#i don’t actually know what song this was during i just captioned it the song i was listening to lol

[tedzyrotten]

you say you want me, but you know i’m not what you need, but i am.

[mapiforpresident]

The Secret Folder

Alexia x reader

The afternoon sunlight streamed through the windows of your shared apartment as you lounged on the couch, scrolling aimlessly on Alexia’s phone. She’d handed it over to you earlier to look at a video her sister Alba had sent, but after you finished, curiosity got the better of you.

“Do you have any cute pictures of Nala?” you called out. Alexia, who was in the kitchen making a smoothie, gave a distracted hum of agreement.

“Should be a whole album,” she said without looking back.

Grinning, you navigated to her photos app, and sure enough, there was an album dedicated to Nala. You scrolled through the pictures, laughing at a particularly funny one where the dog’s ears were sticking up in opposite directions.

But then something caught your eye—a folder labeled with a single emoji: 🔒.

It wasn’t in her usual style to use something so cryptic, and your curiosity piqued instantly.

“Lex, what’s this?” you asked, holding the phone up as you clicked on the folder.

“Wait—what?” she said, her tone suddenly sharp as she spun around, eyes wide with alarm.

You blinked as the folder opened, revealing at least 100 videos—TikTok edits. Specifically, TikTok edits of you.

The first one that auto-played was set to a dramatic song, showing a montage of your highlights from the season.

“Oh my god,” you gasped, your hand flying to your mouth as you stared at the screen.

Alexia rushed over, smoothie forgotten on the counter. “No, no, no! You weren’t supposed to see that!”

You could barely breathe, both from shock and the overwhelming urge to laugh. “Are these all…?”

“Stop!” she groaned, snatching at the phone, but you held it out of her reach.

“Alexia Putellas,” you said dramatically, standing up as you began scrolling through the folder. “You have a whole folder of TikTok edits of me?!”

Her cheeks turned a deep shade of red as she crossed her arms, glaring at you in sheer embarrassment. “It’s not what it looks like!”

You raised an eyebrow, playing another video. This one was a compilation of your funniest moments during training, overlaid with the caption like when she’s funny and hot.

“Lex,” you teased, biting back a laugh, “this definitely looks like what it looks like.”

“I thought I had a lock on that folder!” she muttered, covering her face with her hands.

You grinned, loving how flustered she was. “Do you, like, watch these when I’m not home? Or when you’re bored? Is this what you’re doing on long flights?”

“Stop,” she whined, but her lips were twitching, betraying the smile she was trying to suppress.

You leaned in, lowering your voice in mock seriousness. “Be honest. Which one’s your favorite?”

She groaned again, grabbing a throw pillow and burying her face in it.

Your teasing softened as you set the phone down and wrapped your arms around her. “Lex, this is actually really sweet,” you said, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Sweet?” she mumbled into the pillow, peeking up at you with one eye.

“Yeah,” you said, smiling. “It’s nice to know you’re just as obsessed with me as I am with you.”

That made her laugh, finally lowering the pillow. “I’m not obsessed. I just… like seeing you. You make me proud.”

Your heart melted at her words, and you kissed her properly, pouring all your affection into the gesture. When you pulled back, her cheeks were still pink, but her embarrassment seemed to have eased slightl.

“For the record,” you said with a grin, “I’m totally telling Mapi about this.”

“Don’t you dare,” she warned. But you did and Mapi teased her about it every single day, and sent her a few to add to her collection.

~~~

Leave a tip here. Not required at all and I still will write requests without it, but they are greatly appreciated and these requests are guaranteed in 2-3 days.

[accio-victuuri]

November CPNs round-up 🔴🟡🟢

• the two of them featured in iqiyi conference

• yibo is not home so is he in italy with xz? lol

• XZ (we/us) album pre release clowning part one / part two

• jeanswest has a shirt that says we/us plus other cpf friendly designs

• teaser video for “we” music video appears to be post apocalyptic and matches with w1bo-85

• everything is lovely + fluorescence have the same orchestra group

• yibo’s 11/12 repost candies

• what cpfs are hearing during intro track

• i have to add this edit here because it’s so cute! it’s xz watching GRA! 😂😂😂😂

source

• the same staff/handler assisting them resurfaces in GRA and at yibo’s team

• another example of hengdian hawkeye! lol. OP said yibo looked at her at some point cause she thinks it’s because she was holding up xz/wyb photos + she is wearing a red dress. who knows if this was random but if it was me i will be deadened if yibo looked at me 😂😂😂😂

• CPNs from the second drop of songs from xz’s album

• the blue/water theme in the photos for SEA and Life of Us/Drifting

• caption by xzs for life of us/drifting references exploring

• burn after reading post that talks about an huibo stand in & gg allegedly sneaking in GRA

• clowning about the books featured in life of us/drifting music video + chanel coffee table books spotted in 2 different mvs

• a little sweet treat from lighthouse MV because it was posted on 13:00 and with 14 photos. 13:14

• XZS 🤝 YBO

• 16:23 kadian

• xz song title don’t look back significance to his life and similarity to wyb

• WYB went on a a rock climbing excursion post ETU in Miyu where Jade Dynasty was filmed.

• we see the matching moles again

• marie claire magazine similarities 🫶🏼 - i personally love this! all the edits! all the connections!

• why xz’s goodnight track is a love song and it’s cool that the MV for it was released on 11/28. Ai Bo. knowing that the other two “add-on” MVs were released on 11/14 and 11/22 TH and then FRI — maybe it’s a posting schedule back to TH but we wanna clown that it’s because of the 28!

• LHK allegedly has bobi zanbi dolls lol. He actually just said it seems he has one of those, but it could probably be just a character doll. but going by our history with LHK, we can’t help but clown lol

• Chanel interview and Bobo cues biking again

• 11/29 photos and the clownery that goes with it

<<< previous post

[theygotlost]

good afternoon here's my big rant on my pet peeves for subtitles in movies and tv

This is a post that I’ve thought about making probably for years now but never got around to. I might add more later if I realize I’ve forgotten any

When it comes down to it, the purpose of subtitles is this: to reflect exactly what the audience can hear, precisely when it can be heard. If you fail to do this, your subtitles are bad and you should feel bad. Although I don’t have concrete examples for most of these off the top of my head, I promise I have experienced them all firsthand at least once.

-> Watch for spelling and typos. Obviously.

-> Syncing issues.

This should go without saying, but the captions should be synced as closely as possible with dialogue and sound effects. Subtitles that are out of sync are worse to me than no subtitles at all. They’re unbearably distracting and I have to turn them off. I’m fortunate enough that I can keep watching without them, so imagine how frustrating this is for someone who needs to keep them on no matter what.

-> Jumping the gun.

This is basically an example of out-of-sync subtitles that are slightly too fast, but it gets its own category because it ruins the viewing experience in its own unique way. In particularly dramatic scenes, actors will often draw out their lines or pause between phrases. Captions sometimes fail to reflect this by displaying the entire sentence all at once, allowing the audience to read what someone is about to say before they actually say it, which deflates all the dramatic tension of the scene.

-> Phantom captions.

This one is less self explanatory, but it’s kind of similar to syncing. Sometimes there will be significant intervals of time between lines of dialogue, especially after a scene ends and a new one begins. The interval may include music, sound effects, or complete silence, but what I’m calling a “phantom” is a caption that stays on the screen after that last line of dialogue is delivered until the next line is spoken. I don’t remember what I was watching, but there was one that was glued to the screen for SEVERAL MINUTES over what was supposed to be an atmospheric break between scenes and it drove me nuts. In my experience this happens more often with older subtitling for DVDs and some old videos and less with modern streaming. 

-> Straight up spoilers.

Sometimes, a character will speak whose true identity has not yet been revealed to the audience. If I’m not supposed to know the character’s name yet, don’t just… tell me right there in the captions whenever they say something. Descriptors like “disembodied voice”, “man”/”woman”, “mysterious figure”, etc. will suffice.

-> Lack of musical descriptors.

It usually helps to describe the genre or emotion of the music that’s playing rather than just writing [music] or 🎵. That being said, if there is a song playing that’s particularly well known in the mainstream, I think it’s useful to actually include the name of the song. This one I do have a concrete example for: in Arrested Development, Gob always blasts The Final Countdown during his acts. But the captions on my DVDs for the show always describe it as [stagy pop]. Like yeah I would say that song is some pretty stagy pop, but I think a lot of the humor comes from knowing that it’s specifically The Final Countdown by Europe because it’s such a perfectly corny selection that Gob would make.

Another musical failure is not transcribing pertinent lyrics. If the song is playing in the background, then that’s understandable and it can be kind of distracting if there’s dialog happening on top of it because the audience isn’t actually meant to be paying close attention to the song. But if the song is front and center, like for a musical number or montage, then the lyrics can be pretty important. Last year when I watched Arcane on Netflix with my family (a recent, high budget production from the biggest streaming platform ever), the show had the nerve to write [man rapping] over a musical sequence. Imagine if all subtitles ever just said [person speaking] for the entire movie.

-> Affectations.

If a character starts using a silly voice or accent, or if the sound of their voice changes in any way, describe that. If the audience can hear the difference, the subtitles should reflect that difference. And they should reflect it informatively and accurately; for example, don’t just say [mock accent], but specify [mock French accent]. 

-> Paraphrasing.

I don’t even know why this is an issue, but it’s alarming how many times the subtitles just… straight up don’t match what the characters are actually saying. It’s like the transcriber was forced to write all the captions from memory, so they kinda sorta say the same thing, but the wording is different and some sentences or phrases are missing. When I brought this up with my mom she theorized that the transcriber was working off the script for the movie because hey, that’s all the dialogue already written down, right? But it completely fails to account for revisions, improvisation, or actors delivering their lines even slightly different than how they were originally written.

And last but certainly not least, one of the biggest offenders in bad subtitling…

-> [Speaks foreign language]

If someone says something in another language, please, for the love of god, do not just write [speaks foreign language]  and call it a day. Specifying the actual language is an improvement, but this descriptor only works if the audience members are truly not meant to know what’s being said (which is sometimes the case). If a character is only saying a single word or phrase in another language, transcribe it. As in, write down the actual words that they said. If you don’t speak that language, find someone who does. You are insane for transcribing a character saying “hola” or “abuela” in an otherwise English sentence as [speaks Spanish] (real examples I saw respectively in Rango and JANE THE VIRGIN. THERE’S SO MUCH SPANISH IN THAT SHOW). 

If the audience is supposed to know what someone is saying in another language, English subtitles will usually be hardcoded. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, LET THE CAPTION SAYING [SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE] COVER THESE UP. This is actively impeding understanding, not helping it. Jesus christ

* Please keep in mind that I’m not deaf or hard of hearing and I don’t have auditory processing disorder; I almost always watch movies and tv with subtitles whenever the option is available because it helps me absorb information better. If I don’t even strictly NEED subtitles and these are issues for me, I can only imagine how much more difficult it is for those who rely on them more heavily. I invite you to add your own perspective!!

[notoriousbeb]

The My Tears Ricochet Deep Dive

While this song obviously has a clear reference to Taylor’s masters being sold to Scooter Braun in November 2019, I don’t think that’s the full story being told here.

When she released Folklore, Taylor shared via Instagram that “My Tears Ricochet” is about an “embittered tormentor showing up at the funeral of his fallen object of obsession.”

Now, why is she fallen? Because her work has been taken from her. Okay, one question answered. ✅

Now, who is the “embittered tormentor obsessed” with Taylor? Scooter Braun, of course…But see, I actually don’t think it’s that simple. I get why that’s the obvious first choice, though.

(Back story for new kids who don’t know why Scoots is trash: In July 2016, Taylor was outcast and called a snake due to a leaked phone call by Kim Kardashian and her then-husband Kanye West. Scooter was Kanye’s manager. Then Kanye put out the video of the song in question from the call—featuring a naked Taylor lookalike. Then Justin Bieber posted that video to Instagram with a photo showing him on a video call with Scooter and Kanye. The caption said, “Taylor Swift what up.” So, they’re all three supreme douche-canoes of the highest order).

However, I think Scooter’s top priority (as always) in buying Taylor’s masters was simply to make money. And if he pissed her off while doing so, that was probably a delightful bonus. But I wouldn’t say he bought her masters because he was obsessed with her. This deal was nearly three years later, and nothing had popped off between the camps in the interim.

I have more on this tormentor/obsessor/muse, concept; but first, back to Folklore. Upon its release, Taylor also revealed in a YouTube livechat that it was the first song she wrote for the album. And that leads me into a bit of timing discussion.

I think Folklore was the result of a few seismic events in Taylor’s life: a run-in with Harry at Ed’s wedding in December 2018 (which I think helped to spawn his second solo album, Fine Line); followed by talking to him during early quarantine in March 2020 in Los Angeles when the Lover tour got postponed and then cancelled; the pandemic itself pushing her, like many of us, into some serious introspection; and, of course, the sale of her masters to Scooter in 2019.

Since this is the very first song Taylor wrote that ended up on Folklore, my speculation is that perhaps it was penned in those first couple of days of the pandemic, before she reconnected with Harry in LA.

Fine Line would have been newly released—just three months prior—and on her birthday no less.

Which leads me back to the tormentor and obsessor. You know what I might find tormenting, if I were Taylor? If I’d been waiting for this one guy to grow the fuck up for years and then (perhaps after we ran into each other at our good friends’ wedding?), he confessed to me that he still wanted me but, even at 25, he still didn’t have his shit together (please see, “Renegade,” “To Be So Lonely,” and “Peter”).

Then, after I piece myself back together following snake gate, some epic twat who bullied me online back then buys my work out from under me from the guy I thought I had a good working relationship with (Scott Borchetta) and while I’m dealing with that bullshit my ex I’m still pining for releases album on my birthday with songs seemingly about us and how he still wants me.

Yeah, that’d have me plenty tormented. And feeling like, since his first album was also quite “a tip of the cap” to me (his words) as well that, yeah, someone was a little obsessed with me.

So, anyway, the lyrics:

We gather here, we line up, weepin' in a sunlit room And if I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes, too

We open at the funeral Taylor told us about. Then referencing a potential cremation. If she’s burning, so is he. Because they’re twin flames? Because they’re so close?

Even on my worst day, did I deserve, babe All the hell you gave me? 'Cause I loved you, I swear I loved you ‘Til my dying day

Does this sound like someone talking to either a bully or a former business associate? To me it sounds like a very messy, very difficult, former lover.

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace And you're the hero flying around, saving face And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake Cursing my name, wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet

I can see how people could think this was about Scott, but not Scooter. But T herself said this whole thing was about one muse: The embittered obsessor attending her funeral.

Anyway, my take: it’s a lover she couldn’t let go of easily, so it ended messy.

And now he’s out promoting an album full of songs about them, pretending it’s not, because he’s a gentleman. But while he’s acting like she’s nothing to him, they both know what he said to her in private, and what those songs are really about, and no matter how much she cries and waits and wants him to grow up and come get her he just can’t — or won’t.

We gather stones, never knowing what they'll means Some to throw, some to make a diamond ring

This is a Biblical allusion to Ecclesiastes 3:5: “A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.” I think she’s referring here to an idea revisited again in “loml,” that she thought she’d be safer and maybe get the life she wanted with someone more stable, versus being in a relationship that left her starry eyed, like she was with Harry…and that’s how she wound up with Joe for six years.

You know I didn't want to have to haunt you But what a ghostly scene

Ah, would it really be a Haylor lyric breakdown if we weren’t talking about ghosts and haunting at some point? 👻 They obviously haunt one another because they can’t shut up about each other. (Not that I’m complaining!)

Two Ghosts: “We're just two ghosts swimming in a glass half empty.” ....Ready for it?: “Wonder how many girls he loved and left haunted.” Cardigan: “I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs.”

You wear the same jewels that I gave you As you bury me

Even while doing the press for Fine Line, H was wearing her ring. Should we talk some more about the Haylor ring? Or burying and graves? Nah. I think these posts sum it up very well.

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace 'Cause when I'd fight, you used to tell me I was brave And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake Cursing my name, wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet

I think these lines could be a reference both to things he’s said to her and in his songs about her, particularly the pointed ones. “Lights Up,” for one, which to me, reads like an argumentative back-and-forth about why must things change in a relationship against the backdrop of fame. It also seems to include a tie to “Peter” with “I’m never coming back down,” as compared to “I didn’t want to come down.”

And I can go anywhere I want Anywhere I want, just not home And you can aim for my heart, go for blood But you would still miss me in your bones

And where is home in this case—and so many others? Each other.

And I still talk to you When I'm screaming at the sky And when you can't sleep at night You hear my stolen lullabies

I imagine this is her picturing him listening to her old albums, as she hadn’t done her rerecords yet. Also, again, doesn’t this all seem a bit…intimate and dramatic for a business relationship? Like, picture this moment in the Eras Tour in your mind, please, and tell me with a straight face that you’d sing like this for your former boss. It certainly doesn’t seem like anything you’d say to someone like Scooter. Why would she ever want to talk to him at all?

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace And so the battleships will sink beneath the waves You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same Cursing my name, wishing I stayed You turned into your worst fears And you're tossing out blame, drunk on this pain Crossing out the good years And you're cursing my name, wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet

So, this is where we get into the “embittered” part of Taylor’s original description of the song’s muse—the person visiting her funeral. Why is he bitter? Because he lost her. She didn’t stay. Perhaps because his own bad behavior pushed her away. “All the light couldn’t put out the dark running through my heart?” “I know you were way too bright for me. I’m hopeless, broken.” Also, and again, please see, “Renegade,” and “To Be So Lonely,” and “Peter” and also “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus.”

[triplexdoublex]

It's obvious that some of y'all joined the fandom only recently (and that's okay, just don't rewrite 'history' to fit a PR 'fake love' narrative).

Just because this playlist was made public one day before her bday, It does not proof it's a gift.

(And why the hell would he be so inspired to do such a beautiful gesture for her bday after the ALLEGED video of bday wishes she might have sent him while being on somebody else's ... If you don't know what I'm talking about, just go read blind items. NASTY, yuck).

Let's take a look at "Taurus sun" playlist. -'Ocean eyes' is of course about his daughter. -Lana del Rey is an artist whom Megan have had actual LITERAL beef with, but Megan been using lately as an IG caption to garner his attention. Kells actually has an unreleased colab song from 2018 with her (watch them say 'Bad for you/Mad for you' is about her too...). There is no actual proof of what I'm about to say but it seems she is an artist he was first SUPPOSEDLY introduced to by his ex (he sampled 'video games' more than a decade ago in an old French Montana collab). -'I'm lost without you' by Blink is the song of him and *HIS* ex (the proof of this Is in the lyrics of "her song", the pt. 1 to "in these walls"). These two must have met indeed at Blink 182's concert. -I have my PERSONAL theory about the song 'I rather go blind'. Let's just say Colson looked incredibly hurt during 2014/2015 and I PERSONALLY think this song could explain why. .-'The funeral' is a Song he was quoted listening to during the 2018 Galore interview (he made for that occasion a Photoshoot inspired by Romeo+Juliet movie... take a look at it, it's very beautiful, I'm sure you'll like it). .-Idk about the other songs (maybe I give her Tennesse since it is Megan's birth state).

Also I'm sure more than one woman has inspired him. He has been with countless women before Megan (COUNTLESS, funny how Megan says he's akward with girls) and actually have had TWO meaningful main (somehow toxic too) situationships/relationships

.And let's say I was wrong and all the playlist was done FOR her and only her. It does not mean it's about her.Just like the songs he makes. They could be dedicated to her but this does not mean they are FOR or ABOUT her (and she must know that because so many time in the past she felt the Need to stress the opposite).

Having said so, sorry for any typos and Imma go listen to "fake love". bye.

I’ve just learned of this playlists existence today in that ask. My reply was my first thoughts upon seeing those songs. However you are correct, I had forgotten he’s mention “lost without you” in that song about his ex looong before him and Megan were together. Perhaps it’s just a playlist of meaningful songs to him, I dunno and I don’t claim to.

But he fr needs to drop that song with Lana , I was so obsessed with it when we got that little teaser it seems like such a sexy song.

[idontknowijuststartedsomething]

All I’m gonna say

-blitz had a choice between making money and not fucking with his sister. He chose the money, not even trying to say to her that they need money or seeming conflicted about his choice in anyway. Choices reveal character, and even thou they didn’t technically kill the guy, that’s still what he was gonna do and what he was trying to do. Him turning around a second later and saying let me help you lets have dinner makes him look so stupid like dude you choose money and finishing the job over not messing up your sisters current thing. You can’t have it both ways dude. If they try to throw a blitz pity party about this just no. But it didn’t even seem like he cared about what happened with him and Barbie in the last scene of the ep he just wanted to make fun of moxie in his normal way seeming unaffected by what just happened

-not just this episode, but overall the editing in this show is not good, both within a scene and scene to scene edits. When they bust in the door then it cuts to Millie making a face for five seconds and then back in the cabin like what. I get your trying to set up Millies performance and the song but it could have been conveyed and edited so much better

-I liked barbs design, but I wish I knew anything about her character. Like all I know is she’s trying to get a job/has a job and that something happened with her and blitz and that she’ll manipulate teenagers(bro why didn’t you just make him older(I know viv said he’s like 18/19) or why didn’t she just say humans are easy to manipulate.

-moxxies like we have a job to do bro you got sidetracked too and didn’t want to look into the guy who obviously did it.

-the captions during the banjo solo were actually pretty funny and clever. I also like they guy getting turned into a skeleton bit during the end concert.” first aid is for winners” was funny too

-I liked the design of the news anchor and the client guy

TLDR-I don’t feel bad for blitz this episode, he made his choice and then acted like he didn’t. The editing in this whole show makes me mad. I wish this episode let us know more about who barb is. Moxxie was acting like an asshole which felt off. Some good designs and some funny jokes.

[five-star-stay]

Hi!! As a hanji stan I fully agree with you and I bring you at least one more thing to fairly complain about!! Screen time. It happens very very often that when they are performing and it’s HIS PART, the cameras just. Don’t film him. They zoom out, they show the audience, sometimes they even focus on a different member (hyunjin or felix usually). I used to gif him a lot and this got me so angry so many times!!! What else does he have to do to get a tiny bit of attention??? He has shown multiple times (all the time tbh) just how insanely talented and charismatic he is! There’s literally not one single thing he can’t do. All rounder is not just a silly cutesy nickname thing here. He’s the real deal… literally one of my reasons for biasing him is just how amazing his overall performance as an idol is. He can sing, he can rap, he can dance, he sounds even better live, he has stage presence, he’s funny, he’s sweet, he’s cute, he’s good looking, and so much more that I’m forgetting right now…

As far as I know the only thing he deliberately actually stood away from was getting his solo Instagram account when the rest of the members got theirs…

It’s been very frustrating to watch as the other members get amazing solo opportunities and he gets literally nothing…

Hi anon, I completely agree with what you said and yes I completely sympathise with your frustrations. Even in music videos, he's never been made a thumbnail and that makes me so sad like not even on HIS songs. He's not getting the chance to be the face of it. And a lot of times in mvs too like social path, his screen time is literally just what they showed in the teaser even though he has the most beautiful bridge in it the focus isn't on him in mv during that part at all.

I understand that felix and hyunjin are pushed more as the faces of the group and the most popular members, and I have no ill will towards them. But why does pushing them come at the cost of han never even getting the bare minimum?

They also plastered an ot7 Tommy Hilfiger campaign all across their stores and it felt maddening that people were calling han stans rude or childish for asking why han didn't get accommodated and wasn't given a separate solo shoot on a later date so he could've been part of the campaign in at least solo shots. And the way they could've done a billion things to include him but all they did was qrt a skz post and said "❤️❤️ HAN" and getting thanked for it by "stays" while they hid replies about being called out for zionism and not tagging han on insta and tiktok as if he isn't part of the group is SEARED in my brain. And they couldn't even spell skz right... i hate that brand's social media team but also you need two hands to clap, div1 is just as at fault.

Another instance was not promoting lee know and han's instagram on their group instagram stories, they had 29 million followers then and 30 million now. When other 6 made their ig it was big news and shared on the stories so everyone knew. But minsung made it on skz anniversary day which was a day filled with a lot of posts spammed on the group account, making it so nobody knew about the group account tagging them in the caption because it was after the "read more" and most people don't click that button especially on days with so many posts to catch up on. Results: the other 6 hit 3 million in 24 hours and minsung took a couple months and han has just now reached 4 million. It's frustrating because at every step, the company has let Han down and it's always coupled with excuses from so called stays that just don't care about Han individually. I'm honestly so concerned about how jype will handle their solo careers if they don't even realise or care enough to make sure minsung don't get left behind in terms of followers on private instagram (which will affect their engagement and brand deals) just because they took their time and waited for when they felt ready. They're literally being punished for doing what's right for them.

I hate it all!!!

I wish han can negotiate a better deal for himself in a new contract and if he decides to stay on for the group but join some other agency for solo promotion, I would not blame him because jype just tries to bury his individuality and doesn't let him create a brand for himself. Literally the only thing he has is his hanpop and even then it's months of him sometimes asking on live for stays to tell skziji that they want certain songs released. Please God, give Han a management that appreciates him.

Proof:

[eliteprepsat]

“If I was rich girl (na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na nah) . . .” —Gwen Stefani, “Rich Girl” (2004)

“If I was your boyfriend, I'd never let you go . . .” —Justin Bieber, “Boyfriend” (2012)

“I know murder, conviction Burners, boosters, burglars, ballers, dead, redemption, Scholars, fathers dead with kids, And I wish I was fed forgiveness . . .” —Kendrick Lamar, “DNA.” (2017)

“If I were a boy I think I could understand . . .” —Beyoncé (2008)

It’s common knowledge that people today just do not read as much literature as they used to. The potential rewards of reading a Victorian novel or a Shakespearean tragedy don’t stand a chance against the instant gratification of Netflix and Hulu, of Snapchat and Instagram, of video games and YouTube.

And yet most of us do read, perhaps more than ever before. And we are all authors. It’s just that most of us don’t read and write “literature.”

We read text messages. We read Tweets, Facebook statuses, and Instagram captions. We write these things, too. And these forms of reading and writing are, perhaps without our full awareness, having a profound effect on the English language—one that we won’t be able to fully gauge for years to come.

But this steady stream of words read and written exists in the shadow of an old, musty measuring stick called Standard Written English. It’s mostly unheard of during regular hours, as we pepper the world freely with slang, abbreviations, and emoji. Because we don’t live our day-to-day lives within the parameters of Standard Written English, it presents problems when we’re judged according to its standards—by standardized tests, high school teachers, university professors, and the otherwise well-read.

Because we don’t live our day-to-day lives within the parameters of Standard Written English, it presents problems when we’re judged according to its standards. 

In addition to all the words flashing before our eyes—on cell phones, laptops, and billboards—we’re immersed in the words of popular music, today more available than ever thanks to streaming services like Spotify and Pandora. Like text messages, pop songs aren’t usually grammatical, at least according to the strict parameters of Standard Written English.

This isn’t to say they’re “wrong”—language changes and evolves with time, and popular music is as good a record as any of how the English language lives and breathes today. It is to say, though, that the words we take in every day do not typically follow the capital-R “Rules” that still largely dictate academic standards.

Take the pop songs I quoted above. All four examples use what is called the “past subjunctive mood.” You can spot it with words and phrases like “if,” “wish,” “suppose,” and “as though,” words and phrases often used to describe situations that are counterfactual, or contrary to fact.

When Gwen Stefani sings “If I was a rich girl,” she’s imagining how life would be if she were rich. (Gwen Stefani is, of course, rich, but she’s singing from the perspective she had before achieving fame.)

When Justin Bieber sings “If I was your boyfriend,” he’s explaining how he would behave if he were, but, of course, he (probably) is not.

When Kendrick Lamar sings “I wish I was fed forgiveness,” he is wishing for a life he didn’t have.

And when Beyoncé sings “If I were a boy,” she’s imagining an alternative reality.

She’s also the only one among the four who uses the past subjunctive according to the rules of Standard Written English.

The past subjunctive is a grammatical mood in English used to describe situations that are contrary to fact; Beyoncé is not a boy and Justin Bieber is not your boyfriend (probably).

The past subjunctive uses the past tense verb “were” no matter what the subject is: “If I were,” “Suppose they were,” “If she were,” “I wish he were,” etc. If you are using a word like “if” or “wish” to describe a situation that is not actual, then Standard Written English dictates that you use the verb “were.”

The past subjunctive is a grammatical mood in English used to describe situations that are contrary to fact; Beyoncé is not a boy and Justin Bieber is not your boyfriend (probably).

If the situation is not contrary to fact, then you would use whichever verb matches the subject. For example, if you said something potentially offensive to a friend, you might say, “I’m sorry if I was rude earlier today.” Here, you would use “was” because it is possible that you were actually rude (i.e. this statement is not necessarily contrary to fact).

(There is also a mood called the “present subjunctive,” but that’s a subject best covered in another blog post.)

If “If I were” sounds strange to you, you’re not alone. But if you want to slay the albatross known as Standard Written English, you’d be wise to master its sometimes arcane rules and to locate them at work in the text messages, statuses, captions, and lyrics that populate your everyday life.

[9w1ft]

hi! i was wondering if you had any idea about the age-old rumors that katy perry and taylor swift were supposed to share a kiss in the yntcd music video?

hi! i don’t really think anybody has new insider information about if it was actually going to happen outside of the rumors that were floating around at the time, but i will give you a historical rundown from a fandom perspective.

basically a rumor was floated during lover era that katy would have a cameo in the YNTCD music video and that taylor and katy would kiss in the video.

***i have memories of it being a substantiated rumor but i forget why that is. if i remember correctly i think there was a ‘leaked’ music video storyboard with a sketch of them kissing? but i can’t locate the originating picture or tweet… can someone who remembers or who has researched it explain a little more about this?**

to give some context, this incident was coming after rep era where katy had her people send taylor’s people a physical olive branch to be delivered on the first night of her tour, as a symbolic “peace” offering to taylor, after several years of them having a ‘feud’ spanning 1989 era and early rep era ‘over stealing backup dancers’ which is what the public ascribes to the song Bad Blood (incidentally this ‘feud’ coincides with the ‘feud’ taylor had with karlie in 2017, where karlie and katy were spotted out getting sushi together with others (‘sushigate’)— so the idea that katy sent a token of peace to taylor at the beginning of rep tour transitioned nicely into karlie also going to rep tour, and the construction of a slow burning reconciliation narrative), as well, there had been more social media reconciliation in june 2019 when katy posted a plate of cookies (that taylor sent her) and captioned it “peace at last”

so back to where we started, this katy kiss rumor made it to twitter and tumblr and fans both swiftie and gaylor alike started expressing various concerns, basically that ~because taylor is an ally and not actually gay~ or ~if she doesn’t plan on coming out but does this~ that this kind of action would be harmful, especially in the context of her very very rainbowy lover era rollout.

and as we all know taylor rarely addresses fan concerns but she actually did post about it, while concerns over the rumor spread:

this was followed up with a lot of media coverage

as you can imagine, a bunch of people took this to mean she was saying ~no homo~ but i think most of us on here were quick to point out that she was wording it in a way to position herself on the gay side of the grammar.

here’s something i posted about it awhile after it happened, part of which i’ll paste below:

i think there can be debate over whether taylor actually intended to have this scene, or if just floating a rumor was a way of testing the waters, etc, and i remember at the time a lot of people joked with meme pics of tree on the phone saying she was frantically calling the editing bay to cut the clip 😆 but i’m not of the opinion that this ended up being so consequential. although the masters heist coming on the heels of taylor having kissed a woman in her artwork certainly would’ve been something

[accio-victuuri]

不要回头

this discussion is due to the announcement that the MV dropping on 11/26 is called don’t look back. let’s start with why this is relevant to xiao zhan. one that immediately comes to mind was his instagram post before where he used the caption: “don’t look back, forever”. a bit of context, this was the time in 2019 when he was having problems with WJJW’s management of his career. a week after this post, he took WJJW to court. so it may be safe to say that the message was moving forward and leaving WJJW behind.

this has been a recurrent theme with XZ, as he so eloquently explained in one of his interviews: “I feel that everyone should not live in the past. But you need to summarize your past, the areas you did not do well, take responsibility and move forward.” not looking back— meaning to live with no regrets. to run towards your future, which is why it makes sense that he likes to do the chongya pose. that’s just who xz is. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ he doesn’t sit and wallow in misery about what happened before. he doesn’t hold grudges. no matter how his fans misinterpret his messaging, it has always been very clear to me. move on. make peace.

we can actually see this mindset between xz and wyb and why ( i think ) they get along so well. considering the life they have, it’s not healthy to live in the past and miss the moment now.

for their bdays this year, both their studios talked about regrets and moving forward.

XZS: The road ahead is always like this. I hope you can have fun without regrets.

YBO: …. along the way, accept imperfection, allow regrets, the mountains are high and the seas are vast, and please move forward boldly.

here are some other similarities with this theme:

XZ: i will believe in my choice and don’t regret it. just go all out and do it.

WYB: I just want to do things according to my beliefs and never regret it.

XZ interview

Q: Suppose if there is a chance to go back to the past. Which stage do you most want to return to?

XZ: i’m not going back

WYB interview

he was asked pretty much a similar question, if he can choose to travel back to an age in his life. what would he choose?

WYB: I don’t want to go back

also this classic one from WYB. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

this one is a personal favorite of mine when he was doing interview for where dreams begin:

XZ: Although life is likely to be unsatisfactory, I think as long as you persist in your heart and work hard to move forward, It will definitely be fine. This is something I insist on, don’t look back, believe in the future and the light is always ahead.

and there are alot more. i think that those of us who have been in tune with them already knows all of this. it’s the way they both are. i feel like this is also why they are successful in their careers. 🫶🏼

lastly is the significance of them singing white windmill during filming. at this time, xz told wyb— wyb, don’t look back.

Tho i’m pretty sure the song/mv title Don’t Look Back is about XZ’s personal journey — the similarity with WYB is just added in here cause we are clowns. 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

-END.

[raplinenthusiasts]

23, 27, 29 and 14 (if i can tweak it a bit: do you have A Moment™ for any pair that just lives in your head rent free and you will probably never get over it?)

23. What immediately comes to your mind when you think of Jin?

how funny he is but also how much he does for the rest of bts - he’s really great older brother for them and I know what I’m saying (oldest siblings unite)

especially when it comes to public situations when they’re nervous he always makes fun of himself to make others feel better HE IS SO AMAZING 💛

27. What immediately comes to your mind when you think of Jimin?

how supportive he is! also the way he makes sure everyone is happy and taken care of - I could never and he makes it look so effortless

29. What immediately comes to your mind when you think of Jungkook?

answered

14. Your favorite ships/interactions?

I actually have special tags for my fave bts friendships and it’s going to be long answer

yoonjin aka #best duo

anytime they’re paired together in anything makes me so unbelievably happy you have no idea! like when yoongi chose Epiphany as his fave song during muster? TEARS when they are cooking or fishing together TEARS! and when they had That Talk during In The Soup about being super close I just cried

but the moment that actually made them my favourite friendship was when they were driving together in one season of bv I think? and Jin wanted to put phone in the middle and Yoongi said that it won’t work… and phone started to go down BUT YOONGI JUST CAUGHT IT and Jin started to laugh and that was it - I knew it then 💛 it’s like perfect way to describe their friendship

jinkook aka #chaotic duo

which actually reminds me a lot of my own sibling relationship... also i love how silly jin becomes with jk but at the same time he's always taking care of him (like when jk was hurt and had to sit down during concerts and then jin was being funny when wheeling him around) and i also loooove when they hug and there was this one gifset with them hugging and jk smiling and caption was something like his jin hyung smile or something and now i can't unsee it and its absoultely vital to my well being GIVE ME HUGGING JINKOOK

also 2seok aka #2seok world domination confirmed which I don’t think I have to expand on and hopekook aka my #koobi that makes my heart warm

[waffle-bubbles]

So I went to a Rocky Horror screening tonight with a shadow cast. I have a theater assignment where I’m supposed to watch one live performance, but my town doesn’t have a single theater company and this was the only thing close to that I could access with a lack of a driver’s license. I expect to fail.

Anyway. Here are my notes on the show and on the brief voyage back to my dorm:

- For the viewing experience, I did not enjoy it. It was crowded and noisy. Not sensory friendly. I got a headache from the clashing smells of alcohol and food which weirdly smelled like crayons. I liked the lighting. It was similar’s to my dorms, which I keep low.

- My social anxiety was really high, which makes it less enjoyable. Especially since it was interactive. I’d prefer watching it in the safety of my room with a few close friends.

- Where I was positioned, I couldn’t see well. People crowded the screen; some were standing in front of me while I was sitting. Everyone was at the same level as the screen.

- Virgin cherry pop (setting up promiscuous themes)

- Time warp dancing

- Couldn’t hear a thing. At one point they turned on the captions (to which there was a cheer), but I couldn’t read among the heads blocking the view. I wore my earbuds the whole time to block some of the noise out. I brought up the script to read along.

- Would have been more fun if I had friends. But you know. I’m a loser.

- Time warp was fun. So was Sweet Transvestite. (At least I can hear the songs. That’s the most important part.)

- The performers have an air of drag to them. Obviously.

- Crush on Brad and Tim Curry. What’s new.

- Sitting between middle aged women, teenage girls, and an obnoxious straight couple.

- Costumes exact replicas of movie’s costumes. (Couldn’t see actors well at all; just hints of their head.)

- Statue of David?? (I can’t escape it) (I like that his nails are painted.) (What is with all the Greek references?? Atlas, Medusa)

- I look too straight to be here.

- If I was a cis man, I’d 100% dress as Dr. Frank n’ Furter. But alas, dysphoria. I think trans people latch onto him because of how confident he is in his body and how it defuse gender.

- This is about sexualizing men and woman, and I love it. (Especially the men.)

- Brad real actor is played by an older gentleman.

- If I hadn’t watched this before, I would be so confused right now (again, can’t hear shit)

- Get that bussy, Janet (and she’s in the bi colors)

- I always feel bad for Rocky. His whole purpose is to be used.

- Pretending not to notice my classmate

- Apparently I was watching the obnoxious dude’s drinks. At least he gendered me correctly. (“He’s not even twenty-one.”)

- “But he’s a lesbian” (I don’t know what the context of this is, but a dude named Chief said it.)

- Craning my neck to see the other screens when I can’t see (there is a bowling alley here)

- I’m so gay (Brad) (he’s so hot)

- The two actors walked in front of my during orgy to foreshadow Frank n’ Gutter’s overthrow

- Frankenstein motif

- Using flashlights as spotlights

- Actors have just been mimicking what’s on screen (from what I could see)

- Frank n’ Futer’s real actor looks so sad (“I’m going home”)

- How can people spend their weekends like this. I’m tired and it’s not even 9:00 yet.

- Bro I can actually hear Riff Raff (still can’t understand him) (crowd thinned the barest amount)

- I forgot how bad the laser effects were (kind of cartoonish)

- a lot of seemingly unrelated scenes of a plot

- I like to think Brad and Janet become a power poly couple

- Classmate said hi anyway. I said hi back.

- I have way too much anxiety for this shit.

- It’s freezing cold and I can’t see the stars

- I enjoy listening to the soundtrack more than that experience

- Oh there are the stars. Very few.

- Bus driver told me I should have a flashlight. Good idea.

- Fuck this stop. I hate it. I am overwhelmed, and I want to be in my warm bed. (Switched drivers)

- This lesbian bus driver has good taste in music (she was listening to Girl in Red. Only lesbians listen to Girl in Red and Lana Del Ray. Obviously.)

- I think I made this gay couple uncomfortable. They stopped cuddling when I looked at them. Like no dude you’re good. I was just admiring your fashion.

- I can see my breath. This should not be happening. I’m not ready for winter.

[erodasfishtacos]

*CHICAGO*

i write for free - so if you would like to support my work, you can donate here. (plus my bday is today!!!!!!! 🎂)

if you liked please reblog, recommended, like, and come talk to me about it!

——

The public didn’t know that some of the pictures that are posted of Harry that are tagged and credited to the on tour photographers were actually taken by his wife.

For example, after Chicago, the picture of Harry in the tub - completely bare and worn down from his show, you actually think the photographer took that?

No, that was snapped with YN’s iPhone, like some of the other pictures he’s posted.

Just like the one where he’s asleep on the hotel bed in a robe in Paris with all of his stuff splayed around him - allegedly taken by helene. ***

But no, it had been his wife, they had just taken a shower together and she had stayed in for a bit longer to shave her legs - when she had come out and seen him passed out.

She had to tug a bit at the robe so he wasn’t exposed and make it x-rated, then she pulled out her phone and snapped the picture - sending it to Jeff with a teasing caption.

yn: It’s exhausting being a popstar

And just like that, it appears on his Instagram for fans to go crazy over.

Or what about the snapshot of his tank that had his famous slogan embroidered into the side of the white fabric. ***

His wedding band reflecting in the flash of the light, a subtle glance at his rippled muscle below the attire as they work on his hair.

“Mm, I’m gonna save this for a lonely night,” YN jokes as she tucks her phone away.

Harry’s hand comes to cup her jaw, looking down at her where she’s sat on the floor, “Y’so fuckin’ pretty, y’know that?”

YN’s eyelids flutter a bit as she glances away from his intense gazes - he still gives her butterflies.

“Don’t get shy on me, baby. Can I not tell m’wife how gorgeous she is?” He asks, bring her hand up to kiss the back of it, “Look s’good with tha’ ring on.”

And the one that made fans go crazy.

On a warm evening, in a hotel room between venues in Italy, where they had been lounging around all day.

YN in just a thin gauzy dress that accentuated the fact she wasn’t wearing a bra and Harry just in the trousers he’d worn to get them coffee earlier that morning.

“You just took a picture of me! It’s my turn,” YN giggles, getting on her knees on the old squeaky couch and snatching the camera off of him.

“I took a picture because y’tits look nice in tha’ dress. I can see y’nipples and it’s turnin’ me on,” Harry defends, holding up his book as she snaps it.

“H, c’mon,” She pouts but squeaks when Harry tugs her into him, dropping the book and the camera as he adjusts her on his lap.

“Gonna let me take a picture of y’all nice and fucked out, darling?” He rasps, ignoring her pout and hiking her dress up her hips.

And it’s happened throughout the years, so many pictures that were littered over the internet where just uncredited snapshots from YN.

Just like the one from 2013, they were on tour, and Harry was supposed to be recording for the next album after soundcheck and before the concert. ***

Instead, after soundcheck, Harry and YN had snuck off to a little meadow and lake to have a swim. He had shimmied down to his briefs and waded in.

YN stood back, snapping a picture of him and his friend as the complained about how freezing cold it was.

“Baby, c’mon. Come get in!” Harry had shouted back to his girlfriend on the dry land, “I need some warmth, s’freezing!”

YN grimaces, just in Harry’s shirt and a pair of yoga shorts, dipping her toe in and shaking her head - “I’ll enjoy from here!”

“Please, bug,” He pouts, motioning for her to come in.

She does after a moment, squealing at the temperature before quickly finding her way into Harry’s arms.

“Only have fun on tour when y’with me,” He had murmured into her ear before he dunked her underwater and they play fought until their stomachs hurt from laughing.

And then came the notorious picture that had gotten a million likes in thirteen minutes, oh, the chicago ice bath.

Harry had been achey since tour had begun, constantly complaining about his back and ankles from the shows.

“Baby, just rub m’back a lil’ longer please?” He had whimpered the night before, the tour bus bed did not help him much at all.

When his trainer had recommended an ice bath immediately after the show - YN had made sure to arrange it despite his protests.

After exiting the stage in his black and lilac outfit, he’d been lured into the bathroom with a promise of sex but instead was a steel tub filled with ice water.

Jeff, Lambert, Tommy - everyone was watching on in amusement as he adamantly tried to deny that it would help and the peer pressure wasn’t make him anymore convinced.

“Alright, everyone out,” YN had finally tittered, shooing out the circus before closing the door for privacy.

She helps strip her husband out of his close as he looks at her reproachfully, “You promised me sex.”

“After,” YN assures him, kissing his puffy lips and asking softly, “Just try it, if it doesn’t work - you don’t have to do it again.”

He grumbles a bit, muttering, “Don’t look at m’bits, they’re gonna shrivel up.”

YN giggles, “As if I haven’t seen your bits in every shape and form.”

As he slips in, YN has to snap a picture of his eyes wide and lips pursed at the shock of the freezing water cooling down his hot, sticky skin.

“Holy fucking shit,” Harry hisses, lowering self until he’s sat - his nipples instantly hardening and he’s breathing roughly out of his nose.

“Five minutes, I’ll set the timer,” YN says, setting it on her phone before sitting down next to the tub as he tries to relax.

“Baby, fuck. Reminds me of that really cold lake in Boston, ‘member?” He squeezes his eyes shut and reaches until YN intertwines their hands.

“Yeah, that wasn’t as cold as that one time you convince me to skinny dip with you on the coast of france.”

“Oh yeah, that one was really fucking cold too,” Harry murmurs, keeping his eyes closed and steadying his breathing.

(During WWA tour - ***)

“Harry, are you insane? Anyone could see us? Paul could walk out or the boys. I’m not-“

She’s cut off when Harry shucks off his swimsuit bottoms, his skin’s glowing in the moonlight and the light waves lapping at the shore are soothing.

YN swallows harshly, tries not to stare at how handsome and overwhelming beautiful he is as he turns to step towards the water.

She looks over her shoulder nervously before stepping out of her one-piece, he waits for her at the shoreline.

“Y’so so stunnin’,” Harry tells her, thumbing at the soft curve of her breast and leaning in for a soft kiss when he feed her shake.

“You could have anyone,” YN whispers against his lips, “Every girl on this earth wants you like this. I’m just some girl from before all this,” she motions to the extravagant bungalow they’re staying at.

“I don’t know why y’think tha’s bad. I want t’experience all this with you, m’first love and m’only love. I’m going to marry y’soon, you know tha’?” He replies, lips tracing the curve of her neck.

“You better,” She giggles, hands going to his shoulder as he sucks a mark into the thin skin.

He pulls back with a frown, “M’not jokin’, I don’t care that we’re young - M’gonna do it.”

“I can’t wait,” YN kisses his jutted out lip, squealing when he tugs her into the water and the chilled waves crash against her hips, “H, it’s so cold.”

“M’gonna keep y’warm, hush up,” He titters, pulling her into his chest until her breasts are smushed against his strong pecs and his arms are around her shoulder, “Love experiencing this w’you, everythin’ w’you.”

-

YN is brought back from her daydream by her husband wiping his finger under her eyelid, “Darling, wha’ is it?”

She hadn’t realized she had teared up thinking of the fond memory, “I want to go back to that bungalow. We had such a good time. I…I just love you.”

His wife chuckles like she’s pathetic for crying about it but he leans out of the tub, cupping her jaw and pulling her in for a hard kiss.

“Don’t be embarrassed, flower,” There was no teasing in his voice, it was sincere, “If anyone should be embarrassed - I’m the one who travels around the world t’sing love songs ‘bout you.”

Their lips join again, his tongue finding its way into her mouth when Jeff, Lambert, and Tommy barge through the door.

“Jesus Christ, only you could be trying to get some while sat in an ice bath,” Jeff scoffs with a smile but instantly knows they’ve fucked up.

“Get out, the fuck?” Harry sits up, “Don’t interrupt me and m’wife. Get out!”

They stumble out and just then the alarm goes off.

YN helps him out, tucking him into a towel and helping him dry off - his head tucked into her neck and hand on her belly - massaging.

“Do you feel any better?” She hums while getting some stray droplets on the nape of his neck as he nuzzles into her warm skin.

“Mm,” He agrees drowsily, hand slipping under her shirt for more heat and she jumps at his icey touch, “Want t’sleep.”

And when they get to the hotel, YN logs onto his Instagram and uploads the ice bath pictures with nobody knowing the story behind it.

-

Hope you enjoyed!

[laladellakang]

Can I request a chapter or scenario where some idol are mocking Della's stage expression and presence because she js so good at making and executing them?

this seems like too long for a mini chapter and too short for an episode so…

a mini chapter? 😁😁

Della during their 2021 Bang Bang Bang cover was legendary. Seeing her do The Way This Guy Lives seemed satisfying enough, but she was at home during BigBang’s song.

She became viral afterwards. Everyone was talking about the only girl who sang the intro.

It’s quite known that Della is one of the best at facial expressions, and because of it, once again, she pulled in lots of new Engenes.

Callas are known to be quite protective of their girl. So when they see another idol mocking what she did on stage, they fought hard.

It was one of the idols who Della has rejected over and over again. He couldn’t seem to get over the fact that she’s not and never willing to leave her current lover(s).

He was in a dance V-Live with three of his members. While everyone else danced to Bang Bang Bang’s intro, he was the only one sitting it out. He mouthed to the lyrics while ‘imitating’ Della.

Some of his fans defended him, saying that he was just doing his own thing or that he’s just appreciating the girl. Yet the identical gestures, from the head tilts to the eye movements, with a mocking expression made it clear that he was making fun of her.

Callas and Engenes were split into two. The ones who send him hate (mostly consisting of fanboys), and the ones who promoted Della like crazy and stopped supporting the male idol.

Does Enha know about it? Of course they do.

During a V-Live, Della held back a smirk when she saw someone request a finger heart if she’s aware of the controversy.

And she definitely did that.

The boys, on the other hand, were a bit less subtle.

‘Guys,, look,’ Sunoo sent a Tiktok link in the group chat.

“What the actual fuck?!” Sunghoon’s eyes widened when he watched it. “Hyung! The guy who keeps bugging Della. The one who promoted with us?”

“For Tamed-Dashed? The one who gave her strawberry milk each time?” Heeseung replied without removing his gaze from his Fifa.

“Uh,” Sunghoon was now looking at the top comments.

“What’s his nam-” Heeseung was cut off by Niki reminding his hyungs of the guy’s name. “Ah yeah, that’s it. Why, what happened?”

“He fucking mocked Della’s performance!” Niki immediately paused the game.

“What?!” he rushed to Sunghoon’s side to have a look.

“I saw it! I saw it!” Jungwon rushed to the living room to join in. “There’s no way he wasn’t mocking!”

“What the fuck is wrong with that guy?!” Heeseung was furious. “Is he that bitter about Lala rejecting him?!”

“Can we seriously not do anything?” Niki mumbled angrily.

“Sunoo’s posting an appreciation on Weverse,” Sunghoon exited the app, going on Twitter to upload a photo together. “I’m gonna do it too, I don’t care.”

“Wait wait- let’s just take a group picture later, then caption it with something Bang Bang Bang related,” Jungwon suggested.

“Make sure to make it clear that we’re directing it to him too,” later that night, they posted a fierce group picture with Jake doing half of the idol’s group-introduction hand gesture.

Some of their staff noticed and scolded them, but they were actually even more proud.

The idol started it, and he should know better than to mess with Enhypen.

i just know some of y’all would defend della to death if this actually happened

taglist! @afiaaaa19 @1-800-enhypennabi @one16core @ilyxion @toriluvsfics @i90snoo @danyxthirstae01 @seulgifted @clar-iii @hiqhkey​ @nichmeddar @jiwlys @duolingofanaccount [@studioreader @sarang-wonie @fairydosii @hoonstrology @jaetint]

[eliteprepsat]

📝 The Past Subjunctive and Standard Written English

“If I was rich girl (na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na nah) …” —Gwen Stefani, “Rich Girl” (2004)

“If I was your boyfriend, I’d never let you go …” —Justin Bieber, “Boyfriend” (2012)

“I know murder, conviction Burners, boosters, burglars, ballers, dead, redemption, Scholars, fathers dead with kids, And I wish I was fed forgiveness …” —Kendrick Lamar, “DNA.” (2017)

“If I were a boy I think I could understand . . .” —Beyoncé (2008)

It’s common knowledge that people today just do not read as much literature as they used to. The potential rewards of reading a Victorian novel or a Shakespearean tragedy don’t stand a chance against the instant gratification of Netflix and Hulu, of Snapchat and Instagram, of video games and YouTube.

And yet most of us do read, perhaps more than ever before. And we are all authors. It’s just that most of us don’t read and write “literature.”

We read text messages. We read Tweets, Facebook statuses, and Instagram captions. We write these things, too. And these forms of reading and writing are, perhaps without our full awareness, having a profound effect on the English language—one that we won’t be able to fully gauge for years to come.

But this steady stream of words read and written exists in the shadow of an old, musty measuring stick called Standard Written English. It’s mostly unheard of during regular hours, as we pepper the world freely with slang, abbreviations, and emoji. Because we don’t live our day-to-day lives within the parameters of Standard Written English, it presents problems when we’re judged according to its standards—by standardized tests, high school teachers, university professors, and the otherwise well-read.

Because we don’t live our day-to-day lives within the parameters of Standard Written English, it presents problems when we’re judged according to its standards. 

In addition to all the words flashing before our eyes—on cell phones, laptops, and billboards—we’re immersed in the words of popular music, today more available than ever thanks to streaming services like Spotify and Pandora. Like text messages, pop songs aren’t usually grammatical, at least according to the strict parameters of Standard Written English.

This isn’t to say they’re “wrong”—language changes and evolves with time, and popular music is as good a record as any of how the English language lives and breathes today. It is to say, though, that the words we take in every day do not typically follow the capital-R “Rules” that still largely dictate academic standards.

Take the pop songs I quoted above. All four examples use what is called the “past subjunctive mood.” You can spot it with words and phrases like “if,” “wish,” “suppose,” and “as though,” words and phrases often used to describe situations that are counterfactual, or contrary to fact.

When Gwen Stefani sings “If I was a rich girl,” she’s imagining how life would be if she were rich. (Gwen Stefani is, of course, rich, but she’s singing from the perspective she had before achieving fame.)

When Justin Bieber sings “If I was your boyfriend,” he’s explaining how he would behave if he were, but, of course, he (probably) is not.

When Kendrick Lamar sings “I wish I was fed forgiveness,” he is wishing for a life he didn’t have.

And when Beyoncé sings “If I were a boy,” she’s imagining an alternative reality.

She’s also the only one among the four who uses the past subjunctive according to the rules of Standard Written English.

The past subjunctive is a grammatical mood in English used to describe situations that are contrary to fact; Beyoncé is not a boy and Justin Bieber is not your boyfriend (probably).

The past subjunctive uses the past tense verb “were” no matter what the subject is: “If I were,” “Suppose they were,” “If she were,” “I wish he were,” etc. If you are using a word like “if” or “wish” to describe a situation that is not actual, then Standard Written English dictates that you use the verb “were.”

The past subjunctive is a grammatical mood in English used to describe situations that are contrary to fact; Beyoncé is not a boy and Justin Bieber is not your boyfriend (probably).

If the situation is not contrary to fact, then you would use whichever verb matches the subject. For example, if you said something potentially offensive to a friend, you might say, “I’m sorry if I was rude earlier today.” Here, you would use “was” because it is possible that you were actually rude (i.e. this statement is not necessarily contrary to fact).

(There is also a mood called the “present subjunctive,” but that’s a subject best covered in another blog post.)

If “If I were” sounds strange to you, you’re not alone. But if you want to slay the albatross known as Standard Written English, you’d be wise to master its sometimes arcane rules and to locate them at work in the text messages, statuses, captions, and lyrics that populate your everyday life.