#maybe this is just a pet peeve of mine but

[starfieldcanvas]

reminds me of an argument i had in high school trying to explain that the expression was "play it by ear"—meaning "figure it out as it's happening, rather than plan ahead", like a musician listening to a song for the first time and playing an accompaniment spontaneously without sheet music—not "play it by year."

my best friend at the time insisted that it had to be "play it by year" because it was an expression about future plans and scheduling, not music, so "year" made more sense because it was a time measurement; she had some idea in her head about "let's keep our plans vague and figure it out later" matching well with a long-term time unit like "year", like, let's not figure out our schedule to the minute, let's take the long view and play it by year!

which, that is a very creative and interesting retroactive justification for a misheard expression ("it's a moo point—it's like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter!") but what she thought was her strongest argument was that her mother said "year" instead of "ear," and her mother had gone to Yale, and did I really think someone who had studied English at Yale would be wrong about something like this?

i had to give up the point because another girl in our group was agreeing with her and this was before teenagers had smartphones so we couldn't just look it up on the quad. one of those silly things you remember for far too long because you know you're 100% right and nobody believes you.

---

longtime followers of mine may recall that i myself have a pet peeve misheard expression. this one is a real headache because the misheard version is far more popular than the original.

misheard version: "if you think [x], you've got another thing coming."

original version: "if you think [x], you've got another think coming."

because "coming" starts with a k sound, the k at the end of think blends into the c of coming and all you hear is the "iihnng" at the end of "think" that can be easily mistaken for "thing."

but the misheard "thing" version caught on decades and decades ago, to the point that you'll see it regularly in published media, and therefore never have any reason to question the "thing" version, even though it's much duller than the original.

"you've got another think coming" is an excellent folksy way to say "think again!" or, more specifically, "you'll be forced to think again because of what I'm going to do." even if you're only familiar with the "thing" version, you can recognize the logical progression of the original: the first think in the beginning of the phrase leads to another think in the second part.

"you've got another thing coming" seems to be interpreted by most people as a direct threat: the people I've asked tell me they imagine the "thing" in question is a fist or a beating (if they think it refers to anything at all—some people just interpret it as a meaningless filler word.) if you assume the "thing" is a direct threat, it narrows the utility of the expression quite a bit. after all, you can say "you've got another think coming" to mean "I'm going to prove your assumption wrong" in whatever way makes the most sense in context, while still benefitting from the repetition of "think x? think again!"

by contrast, while "thing" can technically be whatever you want it to be (e.g. "if he thinks he's going to win this game, he's got another thing [a defeat] coming", "if she thinks she's going to get away with fraud, she's got another thing [a lawsuit] coming") it still needs to be in the form of A Thing. So it wouldn't quite sound right in, for example, "if Great-Aunt Edna thinks I'm coming to visit, she's got another thing coming." You're not going to beat up your Great-Aunt Edna, and "me not coming to visit" isn't really a "thing" in the way the expression needs it to be to work. You could maybe say the thing Great-Aunt Edna has coming is "disappointment," but you'll be much better served by the original expression.

this has been a public service announcement to rescue "you've got another think coming" from the dustbin of history.

[chireikiden]

how silly does futo sound in japanese? most translations make her talk in really overblown faux-shakespearean english, which is kind of a pet peeve of mine because it turns her into a joke character - but I don't know to what extent this is supported by the original. is she using old-fashioned language correctly, or is it supposed to sound funny? and how old-fashioned is her speech compared to how she's translated? like is it the equivalent of 1500s english or is it older/newer? thankyou!

Futo's speech is way more exaggerated in many English translations than in Japanese, yeah. Personally I tend to vary it depending on the tone of the story, how extreme the author is doing it (in the case of doujins) and the feng shui in the room, but I honestly kinda struggle with the issue too.

Futo basically speaks "period drama Japanese". Doesn't really even matter which period, everything pre-Meiji is mostly interchangeable as far as the trope is concerned – it's not really supposed to be an accurate representation of old Japanese, which would be much harder to understand. It's actually a lot less extreme than, say, Mamizou's manner of speech, but intended to convey "old-timey" rather than "old-timer". Where Mamizou speaks in the stereotypical manner of a country grandpa (more so than a grandma, really), Futo speaks like a character who's literally from the past. Or maybe a yakuza or hammy cartoon character. Not even an especially fancy court official, and also not a samurai (which its own trope de gozaru).

Problem is, in Japanese, verbal tics like that are easily conveyed by things like choice of pronouns and sentence endings. Those are things you can consistently stick in almost every sentence without really altering them or even being all that grating (the tics here being more like "zo" than "kupo", "nyan" or even "desu"). In terms of actual vocabulary or verbose loquaciousness, Futo doesn't really stand out from anyone else.

This is different in English, where to convey things like "medieval speech" we don't have easy shortcuts like "the old-timey sentence ending" and are instead dependent on vocabulary, grammar and wording choices to turn the whole sentence "Shakespearean" (which of course is anachronistic too) in pretty ridiculous ways. The Ten Desires translation manages to turn very basic and short lines into "Thou who hast prais'd my resurrection: Speak anon, and name thyself." Of course, the small ways that the pronouns, particles and overall phrasing convey tone in Japanese is hard to explain directly, just like it's hard to translate English tone to Japanese. English sentences also tend to be longer in general than Japanese ones, but that difference is just widened even further.

In a sense, you could say that English has no choice but to go to those much greater and more annoying lengths to make Futo's way of speech "as obvious" as it is in Japanese. But while Futo's whole thing is also silly enough in Japanese for the fandom there to acknowledge and make jokes about it, I do sometimes feel like it's gotten out of hand and become kinda self-sustaining on the English end, rather than actually based on the original text anymore.

In theory, my preferred way of writing Futo is to make her sound slightly stilted in some less grating ways, like avoiding contractions and very obviously modern words, throwing in the occasional archaic one if I feel like it fits, and kinda chewing the scenery a bit. Maybe even the thee/thou stuff, especially if the work is more comedic. But the execution varies on my part, and sometimes I just sacrifice the whole idea at the altar of legibility.

[wickjump]

pet peeve of mine that’s really silly is whenever people compare dess and gaster. dess went missing, gaster was shattered across space and time. dess is remembered, her name is mentioned, she’s spoken about, gaster is not. in fact the only time we hear about him is through extremely rare characters to find that disappear right after. dess is a missing kid and gaster no longer exists in technicality. dess could very much be alive, gaster is beyond dead. and like. it’s cute but it just makes no sense to me!!!!! maybe im missing something who knows

[incandescent-creativity]

I don’t post writing tips myself very much anymore, but a very easy manuscript polishing tip is to do a search for the -ness suffix, and then replace the word with a more appropriate noun.

Quickness? Switch it to “speed.”

Tenseness? Try “tension.”

Easiness? I think you mean “ease.”

Even words like sadness can sometimes be traded for something more precise. Like what kind of sadness? Would disappointment be better? Melancholy? Even just “emotion,” and then add in another detail that helps the reader understand they’re sad?

[mamawasatesttube]

no more "kon got his piercing by asking tim to use a kryptonite needle" (lies, straight up wrong, ignores the significance of kon's earring as a reclamation of his own bodily autonomy after being dehumanized to the point of being tagged like a lab mouse).

instead, if you want something about timkon and intimacy, listen. just picture tim "overthinker" drake in the jewelry store staring at two nearly-identical pairs of simple studs for a full 30 minutes as he tries to determine which would make a better gift for kon (he got overwhelmed by the novelty earrings rack. too many options). he knows why kon wears an earring instead of letting the piercing close up (kon likes the look, but moreover, it's about the fact that it's his body to do with as he likes). so picking the one kon would like best is important!!! he has to get it right!!! he needs to make sure kon has that special little smile on his face when he opens the gift box and understands how much thought tim put into it!!!

(coda: tim sees kon actually wearing an earring he bought him and runs into a mental blue screen of death, realizes he's staring, and then immediately climbs out the window.)

[boimann]

every time people draw the mercs with smooth skin and zero wrinkles an angel looses its wings and plummets to earth in a raging ball of fire

[creativity-deficient]

Me when I see some really cute creek art but they’re fake dating in it

[valewritessss]

What are some fanfiction pet peeves or icks?

I specifically had percabeth in mind but other ships or fandoms is fine too

[keshetchai]

As someone who enjoys religion blogging/discussions, I've come to realize that it's a good practice to be aware of the general signs/symptoms of religious-OCD thinking (aka scrupulosity), because if the conversation is taking on all the hallmarks of scrupulosity, it's actually a definitive sign that we cannot meaningfully and compassionately engage in a conversation about religion in a healthy way. I've actually had this play out a significant number of times online, and when I realized what it was, I also began to realize that the intrusive thoughts/obsessive and compulsive thinking are only ever fed by continuing the discussion with that person.

[[ Important edit to clarify why I am saying it's not healthy — made after I went back to look for more concrete facts about OCD or anxiety (I have GAD, not OCD, but many resources overlap since they're both anxiety disorders):

When Reassurance is Harmful — this explains how/why reassurance-seeking specifically about an OCD fear is a compulsive behavior, and engaging with reassurance-seeking interferes with recovery/management/treatment.

This table from the Anxiety Disorders Center lists key differences between Information Seeking and Reassurance Seeking.

This IOCDF page on Scrupulosity info for Faith Leaders identifies "symptom accommodation" as enabling. Two of the examples of doing this by participating in the OCD behavior are: "Engage in excessive conversation focused on if-then scenarios (e.g., "If I did this, then would X or Y happen? And what if Z was involved? How about W?")" And, "Repeatedly answering questions about ‘correct’ religious or faith practices."

That page also goes on to outline more info about reassurance seeking. "Although providing answers to (often simple!) questions may seem harmless, providing reassurance serves to maintain the anxiety disorder cycle." (This BMC psychiatry article cites a lot of related studies establishing this.)

The IOCDF page on What is OCD and Scrupulosity? ]]

Imo, the responsible thing to do is to recognize that (even if the other person hasn't outright stated it/isn't diagnosed)* the conversation is not about religion, it is about needing mental health support from professionals and experts. Talking to me, the layperson who enjoys chatting theology and my religion — is not only not helping, but is actively harmful. I'm not just talking about the person who I replied to today, either. Like I've said, I've seen this happen dozens of times in various online forums.

*[while I am against diagnosing strangers on the internet, it's important to realize A) lots of people don't know what Scrupulosity is, so it's possible they've never considered this is a mental health concern that could be treated, and that B) for the purposes of my concern, it doesn't matter if they actually have diagnosed OCD. The only thing that matters is that their thought-process causes them genuine distress/fear, and every response given to them seems to only incite new/additional distressing questions/thoughts, or further entrenches the original distress.]

Ultimately, any discussion aside from "you might want to speak to a mental health professional about scrupulosity OCD" seemingly puts me in the position of feeling as if I am being used for their self-harm. I hate that feeling. I do not want to be leverage for fear and pain. I have GAD, I despise the idea that I am making things worse.

No matter how much I love religious discussion, the answer in these cases is always "please reach out to an OCD specialist/mental health professional. I am not qualified to discuss this." And then to stop there. I have never once seen anyone stuck in this compulsive thought spiral be reassured or feel any better by hearing from someone else's approach to theology handled with things like empathy, compassion, logic, or even atheism. It doesn't matter what we say, how we say it, or how we relate to our own religion. The urge to engage in this kind of conversation in order to chat about religion is a sign that we are not equipped to help.

You can't have a conversation here, because intentionally or not, ten times out of ten, you are adding fuel to the fire. Just like people can't simply tell me something that would erase/talk me out of my ADHD/depression/anxiety disorder, you also cannot simply argue/reassure/persuade people out of scrupulosity. We should not try. We have a responsibility to consider that it's outright harmful to do so, and to disengage.

[horsegirlhob]

I'm not an Angel hater by any means however I do think Spike should get to be as big of a dick to him as he wants to be and people shouldn't get to say shit about it.

[notyournightsky]

Tired of Dick’s history and skill in acrobatics being equated to gymnastics. They are two separate disciplines. They are not the same thing 😫

[bunny--manders]

I'm trying to get through Fourth Wing and let me tell you I am STRUGGLING with a fantasy empire that has produced characters named Dylan, Reginald, and Xaden. Big "Fake American names in a Japanese video game" energy in this worldbuilding.

[oifaaa]

I love people who also think that Jason calling Tim "replacement" is dumb. It's not even an insult. It's so stupid. Give me actual insults and hurting each other (and then give me forgiveness and understanding because that's what I came to the fan work for)

Its so so stupid I don't know why it's so popular it doesn't even sound right when you say it and not insulting at all like Jason you are the second Robin you replaced Dick it's the thing side kicks do - but it's also part of that whole stupid thing were people make it out that Jason was more angry at Tim then he actually was that was stupidly amplified by the idiotic titans tower fight - my favourite thing about utrh is that tims just not mentioned in that story at all it will always be hilarious to me

[practically-an-x-man]

the fine line between "not all sci-fi can be written by someone who understands science, suspension of disbelief is a good thing" and "okay this just doesn't make sense and it's taking me out of the story"

[cure-typhoon]

I hate when some people try to compliment a fat person/character and they're like "They look so cuddly and huggable!" djakbf please just. Stop

[melit0n]

From a fic writer, please don't say 'I wish there was a second part to this!' or 'part 2?' to writers, like, ever, because it is unfortunately not the compliment you think it is.

Don't get me wrong, I love every person who's taken the time to comment and make sure I reply to them, but it always brings me down a bit to see people asking for a second part, especially if it is quite clearly stated as a oneshot. It's half of 'oh hey! They think my writing is good and want more of it :D', so I recommend the other stuff I have on my page, and half 'They just want more.' because, when it comes to those comments, there is nothing else but asking for more.

In a general sense, the author has put time and effort into making that fic//oneshot happen! Might've been inspired by a song and written out in two days, or it could've been intractably planned over weeks! It is still time and effort and self indulgence! Don't ask for more when there is obviously nothing else planned.

I think, nowadays, even with fic reading, it's become a matter of quantity; basing whether to read a fic off of kudos:reads ratio, only being able to read fics over 50k words and not accepting any less etc. People also have seemed to forgotten that fic writers are apart of fandom as well; they aren't influencers farming out massive fics every two months, and, when it comes to a oneshot, quite possibly want to leave it as that. A oneshot.

So, instead of asking for more, maybe compliment what is there! Talk about a favourite line or scene, or give some constructive criticism if the author allows it. Fill your belly on the food served and don't think of the extra plate you could have.