#i just loved the language and culture
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thinking about how my friend told me today that i picked a “safe” special interest in the netherlands.
#once she explained it it makes sense though#what she meant was its an interest wherein no one has negative preconceived notions about me when they hear about it#like when i was going through my germany phase a lot of people took that the wrong way unfortunately#which you know… it took me going to germany to challenge that two dimensional association too#like i knew obviously about the problematic past of germany but i wasn’t interested in it like that#i just loved the language and culture#and then you look at commmon special interests#harry potter? oh you’re a terf. disney? zionist. star wars? right wing#like yeah while the netherlands is very much problematic and has questionable history regarding colonialism#people aren’t exactly immediately going There#idk im yapping but i am still thinking about it
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on twitter, a viral thread started where people around the world shared their translations of “If I must die”, the last work of Dr Refaat Alareer also known as "the voice of Gaza". A beloved poet, teacher and life-long activist for Palestine, he was recently assassinated along with members of his extended family by a targeted Israeli air strike. His loss leaves a hole in the heart of palestinians all over the world.
Below the cut, I’ll be posting the translations of his poem, with links to the original posts. Unfortunately, tumblr limits posts to a maximum of 30 images. I will update when I can.
Arabic (Refaat’s mother tongue)
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2. Spanish
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3. Irish
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4. Dutch
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5. Greek
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6. German
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7. Vietnamese
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8. Tagalog
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9. Serbian
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10. Japanese
and the traditional japanese calligraphy version
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11. Nepali
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12. Tamil
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13. Bosnian
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14. Indonesian
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15. Romanian
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16. Italian
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17. Albanian
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18. Urdu
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19. Turkish
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20. Polish
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21. Norwegian
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22. Galician
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23. Swedish
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24. Jawi
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25. Bengali
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26. Russian
#probably one of the most beautiful threads to ever grace twitter's rotten husk of a platform#i really earnestly almost cried#when people say the world stands with palestine#they mean they speak with palestine as well#israel murders palestinian poets to silence their voice. their culture. their lifeblood#in response the world amplifies his voice tenfold#but what a loss#what an unforgivable loss#i hope it is some consolation to those who loved refaat that his words are now immortalised in languages all over the world#that he has united so many people in their pursuit of palestinian freedom#please please please feel free to add your own translations onto the post in reblogs#i just havent seen anything about this thread on tumblr yet#im just the messenger#palestine will be free#the words of refaat alareer will be immortalised#and his students will carry on his legacy#ah but it is almost 5am and i havent slept#when i wake up i will add more#free palestine#israel#refaat alareer#rest in peace
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listen i know we all love steve “completely ignorant of queer culture to the point that bisexuality is a surprise” harrington being roasted and educated in turns by robin and eddie, yadda yadda, good stuff. i read “they made a horror version of rocky?” in a fic recently and cackled. also a big fan of “he knew he was bi from the start and just never talked about it” as a trope, love it excellent well done
but what about steve who realizes after starcourt that the most important person in his life now has this thing that’s a major part of her life that he knows nothing about, and what if he fucks it up? what if he says something ignorant or rude by accident, and hurts her? what if he loses her because he didn’t know the right thing to say? what if he can’t keep her safe because he doesn’t know what to look out for? absolutely fucking not, this steve says
and listen she’d never say anything, because she can tell that he can tell how much she likes teasing him and teaching him things, so he plays dumb, and she thinks it’s very sweet. but she notices when the zines she keeps under her bed that she buys at that one secret bookshop in indy when she can sneak away on family trips start going missing, always one at a time, and replaced in a few days with another disappearing. and she finds the new ones he must have gone to buy the weekend she was at her aunt’s house hidden in the back of his closet when she goes to steal one of his sweaters. and she notices when he slips more of her queerer movie recommendations into his personal take home pile rather than the movie night stack when he thinks she’s not looking.
she doesn’t notice when he drives to indianapolis after she tries to explain to him why she can’t just ask out a cute girl, tries to impress on him the fear attached to every moment of attraction that he simply has never had to feel, but later she finds a crumpled receipt from a diner in one of his jacket pockets when she’s looking for his keys, and the address is across the street from the bar the gorgeous woman at the bookstore told her about, the one she memorized the address of but hasn’t worked up the guts to think about visiting, and she knows he must have gone looking for a place like that, must have been trying to understand, must have been scoping it out to make sure it was somewhere she could feel safe, after she told him she never had.
so when eddie nearly pops a blood vessel when they clock each other and she mentions that steve is the only person she’s ever come out to before, her hackles come up. because she gets it, she does, he’s only known king steve until recently, so it makes sense that he would be afraid, be concerned for her safety.
but steve is her person, and no one- no one- has ever made her feel as protected or as cared for as he does. no one has ever tried as hard to understand her, no one has ever put so much work into making her feel safe and seen and loved. and she thinks maybe even if no one else ever does, that’s ok. because she has steve, and more importantly steve has her, and that means no one gets to question his ally credentials in her presence without a dressing down to remember, no matter how well they mean or how recently they helped save the world.
(and maybe she’s not as surprised as she could be when he figures out bisexuality all on his own, because she’s been reading all the same pamphlets he has, after all. and she’s seen the way he looks at eddie, i mean come on. maybe no one else has noticed, but then, nobody knows steve harrington like she does.)
#stranger things#steve harrington#robin buckley#platonic stobin#steddie#(if you squint)#this got away from me#i just really love love giving steve a bit more credit yk?#like yes he’s very stupid and he has a history of being self absorbed#and we love that about him#he’s very flawed and that makes him interesting#but i really feel like one of his defining traits is his need to be useful to the people he loves#combine that with his abandonment issues and i really feel like he would be scared of fucking up and losing robin#and yeah he would play dumb like he does with dustin and d&d#but i don’t believe he knows nothing about d&d after all this time and i don’t believe he would let himself know nothing about queer culture#i’m just so so attached to the idea of steve who knows that teasing him for being dumb is his friends’ love language with him#so he pretends to be dumber than he is so they have chances to explain things to him#also stobin sharing clothes is so so so important to me just putting that out there#anyway i just think they’re neat#my writing
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I only know Mexican Spanish, so I can only speak for myself and those I grew up with but "mami" and "papi" are not the equivalent of mommy/daddy as used in sexual or intimate relations.
We use mami and papi with our kids. It's what our tíos and tías call us that affectionately. It's what the lady from the corner store calls us when she's sweet on us and can't quite remember our names. It's what our grandparents call us as they fix up a scraped knee. And they bring out papito/mamita when we're either in deep shit, or in need of comfort that can only come from someone with more knowledge, power, or experience than us. It's a diminutive term of endearment.
I'm not saying it's never used as mommy/daddy, but it's hardly ever a title. The context of it is so wildly different, because it's usually what we call someone we're responsible for.
"Mamas" tho? Mamas can fuck.
#xavi ramblings#it's a little jarring sometimes lmao#but i thought this might be important considering some of the characters i see written with these words are specifically mexican#i'm also open to alternatives!!#would fucking love to see the same dynamic used#it's just a matter of context#i haven't been able to think of a masculine equivalent yet#because it doesn't seem to exist in the language with the same sentiment#kiko brought up that it's because so many latine households are lead and ran by the women#which leads to most possible masculine terms of endearment being diminutive#it all makes sense too that's why i love when women are mean to me#culturally built-in feature
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The Hawaiian language doesn't attach gender to pronouns, but it does have a complex set of relational pronouns, so you can use a particular pronoun to note for example "all of us (except for that guy)"
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#aw don't exclude that guy what did he do?#this is fascinating it's almost three in the morning and I'm staring at a wall and marveling how languages work#answered#anonymous#I don't know if you're just sharing a cool fact or if you speak Hawaiian yourself anon#but either way it launched me back into another Hawaii-related rabbit hole that I really can't afford right now#I've been having this slow burn interest in Hawaiian history/nature/indigenous culture since I was a kid#and I don't mean to sound silly but I just love the way the language sounds it's so melodic and dense and instantly recognizable#zapped with free serotonin whenever it gets mentioned anywhere
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chip art??? from me???? no freaking way!!!
#no id#📚 my posts#🖍�� art#just roll with it#jrwi riptide#chip lastname#i didnt give him a belt in my prev design BUT IT IS BACK!!#his canonical lack of belt knowledge captivated me#why doesnt he know how belts work#he is trying to sew his clothes back up but he is rlly bad at it#the soles of his shoes have probably come off several times and he sews those back on too#MENACE to society#also is a portuguese speaker hello hello#i love having characters speak languages and be a part of cultures i have no clue anything about#<- can i be honest i just listen to my mutuals and other people i like#'jay is jewish' 'chip is latino' ON IT BOSS o7#i follow this fandom's orders blindly i dont make the rules
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I'm kind of obsessed with the wikivoyage page for israel like... just read it
#jumblr#israel#ישראבלר#personal thoughts tag#i'm not obsessed with this article for bad reasons of course! in fact i really relate with this portrayal of israel because... same lmao#israelis: is this true...#i know a *little* about israeli culture but that's not the same as living in israeli culture#i'm a bit obsessed with the casual language on a wikipedia-affiliated source i think#i'm so used to the academic language that 'lets cut to the chase' just surprises me to read LMAO#if the ID is off please let me know!! i skimmed it but i copied it off my phone's built-in text copier in screenshots#they have a huge warning on the article like THERE IS A WAR... you don't have to remind me just let me pretend that i can go to israel LMAO#ngl when i was a kid i LOVED watching the news
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Eyes on me – an interactive whump story. Part 1.
Masterpost. Next part.
Content warning: slavery, imprisonment, dehumanizing language, implied future torture, characters express fantasy racism (slave owners are surprisingly not good people).
The slave auction was a grand building, standing tall and proud of its purpose and the wealth of those coming there. It was a place of privilege – on one side of the grand stage, at least. Or on one side of the iron bars, if you were afforded the honor of seeing the stock before the official bidding began – a rare, sparingly given to the most esteemed of patrons opportunity.
Lord Edarwis Teelo greatly enjoyed being one of them. He passed by the row of cells with the dignity that fit his status he had to fight to present – getting to choose before anyone else laid their hands on the collection was exciting. It'd taken many years of work and effort. He couldn't wait to have it all pay off.
Most were boring offerings. People from all over the kingdoms, a few criminals but mostly those sold to slavery to pay off debts. A servant went on about each of them before Lord Teelo threw him a quick glance. The boy was clever enough to close his mouth, letting the lord enjoy the walk in silence, rarely interrupted by any of the scared prisoners. They watched his every move, of course, at least most of them – eyes wide and scared or shut tight or cast away. All pretty faces (the auction only sold the best), skin ranging from deep browns of the Ashai coast to pale pinks from the northern border.
One of them caught the lord's eyes and he paused, studying the boy closer. Young, barely of age, either shaven cleanly or still unable to grow a beard, with such cute little curls on his head and wide hazel eyes. He was a candy for the eyes, shivering in the corner of the sell, twisting his naked body to preserve some sense of modesty.
"He's from Deruveer," the servant chimed in. "From the province. His family needed money after the draught and he was the youngest son. He's rather timid, a great choice if you want someone to do the chores and not bother you much."
Lord Teelo hummed. The boy was pretty, and convenience didn't always mean boredom. He decided to let him be for now, continuing on his way.
The next thing that got his attention was a dull distant clanging, like metal meeting stone with force. "What's that?" the lord wondered.
The servant answered readily, "Ah, it's from our special collection. They're not trained very well yet – you see, my lord, they are from the Northern Steppes."
"A barbarian?" Lord Teelo drawled out, impressed.
"Not just. They were a chieftain of some tribe there, – one of the bigger ones, I've been told. Our army hunted them for a while, until the chief decided to finally surrender. I don't think they expected this kind of a future, though. They are rather unruly."
"Show me," the lord demanded.
It didn't take long for them to reach the special section, and the clanging became all the louder as they came closer. "They want attention," the servant explained with a vaguely apologetic tone. "Their rations have been cut since they bit the handler, and it hasn't improved their temper, yet. It will eventually though. They are sturdy, but nobody is unbreakable."
The lord hummed, turning the corner and finally being able to take in the person they'd been discussing. He expected – something impressive, matching the tales of unruly northern barbarians, dressed in furs and carrying strange weapons, their skin white as silk or even the snow they saw every year there and covered in nasty scars from constant skirmishes against each other. They were all tall as giants and muscular as lions, – all but the one Lord Teelo saw before him, it seemed.
The barbarian sat in the corner of their cell, naked as all slaves were, even though they didn't seem to even try covering anything. Their skin was pale but in a disappointedly human-like way, adorned with iron cuffs and chains going to the wall and a muzzle fitting tightly around their face and leaving only blue eyes and greasy hair out. They caught Lord Teelo's gaze with determination and moved their arm out as far as they could before jerking it back towards the wall. The chain clung against the stone.
"I expected them to be taller," Lord Teelo expressed their disappointment.
"Yes, yes, I also found their look underwhelming when I first saw them," the servant agreed quickly. "But even though they're rather skinny – they can put up quite a fight! If you decide to buy them, my lord, it is advised you keep them in chains and with guards by your side, at least at first. They're a piece of work for sure."
The lord hummed. "Who else do you keep in this special collection of yours."
"Ah! You're gonna like her," the servant brightened. "A real royalty in our modest house! Follow me, my lord."
The cell he led the lord to was bigger than the rest, and less bare. There was a table, a chair, an honest to gods rug, even, and a whole tea set a woman was enjoying in silence. She wasn't dressed as a queen, Lord Teelo noted, her clothes were rather revealing and obviously made to showcase her beauty more than cover her modesty. But she was dressed – more than most people here could say for themselves.
"Royalty?" Lord Teelo mused. The woman turned her head, deeming him worthy of a long look – and it did feel like she was obliging him. The lord gave his best unimpressed stare back.
"She's the princess of former Terzita."
"Ah. The Night of Storms?" the lord guessed as the princess looked away. He watched her, noting the faint bruises running over the tense shoulders.
"The poor thing watched half of her family murdered before her eyes," the servant agreed. "Such terrible fate. It doesn't make her for a more obedient slave, of course – she's still thinking she should be treated with special dignity. We humor her here – but you are not obliged to do the same, my lord."
He didn't, did he. It would be so fun to put her in her place. Oh, yes, he could enjoy a royal maid. And if she didn't feel like playing the role – he would enjoy teaching her what would come of disobedience.
"You have anything more impressive?" Lord Teelo wondered, not taking his eyes away from the woman.
The servant didn't think for long. "We do," he smiled brightly. "Very special. This might be the most special slave of them all, one you can only see once in a lifetime."
"Oh?"
"It's not a human," the servant declared proudly. Lord Teelo perked up with interest. "Nor is it from the archipelago."
"Ah," Lord Teelo responded and the boy smiled at him, seeing right to his excitement. He showed the way without needing to be prompted.
The thing – the creature, – was huddled in the corner, lying on the ground as the two men approached. Its ears – long, obviously inhuman – perked up at the footsteps, but it didn't move from its place. The lord studied its back, the weird patterns streaming down in swirls of color against the unnatural, obsidian black of its skin – furless, at least, and slightly more human in this. Its spine ended up a tail, curling by its legs. A tail!
"Hey!" the servant called out and rattled a key against the iron bars. The creature moved abruptly to face the sound. Lord Teelo was mesmerized by the yellow of its iris and the black of the rest of its eyes. The pupils retracted into slits when they caught the light.
"Is this a fey?" the lord let out a astounded gasp. Even bringing up the fairytales felt childish, but what else could it be?
"We don't know for sure," the servant replied in a whisper respectful of the marvelous situation. "It doesn't speak Tragesh – or any language, for this matter. It doesn't seem incapable of learning – oi! You, want some food?"
"'uud?" the creature mimicked, flashing fangs in its attempt. Its face made some movement Lord Teelo couldn't read. "Yuu hath no 'uud."
"Astounding," Lord Teelo shook his head. Even if he didn't end up owning the creature, just seeing it was a miracle! "Can it do magic?"
"We keep it in a Shiel's collar," the servant explained. "It hasn't shown any, but – we like to be cautious in this case. It is included with the purchase, of course."
"I see," Lord Teelo tore his gaze away with some difficulty. "Anything else?"
"I'm afraid not, my lord," the servant smiled apologetically. "Was something from our collection to your liking?"
Lord Teelo nodded and then thought about it. Money wasn't a problem, but he was only allowed to buy one slave before the auction – which one would it be?
Updates every 7-10 days (depending on how much time I have and how obvious the poll result is)
@isikedmyself878
Tell me to be tagged in new parts!
#choose the creature. ill have a blast thinking about their language and biology. let my inner nerd have fun. who knows what theyre hiding!#choose the chief. let us all have fun with a defiant whumpee. let us learn of their culture and test their resilience.#choose the princess. let us see how long shell be able to cling to her pride! enjoy someone who could be a match to mc in another life#choose the boy. a perfect unscarred thing that cant imagine just how much pain and fear can exist. or will he grow to love mc instead?#choose anyone. and i swear were going to have fun!#whump#whump writing#whump community#whump blog#interactive whump#interactive story#interactive writing#writing#whumpblr#whumpee#defiant whumpee#non human whumpee#royal whumpee#male whumpee#female whumpee#nonbinary whumpee#whump slavery#pet whumpee#series: eyes on me
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Inazuma Japan & The Horned Owls vs. the language barrier
this post was born from a need for language struggles in the 3rd i11 season, and also from how finnish and japanese have a weird overlap while being so vastly different. (Most of the owls have not too much trouble with basic communication in english since it's taught here from early on, and while IJ doesn't do as well, I think Kidou has the best language skills so he'd do the most talking at first)
explaining the jokes n stuff under cut!
first comic:
"Tobitakapuoli" is a mix of Tobitaka and takapuoli, which means backside or a butt in finnish. Valokainen says "I wonder if he has a good butt" but the word for butt is the one mixed with Tobitaka.
(Valokainen is a man of dumb word plays)(like I am)(a friend asked if he's my self-insert and I wasn't able to fully deny)
I dunno if it's common but at least I like to mash up words in odd places, like adding another word to make a single word into a compound word. but I know for a fact it's a common thing to make twisted words, where you have two words and switch up a few of the first letters in both, to make the meaning totally different while the words still sound the same (ruskaa pakkaseen -> paskaa rukkaseen). most of these are really pervy or just plain poop jokes, but the joke lies in that you don't say the twisted version... everyone just knows.
also! even though finnish and japanese are pretty far from each other as languages, there are many words that are in both languages, but have different meanings. that "taka" is one, but also words like hana, kasa, hai, toki, kakka (heh)
second comic:
even if finnish and japanese sound kinda similar in many ways, there's letters and sounds that don't really exist in the other. like the finnish "ti", with a hard T (if you put "talitintti" in ggl translate and read it out as finnish, you can hear how tintti is aprox. pronounced) but in japanese they would pronounce it with ち (chi), making tintti something like chinchi...
.....and yeah chinchin is penis in japanese and that's the joke *bows and escapes from the stage*
#the owls will prob forever be wondering what endou said since no one is willing to explain#this is just pure dumbassery I think#though I'd love to go a little more into the language barrier struggles because it's missing so often in series and anime specifically#I have a couple of idead for a kind of a cultural excange thing in the back burner waiting for a good moment#oh!! and since this is in i11 universe I want to make managers too! they won't be in the bird theme but another fun one I'd say#own art#original chacter#inazuma fan team#inazuma eleven
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i will say that the solavallenification of ‘ma vhenan’ is quite frankly merrill/hawke erasure. my cute welsh wife was here FIRST
#p#dragon age#merrihawke#i feel like she’s always left out in convos about elven LIs. merrill would NEVER treat me this way <3#my first hawke romanced her bc i heard her voice and immediately fell in love#there’s just something about you being the second human she’s ever met - under bad circumstances like the first one -#and her coming to trust you and share her struggles and her culture and her passion#and eventually love you and call you her heart even though it’s a language you didn’t grow up understanding#but you understand it from the first time she says it#sigh#anyway i love merrill
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Aw!!! Llulah named the turtle áak! (Which is apparently turtle in Mayan)
#I just love this use of languages and cultures so much guys!!#Mayan is actually so interesting#I've written a few essays about ancient Mayan writing as well as its intersection with modern language#very cool stuff!#qsmp#qsmp liveblog
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SO SO excited for new people to once again experience qommunication smp and be welcomed with warm open arms to the island found family, and then immediately be thrown into possible parenthood along with the terrifying horrors like everyone else <3
#cellbit Will spread his anti-cucurucho propaganda again and stuff each and every person into the ordo theoritas to loredump#it’ll be great#qsmp#all of these islanders are hurt in some way#survivalists who make the most of being together happy despite the terrors#and with the connections being made despite language or cultures everyone is respected#the feeling is just so different from anything else#a crazy environment for new people to be introduced to#love watching it happen everytime. after about a week or two you can see the shift#where they go from ‘oh this is neat’ to ‘OH. I UNDERSTAND NOW’
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Adam joins Steven and Andrew for the last "cheers" in Seoul
Travel Season 1x06
Congratulations to the travel boys and all the crew! It was a fantastic first season and everyone should be so proud ღ
@wearewatcher @stevenkwlim
#watcher#watcher entertainment#travel season#steven lim#andrew ilnyckyj#adam bianchi#I love this show the most out of any watcher program#cozy but also fun#and I learned so much about Korea - the language and the culture not just the food#my posts#my gifs
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i know I've mentioned my interpretation of mizu's gender a million times on here but i don't think i ever fully elaborated on it.
so on that note i just wanna ramble about that for a bit. basically, it's my reading of the show that mizu is nonbinary, so let me dig into that.
putting the rest under the cut because it ended up being pretty long lol. also here have a cute mizu pic of her being happy and most at ease with herself, symbolised by her letting her hair down. <3 ok let's proceed.
thus, when i refer to mizu as nonbinary, i am interpreting mizu as a woman, but not ONLY a woman. not strictly a woman. she is also a man. she is also neither of these things, she is something in between, while at the same time she is none of these at all. i've said as much many times, but i just don't want people to think that when i say nonbinary, it inherently means a "third androgynous gender" that essentially turns the gender binary into a gender trinary. not only is that going against what the term nonbinary was crafted for (to go against rigid boxes and categorisation of gender identities), but also, not all nonbinary people fall under that category or definition, and that's definitely not the way i interpret mizu.
okay before i go deeper i'd just like to address some important things. first of all, this post is an analysis of canon, and thus everything i am arguing for is about my own interpretation of the show, and not some baseless projected headcanon i am projecting onto the character. please remember there is a difference between an interpretation (subjective; interpretations will differ from viewer to viewer, but ultimately it is firmly rooted in evidence taken from the source material) VS a headcanon (unrelated and often even contrary to what is presented in canon; opinions wildly differ and they cannot be argued for because there is no canonical evidence to back it up).
ALSO please note that nonbinary is an umbrella term. this means that it applies to a vast range of gender identities. other identities that fall under the nonbinary umbrella include agender, bigender, genderfluid, and so on. however, it's my personal preference to use the term nonbinary as it is, simply because i'm not a fan of microlabels (more power to you if you do like them and find they suit you more though!).
also, before anyone fights me on this, let me clarify further that gender means something different to everyone. it's not your biological sex or physical characteristics. but at the same time, gender is not mere presentation. you can be a trans woman and still present masculine—either because you're closeted and forced to, or because you just want to—and either way, that doesn't take away from your identity as a woman. same goes for trans men. if you're a trans man but you wear skirts and don't bind or don't get top surgery, that doesn't make you any less of a man. because gender non-conformity exists, and does not only apply to cis people! some lesbians are nonbinary and prefer using he/him pronouns while dressing masculinely, but that doesn't mean they're a man, or that they're any less of a lesbian. neither does this mean that they're a cis woman.
the thing about queer identities in general is that, like i said, they mean something different to everyone, because how you identify—regardless of your biological attributes and fashion or pronouns—is an extremely personal experience. so a nonbinary person and a gnc cis woman's experiences might have plenty of overlap, but what distinguishes between the two is up to the individual. there's no set requirements to distinguish you as one or the other, but it's up to you to decide what you identify as, based on what you feel. either way, by simply identifying yourself as anything under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, you are already communicating to the world that you are not what a conservative, cisheteronormative society wants you to be.
which is why i find all this queer infighting on labels to be so ridiculous. because we're all fighting the same fight; the common enemy is a societal structure that divides us into set roles and expectations purely based on our biological parts. that's why biological essentialism in the queer community is a fucking disease. because by arguing that women are inherently weak and fragile and soft and gentle and must be protected from evil ugly men, while men are inherently strong and angry and violent and exploitative of women, these people are advocating for the same fucked up system that marginalises and abuses women as well as effeminate and/or gay men.
anyway. i'm going on a tangent. this was meant to be a blue eye samurai post. so yeah back to that— the point i'm trying to make is that there's no singular way to identify as anything, as everyone's views on gender, especially their own, is specific and personal to the individual.
so with that being said, yes you can definitely interpret mizu as a gnc cis woman and that's a totally valid reading of the text. however, interpreting her as nonbinary or transmasc also doesn't take away from her experiences with misogyny and female oppression, because nonbinary and transmasc folks also experience these things.
me, personally, i view her as nonbinary but not necessarily or not always transmasc because i still believe femininity and womanhood is a very inherent part of who mizu is. for example, from what we've seen, she does not like binding. it does not give her gender euphoria, but is instead very uncomfortable for her both physically and mentally, and represents her suppressing her true self. which is why when she "invites the whole" of herself, she stands completely bare in front of the fire, breasts unbound and hair untied. when she is on the ship heading to a new land in the ending scene, she is no longer hiding her neck and the lack of an adam's apple. we can thus infer that mizu does not have body dysmorphia. she is, in fact, comfortable in her body, and relies on it extremely, because her body is a weapon. instead, what mizu hates about herself is her face—her blue eyes. she hates herself for her hybridised racial identity, hates herself for being a racial Other. hates that she has no home in her homeland. thus it is important to note that these are not queer or feminist themes, but postcolonial ones.*
* and as a tiny aside on this subject, i really do wish more of the fandom discussion would talk about this more. it's just such an essential part to reading her character. like someone who's read homi k bhabha's location of culture and has watched this show, PLEASE talk to me so we can ramble all about how the show is all about home and alienation from community. please. okay anyway—
nevertheless, queer and feminist themes (which are not mutually exclusive by the way!) are still prevalent in her story, though they are not the main issue that she is struggling with. but she does struggle with it to some extent, and we see this especially during her marriage with mikio, where we see her struggle in women's domestic spaces.
on the other hand, though, she finds no trouble or discomfort in being a man or being around other men—even naked ones—and does not seem stifled by living as one, does not seem all that bothered or uncomfortable navigating through men's spaces. contrast this to something like disney's mulan (1998), where we do see mulan struggle in navigating through men's spaces, as she feels uncomfortable being around so many men, always feeling like she doesn't belong and that she's inherently different from them. mizu has no such experiences like this, as her very personality and approach to life is what can be categorised as typically "masculine". she is straightforward and blunt. her first meeting with mikio, she tells him straight to his face that he's old while frowning and raising a brow at him. she approaches problems with her muscles and fists (or swords), rather than with her words or mind. compare this with mulan, who, while well-trained by the end of the movie, still uses her sharp wits rather than brute strength. this is a typically "feminine" approach. it's also the approach akemi relies on throughout the show—through her intelligence and persuasive tongue, she navigates the brothel with ease. mizu, in contrast to someone like mulan and akemi, struggles with womanhood and femininity, and feels detached from it.
thus, in my opinion, mizu is not simply a man, nor is she simply a woman. she is both. man and woman. masculine and feminine. she has to accept both, rather than suppress one or the other. her name means water. fluid.
as a side note, while i do believe mizu is nonbinary, i also primarily use she/her pronouns for her, but this is a personal preference. i find it's easier to use in fanfic (singular they is confusing to write stories with, but again, that's just my feelings on it, and this is coming from someone who uses they/they pronouns). i also lean towards she/her because it's what the creators and all the official promotional copywriting of the show uses. and even though i am a "death to the author" enjoyer, i feel that when interpreting things that are left open-ended, it does help to look at the creators' take on things. also because, in general, being nonbinary simply doesn't necessitate the use of they/them pronouns. nonbinary is not just a third gender. it's about breaking the binary, in any which way, and that's exactly what mizu does, constantly.
also, i'd also like to mention that one of show's head of story even referred to her with the term "nonbinary", rather than simply "androgynous" (see pic below). and it's possible this could be a slip up on his part, in which he believes the terms are interchangeable (they're not btw), but regardless i find it a very interesting word choice, and one that supports my argument.
so anyway yeah that's my incredibly long rambling post.
TL;DR nonbinary mizu rights 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 congrats if you reached the end of this btw. also ily. unless you're a TERF in which case fuck off. ok i'm done.
#shut up haydar#fandom.rtf#meta dissertations.pdf#mizu blue eye samurai#mizu bes#blue eye samurai#blue eye samurai meta#sorry if this is redundant btw i just cant stop thinking thoughts :3#btw i am a mixed* southeast asian who is also nonbinary. just in case that's important context#by mixed* i mean i'm asian+asian but diff ethnicities lol. i dont have a white bone in my body god bless<3#my whiteness is purely learned thru cultural osmosis + bcs my parents taught me english as a first language (boooo 🍅🍅🍅)#also i live in the global south so i think EYE know a thing or two about being gnc in a society of rigid awful gender roles‼️#so likeee i think its ridiculous that its an either-or thing#mizu can be nonbinary while still being a woman of colour ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#also ummm as much as i love queer themes and gay people i wish people would talk more about the racial otherness / community aspect#as mentioned in the post above#you don't need to read bhabha's whole book btw but just take a look at some of his ideas and you'll get what im talking about#like the fact that the fandom mostly ignores those themes in the story makes me feel like :( :/#cuz to me THATS the thing that spoke to me most and its a shame that its just not talked about enough#i mean i know why thats likely the case. but still.#whoops im rambling again 🤪
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i love seeing deaf characters in media just like. there in the background as normal people. but why is it Always a deaf librarian. deaf people can do more than that. learn more from General Amaya
#my mom works in finances (im a CODA). my mom's best friend is a nurse. be more creative#i don't know that much abt Deaf culture as i am not deaf myself but there sure as hell are more than librarians in there#in fact i don't think I've literally ever met a Deaf librarian. and I've met a lot of Deaf people#i do love seeing sign language presented in this book as nothing strange or unusual though#i almost didn't even notice until several paragraphs in it was so natural#i did the same thing with Hearth from magnus chase. didn't fully realise Hearth was deaf until like. it became a Plot Point#its just Normal to me tbh i don't notice bc it's like. daily for me
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Hi!! I don't know if you remember me, but I'm the person you explained the Castalia thing to a few days ago. I've been following you for a while now, but I just managed to go through your blog well and proper, and I'm here to express both my gratitude for the amount of info and links you've shared (I did NOT know about the hepatoscopy and haruspicy, and I'm about to go down a lengthy rabbit hole) and my horror at once again being given a new hyperfixation (I didn't imagine wanting to read about liver-divination help).
Also, also, are you the author of Exeunt Phoebus Apollo on AO3 because that was the fic that sent me on this greek mythology spree, and it's so good I got obsessed with Apollo, and he's everywhere around me now. Thank you for writing it!
AAAAAA THIS IS SO SWEET?? THANK YOU!! I do remember you and hey man, I'm always happy to help <33
I'm so glad to recruit someone else to my hepatoscopy group because it is a long and storied tradition with many many different types of study and schools of thought dating all the way back to the Sumerians! It's an extremely underrated bit of study when it comes to sketching portraits of divination and prophecy when it comes to adaptations of imaginings of greek myth works - similar to bird augury (which was such a widespread skill that most people had some level of understanding of the basics of what the omens of common birds meant the way people now can look at the clouds over head and know if it'll rain and when approximately that rain'll happen).
It's a great and common misunderstanding that things like prophecy and magic were these fantastic elements that had no tangible features to their practices and while there's nothing wrong with interpreting things as more fantastical for the sake of coolness or aesthetic, I personally think these elements are interesting enough to be worth looking into and portraying!
Also yes, I did write Exeunt 😳I'm very very honoured that you enjoyed my work so much and I'm even more grateful that it could let you see the Apollo in everything 💖 Thank you for reading it!!
#ginger answers asks#HAPPY HARUSPICING!!#Idk man this stuff is just super interesting#I know the Argonauts aren't a very popular tale (for some reason)#But Medea's works of magic are also some of the clearest we get to see descriptions of in text#And part of why the morality of Medea is something that's so widely debated even now is because of what her magic entailed#I personally love stuff like that#Communing with the gods in greek myth always necessitates some kind of sacrifice#The link must literally be made in blood and when mistakes are made or ceremony is ignored#those prices are also paid in blood#now to modern sensibilities it seems cruel or unusual#but many religions in antiquity worked on these bases and the spilling of blood meant more than violence or death or ill omen#There were so many other nuances to it in terms of honour in death or divine death etc etc#One can be very cynical and say 'oh well it doesn't matter they were still killing things and there's nothing cool about that'#And to that I say buddy you're in the wrong hobby#If you can only perceive the spilling of blood whether human or animal as gross/murder/etc etc then you REALLY shouldn't be consuming#pagan culture and tradition LMFAO#Apollo was like#The Butcher God#There's no point is erasing half of his identity to make him some sterile always nice positive good god#He was a hunter a butcher blood stained a sacrificer#Of course blood would be but a language to him#Anyway all of that is to say hepatoscopy is cool and there's a ton of reading to do about it#Fly free my liver brethren!! Fly free!!!!
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