#last names like … verb + noun or adjective + verb

[biskael]

You could tell me that Lyric Lunarscaled was a canonical Forgotten Realms character & I’d probably believe you , tbh

[elliespectacular]

Do you still have that Jellicle name generator saved anywhere? Some friends and I used it for our OCs and it was an absolute blast!

The name I got was Callio the convivial cat, which is short for Calliope, who I played in Xanadu. She has a whole costume and everything now!

Even if you don't have it anymore, tysm for making it ;-;

Xanadu mention! Also I do still have it saved! This one is revised a little and I might make more changes later, but here it is in text form:

Jellicle Name Generator

This will give you a name that is relatively in-line with the naming conventions seen in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot and later adapted into the musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber - and unlike those shitty "last name and your birth month" name generators, this one won't doxx you in the process.

Before we begin, a bit of terminology we'll be using: - Portmanteau: Turning multiple words into one word linked by a sound or letter. Compelling Television = Compellevision. Punk Squid = Squnk - Smoosh: Combine words by simply removing the space and (optionally) changing the word positions. Country Jester = countryjester - Prefix: Goes before the name, like Mr. or Captain - Suffix: Goes after the name, like Jr. or The Great - Cat-like term: Something associated with cats. Meow, Whisker, Bell, Claw, Scratch, etc.

FIRST: Roll a D20 to determine your base name

An uncommon person’s first name

First syllable of a common last name + a unit of measurement. Portmanteau 'em.

Short, dangerous noun + a non-dangerous profession. Smoosh 'em.

Two Latin words. Portmanteau 'em.

A simple present-tense verb + sophisticated person's first name. Smoosh 'em.

Cat-like term + sophisticated person's first name. Smoosh 'em.

Combine two short nouns, then add "-er" "-ie" or "-est" to the end.

Think of an actor you like. Shorten their first name to its shortest nickname.

A medical term spelled incorrectly.

A food you liked as a kid + a pretentious word. Smoosh 'em.

A figure of legend/myth. Remove one syllable and any spaces.

An older person's first name that isn't common today.

Last name of a historical figure + a silly word. Portmanteau 'em.

A kids' name with 2 or more syllables + that name again without the first syllable + an onomatopoeia. Portmanteau 'em if you can.

A silly word + the first name of a former coworker. Portmanteau 'em.

A kind of public event + a cat-like term. Smoosh 'em.

Something from ancient history. Shorten what you came up with into a single word.

Something you do when you're nervous. Take that verb and add "-er" to the end to make it a noun.

Silly word + hostile-sounding verb. Portmanteau 'em.

Two silly words with 2+ syllables each. Smoosh 'em.

SECOND: Roll another D20 for flavor

Before you roll, consider how your name sounds without any additional flavor. If it's fine on its own, feel free to leave it as-is. Otherwise, roll on!

Suffix - An upsettingly average last name

Suffix - Think of a hobby. Your suffix is "The _____ Cat"

Prefix - A short adjective

Suffix - Think of an adjective. Your suffix is "The _____ Cat"

Prefix - Choose Mr. Mrs. Ms. Mx. or something similar

Suffix - Think of a color. Your suffix is "The _____ Cat"

Prefix - Any one-syllable word. Repeat the word a second time, adding or replacing the first consonant with that of your base name.

Suffix - Think of any non-proper noun. Your suffix is "The _____ Cat"

Suffix - it's the word Cat

Suffix - it's the word Kitty

Suffix - it's the word Kitten

Prefix - Choose "Sir" "Madam" "Captain" or something similar

Prefix - Choose "Lord" "Lady" "Noble" or something similar

Prefix - His/Her/Their Majesty (or any pronoun you prefer)

Prefix - His/Her/Their Grace (or any pronoun you prefer)

Prefix - Mc

Prefix - Van

Prefix - Von

Prefix - De

Suffix - Any cat-like term

And you're done!*

*This is as much a creative exercise as it is a "generator" so feel free to mess with the formula and/or let your result inspire something more original. Add multiple layers of flavor if you want. The rules are not rigid. I recommend generating a few names and picking your favorite!

[anistarrose]

okay so I know we only have two data points (Magnus and Barry), but what if all the human last names on the IPRE homeworld were actually a little silly. like in d&d lore it's usually gnomes that are supposed to be the silly ones, but what if humans got to be the silly ones on the two-sunned planet. as a treat. what if it was actually pretty common for human last names in general, not just Bluejeans or Burnsides, to take the form of "[silly adjective or verb] + [silly plural noun]" in a sort of portmanteau, that also has a ring to it as a conjoined phrase

are you still with me? do you follow? okay, good. I would now like to pitch to you that Lucretia's last name, canonically, could very plausibly be Adventurezones

[dearchloe]

little learning time: homophones

All characters are 18+

Today, let's talk about homophones!

That's a big scary word, isn't it? But it's nothing to worry about! A homophone is just a word that sounds the same as another word, even though it looks different and has a different meaning. Can you think of any examples?

Here's one! We and wee are homophones!

We is a word that's used to talk about yourself and other people together! For example:

"We need to talk about your potty habits," Mummy told Lily.

You see how here, Mummy is talking about herself and Lily?

Wee is different! It's what makes your nappies all warm and soggy sometimes! Or if you're super big and your mummy trusts you not to make a mess, maybe you do your wees in the potty. For example:

"I didn't wee on the floor!" Lily argued.

You see how here, Lily is talking about wee as an action she 'didn't' do? That means it's a verb, but we haven't learnt about those yet, so don't worry! Wee can also be a noun. We did learn about those. Do you remember what they are?

That's right! They're words that name a certain thing. For example:

"Did you do a wee in the potty, Lily?" Mummy asked.

Can you remember how to pick all the nouns out of this sentence?

It's important to know about some common homophones because if you don't, you might use the wrong word, and then your sentences won't make sense! Your mummy might even think it's just baby babble!

Look:

"Wee need to talk about your potty habits," Mummy told Lily.

That doesn't make much sense, does it now?

There are some super important homophones that are really easy to get wrong! Shall we learn them?

The first set of homophones come as a three! Can you count that high?

The words are to, too, and two. Let's take them one by one.

To is a word we use to show direction and movement. We could say that Mummy went to the nursery, or Mummy gave the bottle to Lily. Can you tell what's moving in each sentence?

Too is a word that means 'more than the right amount'. We could say that Lily was too little to use the potty, or Lily's nappy was too wet to last the night. You could remember this one by thinking that it has too many Os — more than both the other homophones in the set!

Two is a number! How are your maths classes going? We could say that Mummy has two little girls, or that Lily did a number two in her Pull-Up. Pee-yew! You could remember this one by thinking that the W in the middle is like two Vs stuck together. Or is that too complicated for little brains?

You should also know the difference between there, their, and they're!

There is a word we use to talk about places! It means 'in that place', or 'at that point'. It can also be used to say that something is present. We could say that the potty is over there, or that there were lots of nappies for Lily in Mummy's bag. You can remember this because the word there contains another word that we use to talk about places. Can you spy it? The word is 'here'! Why not write out the phrase here and there a few times? I'm sure that will help you remember!

Their is a word that we use to talk about things belonging to other people! Remember when we talked about nouns? Their is a word that describes who a noun belongs to, and that means it's a type of word called an adjective! But don't worry about that too much, we'll learn about adjectives another day. We could say that Lily and Katie loved their Mummy, or that when Lily tried to be big, Mummy and Katie rolled their eyes. How do you think we can remember this one? Would you like to come up with your own rule?

A rule that helps us remember something is called a mnemonic! Can you say that word? That's ok, it's a very tricky word for little mouths! Maybe it would help if you took your dummy out?

Remember, their is a word that you use to talk about things belonging to more than one other person! You can also use it to talk about things belonging to your nonbinary friends or caretakers, if they use they/them pronouns! It's super important to be respectful of other people's identities when you talk about them.

Now let's talk about they're! See how it has an apostrophe in the middle? An apostrophe is a special mark that does lots of different jobs, but in this word, it's telling us about something called a contraction. That means that this word should have extra letters in it! Can you guess what letters?

They're is a contraction of they are! See how the a of are has been taken out, and the two words have been joined together? Because this is a phrase that gets used lots and lots, people have come up with this shorter form to make it quicker to say and write. We could say they're both getting their nappies changed, or they're going to bed early.

This one is super easy to remember! You just need to look at your sentence and decide if it would make sense to replace they're with the words they are.

Do you want to try it?

Let's take this sentence from earlier, Lily and Katie loved their Mummy. If you got a little bit confused and wrote Lily and Katie loved they're Mummy, you could use this trick! So the sentence would say Lily and Katie loved they are Mummy.

Does that make sense? No, I don't think so either! So now you know that they're isn't the homophone in this sentence!

They're is used to talk about what two or more people are, or what a nonbinary person using they/them pronouns is! If you're talking about a single person who uses he/him, she/her, or other pronouns, you have to use a different contraction. Some examples are he's and she's.

Do you know about homophones now? Are you sure? Let's find out!

Can you choose the right homophone in the following sentences?

Lily and Katie are to/too/two confident about there/their/they're potty training.

The to/too/two of them decide they don't need there/their/they're nappies any more.

They think they can make it to/too/two the potty every single time.

There/their/they're not right about that, are they?

They take there/their/they're nappies off when Mummy isn't there/their/they're.

Lily and Katie are really to/too/two little to do this, though!

There/their/they're are lots of puddles on the floor when Mummy gets home, and she's cross.

Her to/too/two little girls have pottied everywhere without there/their/they're nappies on!

She smacks there/their/they're bottoms and puts them to/too/two bed early.

It's lucky Mummy has to/too/two boobies to/too/two give her to/too/two babies there/their/they're nighttime feed faster.

How are you feeling? Do you think you picked all the right homophones? Let's see!

Q1

The first homophone here is too! Remember, it means 'more than the right amount'! How much confidence do you think is the right amount for Katie and Lily to have in their potty training?

The other homophone in this sentence is their, because it's the potty training belonging to Katie and Lily — it's theirs, even if there isn't very much of it!

Q2

The first homophone here is two. Why's that? Remember, two is a number! Can you count that high? One little girl and another little girl make two little girls! The next answer is their. The nappies definitely belong to Katie and Lily! They're not Mummy's, she's far too big! What kind of nappies do you have? Are they as adorable as you are?

Q3

There's only one answer here, and it's to! Remember, we use this one when we're talking about movement. Katie and Lily are moving to the potty — or at least, they should be. Do you go to the potty, or does the potty come to you? Or are you too little for that, and you still potty in your pants?

Q4

The answer in this sentence is they're. Look at the sentence! You could use they are instead, right?

Do you think you're right about how good your potty training is? Does your mummy agree with you? You should listen to her! Lots of little ones get overconfident if they sometimes manage to get their wees and poos in the potty, but good mummies know that potty training is a long process and little ones can't always be trusted!

Q5

This sentence is especially tricky, because it has two homophones in it that sound the same as each other! The first one is their. That's because the nappies still belong to Katie and Lily even after they take them off. When your mummy takes your soggy nappies off, they're still yours! And no one else wants them, do they? That would be yucky!

The second one is there. How do we remember this one? That's right! It has the word 'here' in it, so it talks about places! This sentence is about where Mummy is. What does your mummy do when she's not there? Does she leave you all by yourself, or do you get to play with a babysitter?

Q6

The answer here is too! That's a tricky one, because of course, Katie and Lily aren't too little — they're just the right amount of little! But they're too little for the specific situation we're talking about, aren't they? Only very big girls get to go without their nappies, and it's always up to their mummies to decide when that happens!

Q7

Did you get this answer? That's right, it's there! Remember, we can use this one to talk about things that are present. That's not like a Christmas present, though. It's a word that just means the thing exists in a certain place, like these puddles exist on Mummy's floor. But of course a present could be present! I'm not sure Mummy wants any soggy yellow presents, though — and it's not even Christmas!

Q8

There are two homophones to decide on here, but we've seen both of them before! Do you remember? The first one is two, the number of little troublemakers that Mummy has. Do you have a sister, brother, or sibling? If you do, you have to be super grown up and good at sharing your mummy!

The second one is their. We talked about how the nappies still belong to Lily and Katie even though they took them off, didn't we? That's a very naughty thing to do, remember!

Q9

This answer is their again! That's because the smacked bottoms belong to the little girls, even though they probably wish they didn't! Do you get your bottom smacked sometimes? That's ok! Learning to be good is super hard sometimes, but it's just as important as learning all about homophones, and a smacked bottom is a really good reminder, isn't it?

The second answer is to. It's a direction of travel, isn't it? Mummy is taking her little cuties upstairs and tucking them into their cot! When's your bedtime? Is it nice and early so you're wide awake for school?

Q10

This is the last question, and there are lots of homophones to find! Did you get them all? Let's see!

The first one is two again! It's another number! Mummy has one boobie for each of her two babies — isn't that lucky? Do you have to share your mummy's boobies, or do you get them all to yourself?

The second answer is to. This is a little bit different, isn't it? It's not about movement, but you can also use to to mean something like 'so that'. Do you see how that works? Here, it's lucky Mummy has two boobies, so that she can feed both her babies at once!

The third homophone is another two. Did you know that? It's easy to work out! This sentence is telling you that Mummy has the same number of boobies as babies, so it uses the same word to describe each of those things!

And finally, the last homophone is their! Did you get it? The nighttime feed is a special time that belongs to Lily and Katie, when they can cuddle up together and spend time with their Mummy as a family. Doesn't that sound nice?

Did Katie, Lily, and Mummy work together to help you learn all about homophones? Do you think you know them super well?

Why not write a little list of all the homophones you can think of, and then try writing some sentences using them? Make sure to get them the right way round!

[tokidokitokyo]

The あいうえお Game

Hello! I wanted to share with you a game that I made up that I like to use to practice Japanese vocabulary in my spare time (i.e. when I'm bored and don't have access to a phone). This game works well when you don't have time to do formal studying but want to challenge yourself for a short time anyways.

How to Play?

The general idea of the game is to come up with a word for each syllable of the Japanese alphabet/syllabary (あいうえお, etc.).

Step 1: Pick a Theme

You can pick any theme that you'd like, but I find that broader themes are easier to come up with words for than more specific themes.

Some of my favorite themes include:

Animals

Food

First Names

Last Names

Sports

You could also do verbs, adjectives, nouns, etc. Or, you can play anything goes!

Step 2: Think of as Many Words as Possible

Now, you just go through the syllabary in given (alphabetical?) order in your head and come up with a word that matches your theme starting with each syllable. Examples below!

Animals: あ=ありくい、い=イルカ、う=うさぎ、など

Food: あ=あんぱん、い=いも、う=うどん、など

First Names: あ=あいり、い=いえやす、う=うさこ、など

Last Names: あ=ありま、い=いとう、う=うえだ、など

Sports: あ=アイスホッケー、い=イースポーツ、う=ウィルチェアーラグビー、など

*など=etc.

Step 3: If You Get Stuck, Skip It!

If you get stuck on a syllable and can't think of anything, skip it! You can either come back to it look up a word later, or you can just forgive yourself for not having a vocabulary word to insert there. When I get stuck I usually skip it and try to keep my momentum going. The nice part about this game is that there is no score and no one is judging you!

And that's it! That's how to play the あいうえお game. I enjoy it because it's simple and it's portable and it's a great way to practice vocabulary. 皆さん楽しんでね！

[fateandloveentwined]

antithetical couplets

chinese couplets for tgcf/mdzs/svsss/2ha in that order (elaboration below):

仙花垂怜，川城倾谢

陈情一曲，忘羡无羁

秋霜垣断，洛水河绵

玉衡微晚墨夜燃，棠雨渐宁苍生渡。

elaboration

tgcf : huacheng x xielian

仙花垂怜，川城倾谢

xiānhuā chuílián, chuān chéng qīng xiè

Heavenly flowers empathise and shed mercy; entire rivers and cities bow down in gratitude.

mdzs : lwj x wwx

陈情一曲，忘羡无羁

chénqíng yī qū, wàngxiàn wú jī

I lay out my resentments and play a piece on Chenqing; I forget my covetings of the world and go out into the wild, untamed.

svsss : lbh x sqq

秋霜垣断，洛水河绵

qiūshuāng yuán duàn, luòshuǐ hé mián

In the autumn frost the walls fall down; in the Luo River the waters flow, unabating.

2ha : mo ran x cwn

玉衡微晚墨夜燃，棠雨渐宁苍生渡。

yùhéng wēi wǎn mòyè rán, tángyǔ jiàn níng cāngshēng dù

The Yuheng star, Alioth, of the Big Dipper dips slightly and burns in the ink-like night; the Haitang flowers rain, gradually calms, and ferries all mortals across the raging seas.

antithetical couplets, or alternatively, the lack thereof. these are known as 对仗 (duì zhàng) in chinese (similar to 对联 duì lián、对偶 duì ǒu you may have heard of), where the number of characters in each phrase are the same, while the position of the noun in the first part of the couplet equates the position of the noun in the second, the verb the verb, the adjective the adjective etc. there's also this thing called 平仄 (píng zè) in which the tonality of the first and second parts of the couplet has to be opposite (terrible explanation sorry for butchering it).

they aren't strictly 对仗 here. words like 绵 is more an adjective than a verb, while 断 is a verb. the 平仄 for the last one (2ha) should work alright, i didn't bother for the other four-char phrases.

Italicised words delineate main character-related words in chinese. It all began with Nirvana in Fire jingsu's "年景靖好，岁月长苏" (nián jǐng jìng hǎo, suì yuè cháng sū) which I loved to bits, and that led to me coming up with all these (very flawed) couplets stringing together character names and relevant things.

rough english translations. again i linked some of the words together in pinyin for easy understanding but officially they should be written apart.

reposted from ao3 on which i have not really written anything.

[trivialbob]

Last night Sheila and I went to a seafood place. For a cheeseburger.

Coastal Seafoods in Minneapolis is a fresh seafood market. It's a neat little place. When @littlerunnergurl visited us years ago she and I shopped there for ingredients of a seafood stew LRG made for us.

There's a small counter for hot food in back. Two four-tops and a small row of bars stools next to a cold window is the complete dining room. A Facebook page devoted to smashburgers had mentioned this place's burger recently. That's what got us over there.

We ordered one Coastal Burger. "Two 4oz Wagyu Beef Patties, Caramalized Onion Jam, Pickles, American Cheese, & Dijon Mayo on Toasted Brioche!" (images from the Coastal Foods website)

I also ordered the wonderful looking Connecticut Style Lobster Roll. "Warm Lobster & Seasoned Butter on a Toasted Tom Cat Bakery Roll"

The cook cut them in half so Sheila and I could try some of each. Both were fantastic. We didn't order French fries or any sides. The older I get the wiser I am about not ordering too much food. For sure if there had been a serving of fries in front of me I wouldn't have left until the plate was clean. As it was, we walked out feeling satisfied yet not needing to adjust the car seats back so we could fit in the Subaru.

I'd been wanting to see some dive bars. A block away is the Fraternal Order of Eagles #34. It's an appropriately dimly lit place where most of the customers seemed to know each other. We didn't order food, but I almost did just to purchase a cheeseburger for under ten bucks, a rare thing these days.

The bartender was friendly. She knew what to pour for people a few times without asking. I chuckled when she asked us if we'd be okay for a bit unattended when she went outside for a quick smoke.

It's located at the intersection of two similarly named streets. When I was a kid it was mind-blowing when I saw Minneapolis street signs with the same numbers. Sure, the Av and St make a difference, but it still seemed like division by zero to someone not yet accustomed to how cities named numbered east/west and north/south roads. Similarly, I was amazed when my dad pointed out the named streets in some places were in freaking alphabetical order.

After a bottle of beer (and a sunset) we drove south a short distance through the cold and dark night to the Schooner Tavern. It too is at an intersection of numbered streets.

It was a bit louder, but no less dimly lit, than the previous place. The two bartenders were very friendly. Sheila and I again sat at the bar for one beer.

We listened to conversations around us. It was only 5:30 PM but some folks appeared to have started the evening early. A frazzled looking guy (who was probably 15 years younger than he actually appeared) must have gotten the happy hour special on "fucks" which seem to have been a 20-for-1 deal. Whew, I got tired of hearing that word used as noun, verb, adjective, preposition, pronoun, article, and adverb.

The bottles behind the bar appeared to glow. If the bar had been quieter maybe I would have heard them hum.

Sometimes I want of those tiny Red Bull refrigerators with the glass door (as seen in the left side of this picture I took). Sheila doesn't think it would look appropriate on our coffee table no matter how well it fit. People would probably trip over the power cord she also claims. I still want one though.

We still enjoyed the atmosphere while we had one beer. After that we headed to the brewery by our house. It's at the intersection of one named and one numbered street, more to the sensibilities of my suburban mind.

We met up with one couple we know and another couple who were on a second date. The guy is a regular, the woman is new to that crowd. At first she seemed like she wanted to move to a private table. Soon though she warmed up to us, and the six of us had a great conversation.

I'm going to start looking up some more dive bars for another weekend.

[yoshiyoshitaniart]

Heya! I’m not sure what questions’ve been asked/answered already but I’ve been keeping up with your progress on the oracle cards (can’t wait to get them btw! I already own the tarot you made and I love them) I just wanted to ask about the “theme” of each of your five suits? I have theories but nothing solid.

Also, something that caught my attention was how most of your card names in the four suits with depictions of specific myths are nouns (specifically concepts— ambition, order, purity, etc.) but the Amaterasu card is the verb ‘Ascend’? You also have two cards labeled ‘Trickster’ and ‘Dreamer’ which also break the pattern of ‘name-of-concept’ like ‘Trickery’ or ‘Dreams’ in favor of ‘person-engaged-with-concept’ and I was wondering what the significance of that distinction was to the meanings of those cards. Knowing how the meaning behind oracle cards is largely dependent on the deck’s maker, I got curious but I /have/ been known to read too far into things in the past so thought I’d just ask.

So sorry that this ask got so long! I’m too hyped about this deck I have to k n o w but I also don’t want to bother too much if this all gets explained in a guidebook like with your tarot cards.

Thank you for your question! I am extremely flattered that you're following my oracle deck so closely, and I really hope that it can live up to your expectations! tldr; the exact names are a work in progress. I have strong feelings about the energy of each card, but I'll probably be tweaking until the last minute what each TITLE should be. It's hard to encapsulate everything a whole character and theme represents, and you're right about the adjective/verb/noun jumble being confusing. It's definitely something I'm taking into consideration, and have been talking with my publisher about. If you're interested in following along, I recommend joining my monthly newsletter! I put updates there and will keep everyone apprised of publishing news

Longer answer:

My oracle deck has 12 Myths/Legends, which each myth being represented in 4 cards: Hero, Advisor, Challenge, Desire

To show you, these are the 12 cards for the 3 myths, Amaterasu's Cave, Ishtar's Decent into the Underworld, and Panji Semirang.

Hero Cards (Laurel Wreath icon): These are usually characters of action and movement. The embody change, creativity, and the symbol of fire. While these are generally speaking more positive cards, there are a few that can lean more negatively. While I absolutely love Ishtar, her Ambition does not always endear her to the rest of her pantheon Advisor Cards (Eye Icon): These are characters of stability and advice. They embody intellect, the mind, and the symbol of wind. Again there are positive and negative cards. There is Introspection but also Gossip

Challenge Cards (Skull Icon): These are cards of opposition and confrontation. They embody emotion, volatility, and the symbol of water. While they tend to be more negative with traits like Envy and Greed, they can also be necessary like Sacrifice an Reckoning

Desire Cards (Heart Icon): These are cards of aspiration and hope. They embody the heart, wishes, and the symbol of earth. These are some of the more diverse cards, with desires ranging from the stability of a father figure, to a throne of power, to good time.

The 12 cards for the 3 myths The White Snake, The Industrious Daughter, and The Tale of Huathacauri

So I'll go over a little bit of my thought process for the names of these cards. Specifically you mentioned Amaterasu as the Ascend card, so I'll talk about that set. Originally when I was creating these cards my intention was to have each card named the name of the character/object. So, Amaterasu was going to be named Amaterasu, Ame no Uzume was going to be Ame no Uzume, etc etc. But when I started showing the cards to friends and family, the feedback I got was that the cards were extremely hard to use unless you were already innately familiar with each of the characters and their stories. This was really helpful, because I do want to encourage people to learn these stories--but I don't want to Assign Homework just so you can enjoy this oracle deck. I want anyone to be able to use this deck instantly, and if they want to learn more, there is a rich history for them to dive in to.

So that's when I started considering Titles for each of the cards, similar to many existing Oracle decks.

In summary in Amaterasu's Cave, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu (Hero) loves her weaver handmaiden (Desire) . This handmaiden is killed by Amaterasu's brother Susanoo (Challenge), which causes the grief stricken Amaterasu to hide in a cave. She eventually lured out by the charms and humor of the goddess Ame no Uzume. To start of easy, Susanoo and the handmaiden are clearly opposites of each other. The handmaiden is a weaver in Amaterasu's comfortable life and home, and so she represents peace and ORDER. Susanoo comes in and wrecks the harmony, causing CHAOS, ANARCHY and WRATH (I'm not sure which of these names I like best). Amaterasu, when she leaves her cave, ultimately represents the end of depression, moving on, and like a sun, ASCENDING once again. Although a better name might be REJUVENATION, RECOVERY, or maybe RE IGNITE to get more of the sun imagery in there again. It's tough to find a good single word for "I-was-too-depressed-to-get-out-of-bed-but-I-am-getting-better-and-now-I'm-ready-to-go-outside-again" But if you know one please tell me! Lastly there is Ame no Uzume, who is that friend that reminds you life is still worth it by showing you all the fun and beauty in the world. I originally called her REJUVENATION, but she might be better described as CELEBRATION, or JOY as it is her party that brings Amaterasu out of hiding. She can also be seen as a representation of a healing S-xWorker, as it is specifically her hilarious and lewd striptease that calls to Amaterasu.

But lastly let me also talk about the 5th and last suit of the oracle deck, the suit of Symbols

Symbol Cards (Star icon): These 12 cards are symbols that show up repeatedly in multiple myths and fairy tales from around the world. I wouldn't go so far as to call them Universal Symbols, because not every culture has every single one of these, but they are strong and impactful Archetypes.

For example The Forbidden is every box or door that we are told Not To Open. Some famous examples are Pandora's box, Cupid's Bed Curtain, or Bluebeard's Basement. While these things are expressly off limits, these are often lines we will need to cross in order to learn or grow. We just also have to realize there will be consequences.

The naming for these ones is really easy, as they will all be "The Noun"

All told there will 60 cards (12 myths with 4 cards each, and 12 symbol cards) If you're interested in following along, I recommend joining my monthly newsletter! I put updates there and will keep everyone apprised of publishing news

[cellarspider]

Qunlat 10/12: Profession Names

⭅ Previous =⦾ Index ⦾= Next ⭆

Alright! Get your Qunlat name info here! It took me nine posts worth of setup to get here, and hopefully that’ll help folks to make their own names, rather than feel limited to words that are already in the dictionary.

We’ll start with Qunari names, or rather, professions. 

First, I want to start with a bit of IRL history, because frankly, the use of these titles has been treated as alien, when English does this all the time, ours are just fossilized into surnames. Abbot, Baker, Carpenter, Draper, Earl, Fletcher–I can go through the entire alphabet except for Z, and that’s just from English names! If you have a surname that’s a name for a current or former occupation, it means one of your ancestors did this job. Probably multiple generations thereof, because social mobility was not much of a thing. Also makes “Abbot” a pretty spicy name to inherit, come to think of it. Maybe they were the Abbot of Cockaigne.

Now, let’s be clear–we only know profession-names that have made it outside of Qunari territory. That limits us mostly to professions in the Antaam, Ben-Hassrath, and support staff. Our names, hell, all of our vocabulary is going to be skewed toward them. But we can make some general observations that can be broadly applicable.

The compounding and derivational rules we talked about last time also apply to names, so we can split them into a few major patterns:

Adjective-noun compounds: This is most obviously seen in Saarebas, “dangerous thing”. Note that saar and bas are the root words, with an -e- inserted between them. Unlike the other use of this infix, it seems to purely act as a spacer vowel, which makes the name flow a little better. This is not consistently applied to “r-b” consonant clusters, and it doesn’t seem to have a grammatical use. We’re in “do it by vibes” territory here.

Noun-agentive or verb-agentive derivations: Profession-names often take -ad or -aad as an ending: Ashaad, Arvaarad, Karasaad, etc. The wiki claims this is an Antaam thing, but that’s not true–Hissrad is part of the Ben-Hassrath, and that’s technically an Asala role. We don’t know what -aad might then mean, because even some Antaam roles use -ari instead. It’s worth remembering that, like the rest of Qunlat, -aad and -ari can be either plural or singular: Beresaad, obviously, is usually used to refer to those that collectively fall under a particular branch of the Antaam, while Ashkaari can refer to a single person.

Verb-noun compounds: These are quite common, and we’ll come back to these in Vashoth names as well. For profession-names, we have Taarbas, Viddasala, Karashok etc. These can be translated as “one who [verb]s [noun]”: One who keeps things, one who converts purpose, one who… somethings struggle, we don’t actually have a canonical translation for kara. We only know it appears in a lot of Antaam names for warriors, groups of warriors (karataam), and one untranslated word spoken by Arvaarad in DA2 (karasaam). I won’t speculate on its meaning here.

There are some that don’t fit these patterns: The salasari triumvirate use a special agentive prefix Ari-. Given its use as “people” in other contexts, this may mean “the people’s [x]”, or simply emphasize their role in reflecting the collective’s needs under the Qun. 

Others are of ambiguous definition or structure that we don’t understand: Arvaarad,⁽²⁾ Salit,⁽³⁾ Tamassran,⁽⁴⁾ Vidathiss,⁽⁵⁾ etc. I’ve got lots of speculations about these, which I’ve banished to the footnotes, but nothing concrete about them.

Other names, however, break the rules, and I want to explain why these may not sound right in translation.

Let’s use Bas-taar as the example. It’s supposed to mean “keeper of bas”, an equivalent to a warden or overseer for prisoners of war.

Anyone who has taken a peek at the dictionary spreadsheet may possibly have seen my annoyance about this name: Tevinter Nights actually explains the joke of the name to you. It sounds like “bastard”, you see. Very funny. Ha. I am amused.

But looking at how we’ve broken down the names here, one may see the problem: bas is a noun, and taar is a verb, making this a noun-verb compound. …Which we haven’t been doing, only verb-noun compounds. You could, theoretically, do it the other way, but it has grammatical implications. 

Let’s compare the name to a suspiciously similar one I already introduced: Taarbas. “(One who) keeps things”. This follows Qunlat’s overall word order of Subject, Verb, Object. Bas is the object that’s kept, so it comes second. Bas-taar implies bas is the subject, the one who keeps. Hence also Bas-Saarebas, a foreign mage. So, Bas-taar implies a meaning of “foreigner (who) keeps”. 

Because I am long-suffering but fair in my wrath, I will say there is a way to make Bas-taar work,⁽⁶⁾ but for the sake of general naming schemes, just know that you need to be careful with word order when creating compound words and names.

There’s one last thing to cover in this segment: given names, including nicknames. Because Qunari do have those, logistically you need those. Unless you’re the Valo-Kas and numbering your Ashaads, you need some way to tell people apart! And we know this starts early in life: Tamassrans working as teachers and carers for Imekaari may give them names–Bull was Ashkaari due to his inquisitiveness as a kid. 

These names may not stay with them as their official title, but it indicates that even when someone has a role–in this case “child”–they still can receive other names on a semi-formal basis. This ends up pretty similar to how people can accumulate multiple names throughout their lifetime in many cultures, such as courtesy names across East Asia.

And then there’s nicknames, given to someone by a non-official source. The only one we know of is Gatt, from gaatlok: nicknamed thus for his volatile temper resulting form the whole was-almost-a-magister’s-child-sacrifice situation. I’ll note that “gatt” as a word breaks our previously established phonotactics with that double T, but let’s let the guy have this one. He deserves it.

We’ll look at Tal-Vashoth and Vashoth names next time.

⭅ Previous =⦾ Index ⦾= Next ⭆

Footnotes

(1) https://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html

(2) Arvaarad has a canon translation: “One who holds back evil”, but I’ve never been able to make that fit. Ar should mean “hold back”, but the way vaar gets compounded into other words is… it’s rebracketing, like with asala-taar last time. If vaar means “evil”, Basvaarad would mean “one who is an evil foreigner”, and darvaarad would mean “one who is a place that’s evil”. Darvaarad has an easy fix: The suffix -dar is used in placenames. A place that holds back evil would be Arvaardar.

Basvaarad is especially weird though, because it first appears in Shepherding Wolves, a quest that uses the term Bas-Saarebas for a foreign mage. Bas-Arvaarad would be perfectly possible, but was not used. 

(3) I have almost no idea with Salit. Sala means “purpose”, so sal might be a root word of that. That would theoretically leave -it, which has been seen as a variant third person singular pronoun in astaarit, something that still annoys me for its Englishness. But no other name uses it or asit to refer to the person doing the job, so I can’t say for certain what it means in this context, or if I’m even breaking the name down correctly. Might be Sa-lit, might be Sal-it. I actually prefer the former, though it would make it even harder to parse.

(4) Tamassran is translated as “those who speak”, which gives us an odd new suffix -ran. It might be a synonym for “person”, or an unknown hyponym: a word that covers a smaller scope (ex. “child” is a hyponym of “person”). We don’t know anything about the rest of the word. Tamass would presumably mean “speak”, but it may, again, be a hyponym that specifically covers teaching and instruction. 

(5) This name spells Viddath wrong, which is a bit of a problem to begin with. Seen in Viddathari (“converted-people”), -ath appears to be a passive derivational marker equivalent to English -ed. Iss is translated as “experienced” in the context of weapons in DA2. So… Converted by experience?? But Vidathiss is described as a Ben-Hassrath reeducator, so “converts by experience”, “experienced converter”, or “converter of experience(d people)” was probably intended. That’d be Vidda-iss, Viddiss, Iss-vidda, or maybe even Iss-viddaad, depending on how you translate it. 

⭅ Previous =⦾ Index ⦾= Next ⭆

(6) Okay. So remember that whole thing about possessed-possessor compound words, and how they can sometimes be unmarked? Bas-taar could be one of those. But that requires taar to mean “keeper”, though we already have it being widely used to mean “armor” or “materiel” more broadly. If you wanted to make it a person and improve the brain-rotting joke, Bas-taarad is literally right there. 

See? Said I was fair. I’ll judge the writers for explaining a bad joke, but I’ll do my best to make the bad joke work better.

[maccreadysbaby]

Project: Killcode

batfamily + oc insert

tw: none

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

its his first day and b is already having issues... as his luck usually goes

also here's what the note they threw at koa said

part sixteen

❝ GHOSTS OF THE PAST ❞

MONDAY — JULY 23 — 9:57AM

KOA WASN'T KIDDING WHEN HE SAID THEIR TEACHER WAS WEIRD.

Ms. Heidi was her name, and she didn't show up for class until ten minutes after the bell rang. She didn't use the door, either, no -- she leaped through the open window from somewhere outside instead.

Judging by the look on Koa's face, it wasn't a rare occurrence.

She was wearing a Redwood Academy mandated uniform — a black pencil-skirt and blazer set, with these tall heels on her feet. Her hair was red, tied up in a weird looking, spiky updo. It wasn't as dark as Bentley's — it was orange-er than his, like Babs'. (Bentley had learned he was kind of a rarity, being born with dark red hair like that — he hadn't seen anyone else with that natural color but his father.)

She then began shooting questions off around the room rapid-fire style (which Bentley was not a fan of, by the way), asking them for verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs. By the end of it, she had a perfectly natural sounding story compiled of each of the words she'd been given and a perfect segway into a short lesson on a technique she called spontaneous storytelling.

The boy whose drink exploded came back to class maybe fifteen minutes later in a clean uniform — and he got a detention slip for being late. 

(Oops?)

Thankfully, after the weird spontaneous questioning and short storytelling lecture, Bentley didn't have to talk or answer anymore questions aloud — instead, they were given in-depth get-to-know-me worksheets to fill out for the remainder of the period. While they did that, Ms. Heidi played some strange jazz music from her desk and started doing some weird stretches.

Bentley may have been slightly appalled at her behavior, had he not already dealt with a teacher who was an evil murder scientist. He'd much rather deal with an eccentric weirdo.

There were lots of questions on the front and back of the get-to-know-me sheet -- about their siblings, parents, hometowns, hobbies. Bentley wondered if every school did that every year; because they'd done it at Gotham, too. 

The classroom fell silent, and he started to fill out the first blank: Your Full Name (first, middle, last.)

Bentley Thomas Whittaker-Wayne was what he put down -- because that was his name now. It still felt kind of weird, seeing it on paper, even though he was sure that was the name on all of Redwood Academy's records. Bentley hadn't known his middle name when Bruce first met him (he wasn't even aware he had any names besides his first and last, actually.) so, when he was adopted, Bruce gave him his. He couldn't even remember what they said it was before.

The second was his birthday, easy. September first.

The third was his birth city and state -- he put down Drew, New Jersey.

That's about when he noticed that Koa had gone really still next to him. When Bentley glanced over, his pencil was hovering just over the blank for question three, and he was staring at it hard like it was an impossible math equation. Maybe he didn't know what city he was born in?

Bentley watched discreetly as Koa continued to hesitate for almost ten whole seconds before he wrote down Adora, California, in handwriting that was purposefully messier than the rest. Maybe he didn't want her to know where he was born? It did seem like a random question for a teacher to ask, Bentley guessed.

He filled out the rest of the form fairly easily. For parents and their jobs, he put Bruce in the dad blanks, and didn't fill out the mom blanks. For siblings, he took it upon himself to painstakingly write down everybody's names in order of age: Babs, Dick, Jason, Cass, Tim, Steph, Duke, and Damian. He wrote about their pets. Damian's cow. About Nico and Asten, his best friends. His powers. And the last question was:

What is your dream job?

When he glanced over at Koa's, he was surprised to find that it said professional soccer player. 

Bentley looked back at his own paper, staring at the blank. What did he want to do with his life? He guessed he didn't know. Not really. Being a superhero sounded cool and all, but he wasn't exactly interested in fighting bad guys anymore -- not since he got saved from certain death by Future-Nico while under the alias of Robin. He thought he'd endured quite enough chaos for one lifetime, and superheroing just... didn't seem to be for him. Not with the way he unwillingly managed to find himself in life-threatening, bone-chilling situations without really even trying. 

What did he want to do with his life, if not follow in the secret Wayne-family legacy?

Bentley ended up writing I'm not sure yet, and hoped that was okay. For now.

And he made a mental note to google Adora, California.

--

His second period of the day was art. 

He and Koa had gone separate ways after leaving the English classroom — Bentley wasn't exactly sure why, maybe Koa had to use the bathroom — but with his handy-dandy campus map, he was able to find the art classroom without too much trouble. It was only two buildings away from the English building, which made him happy — he didn't quite feel like running across the entire campus again.

He made it to class just in time, and was immediately greeted by the smell of paint and something like clay. The whole room was layered in paintings and artworks from students long graduated, with two long, wide tables that streaked down the center with over a dozen seats at each. Layla, Koa, and Summer all ended up being in that class with him.

Their teacher was a guy named Mr. Lockwell, who was similar to Ms. Heidi in the sense that he was very odd. He kept going on and on about art and at one point got really emotional, then set them loose to create whatever they wanted in their own style so he could get a feel for their personalities.

Bentley drew a horrendous rendition of Titus the dog. Koa did a watercolor surfboard — which didn't turn out how he wanted, but still looked pretty cool anyways. Layla (who was apparently the next Van Gogh) drew an insanely realistic and detailed picture of a girl and a boy sitting on a rooftop watching the sunset, and Summer did some really intricate charcoal smearing-drawing-stuff. Bentley wasn't sure what the finished product was supposed to be. It looked like a big dark blob... maybe a butterfly? Apparently Koa thought it was the most amazing thing in the world, because he told her how good the blob was multiple times. (Bentley wondered how having a crush on somebody could make something so strange seem so... amazing.)

After various blobs and attempts at art were done, the bell rang, and they split to go to third period — Bentley's was Geometry.

Thankfully, the math building wasn't too far away, either. He crossed the threshold into classroom one-eighty-nine with a quiet exhale, with still a few minutes to spare before the lecture would begin.

The Geometry classroom was set up like the English one, like a lecture hall, but way less... chaotic. There wasn't much on the dark, wainscoted walls, and the only kind of decor that seemed to be in the room was the shelving that held the math textbooks. The desks were already full of students to glanced at him when he walked in. He relaxed just a little when he spotted Varian in one of the front tables, sitting alone, eating a pop-tart. (Where had he gotten more?)

At the teacher's desk at the front of the room sat a man...

 — and the world seemed to stop spinning for a minute.

At the front of the room sat a man. A man with light eyes, white hair, and a bald spot. Glasses. A man that sent Bentley a cold glance when he came through the door. The redhead went rigid, and his legs outright refused to work. He froze in the middle of the classroom, tugging on the strap of his backpack, his heart skipping and muscles twitching like a prey animal preparing to flee.

That guy looked just like Dr. Keene.

Like, actually just like Dr. Keene. Same face shape, same features in the same places, same mysterious air and heavy atmosphere about him.

He didn't look like Dr. Keene. He... it...

It was Dr. Keene.

Bentley was pretty sure he could've thrown up just then, willing it away for the sake of what minuscule dignity he had. Instead, his breathing picked up a little -- and he hoped it wasn't obvious to anyone else.

He blinked once, twice, glancing down at his phone that he managed to bring out of his pocket. His schedule had the all teachers' names on it, and he desperately searched for relief he wouldn't receive.

Keene, Theodore.

Keene.

Keene?

Bentley wasn't sure what was going on. But he was pretty sure he was starting to hear water in the pipes, and that Dr. Keene said something to him, and that he was still standing in the middle of the room. He kind of wanted to cry, but he also sort of wanted to bleed that man dry, literally, but he decided that was too violent, and his muddy brain finally settled on nothing more than staring and feeling awfully similar to how he he felt when he was ten.

He couldn't  live through that again.

Bentley jumped a mile and a half when someone touched his arm, and water roared in his head, blood.

"Whoa, Bentley, what's going on?"

The voice was soft, and quiet, and familiar. Bentley peeled his eyes off of the teacher just long enough for them to drift over and land on the person beside him.

Varian's worried brown eyes were staring back. He took a second to scan Bentley's outward appearance, and he assumed it all came back good when he looked back up at his face. "What is it, Bentley?"

Bentley breathed in. Felt like he might throw up. Heard some water roaring in the distance. "Dr. Keene..."

Varian glanced at the teacher. "Dr. Keene? That's Mr. Keene." 

Slowly, pieces began to click in Varian's head, and a physical, visual connecting of the dots rippled across his features. He moved in front of Bentley in an attempt to shield him from prying eyes — a valiant attempt, and thoughtful, too, but Varian was only slightly taller than him so it didn't really help that much. Even if it had, some of the students were craning their necks and leaning over to catch glimpses of the unfortunate soul who was on the verge of a panic attack at the front of the math classroom. (That was Bentley.)

"You went to Gotham Academy, didn't you?" Varian spoke lowly. "You're a lab meta."

When Bentley responded with only a curt nod, glancing back up at the teacher, Varian moved between him and Dr.— Mr.? Keene so he couldn't see him anymore. "Hey, Bentley, no."

Bentley was hardly able to breathe, to think, to focus, so when Varian grabbed his shoulder and tugged him back out into the hallway, it didn't take much to move him.

Apparently the math building had a lot of water and a lot of blood in it, because Bentley's head was roaring at the sound of it. Dr. Keene couldn't... he was in prison. He'd killed people. He'd... he knew Bentley's face. Bentley had been the one to bring his operation to light — and if Dr. Keene got ahold of him now... he was pretty sure giving him more superpowers would be the least of his worries.

Dr. Keene couldn't be there. Bentley couldn't be there.

Varian seemed to fumble for something to say. He was still holding onto Bentley's shoulder tightly and it didn't seem like he'd be letting go anytime soon. Bentley might've been embarrassed about the whole thing, if he could actually think straight. Which he couldn't.

He looked down at his phone that was clutched tightly in his hand — it was shaking. And he kind of felt like puking. And crying. And passing out. And all of those things wrapped up with a nice little bow was typically the feeling he got right before an anxiety attack.

"Are you gonna throw up?" Was what Varian settled on asking, because apparently Bentley looked like it.

He swallowed thickly and stared at the hardwood. "I don't know."

A moment of contemplation passed across Varian's face. "Are you gonna pass out?"

"I don't know,"

"Are you having a panic attack right now?" He questioned urgently, his grip tightening on Bentley's shoulder. "Oh, Geez, I-"

"I don't know, Varian, God, I... I don't know," Bentley muttered, bringing a hand up to rake through his hair. He had to be hallucinating, or flash-backing, or dying. He felt everything and nothing all at once.

"I heard about what happened in Gotham on the news," Varian inhaled and exhaled. Bentley opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"That's not him. It isn't the same guy. Dr. Keene worked at Gotham — Alexander Keene. This is Mr. Keene, Theodore Keene. It's his brother. He's been working here for a long time, since before Rockie started going here, and Rockie's been here the longest. It isn't the same guy. It's okay. You're okay," Varian rambled.

Bentley raked a hand through his hair again, trying to force himself into some semblance of calm. It wasn't Dr. Keene, it was Mr. Keene. He was fine. He was not going to have a panic attack on the first day of school. It was fine. He was fine. He absolutely refused to make himself look any stupider than he already had.

He didn't have the willpower to say anything when Varian, in a last-ditch effort to make him feel better, stepped up and hugged him.

Bentley went rigid for a split second, his mind still spinning and swirling until it maybe, finally, came to rest. The hallway came back into focus, slowly, and he was able to bring his arms up around Varian in return. Why was life so hellbent on benching him at every turn?

(He would never be able to look at his math teacher in the eye again.)

--

tag list! (If you want me to remove or add you, ask in comments!)

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @flyrobinflyy @gayboss-too-close-to-the-sun

@xiaonothere @skylathescholarly @beatyoutothatusernameloser

[broken-clover]

Analyzing the Naming Conventions in Bugsnax

I already forgot why I was doing this...

So, obviously to anyone who's played the game, one of the notable aspects of Bugsnax's worldbuilding is that Grumpuses all have very distinctly 'inhuman' names. While somewhat silly, they do help emphasize that this game takes place in a different place than ours, with different creatures and culture. However, despite the oddity, when looking over all the name characters there are at least a couple of conventions that pop up somewhat regularly. There's no perfect one method to it, but I still want to analyze the sorts of thought that goes into giving the grumpuses their names because...I can?

Note: I am not a linguist nor any type of language expert. I'm just really autistic

Given Names

Grumpus given names, at least compared to surnames, bear much more of a resemblance to human names. This is where I'd like to start the analysis, with the first group consisting of names that are more obviously based on real names and simply modified. This section, I believe, is the most obviously notable. Filbo, Beffica, Triffany, Shellsy/Shelda, Alegander, Bronica, Eggabell and Elizabert have a name that fits into this category. Chandlo may also fit in this category as well, but he'll be saved for the next section. These are more grounded, but still include a bit of silliness as to fit in with the rest of the world.

The next section is more of a miscellaneous one, names that may derive from existing words, include at last some familiar syllables, or may just be intentionally strange. Wambus, Gramble, Cromdo, Snorpy, Chandlo, and Clumby make up this category. Interestingly, outside of Snorpy's full name being 'Snorpington,' all individuals in this category have two-syllable names.

The last and easily smallest category are names that are simply existing words. As we will see down the line, this is a convention that is usually reserved for surnames, but there are a couple of outliers. This section consists of Floofty and Wiggle. It should be noted, though, that both maintain the sort of playful and whimsical feel that pervades all of the names in the game, so even though they are much simpler, they still fit.

Surnames

Though significantly sillier-sounding, grumpus surnames also generally follow a much more consistent guideline, with every character sans Cromdo fitting into the same fundamental structure.

In every instance of a character we're given, outside of Cromdo with his surname simply being 'Face,' consists of two words put together unhyphenated. That's a bit obvious. Fiddlepie, Troubleham, Wigglebottom, Fizzlebean, Woolbag, etc etc etc. However, there are still some other rules that go along with it. In most instances, the first half are attributive adjectives or adverbs- ie, describing the noun or verb that come after it, or are verbs themselves. The pie is fiddling, the ham is trouble, the bottom is wiggling, the bean is fizzling, the bag is made of wool. Sometimes there is a bit of an overlap- 'fiddle,' for example, can be itself a noun, but also a verb. Based on the consistency between characters, though, it indicates that in most cases it's meant to be interpreted as a descriptor

There are a few exceptions to the descriptor-noun rule, though none are as much an outlier as Cromdo. 'Gigglefunny' is a verb-adjective structure, differing from the others, but still not having a noun precede a verb or a descriptor. The second is 'Winklesnoot,' which can have a couple of explanations. 'Winkle' is a word, referring to a type of snail, making it a noun-noun structure, but it could also be a shortening of 'wrinkle,' with the R removed for the sake of the overall sound, making it a more typical verb-noun instance. The third deviation is 'Clumbernut,' which actually fits the general structure, but stands out in having no real-world descriptive word. 'Clumber' is not a proper word, though based on the '-er,' it can be inferred that it is meant to fulfil a similar role as a descriptor to the 'nut' that follows

(EDIT- upon second glance, 'Clumber' does actually have an origin, being a breed of spaniel dog who derive their name from Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. I'm not sure if that was intentional, but in this case, it may or may not fit into the naming conventions, with 'Clumber' being a shortened possessive noun, as 'the nut belonging to Clumber' or 'nut from Clumber')

Still, overall, grumpus surnames never have a noun before the descriptor.

General Conventions

A common overall trait with grumpus names is that they tend to stick to very soft rolling 'rounded' sounds in their names. Letters like X, V, K, Z, and D are scarcely used in names if not entirely absent, while ones such as C, S, W, L and vowel sounds appear more frequently. Lots of boubas, not very many Kiki's. Often the letters that get switched/removed from grumpuses with human-adjacent names are the harsher-sounding ones, such as the harsh X being swapped for slighly softer G in 'Alegander' or the sharp Z being replaced with a soft Sh sound in 'Shelda.' Even when rare harsher sounds do appear, they tend to be encapsulated by or immediately followed by a softer sound, such as the D in 'Chandlo' being preceded by a Sh-sounding Ch and followed by a rolling Lo sound, and the Z in 'Elizabert' being followed by a long A. (Lizbert in general has a slightly-sharper sounding name than most of the other characters, possibly intentionally to show her more rugged nature)

This may go along with how grumpuses appear very approachable and friendly, as even with the visible fangs, they have rounded limbs, furry bodies, and heads that resemble muppets. Perhaps in that sense they were intentionally trying to draw inspiration from muppet names, especially ones from Sesame Street, as many of them have names with softer-sounding or rolling syllables, like Elmo, Grover, and Oscar. While actual muppets don't tend to have names as cartoonishly whimsical as 'Filbo Fiddlepie' or 'Floofty Fizzlebean,' it is possible some of the naming conventions could come from the same place. Grumpuses, much like the game they inhabit, come across as cutesy and unserious, with you only learning of the deeper issues as you play further.

[gleefullypolin]

Dating Lady Whistledown by GleefullyPolin

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57046732/chapters/145081255

Summary: Eloise always thought that her idiot brother was merely a distraction for their shared friend Penelope, always in her ear and never allowing her a moment to venture out on her own. But when Penelope begins online dating and finally meets a man who starts to slowly win her heart, was fate truly at play all along?

Chapter 2: Lonely Traveler

“You can be lonely even when you’re loved by many people since you’re still not anybody’s one and only.” Anne Frank

Colin stared at the sea from his balcony as it hit the shore, crashing into the rocks below as the sun was rising. He took in a breath, inhaling the air as he let his eyes fall closed, his feet tapped the table beneath his toes. He let his eyes slide open and gazed down at the laptop perched against his knees, the curser flashing brightly against the white background of the empty page.

He often wondered how writers block could find someone in a place so beautiful and full of wonders when it should be able to form nouns, verbs, and adjectives into even the most uneducated of minds. Yet here he sat, Colin Bridgerton, twice published author, unable to form even a simple sentence.

He wanted to call Pen. She would be able to talk him through whatever was plaguing his mind, she was always able to lift the fog that troubled him when his mind clouded him like this. He looked at his phone, realizing that calling her would mean rousing her from a sound sleep. He knew it wouldn’t matter; he had called her like this before. Her timid small voice on the other end of the line always eased his mind as she woke from slumber, he wasn’t sure if that was his favorite Pen sound, but it was easily one of his top five to be sure.

He wasn’t exactly sure when he started ranking Pen sounds, it was probably not appropriate to have a ranking of favorite sounds your best friend made, yet he noticed that he started collecting them sometime in the last three years.

It had started after he had come home from Paris before setting back off for the South of France on another assignment, he had joined one of Eloise and Pen’s movie nights.  They were five hours into a Harry Potter marathon when Eloise gave up and retired to her room, leaving the two of them to continue on their own. Two hours later, Pen was snoring quietly next to him, snuggled into the crook of his arm, her hand nestled under her cheek as she rested on his chest.

His arm was fast asleep, and he was doing everything he could to shake it back awake when she stirred beside him, the smallest sound escaping from her lips. It sounded like a bird he had heard in a rainforest in Brazil during one of his tours. And it was in that moment that he started his list of favorite Pen sounds which he kept etched on his heart.

He picked up the phone and opened his contacts, Pen’s number showing at the top of the list with the red hearts bookending her name. His finger hovered over it until he groaned, clicking instead onto the message he had received last night from his sister.

Helloise: Pen and I are busy tonight. I’m calling dibs!

“Get it together, Bridgerton.” He moaned. He really needed to stop being so co-dependent on his best friend.

Colin should be happy about his life. He traveled to some of the most amazing places in the world, he was able to see things that people would beg to view with their own eyes just once in their lifetime. And then he got to write about them and share that information with the world. Colin knew he was lucky. He was living his dream.

And yet he was plagued with something that was making him physically ill. Something that had him sitting on a balcony with a million-dollar view, a blank page that should be filled with words about a gorgeous city, and yet the only thing he could think about was the one thing he could do nothing about.

Colin Bridgerton was lonely.

It was ridiculous really. It sounded stupid, actually it sounded selfish and spoiled. Rich kid with everything he had ever wanted, crying about loneliness. He knew all he had to do was get out of his room and head to any club in town and he could bring any local he wanted back to his room. It would take nothing for him to attract one of the very gorgeous women he saw on the streets daily. He knew he was an attractive man; he had been blessed with the Bridgerton genes.

Yet, he was tired of meaningless sex that amounted to nothing more than pleasure and beauty. He wanted more. He wanted to know someone’s mind, he wanted to know their wants and dreams. He wanted to know what made a woman tick, what made them smile. Most of all he wanted to know that he was that person’s everything, not just their one-night thing.

He tossed his phone onto the table and laughed loudly. “You’re being a fucking pussy, Bridgerton.” He swore. His brothers would have a field day with him right now. Colin knew he wasn’t like his older brothers. He was always more sensitive than Anthony and he didn’t have Benedict’s free spirit.

Maybe it was the scotch coursing through his veins, or maybe it was the influence of the ethereal orange sunset tonight, but Colin decided he was done bringing gorgeous nameless women back to his room in random cities, it wasn’t going to bring him intimacy. It wasn’t going to bring him warmth and it sure as hell wasn’t going to cure his emotional loneliness.

He focused back on his laptop and closed the blank document that was continuing to taunt him. He opened up his browser and tapped his fingers against his keyboard.

“Ok internet, how do you cure loneliness?” He punched his question into the google search, shaking his head in disbelief that he was even doing this exercise. The entire thing was idiotic.

He was overwhelmed with all the results, most of them referring him to some sort of mental help or therapy. The fact he was even searching this up sure felt like he needed therapy, but maybe he was searching for the wrong thing. He deleted his search and tried again.

“Ok, let’s try, lonely people looking to...” well shit, what was he looking to do? He didn’t want to hook up with someone. He could do that right where he was in the city without the need of an internet search. Besides, he could download Tinder for that honestly. He didn’t want some girl falling over him because of his Bridgerton name either, or his looks. He just wanted to connect with someone emotionally, something that could rely on his anonymity.

He deleted his search again. “Lonely people looking to chat. Maybe?” he inquired to himself with a chuckle as he clicked enter. Another overwhelming search result popped up onto the screen. He bit his lip as he thought about what he wanted. “Loney writers looking to chat.” He smiled at himself and clicked enter. The smile grew bigger as he saw the first result that popped up. Finally, something that made sense.

LonelyTraveler has entered the chat

He looked at the server set up in front of him and quickly found the list of channels to find the one where he could make his introduction. He settled into his chair and thought about what he wanted to say. Did he want to be honest? He didn’t exactly want to say he was Colin Bridgerton; he was purposely wanting to avoid advertising his family name and wealth. Perhaps being vague would be more advisable for the time being.

LonelyTraveler: Hello everyone, I’m LT, a male in my mid 20’s, currently traveling the world working on a novel, though I’m sure that doesn’t make me very special around here so I guess that shouldn’t have been the first thing I brought up. I suppose I’m here because it’s hard to connect to people when you don’t stay in one place for a long time so I figured I’d try this out but now that I’m typing all of this out it sounds really stupid so, I might delete later, who knows. So yeah, hi!

Colin read his intro four times before simply giving up and hitting enter, deciding this was the stupidest decision he had ever made in his life. He was never going to tell another soul about this for as long as he lived.

He scanned through the introduction channel to see if there was anyone interesting that stood out to him.

SexOnThePage: Simone, 25, I’ll cut right to it; I’m looking for someone who wants to get busy with a sexy sentence all night long.

Way too honest, Colin skipped on, that felt way too pointed and forward for what he was looking for.

TimidRomantic: I’m Chrissy, 23, Looking for a bad romance? Let’s write one together, I’m usually quiet and shy but I’m looking for someone to take me out of my shell. Maybe I just need a good spanking or a...

Shit, that did not feel timid or romantic at all. Colin quickly skimmed over some of the other entries in the channel, but he was starting to feel like maybe this was a really bad fucking idea. And then he stopped.

LadyWhistledown: Dearest Gentle Reader, or I guess Discord reader? I’m LW, female, in my 20’s, and honestly, I’m only here because my friend won’t get off my back about me putting myself out there and meeting people. So here I am! I hope you are glad to meet me! I fancy myself a writer, but I have yet to actually finish anything, but I’m working on it. Just looking to chat or connect or whatever it is you do on this thing, honestly, I have no idea what people do here? Some of you guys are kind of scary and intimidating honestly! So yeah, maybe say hi, I guess!

Colin found himself comforted knowing that there was someone else on this site that seemed to be just as uncomfortable as he was. He clicked into her intro and decided to reply to her.

LonelyTraveler: Happy to know I’m not the only one here who is feeling perhaps a little terrified of what I’m doing here and maybe a little intimidated? I guess we are both Discord Virgins? Or maybe even Extra Virgin? However, let me be the first to tell you I am glad to meet you and to maybe not feel so alone here.

He shut his laptop and pushed his chair away from the table. This was a stupid idea. He should have just called Pen. She would have known what to say to him, would have at least given him a reason to smile instead of leaving him to lie in his bed staring at the ceiling with a frown on his face, an ache sitting in his chest that clearly wasn’t going away. His phone lit up on his nightstand and he pulled it against his chest before finally opening it to read his notification.

<3 Pen <3: Good morning! Just got up and wanted to make sure you don’t forget to send me that chapter before this weekend. You seemed tired yesterday, you sure you’re ok? Anyway, call me later! Ignore what El said, you know you’re my favorite person to talk to! <3

Colin smiled at his phone, all it took was a text from Pen and he already felt better. So much for not being co-dependent.

[therealvinelle]

how do you come up with the titles of your fics? And when did this method begin? 🕶️

For me, I pick out three random words as I go about then boom take all three of them and try to make a title for the fic. :} then repeat as needed or as I fit.

As for timeframe idk when it started tbh I just did it one day then didn't stop doing it. Probably stems from me not understanding when people talk grammatically.

Ex: like noun adjective/verb boom title. I don't operate in a grammatical way. (You can probably tell.)

... you want my advice?

I, who named the sequel to my fic Bleach on the Brain, Leech in the Rain?

I have no rhyme or reason to it, no method, only what I feel is right based on the fic's vibe. Usually this means stealing a title or reference from someplace else. See: A Little Night Music, Carlisle and Bella's Bogus Journey, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to London, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bacchanals, The Man Who Would Be King, And Then There Were None, Last Christmas, Interview with the Spider, Space Oddity, She's the Man, Demain, dès l'aube, Two Men and a Baby, The Hills Are White Elephants, The Fast and the Oblivious, Cat Among the Pigeons, Violent Delights Have Violent Ends...

... The list is damning.

I have no creativity, at least not where titles are concerned. None, nil, every time I must decide on a new title I cry.

[epivanosilon]

reading demon slayer: chapter 35

title: 散り散り (ちりぢり) || scattered

official english title: scattered

久しぶりね！^^; the last two weeks of the summer session at work were crazy! hr came and did individual interviews with me and all my coworkers, my bosses got fired, and i think there's an ongoing investigation on someone? not sure about that last part. anyway, moving on to the language stuff.

much like chapter 30, chapter 35 does not have a whole lot of new words to learn. so i'm doing an all-in-one post again! vocab and such below the cut ↓

name breakdown

the only thing resembling a name that we get in this chapter is inosuke mispronouncing tanjirou's name again. this time he calls him

健太郎

read as けんたろう. this is a very common masculine given name, so no particular pop culture references here. 健 (けん) carries meanings of health, strength, and persistence. 太 and 郎 are both covered in chapter 1's name breakdown, but for convenience's sake 太 (た) means fat or grand and 郎 is just a masculine suffix for names.

okay, technically 郎 means son. for example, the name 三郎 (さぶろう) means third son, so 健太郎 would literally mean something like healthy excellent son. or maybe excellently healthy son? it's a name you'd give to a child who you want to grow up to be strong and important. which, funnily enough, is exactly the kind of person tanjirou becomes. i wonder if gotouge had a reason for picking these names or if they were simply chosen at random...

on to vocab! this chapter all we have are a few nouns, a single adjective, and a couple verbs. enjoy.

nouns

背後 – back, rear; background, behind the scenes | はいご

柄 – hilt (of a sword), haft (of a dagger), handle, handgrip | つか

見せ物 – show, exhibition, spectacle | みせもの

also written as 見世物.

adjectives

散り散り – scattered, separated, dispersed | ちりぢり

verbs

乗り切る – to get through (adversity), get over, tide over, overcome, survive; to weather (a storm), ride across, sail across | のりきる

ふらつく – to feel giddy, totter, stagger; to be unfixed (of emotions or beliefs), waver; to wander aimlessly, loiter, putter

that's all i have for this chapter. thanks for reading, and please look forward to the next posts! 読んでくれてありがとう！次の投稿を楽しみにしてください！

[kjagasanpijrtu]

Thought I'd make a showcase of some of my conlangs, so I'll start with the one I'm working on rn

Or mesako! Jenojarko Ajir gi mo do heni'a'in.

[oɾ mɛsɐˈko] [jɛnojɐˈɾko ɐˈjiɾ ɡiˈ moˈ doˈ hɛniˈʔɐʔin]

Translation: "Hello! My name is Ire and this is my language."

This is Fjatli, or Sfarokchosti [sfɐ.ɾo.k͡xoˈs.ti] if you'd rather use the endonym. It's inspired mostly by the grammar of the Muscogee language but with a good few liberties taken, especially with my use of a German-esque orthography, and in its lore is spoken by an indigenous people who are known for their relationship with luck, their beautiful and intricately styled hair, and their perseverance against all odds

Much like Muscogee, Fjatli is polysynthetic. So words take multiple and often many prefixes and suffixes, so often entire sentences can be contained in just one word (which is actually a help since Fjatli doesn't have any pronouns at all)

Eraba. : Eat.

Erabata. : I eat.

Erabanita. : I am eating.

Anerabanita. : I want to be eating.

Jo'anerabanita. : I want to be eating you.

This is a weird example (and there are certainly more useful examples) but it shows how verbs work in Fjatli. Nouns, adjectives and adverbs operate similarly but aren't as complex (however this is still a WIP so I'm planning on expanding all of them.) I'll show an example of ownership and definiteness in nouns

Fjer : Friend

Cafjer : The friend

Fjerin : My friend

Fjerag : Your friend

Fjerob : Their friend

Fjerimin : Our friend

The main word order for Fjatli is generally VSO whenever other words are needed. So "the animal wants to eat a fruit" would be said in the order of "wants to eat the animal a fruit" similar to Irish, Welsh, Classical Arabic, and many Polynesian languages. Also make sure not to forget subject and object markers, similar to Japanese. Here's a full breakdown

A'aneraba ja cacoxot do t'ano.

[ɐʔɐnɛɾɐˈbɐ jɐˈ t͜͡ʃɐt͜͡soǃoˈt doˈ tʼɐnoˈ]

[It wants to eat it] [sm] [the animal] [om] [fruit].

And you can expand on this by putting indirect objects before the verb. Combine this with Fjatli's verb aspect system that can still give a detailed description of events in time without any tenses at all, and you get my absolute favorite sentence I've translated for this language: "I bleed through my instrument"

Isorogin chonsoho'inerta.

[isoˈɾoɡin xonsohoˈʔinɛɾtɐ]

[My instrument] [I have and often bleed through]

This is what I love so much about polysynthetic languages, like in just two (albeit pretty long) words this language can say something that takes English upwards of eight words to fully convey. Especially since the verb in that last sentence takes advantage of the perfect habitual aspect (where the verb has been completed and will be several times in the future) which can't be easily communicated in English

This was just an introduction to the basics of Fjatli, there's even some stuff in the greeting at the top of this post that I didn't get into so maybe if there's demand I'll make a follow-up that explains more (as a gift to anyone who notices that there's click consonants in this language). I also made a writing system for it and I'm not gonna let anyone live in peace until they've seen it because it's so cool (I say that about all the writing systems I've made)

Or menoko, fjerin!

Edit 1: fixed some glaring spelling mistakes (I wrote this at 4am and I'm not entirely sure it wasn't a fever dream)

Edit 2: finally found out how to do smol text

[ground-muttmeg]

have I ever shared that I enjoy linguistics and conlanging?

this is Sulïthen, a language I am constructing for the novel I’m writing, Ghostbell; it’s the native language in Amberfallen, the country the story takes place in.

(though this here is just english words approximated in the writing system—a leaf-written abugida, also called an alphasyllabary, which is a semi-syllabic alphabet system.)

as far as grammar structures, the current state of the language is pretty immature; we’ve got simple sentence structure, verb conjugations, a couple simple tenses, noun-to/from-adjective making suffixes, and a handful of essential vocab; I’m genuinely not even set on how this language will be used in the book, besides place names, people names, illustrations, and little phrases (the country is multilingual so basically everyone speaks Sulïthen and Seyish (another language from the neighboring country Seynan) together)—truly I’m just a huge linguistics buff and I enjoy this shit so much lmao

recently I was inspired by Lewis Caroll’s nyctograph and so last night I made another writing system, a runic, stone-carved apphabet:

(with some more Sulïthen writing of the same text to compare)

this one was really fun to make. The first iteration looked too sci-fi LOL but it is visually more like the nyctograph inspiration

all this to say.……if anyone has a time machine I will give you a friendly insect if you transport me to a room to hang out and pick the brains of Jolkien Tolkien and Lewis Caroll 🙏🙏