#noun-verbing

[petermorwood]

And then there's "to google" = looking for info with any search engine, cap-letter Google or not, and "to 'shop" = manipulating an image with any app, not just Photoshop.

IIRC, corporate lawyers from both will send sharp reprimands to any high-profile misuser, though IMO it's the multitudes of low-profile users who do most erosion - little drops of water, little grains of sand, etc., to the extent that printing TradeName™ in full can often look like making a joke.

A few from here:

"sellotape" = any clear sticky tape, whether Sello-, Scotch or whatever;

"biro" = any ballpoint pen, especially cheap ones;

"dictaphone" = any voice-recorder device;

"sticky-backed plastic" = any adhesive plastic sheet. Thanks to the kids' show "Blue Peter" from non-commercial channel BBC (which prohibited even passive advertising of Naming Names) there must be a couple of generations who never knew this stuff was really called Fablon;

And of course "hoover" = any vacuum-cleaner from any manufacturer. (AFAIK this last one has indeed eroded into non-defensible generic.)

"To hoover" was also a verb as far back as when I was barely double-figures old, so +55 years ago.

Over those years I've cleaned floors with a Hoover, an Electrolux, a Vax, a Dyson and a Nilfisk, and though the Nilfisk has lasted longest of all (bought ~1970 *, inherited 2007 and still going strong) those floors have always been hoovered, never nilfisked...

* Mum saw one at an Ideal Home Exhibition and loved it, my sis and I saved our pocket-money, when we reached 50% Dad added the rest, and That Was That.

Mum was really pleased, though guess who got to haul it up and down the many, many stairs of our old house? Builds character, I suppose. Certainly built muscle; Nilfisks are heavy..

*****

Before a trademark can last long enough for erosion there might be Brand Blunder and, since I've been talking about vacuum cleaners...

However, since that ad was UK-only at a time (early 1970s) when "sucks" = "is really bad" hadn't yet crossed the Atlantic, it wasn't such a blunder as the Internet-at-large likes to think.

However the naughtier meaning of "sucks" certainly existed then, at least at my school, along with horror stories of consensual relationships with domestic appliances gone badly wrong. (Not mere urban legend, @dduane saw one For Real during her time as a nurse in New York.)

All of which proves that advertising agencies should have a teenage boy on staff to spot That Sort Of Thing.

Adult comic "Viz" even got an entire long-lasting character out of it.

Don't get it?

"That's a big pear..."

no idea where i was going with this but i abandoned it at the most disconcerting moment possible

[carpetbug]

me and my friends are constantly making she blank on my blank til i blank jokes and i just think chat would love them

she cat(a) on my clysm til i die a slow and painful death

[iamfuckingsorry]

So I've recently realized that murderbot's been translated into my native language and it's apparently a he in the translation (which admittedly makes sense, because it's a heavily gendered language and 1. gender-neutral language doesn't really exist in general and 2. "bot" and all the related words - I believe they use "droid" for mb in the translation - are grammatically masculine).

It made me curious how it's been handled in other translations though!

*e.g. being referred to by multiple gendered nouns/pronouns depending on the context, like both "bot" (masculine) and "machine" (feminine).

[amidoobles]

Maria

Ilustration before the effects below!

Made a really rough doodle idea of this in my sketchbook, and couldn't resist temptation. Didn't know much about Shadow's backstory/Maria before the movie, and now I love her.

One thing that's fun about being a being a digital artist for... seven(?) years is that I finally know how certain layer types can help me achieve the effect I'm looking for. For example, I got the coloring like this by making a layer with some spots of pink and other spots of blue and setting it to "overlay".

[mumblesplash]

got stuck in brain quicksand (thinking about how in english you can verb nouns that are already verbs just by using the wrong emphasis and with the word ‘progress’ specifically it doesn’t even change the meaning of what you’re saying)

[thana-topsy]

Question: if you could isekai any pre-existing fictional character into Skyrim, who would it be and why?

[arc-tu-rus]

FEELING GOOD

[word-for-today]

Word for today: risp

To rub together

[emilywrites185]

10 More Additional Words to Love

Here is another installment from my very long list of favorite words.

Anathema (Noun)- Person, place, idea, or thing that is intensely disliked.

Beseech (Verb)- to beg or request with urgency or anxiety.

Cacophony (Noun)- in regards to sound, it is a chaotic mixture of loud, unpleasant sounds. Dissonance.

Demur (Noun)- The act of objection or hesitation to something.

Elocution (Noun)- the style of speaking, or the art of public speaking. A skill of clear, precise speech.

Frieze (Noun)- A coarse, durable wool fabric. Or an ornamental band around furniture or architecture.

Incendiary (Adj)- Used to describe something hot, combustible materials or weapons. Can also be used as a noun in regards to an arsonist or weapon. Someone who starts trouble. An agitator.

Loquacious (Adj)- Used to describe someone who talks a lot. Wordy and talkative.

Massif (Noun)- A clustered group of mountains that stands out from the other groups.

Obsequious (Adj)- excessively obedient or attentive.

[nabaath-areng]

not ffxiv but look at my hello kitty island adventure character

[disasterbihawkeye]

She mash her hot lips on my ugly john till my frank burns

[ceo-of-pigeon-milk]

She Pacific on my Rim til I

[oozeandgoo-art]

inspired by this post

[petrichoremojis]

[ID: a drawing of a person wearing a pink hoodie standing next to a shelf of green rectangles. a sign above the rectangles has several dollar signs. the person is stuffing a rectangle inside of their hoodie pocket, with an arrow pointing to the action. end ID]

[ID: a drawing of two pairs of brown eyes, both with strabismus. the left eyes are facing in the same direction, while the upper right eye is facing towards the outside of the eye and the lower right eye is facing towards the inside of the eye. end ID]

[ID: a drawing of a plain yellow person standing in front of a large frame, which contains a portrait of the person. end ID]

[ID: a drawing of a plain yellow person holding a paintbrush and standing in front of a large frame, which contains a portrait of the person. end ID]

'shoplift', 'strabismus', 'portrait', and 'self-portrait'!! the last of the symbols we've done tonight lol. may make more tonight, may not

[transtalesofdoom]

One year of Being Trans - A Review

If I timed this right, this post goes up exactly one year after I realized I was trans. Like, down to the hour. A lot happened since then.

I did some trial and error with labels, decided none really fit me, but settled on nonbinary transmasc to communicate it to others.

Picked the world's most stereotypical trans name for myself.

Came out to friends pretty much immediately, family to come soon.

Tried on a binder and fucking hated it.

Made this blog to organize my thoughts.

Deliberated on pronouns and how I want them to be used.

Came out to my therapist. Got a written confirmation for being trans. Scheduled an HRT consultation. Came out to several more doctors.

Developed a new, different kind of body image issues. Possibly dysphoria? Maybe just internalized fatphobia but for a different gender.

Worried about whether this new, more authentic, me might be unlikeable especially to my friends.

Looked at pictures of top surgery results and almost cried.

Hated my periods more than ever before.

Managed to schedule a top surgery consultation (one year in advance because waitlists are crazy like that)

Scheduled a different HRT consultation because the original one cancelled on me.

Learned a lot about trans issues and the hurdles in Germany.

Watched a new law pass to enable easier changes of legal name and gender.

Officially and legally changed said name and gender through said law!! Got a new ID, too. Started changing my name on all sorts of official documents.

Cried to at least one Philosophy Tube video.

Cried a lot, in general.

Watched a verdict take effect that allows health insurance companies to deny gender-affirming treatments.

Fought with my Health Insurance. Fought with the Committee that has the power to change these regulations again. Oh yeah also watched my government fall apart in real time and next up is eternal conservative leadership forever lol. Fought with my health insurance some more.

Wrote more goddamn emails than any person should have to in a lifetime.

Overheard my roommates talk about me with my new name and pronouns, several times.

Discovered a near eternal amount of bizarre gendered concepts hidden in my brain. (did you know hair is girlier if it curls right instead of left?)

Stopped hating my reflection. Started hating my reflection, but for other reasons. (Honestly I'm pretty sure that one's a depression thing)

Learned a lot about myself.

Fully moved past the concept of gender as it's enforced today.

Played a Pokemon game with my real name for probably the first time since I was 9.

Learned an absurd amount of platypus facts.

Felt so drained and tired almost every day, fighting for my basic rights and personal fulfillment.

Lived more as myself than ever before in my whole life. Finally took an interest in the person I am. Finally took my existence into my own hands. Finally dared to become someone, rather than just be.

Overall score: 9/10, wouldn't miss it for the world.

[queerslurheritageposts]

was on a facetime call with my long-distance friend and i was like "what word do you think you say the most on these calls? like on average?" and he thought about it for a while and then said, in such a studious voice, "probably faggot. because it like, always applies to the context."

(needless to say we both laughed about it for HOURS)

universally applicable word faggot