#of shall we say. Minds Less Mature™ but i decided against it because this post is already long

[leatherbookmark]

re: your Emma post, you might find this of interest: https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/volume-43-no-1/manning/

yeah, i've seen this one! and it honestly was the thing that made me ??????? in the first place, because

while i agree with the paper itself, what's quoted in it is just Endlessly Baffling, approximately as likely (for me) to be the intended reading as the punnery from this post. but like, this is austen, and not some small unknown writer, and the fact that this riddle is being analyzed, kind of seem to me like they're not just some random ass wild theories no one really takes seriously. also, they're scholars, i am just a wee shrimp.

and that's insane to me. it just feels like particularly eager reaching that ends with a dislocated arm. like, yeah, it Could be interpreted like that, but should it...? is the reader Really meant to "get" that mr woodhouse clearly has an std based on how careful he is with his health and what he eats, and "surrounds himself with virgins" from which one is his daughter? this post i've found also adds that "kissing" and "having one's hair cut" are slang words/allusions to having sex... which only reminds me of that time when preschool-age shrimp proudly told their mother about learning a new (informal) phrase for "it stinks in here"; in polish it contained the word "riding", so my mother raised her eyebrows and went oh really! so "grandma is riding her bicycle" is "grandma's stinking on her bicycle" now? THE TRUTH UNCOVERED: YOUR GRANDMA AND BIKERS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

like. i'm just not a fan of the idea that Oops! All Sexual Innuendos is actually the Secret Truth, or that not "getting them" means you're still a child, uwu pure and innocent. so i'd like to know if me going "yeah no" at ~Canonical STD Carrier Mr Woodhouse~ is a normal interpretation of a normal human being or if it makes me a silly little goose who hasn't achieved Real Adult Brain yet. so to speak.