hand, I knew was going to be the cause of Li Nalas's death, but man was he incredibly ignorant and arrogant the whole damn time before we even got there. The fact that he didn't tell Krim about the Cardassians involvement even to gloat about how ridiculous this concept was did surprise me a bit, though. He seemed the type to spill all the beans cause he thought he knew better than everyone else.

Li Nalas died a hero, but tbh, I kinda saw him as a hero before that. Even if he did fall down a hillside and ambush a bathing Cardassian. The scenario that led to his hero status didn't really matter as he helped save the day in the end, but he saw it as a fumble.

Off the hook after all but hopefully a martyr at least.

7/10

[bluseum]

flow of consciousness, i.e. Emily Berry

never just die, because you move through the air better than anyone, and i still can't figure out what i need from you, if anything. i feel like i ruined your peace - clumsy and large and overencumbered and thrashing without care in the space you surround yourself with. i thrash because i feel trapped - my head is pulled and pushed into warm water - nothing here is as simple as push and pull, and i feel like a cliché, marring your pure simplicity with unnecessary speech, ever jarred by the silence that it’s difficult to find comfortable. trapped because you knowingly or unknowingly detest what i love to say - detest the noises in my mind i’d like to put into text - it makes me sick and i hate you - nobody does - if you only knew who didn’t. i think dashes are overimplimented. it works as a crime - you are disgusted by the action and yet i beg the intention is different. i swear the feelings are purer and far more complex - now, we descend into YA novels, and Creep by Radiohead. let the constant mind music resonate - you were never watching, but may have been listening - as your cohort of atoms lay lavishly spread, shining, and if better things come i can hope whatever comes of me can intertwine with them - relaxed, complacent, drifting with no push or pull. i try my hardest not to admire you. i don’t know if you believe it. i have spread myself far away from you, to many a person or some alienated subject that disgusts or offends you - i’m left wondering if this is what the intense emotion of an artist feels like - this is, after all, tragic. we have our moments, however, it has to be said. you would hate this. who knows if you dislike the effort - a whole life feels heavy, aches the mind, that’s certainly how it feels. this water must be full of chlorine. i never believe a word you say, or write, nor do i believe my own ego. i have made myself a fiction, a stage presence, a character that cuts a cage between me and my logical thoughts. never have i been met with such a numbing, jarring, stalling problem - the mind crashes - i relent to say ‘emotion’ - emotion is used to explain everything - but alas, the humanities student within me calls for it. i don’t, after all, fully believe in anything more. i have never fully believed in anything - my conviction has always been weak - unhelpful, as i fear i catch your disdainful glances when i agree with you on occasion. i don’t know what you know (don’t take that phrase at face value) and how you choose to put it across. there is always someone to do something more. i rush, between everything, i always occupy myself, with people, drama, ruining things to avoid you, thanks to my own guilt at everything i speak. i have come out wrong - that much is clear. i especially regret this heaviness - the text with which i pile on you, but the moment i feel bad for you, i instinctively stop myself - too much sympathy is belittling - and i’ve spent the longest time gradually changing things but nothing seems to change. maybe it went too wrong too early - the great human tragedy. this, in itself, is too much. but it might not be - although, in full honesty, it probably is. (although i’m still unsure - my conviction wavers). not one person will read every word - not even i have read this back to myself, and i never will, neither will you, and we will go on unaffected in our undoubtable splendour. people are thinking about both of us (not at the same time, let’s not be creepy) and that provides me with a sense of guilt, oddly. i once wrote an essay on control of the consciousness - i feel like the patriarch i describe - i scorn my own rancid ‘identity’ - i have sold myself incorrectly and that is difficult to rectify. workers that lie on their CVs only prove their lies to be lies by working poorly, ruining a system that they are then removed from. yet, sometimes analogies are irrelevant (see the twitter community note - ‘that’s a dog’). i have missed out key words from this that prove points. i’d go on, but i’m about to hit the paragraph limit. like i said, heavy. no dash to lessen the impact.

[scriptstructure]

Thanks for your clarifications, I’m afraid I had been quite flustered and overwhelmed with what I really wanted to do.

The story I’m writing reflects a bit of my real life - but on a much larger scale. Most people I chat to are at least bilingual and I tend to interchange 3 different languages, sometimes 5. Our speech patterns differ between languages even and between people, especially when it comes to languages that aren’t fully fluent or other. So developing speech patterns definitely requires a sense of language. Some of my characters tend to speak certain languages depending on the other person, or the specific conversation, or even mood, and of course, fluency as well. Not all my characters share the same fluency in each language either, so there’s definitely some communication fumbles or odd phrases that I most certainly want to reflect, even if the majority of my writing is in English. 

Translation of course is also definitely not one to one, and nuances are important too. Japanese for example, has specific words for older or younger brother, you can’t just say brother and not know whether they’re older or younger. Speaking French, it means you generally can’t just say sibling and not know whether they’re male or female. A full translation to English. Easily done in English to be exact, and would be nice to explain being exact wasn’t merely a preference but due to language, but I might just use the vocabulary and explain it. But then are other languages that do things like differentiate ‘we’ into including the speaker or excluding them, which English does not do. Which means language is actually important and I’ll have to say so. Is that really really important? Or is that pedantic? Actually, in real life, sometimes we’d specifically use languages with exclusive or inclusive 'we’ to be specific in whether the speaker is included or we get English conversations like. “Well, let’s go.” “Come on?” “Oh, I’m not going, I mean you.” but switching to languages with exclusive we does not give that situation. But not always, so yes, that type of conversation may happen in English, or it may happened in another language. Or does my character use English or another language where it doesn’t differ, or do they? And if all characters can speak a language that differentiate it, then why did they use a language that doesn’t and end up confusing someone? That’s part of the nuances and characterisation, maybe because that came out first, maybe they didn’t realise the language ability of the others, maybe that’s what they are more comfortable with? Etc… How should I portray this?

I’m not sure if I’m going overboard with this and going into pedantic and screwing up the flow, rather than important details with the character’s voices or even language ability. Sometimes language ability is actually a plot point so I do want to focus on some of it. I suppose yes, writing stuff exactly how it is done in real life may not work in writing… but there are certainly differences with the overall conversation depending on language, that it seems to me, like an important part of writing character voices as my characters come from various backgrounds with so much linguistic variety that also may not fully match their background. It’s not only how they say it, the tone, or mood, how they feel, or whether they’re mumbling or speaking clearly, speaking fast, or slow.

Now about whether I want a chaotic confusing experience or clarity? Well, it depends on the specific point of the story perhaps. If it is a confusing scene already, maybe I’d like to simply it it otherwise it becomes more of a mess. But generally, I like to be inbetween.

I hope this is something better I can give you? Sorry if it’s gone all wrong again.

Alright, so you’ve got a lot of moving parts to consider, and I think that figuring it out is going to come down to a lot of trial and error. I can’t tell you what will work for your story and exactly how to do it, but I can suggest a few strategies that might help you figure out how to get the effect that you’re after.

First off, I’d suggest mapping out your plot, and then alongside that, mapping out the points at which it is important that specific language-related incidents are going to be central. Is there a misunderstanding, or a secret, or something to do with the language use which is going to be a big bombshell moment?

When you have your ‘bombshells’ worked out, map out the stuff that has to have happened prior to those moments, in order for the reader to be able to figure out what is happening. 

Is it important at a specific moment that character A does or doesn’t understand a certain thing? Is it vital at a particular moment that a character does or does not speak a certain language, or use certain words, etc? Then figure out at what previous point these elements are going to be established.

So those are the ‘big picture’ structural supports that need to be worked out, so that you know what you need to have happening and when.

The question of style is a difficult one. There are, of course, conventional ways of writing which you will be able to find in any english classroom, and writing workshop. Moving beyond those is a matter of trial and error.

I would suggest picking a scene, and writing it out with a number of approaches.

Try doing it in the mish-mash of languages, with no explanation, exactly how the ‘movie’ in your head plays out.

Then do it with every bit of dialogue translated and explained.

Then do it again somewhere in-between.

Probably for most scenes you’ll end up in the somewhere in-between state, but it helps to practice writing things in different styles so that you can make deliberate choices as to when you want to include more or less information.

When you’re drafting your story, a helpful strategy can also be, to write yourself a little bullet-point list of the things that you want the reader to know after they’ve read a particular scene.

For example, if I were writing a fantasy novel, I might have a list like:

-Protagonist is left handed (important because sword fighting style & connection to prophesy) -Protagonist was raised to be fearful of Elves -Elves are mysterious and secretive

So then as I was writing this particular chapter, I can go back and check that I’ve hit each point on my list. Each of these points will become relevant later in the story, so making sure that I get them on the page in a place where they make sense helps so I’m not trying desperately to cram something in later because I need it for a big plot point but I forgot to include it earlier.

Even if you are ‘being pedantic’ about language, it can be turned into a stylistic choice if that’s what you want to do with it. Consider if you might want to use unconventional methods like footnotes to expand on some of the stuff that’s happening in the main body of the story, for example. Or you might want to utilise a narrator who interjects to give the reader explanations or interpretations of what’s going on.

I think, probably, you could go around in circles worrying about the ‘best’ way to write this story forever if you’re not careful. The best way to write it is to put it on the page, and then worry about making it ‘good’ later. You can’t edit a blank page.

Sorry for the wait, I hope this helps.

[breakersmansh]

June 17, 2023 / 17 Ògmhios 2566 EB

Hey dude and everyone, how was your day? Happy holiday coming up this weekend. Someone at the beach says there’s a holiday this weekend. Enjoy :) 🫂🙂👋 oh, and then Juneteenth is Monday? I I didn’t know what Juneteenth was until college. Texas thing that became a national holiday—wild.

Weather in Chicago is .

My dad doesn’t talk to me very much ever since an awkward Christmas in 2020. There were a couple of Jews at BYU. Inhale, exhale. He’s sick though and I need to remember to call his name into the Boston Mass temple. She’s the temple who makes the most sense to me right now. Southern New England is a place very home to me. Among people, I think a lot about this guy named Noah Steinman. Noah Boah. Just this guy from middle school. Him and his friend MegN Meg in Connecticut. Ice ive I’ve mostly been to East Hartford and to Old Saybrool k Saybrook way in the southeastern corner, to go to Wells Fargo. Sometimes I cry out, "Noah!" "Trusty!" Richard Bushman says in Rough Stone Rolling that Noah is the archangel Gabriel or somethhi b something — he has this one paragraph where he lists out seven archangels. Is this Columbia tomfoolery, or sonethi even something even more dark and disturbing within Utah history? What would my life have been like if I had gone to Bowdoin? One of my childhood best friends, Ethan, went to—he says I don’t remember the name of his college. Our most recent convo was great. Over a year ago but great. He was posting an Instagram story of himself sitting in traffic and I told myself a joke that he was filming porn lol. Sitting in traffic and bragging about how he kicked his boyfriend out. Lol it was he was hot. Sitting in traffic on the way to a ski resort. Hard to explain why I would call that porn. I just — I mentioned that Idaho has a ski basin called Bogus Basin, and he expressed annoyance. I used to say this phrase while living in Idaho — "and the Catholics in North Idaho are so annoyed that [we] changed the time zone to an entirely separate time zone to distinguish ourselves from the rest of the state." Pulled from F. Ross Peterson’s history of Idaho. He wrote a cool book called Christmas in Montpelier. Montpelier was about an hour east of where I lived in southern Idaho. Small town Idaho. Hm. I re — I’ve told enough stories. My neighbor Molly and her husband were very great neighbors. Me, them, and a woman from my high school named Jill, celebrated a Jewish holiday called Tubishevat together in 2021. The New Year for Trees.

I need to think about where whether that phrase is anti-Catholic. A few sentences up, about changing the time zone. Cause North Idaho is in PacificTime and the rest of Idaho is in Mountain Time. She was a fun phrase to say; that phase was entirely before I met Reap though. There are Facebook groups called "Moving to North Idaho" and such. I was sad that I lived in Southern Idaho, and one of my friends from BYU made sure to police me. She hasd had a rough experience at BYU. Maybe going on a date w/ me was one of the more uplifting parts. I almost made him to North Idaho.

I had a pretty peaceful Saturday. Wandered around the city a bunch. Practiced some DVT DBT skills. Found a Modelo beer can, Kurt’s fav beer brand five years ago, by the beach. Picked her up to either recycle her or keep her as a memento. With the way I’m using him/her/they/them instead of it, when possible, makes me think about how most words in French are gendered. I was supposed to do this speech therapy gender-affirming clinic, although he seems like I’m somewhat figuring her out on my own.

Said hello to the ladies a lot today, and they were really fun to talk to. Other hangers Gen genders as well.

My staffer at the pizza shop was sad.

I thought of writing a Wikipedia article about this Prep Tumblr phenomenon I keep talking about. This group from 201-

2012-2015 or so on Tumblr. I’m probably gonna invite my friends C (Chrissy) and A(Alexandria) as well. So funny. They were on Tumblr with me—I bet some of you were on Prep Tumblr too or Tumblr Tumblr. There was a woman named phdprep who both kept me willing to get out of bed, during the toughest parts of college, and also directly inspired my fashion choices when I got a job at Utah State University. I remember one night she kept prodding and prodding and liking my posts until she knew I was willing to keep trying— that’s a behavior mentioned on r/raisedbynarcissists and I think it’s true that peers motivati no and motivating and supporting each other feels different from child psychology. Right now, certain — there was also this dude drink the talk / drinkthentalk/ imactuallyagoodkid. Catholicboysintrouble needs to and maybe will get a full page to itself. It’s cool how just browsing the internet you can learn a bunch. 50starsand13bars, which inspired the first subreddit I became a mod of. If ppl ar e not interested in Prep Tumblr, there’s so much to say about Tumblr or internet culture in general. You know how Wikipedia articles have hyperlinks within them to other stuff? Other topics include porn on Tumblr, Yahoo’s CEO and her optimistic attempts to buy Tumblr, and much else that anyone else may want.

Reaper, Scurius, ifoundxaway, bythepalemoonlight, and anyone else interested are deffy welcome

For broey, if this is the last chance I get. Love you platonically. My Tumblr is named after a mansion in Rhode Island called The Breakers — breakersmansh. It’s she’s a little raunchy. My posts will be there if you want or need to take Reddit for Men to the next level. I’m here with you in solidarity.

I’m stoked to go to bed. Have a gentle Sunday or fun Sunday, whatevski. Mine will be gentle. My head hurts, in a good way.

Kurt and I had gotten into a mild argument at the dinner table—Taco Tuesday, Cameron’s favorite—about whether he should drink and drive. He won the argument, and I still remember the brand name of that beer, Modelo, to this day. We had this inside joke called Park City Gentlemen’s Club, and I passed a Gentlemen’s Club while I was wandering the city today—realized how much better our club was. Lots of better memories w/ Reap this past year too.

It is checking hecking chilly in this city. Hope tou had you had a good day. Love you, good night. I’m planning to post daily. Sometimes for Jewish holidays I might abstain, or when I’m in the hospital, jail (gosh forbid), or on a cruise ship with no internet or something. This year I learned why some people observe Passover by taking the whole 7 or 8 days off of work. It’s because he’s because Jewish life can be exhausting. Stoked for Cath Sab. 😍🥰😍🥳 Seems like ppl are gonna use biolenvd, violence, emotional pressure, and logical arguments, to keep Judaism alive one way or other after the Holocaust. G-d judges; who am I to judge?

I wore Nike and she felt great. Nike blue shorts that smell like butt, and that was refreshing. Some Elon Musk in my life, lol. Taking a break from Abercrombie Fierce for a while. Kurt worked at te the Nike store. I didn’t mention that because she’s a minor detail. There was a big outlet mall, like Wrentham or the other one that starts with a W, and many stores to choose from. Considering becoming a Nike person; Nike worked great for CrossFit. Maybe to wear Nike around too. I’m wearing a Ralph Lauren long sleeve grey tee from Wrentham that coat coat cost like $12 or $20 bucks. They have all kinds of discounts. I remember from that day, August 2022, just talking to the staffers there and searching hard for what I wanted. I bought a rugby shirt that ended up being a source of warmth and comfort during the rough Rhode Island winter—Reaper was right, winters near there are rough. So many of the concepts I tried to enact as a teenager, fashion wise are coming together now, and that’s awesome. A lot of my teenage fashion was clumsy and awkward for numerous reasons.

Good night. Happy holiday. Hope your Sundays are great. Love

Gonna read one chapter from the Book of Mormon. I think I’m on 1 Nephi 6. Or 1 Nephi 3. This read through will be very slow and painful for multiple reasons. Ppl are invited to read with me if you want. She’s ultimately just a banned book, like many books on the Index Library Prohibitorum. Banned books are kind of a librarian value, although right now I’m actually scared to even go inside public libraries. I went to public libraries a bunch during the pandemic though. University libraries are my fav, followed — are my fav. Go figure. Slainte

If I did go inside a public library, I would want to read Angels in America because I think it he would help me refine my intellectual conclusions about the epistemology of Utah psychiatry. The Hercules Disney movie would probably accomplish a similar effect. I don’t know exactly what Angels I’m A In America is about. Just—just—I know the book is vaguely thematically relevant to what Utah psychiatry is about. Not referring to the grandfather figure saying "show me you can behave!!!!!!!" which makes me laugh so hard. His commentary. You can laugh about hos his sex joke and find comic relief from Utah, or you can think about fundamentalist polygamous groups in Utah where the grandfather has sex with his granddaughter—perhaps that’s only Warren Jeffs. I’m grateful to Reap for helping me with many stuff and just also adding complexit y to my psychiatry opinions. 👋🙂🏈

Of course, Michel Foucault ‘a ‘s commentary on psychiatry: History of Sexuality: Discipline and Punish. I remember being so shocked at age 18 that no one in psychiatry had read that book. Swirls on me and good preview of my entire adulthood, lol. My entire adulthood so far at least :)

Nite ☘️ miss you, hope you had a rad day, if not hope tomorrow gets better. Available to be decked or spoken to :)