#polysemous

[isobug]

Polysemous / Polysemy Identity ( illustrative flags )

Polysemy is the capacity of a single word or symbol to have multiple meanings / definitions / more than one connotation ( even if some of those definitions / meanings seemingly contradict each other. )

When related to one's identity it can refer to multiple things

One who is a specific identity, with that identity having multiple meanings / definitions, who identifies with all possible meanings /definitions of that identity ( including those which seem to contradict each other. )

One who is a specific identity, with that identity having multiple meanings / definitions, who identifies with most ( but not all ) meanings / definitions of that identity ( including those which seem to contradict each other. )

One who is a specific identity, with that identity having multiple meanings / definitions, who cycles through all possible meanings / definitions of that identity.

Any combination of the above ( even if putting those definitions together seems to lead to a contradictory identity. )

... and probably a few other definitions which I forgot to include. Obviously it's incredibly broad and inclusive!

( You could also replace "identity" in the above with "symbol" if you wanted to refer to your use of a specific symbol in relation to your identity. )

The flag was inspired by how purple seems to be used for ambiguity or multiplicity in concepts ( here it's for Polysemy itself. ) The outer stripes having contrasting colors and overlapping represents how definitions which seem to be contradictory still encompass the same identity and overlap.

The symbols on the bars ( a cross symbol and an asterisk ) are both used to indicate multiplication. I decided they'd be the best fit for symbols because despite being different shapes, they retain the same symbolic meaning in arithmetic, and fit in with the "multiple" theme. I made plain versions for those who dislike symbols or want to reposition them.

I made a simplified version without the overlap on the top / bottom bars for icons, edits, etc. that can't fit them in. As for how I generally intend for flags to be combined with these, you can check out my Polysemous Bi / Polysem Bi / Polysembi post here.

Similar to Recursive Gender / Recursigender and Dichotomyless / Non-Dichotomy this was mostly a fun exercise in playing around with a broader "concept" identity. I keep bringing math into these flags which is hilarious to me but I really hope I can make similar projects more often.

As always these are free to use anywhere by anyone, just throw me a credit and a link if someone asks for a source! I've uploaded the full .PSD template to my Deviantart ( isobug ) and you can find it at the post source link! It has everything for all versions of the flag and for making combo flags.

Taglist - @radiomogai, @revenant-coining

[johnny-hoxton]

Reality is fabricated out of desire.

Man Ray

[lullybaju]

How can I decide what's right

When you're clouding up my mind?

I can't win your losing fight

All the time

Now, can I ever own what's mine

When you're always taking sides?

But you won't take away my pride

No, not this time

[cyeayt]

I get that finding language to write about something as finicky as society and public understandings is probably hard but I’m convinced that some of these words were made up on the spot and added to the dictionary afterwards

[filmburnbook]

media literacy is probably the most vital skill you can develop these days.

I beg hyper-reactive voices to understand nuance, context, and intent. but the opposite happens: an author/creator makes something, it gets twisted by people's perception and assumption about intent in sharing and there is a crusade to censor and reprimand the author for using whatever language or event they found distasteful.

honestly fuck this hellscape that we live in where people will size you up, your intent, your morality/ethics and use "evidence" to frame you as a bigot, as a dangerous person, a deviant. All from a description that someone else could have written based on their perception, whether factual or inaccurate. [this obvi does not excuse acts of abuse, conscious manipulation, violence... which leads to conversations about the definitions and intersections of those terms]

To the reactive outrage people who see things in binary: you are the problem. Accountability is so much different than blaming, than punishment. If you desire people to change, work with them. If you want to insult and posit yourself as superior, go for it. You are why the internet is not as fun as it used to be. Basically, a lot of modern social critique treats every argument as a binary

Present day engagement with writing, opinion, and other media can seldom consider the separation of a creator's intent and an audience's interpretation of that intent. It's always cloudy and makes it hard to facilitate mature discussions when people scream their heads off about what they find offensive. We are bred to assume the worst in this culture of blame instead of considering that a point of view could be wrong, but it's still a point of view that is worth talking about. It reinforces scripts in defense of inherently biased personal values and discourages discussions and adaptability.

Putting words in my mouth makes it fun for you. Just block me and stay in your bubble. I want to engage with people I disagree with civilly because that's society.

[shabbyshoebox]

I kinda want to go on a rant about polysemes because I am Extremely Passionate about them and the fact that they aren't part of our school's curriculum is messed up, actually. It's an extremely useful concept that most people are already aware of, even if they don't have the word for it

A polysemous word is a word with related yet Distinct definitions. Each different use of the word (or each definition) is a polyseme.

It's extremely useful for things like politics, communicating between fields, and how I used to use it, TAing in physics classes

For example, if I say "the car accelerated":

The common, everyday way to interpret that is "the car increased speed".

The physics way is "the car changed its speed or direction".

Kids would understandably get really frustrated when profs told them "that's not what acceleration is" and "there's no such thing as deceleration".

Because in physics that's true. However colloquially speaking, their original definition of acceleration is still a correct definition! It's just a different context, so a different polyseme is needed!

Telling students that they need to treat these familiar words as completely new vocabulary seemed to help the most. Acknowledging that their definition of the word is a correct definition, but not what we need to use in this context, helped with a lot of frustration

Basically: no one definition is the end all be all for a polysemous word. Each definition is fine! Just switch up the polyseme for the context!!!

[bluvlet]

i am planning on writing something formal about in9 and grief sometime someday, although it probably take a while for me to get around to it.

currently trying to map out and categorise episodes into ways that they explore/utilise grief in their narratives. right now i have three distinct categories but there’s a few episodes that i’m struggling to pin down. i’m not sure how interested people would be in anything i have to say about this, but i’d be very keen to discuss it with anyone who is :)

you could probably tell if you spent five seconds looking at my in9 fanart but. to me (and i feel it is very important to preface that this is just my completely subjective interpretation of the show) in9 is about grief and all the different ways you can go about processing and experiencing it. i don’t claim it as the ‘secret hidden meaning that ties this anthology series together’ or anything, but as a body of work in9 is a panorama of what it’s like to lose or be missing something

[violestars]

𝙄 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙢𝙚

𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: Sunday x male reader

𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮: childhood friends to lovers AU, so the boy that broke your heart proposed to you— wait what?!

𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚: part 1 definitely not a wip lol, i got too attached to Sunday to let him go. !!only male readers!!

𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: angst, hurt comfort, mention of homophobia, controlling family, arranged marriage; kinda suggestive, vulgar language.

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨: part 1, part 2.

“Um— Sunday?” 

The owner of that name, who was clinging stubbornly onto your waist, only replied with a soft nuzzle on your stomach before going silent again. 

How the heck did you even get into this position?

A week without talking to Sunday, not even a small glance from him and you felt too awkward to admire those crystal-like eyes from afar.. listen to those soft lips.. ones that rejected your heartfelt confession— 

“Oh shut it!” You mentally screamed. Past you would not believe this. Sunday? As in the guy that could never be separated from you? The same boy that gained you guys the silly ‘’soulmates’ title? Oh please. 

You were a skeptical person, or a fancier way to call it— anxious. Everything is like a stacked cake to you, so polysemous. Each prettily decorated layer tastes like a plain lie, dig enough and you shall find the sweet truth at the very bottom, if you haven't gone crazy from a sugar high that is! But even if you were a mind reader, Sunday's feelings were always a mystery. Must he be so hidden from you? You have been shaking in your boots at the thought of losing these years of beautiful friendship if he hadn't noticed already. 

“It has always been just him and me together.. Why can't you just share your true thoughts?” You signed, directing your frustrations to the little bear that he got you after a small arcane 'date'— well what your delusional self would call it. You smiled fondly at the memories, him being so deadpanned on how childish the place is, only to gamble his whole life away for a plushie you couldn't stop staring at. Honestly, the strangely designed toy was only cute because it looks like him, just with white wings as ears. 

That is also why it was getting punched to oblivion. 

Ding! 

The abuse stopped as you quickly snatched your phone from the bedside table. Thankfully Robin was updating you on Sunday's condition. All she shared throughout the week with her brother's future boyfriend, the dumb nickname reserved for you specially, was his health and little behaviors. Nothing too useful, not too specific for speculation. “I swear Y/N! If I could I would— the guy was made out of stone or something!” You remembered the poor twin sobbed out, only to be glaring at you for replying with “No wonder he looks like an ethereal sculpture..” 

But this time, your phone wasn't buzzing with several messages of either gossip or complaints, there were only one. 

“Brother mumbled your name and ran straight out after I came home! Please don't fight! His face was as crinkly as an old man's!” 

If the circumstances were different, you would have let out a soft chuckle yet you were at a loss for words. Last time he did that, you had to lie to your sleeping parents about such noisy commotion downstairs. 

“Did I lock my windo—” 

“You didn't.” 

Sunday replied. 

And here you were, laying underneath him, being pinned to your own soft bed. You have dreamt of being treated like this before, and if it wasn't for the fact that the guy laying on your stomach has been on incognito mode for days, you would've started blushing. How did he even get onto your window? Last time you prepared a ladder that you painfully struggled with setting up. Did he drag one here himself? 

“Earth to Sunday?” You asked, hesitatingly patting his fluffy baby blue hair. Your touches carried themselves with confidence after its owner let out a sigh of content, to which you could only muster a small 'cute' under your breath. 

“Fuck them..Those selfish deadbeats..” Sunday grumbled, his voice sending vibration to your tender stomach, making you shivered. You were slightly startled by his wordings, Sunday rarely curses, even around you. Did he have a fight with his family again? 

“Whoa..I just heard some strong words from a guy that never works out— Ow!” You grunted, your sides stinging like an army of fire ants has just devoured your flesh. Who said a crush's privilege was freely inflicting pain onto your delicate body?

You were about to start a fight, there were so many bones to pick with this guy, let's not forget how he ignored your presence first. 

As your hands were about to push Sunday off, he lifted his head up. Crystalized eyes challenging the sparkles of precious diamonds, glistening while they silently begged you to comfort their owner. The first time he looked at you in days and it was when he looked like a kicked puppy. You only sigh, gently pulling him up to your level as he buried his face into your neck. 

“They wanted to marry me off— Well I would thank them if they actually left me alone after. But no! It was to strengthen the family relationships or something. I was given the job to take over my supposed spouse's family business and gain more power to ourselves, themselves if we're being brutally honest.” Sunday finally let out, after swallowing back a hiccup. He was slowly breaking down in your arms, you felt useless for just laying there and rubbing his back. Like you haven't been expecting his family to cook up something as unreasonable as that. 

Unsurprisingly, Sunday knew that clearly, his pained grin proved it. What really was he hoping for? A kiss on the cheek? He was glad you hadn't kicked him out after the isolation he put you through. So he continued to spill out his troubles to you. 

“Of course I didn't agree to that. I don't want to be tied to someone I never loved, like they haven't caged me enough. So I suggested your family.” 

H-Huh???

You felt your eyes were bulging out of its sockets, mouth agape as you were about to question his decision. What did you have anything to do with his arranged marriage? 

“Atta boy. Stay there and look pretty, I'm not finished.” You huffed with a light blush dusted across your face as Sunday chuckled between his soft sniffles. Even in times like this, he was joking around with you. This was definitely not the mysterious guy the girls were gushing over.  

“They shamed you, us. Called us homos or whatever, I couldn't care less if they were only aiming at me. I stood my ground though, I told them your family is definitely on a higher status than any lady’s that caught their nasty attention. The public’s views are changing, if they throw away their historical mindset, they would see how we can manipulate this difference and act like the family is filled with open-minded politicians.” 

You could tell Sunday felt relieved after that rant, which was filled with sassy remarks, yet something was holding his breath back. His heart beats were still jogging around, visible through your own chest. You then noticed how close you both were, not like as best friends you two haven't cuddled, it just felt so so close this time. 

You felt naked under his attentive gaze, looking at you like you were the best thing that God has given him, your cheeks increased in color by instinct. You let out a hum after a tight silence, taking your eyes off his only to be gently led back by the hand on your chin, hopeful eyes boring into yours.

“To simply put. I want to marry you.”

His breath was so close to your mouth. When did he lean in so slyly? You gulped, you were definitely shocked at this plot twist and your expressions were all over the place. You must have looked like a fool at that moment.

Are you even supposed to reply? If so, how?? 

You only licked your dry lips, which succeeded in distracting Sunday's focus. It would have helped if he didn't look at them with such hunger, you felt like a weak rabbit in the wolf's den. The said wolf then turned back to your eyes, ones that he missed admiring with such fondness— ensuring their shine like they were priceless pieces of gemstone. Sunday looked at you with an unsure look, he didn't know what you were thinking as he assumed your heart didn't belong to him anymore. He did recognize the little glint in your eyes though, quietly urging him to continue, just like when you guys were sharing ridiculous stories in your secret spot as mischievous kids. So he did, he owed you a sincere apology after all. 

“I understand. The guy that broke my heart proposed to me, what's up his sleeve this time? I was afraid. Y/N, my love, my life. If they knew we were together, they would use you against me. They would hurt you and I would rip them to shreds— But you would still be trapped. You don't deserve that, my prince. If I knew we were gonna have this argument, I would have brought up marrying you. They have called you such disgusting names.. But they all hide behind me, that's how it has always been. I would be the one hurting you, I am the one hurting you. It pains me just thinking about doing such sins.” 

You were awfully silent, Sunday cringed at how he could clearly hear every movement of the rain, slowly hitting your window. Each drop turned harsher — copying the movement of his heart against yours. They all reminded him this was real, this was reality. 

He was finally facing reality. What he was telling you will change the future for the better or worse. But he will take this shot because he couldn't afford to lose you any further. You are his lover, there is no other. 

“I am a monster, it is clear now. After I pulled you into this mess, I know for sure of my kind. I don't know how you even loved me. Am I not obsessed with you? Aren't you weirded out by that? I'm scared I would let you down, I haven't even experienced real love before I met you, I can't provide you with the affections you're expecting, love—” 

You pulled him into a deep kiss, hands wrinkling his neat white shirt, he definitely just got out from a meeting. 

You could taste the metallic from your mouth, Sunday was returning the action with harsh movements like no tomorrow, like this was some sweet dream of his, biting your lips in the process. You couldn't care less, what mattered was how his actions were screaming desire, like an animal finally being freed from its cage— capturing its prized possession. He definitely regretted giving you the cold shoulder, holding onto you like you would run away once you witnessed his true form.

If you did, what would he do? No, he won't hurt you. He would probably cling onto you like child with its mother, crying like a newborn. He wou—

“..Y-You said you're scared of letting me down.” You managed to say, heavy breaths with shaky hands clutching onto his shoulders to balance yourself as you cut off his chain of thoughts. It was a battle trying to take control with him, all you could do was let out small whimpers once you felt like choking. Sunday looked at you with dazed eyes, this was a side he has never seen, one he would kill to reserve for his own feast. But he was focused, he was getting accepted or thrown away for good— the latter being slightly off chance. 

“How about sticking around to find out first?” You asked, your tone assertive and filled with trust in him. You knew Sunday wouldn't back down from a challenge, you knew how possessive he could be. But you didn't mind. You were inviting a monster into your own home, maybe you were the monster all along. 

“Y/N, you know this isn't a silly game—” 

“Don't you want to make me proud?” Sunday paused, whatever insults he was about to throw up to persuade your stubbornness cut off from his script. He has never felt so weak before. Not even with the family, they still need him. But not you, the way you phrased that, how you were looking at him. You looked like a deity, talking to a dumb buffoon of a peasant, giving him orders he oh so carved.

God, you're divine. 

Sunday only lean into your soft luring touch, his eyes never leaving those that got him so weak in the knees. Filled with much adoration but also power. 

“Cause I'm so proud..” You gently breathed out, fanning his thirsty lips. As they crashed into each other once again, this time full of longing and love, you both have sealed your fate. Where you go, he will follow along. Sunday knew he is yours now, you knew you have always belonged to him. 

Baby, I'm so proud of you.

© art by @/sisi19980408 on twt

[snowlithills]

Theses on Monsters, China Mieville

1.

The history of all hitherto-existing societies is the history of monsters. Homo sapiens is a bringer-forth of monsters as reason’s dream. They are not pathologies but symptoms, diagnoses, glories, games, and terrors.

2.

To insist that an element of the impossible and fantastic is a sine qua non of monstrousness is not mere nerd hankering (though it is that too). Monsters must be creature forms and corpuscles of the unknowable, the bad numinous. A monster is somaticized sublime, delegate from a baleful pleroma. The telos of monstrous quiddity is godhead.

3.

There is a countervailing tendency in the monstrous corpus. It is evident in Pokémon’s injunction to “catch ’em all,” in the Monster Manual’s exhaustive taxonomies, in Hollywood’s fetishized “Monster Shot.” A thing so evasive of categories provokes—and surrenders to—ravenous desire for specificity, for an itemization of its impossible body, for a genealogy, for an illustration. The telos of monstrous quiddity is specimen.

4.

Ghosts are not monsters.

5.

It is pointed out, regularly and endlessly, that the word “monster” shares roots with “monstrum,” “monstrare,” “monere“—”that which teaches,” “to show,” “to warn.” This is true but no longer of any help at all, if it ever was.

6.

Epochs throw up the monsters they need. History can be written of monsters, and in them. We experience the conjunctions of certain werewolves and crisis-gnawed feudalism, of Cthulhu and rupturing modernity, of Frankenstein’s and Moreau’s made things and a variably troubled Enlightenment, of vampires and tediously everything, of zombies and mummies and aliens and golems/robots/clockwork constructs and their own anxieties. We pass also through the endless shifts of such monstrous germs and antigens into new wounds. All our moments are monstrous moments.

7.

Monsters demand decoding, but to be worthy of their own monstrosity, they avoid final capitulation to that demand. Monsters mean something, and/but they mean everything, and/but they are themselves and irreducible. They are too concretely fanged, toothed, scaled, fire-breathing, on the one hand, and too doorlike, polysemic, fecund, rebuking of closure, on the other, merely to signify, let alone to signify one thing.

Any bugbear that can be completely parsed was never a monster, but some rubber-mask-wearing Scooby-Doo villain, a semiotic banality in fatuous disguise. It is a solution without a problem.

8.

Our sympathy for the monster is notorious. We weep for King Kong and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, no matter what they’ve done. We root for Lucifer and ache for Grendel.

It is a trace of skepticism that the given order is a desideratum that lies behind our tears for its antagonists, our troubled empathy with the invader of Hrothgar’s hall.

9.

Such sympathy for the monster is a known factor, a small problem, a minor complication for those who, in drab reaction, deploy an accusation of monstrousness against designated social enemies.

10.

When those same powers who enmonster their scapegoats reach a tipping point, a critical mass, of political ire, they abruptly and with bullying swagger enmonster themselves. The shock troops of reaction embrace their own supposed monstrousness. (From this investment emerged, for example, the Nazi Werwolf program.) Such are by far more dreadful than any monster because, their own aggrandizements notwithstanding, they are not monsters. They are more banal and more evil.

11.

The saw that We Have Seen the Real Monsters and They Are Us is neither revelation, nor clever, nor interesting, nor true. It is a betrayal of the monstrous, and of humanity.

[isobug]

Polysemous Bi / Polysem Bi / Polysembi

These terms have multiple definitions ( due to being Polysemous )

One who is Bisexual, with Bisexuality having multiple meanings / definitions, who identifies with all possible meanings /definitions of Bisexuality ( including those which seem to contradict each other. )

One who is Bisexual, with Bisexuality having multiple meanings / definitions, who identifies with most ( but not all ) meanings / definitions of Bisexuality ( including those which seem to contradict each other. )

One who is Bisexual, with Bisexuality having multiple meanings / definitions, who cycles through all possible meanings / definitions of Bisexuality.

Any combination of the above ( even if putting those definitions together seems to lead to a contradictory identity. )

... and probably a few more which I forgot to include due to how broad Polysemy / Bisexuality is.

Made by combining my illustrative Polysemous / Polysemy Identity flags with the Bisexual flag.

I mainly made this to show off how one could combine the Polysemous flags with a separate flag, but also because Bisexuality was the first ( and honestly best ) example of polysemy in relation to orientation which I could think of.

( Before anyone claims redundancy, there are Monosemous Bi / Monosem Bi / Monosembi individuals who only identify with a singular definition of the term! )

Taglist - @radiomogai, @revenant-coining

[snailpaste]

"Astarion" Name Meaning in Elvish (Quenya)

The meaning of "Astarion" in Elvish according to Tolkein's Quenya. See bottom for Notes. Top lists potential components, bottom provides interpretations/meanings.

──────────────────

Components:

1. Astar: Noun meaning “Faith”, “Loyalty”. (Roots: as’tāră > astor [astāra] > [astār])

2. -ion: Masculine patronymic suffix meaning “son of"

Examples of this can be seen in the names: “Aldarion”, a compound of “aldar” (trees) + “ion” (son of) meaning Son of [the] Trees; “Anárion”, a compound of “Anar” (sun) + “ion” (son of), meaning Son of the Sun; and “Aranwion”, a compound of “Aranwe” (Quenya male name) + “ion”, meaning Son of Aranwe.

3. -tar-: Affix denoting nobility or highness eg: King/Queen/Prince/High/Lord (basically any noble/royal title can be inserted, pick what you fancy as its largely subjective).

Examples of this can be seen in the Quenya names: “Annatar”, a compound of “anna” (gift) + “tar”, meaning “Lord of Gifts”; “Sorontar”, compound “soron” (eagle) + “tar”, meaning “King of Eagles”; “Tarmenel”, a compound of “tar” and “Menel” (Heavens) meaning  “High Heaven”.

4. Ar: Noun meaning "day”, “sunlight" (abbr. of árë).

Seen in the Quenya name “Arien” (of which Arion is the exact masculine translation) compound of “árë” (sunlight) and the feminine patronymic suffix “-ien”, meaning “Maiden of the Sun”, “Day-bearer”, “Sun-maiden”.

5. Ar-: Prefix denoting nobility or highness eg: King, Lord, Master, Queen, High, Great, Royal, Noble (again, basically any noble/royal title can be inserted).

6. Asto: Noun meaning “dust” (pl. Aist).

──────────────────────

Interpretations/Meanings:

1. Astar + -ion

Astar+ion

Son of Astar. Son of Loyalty/Faith. Loyal/Faithful Son.

2. Asto + ar + -ion

Ast[o]+ar+ion

“ar” as a noun

Son of [the] Dust and Day/Sun. Day/Sun Son of Dust. Bearer of Day/Sun & Dust. Son of Astoaron. Son of the man of Dust & Sun. 

3. Asto + ar- + -ion

Ast[o]+ar+ion

“ar-” as a prefix to “-ion”

Royal/High/Noble Son of Dust. Prince of Dust.

4. Astar + ar + -ion

Ast[ar]+ar+ion

“ar” as a noun

Son of [a] Faithful/Loyal Day/Sun. Faithful/Loyal Son of [the] Day/Sun/Warmth. Son of Faithful/Loyal Warmth [of the sun]. Son of Astaron.

5. Astar + ar- + -ion

Ast[ar]+ar+ion

“ar-” as a prefix to “-ion”

Royal/High/Noble Son of Loyalty/Faith. Loyal/Faithful Noble/High Son. Son/Prince of Faith/Loyalty.

6. Asto + -tar + -ion

Ast[o]+[t]ar+ion

“tar” as a suffix to “Asto”

Son of High/Noble/Royal Dust. Son of the King of Dust.

7. Asto + tar- + -ion

Ast[o]+[t]ar+ion

“tar” as a prefix to “-ion”

Royal/High/Noble Son of Dust. Prince of Dust.

──────────────────────────────

NOTES:

Regarding above names using “ar-” prefix: The use of “ar-” in this context could potentially be incorrect, resulting in a different meaning. Take “Pelargir”, a sindarin word meaning "Garth of (the) Royal Ships", for example; Pelargir is composed of either the “pel-” (encircle, go around), or “pêl” (fenced field), and the prefix “ar-” (noble/royal) and “cîr” (ships). If I interpreted the names with the “ar-” prefix in the same manner as “Pelargir”, they would end up meaning “light/heat/warmth/sun/dust of a noble son/boy”. With that being said “Arion” does mean High/Noble/Royal son, and follows the grammatical rules, so I would say it’s polysemous.

“Arion” is a poetic version of “Prince” (son of royalty, royal son)

[meichenxi]

@sirenofthegreenbanks @doitinanotherlanguage

RIGHT!!!! you guys get it!!!! there are some very talented translators out there but english is just NOT really designed for easily translating the nuances of greek or other more case-heavy languages!! languages like german and finnish are way better! the subtle differences in word order, emphasis, fronting etc just don't really work with a language as case marking-impoverished as english that is so reliant on word order to show syntactical relationships - less free word order also means less flexibility which means less freedom in interpreting sentences that run over multiple lines, especially if it's a poetic translation and you want to even attempt to keep the metre - most metred translations of the iliad etc in english suffer so much from this. also german has such a long history of engagement with the classics and I love a lot of the older translations - they feel vast and solemn without being 'bombastic and pompous' as you said. it sounds like such a stuffy opinion to have but genuinely. I feel so vindicated right now.

re chinese, I have read some of the first mdzs book translated into german but otherwise not a terrible amount? it didn't occur to me to do so, to be honest, because the linguistic impetus for wanting to read a case marking-heavy language translated into another case marking-heavy language isn't really there. I can see why that might have an advantage in german - again the flexibility of word order helps - but to be honest classical chinese and german are so far apart that the same motivation for doing it for me isn't there. I'm curious now, so is there anything you recommend in particular @sirenofthegreenbanks ?

I have however read some chinese tang poetry translated into french and I much preferred the english. both german and english have such a rich vocabulary of highly specific germanic root words that don't require any adjectives or adverbs for modification - compare that to french where they often will say someone 'ran quickly' or 'spoke loudly' versus a single word encompassing those meanings. that doesn't mean the poetic expression of french is less, just that it doesn't suit the VERY concise, dense and incredibly meaning-rich, often even polysemous, nature of classical chinese. so I can absolutely see why german would be a good language for translation for chinese in that respect - although I still imagine the best languages to read classical chinese in translation, except for modern chinese, would be vietnamese, thai etc.

[transmutationisms]

idrc about whether a building is aesthetically pleasing in context of Using it but i do think it's valuable to learn how to read architecture and in that sense a lot of it is truly reprehensible LOL like i truly hate the eiffel tower technocracy cultural capital of the world universal exposition situation. analogously some of the worst fucking architecture on the planet is the neoclassical we <3 athenian democracy dogshit in washington dc and then there's like the various gothicisms that university campuses loooove to put up for the medieval apprenticeship fantasy while apple store locker room-ifying every computer lab or whatever. ideology innit. obviously this is all contextual and not the forms in-themselves like modular housing i think could be really tidy but there's sometimes an element of disingenuousness on those plans that just comes out more as like, good news we've designed taylorist housing :). and then there are forms that are already blatantly polysemic in practical use like people on here love to post about brutalism as thee socialist aesthetic but also the literal fbi hq is famously an extremely imposing brutalist slab and a lot of the training buildings at quantico have that as well and i do think they cultivate that aesthetic on purpose, like kind of the le playist thing of basically branding the agency via its architecture. which ofc most everyone does but you can see it more blatantly in some institutions than others, like eg prisons and schools and art museums and abattoirs are often quite blatantly opinionated about themselves in this sense. anyway since it's categorically impossible to make an aesthetic judgment that isn't a socially and politically contextualised judgment i do think it's both edifying and kind of necessary to investigate these kinds of considerations, else you're just expressing ideology you accepted without knowing or noticing which is generally worse i think

[wonder-worker]

Marie of Blois and Louis II of Anjou, building on a foundation laid by Louis I and Clement VII, refashioned [Johanna I of Naples] as the founder of their new dynasty. They deliberately obscured their distant kinship to her, Marie and Louis I both depicting themselves as her loyal children. In her efforts to secure Provence for her son, Marie elaborated on this kinship, obscuring what was merely a legal relationship beneath her self-identification as Johanna’s “natural” daughter. In so doing, she played on the representation of Charles of Durazzo as a matricide: His behavior was unnatural, making him an unnatural son, while her devotion transformed her into a natural daughter. The word “natural” was thus polysemous, employed to mean both that Marie was Johanna’s biological daughter and that her behavior was appropriate while Charles’s was inhuman, unnatural. She deployed the emotional language of kinship to depict herself as a fitting successor to the murdered queen, whose virtue she enhanced and whose history she ignored. Charles, through his faithlessness, had forfeited any rights he might have had to Johanna’s throne, while Marie—the representative of Johanna’s designated heir and her faithful daughter—earned the right to it through her love and outraged grief. At the same time, she asserted her right to be Provence’s regent, representing the relationship between her family and Johanna as transcending legal nicety, binding them together in a spiritual kinship that obliterated any doubt as to the second Angevin line’s legitimacy.

— Elizabeth Casteen, From She-Wolf to Martyr: The Reign and Disputed Reputation of Johanna I of Naples

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Storm/The Eye, Pt. 4

Finally, the Genii arrive at Atlantis with Acastus Kolya at the helm. With Robert Davi acting, it's rather on the nose how much the events of the story follow the plot of Die Hard with Kolya as Hans Gruber and Sheppard as John McClane. And, as I mentioned the polysemic storytelling used by the series, the role of Holly Gennero is played by both McKay and Weir.

McKay and Weir are captured by the Genii almost immediately.

They're clever enough to keep their communicators on so that Sheppard can eavesdrop on the discussion. McKay is clearly frightened, even more so than Weir because he actually has experience of these people from before, but he's not about to give them anything that would jeopardize Sheppard (not even his own name, confirmation of which Sora provides for Kolya). Rodney is a brave little toaster but he's way in over his head. You can see by the minute tilt of his chin that he just entered What Would Sheppard Do? zone, he's trying to navigate the situation the way he thinks John would.

The fact that Weir responds verbally to Kolya's inquiry about his identity and McKay does not but is recognized anyway is exactly how the entire scenario plays out main text / sub text wise. We are verbally told: Elizabeth, from contextual cues we are able to interpret: Rodney.

We actually cut from Sheppard's reaction to what he just overheard to the storm brewing outside. Because if he was frightened of the storm and what it might do to this newly found home at the beginning of the episode, he's now terrified.

In the Genii home world when they were held hostage, McKay and Sheppard both attempted to keep the other safe in their own ways, and they continue doing just that here. Sheppard is using his military training, McKay is using his brain (and Weir is using her skills as a negotiator). McKay is trying to convey information that Sheppard could use by "accidentally" leaning on the communication panel but at the same time, he's letting him know that they are both still alive and unharmed. It's notable that all of the characters are lying to keep each other safe. They are saying counterfactual things in the hopes that the others might be spared.

Also notable: Kolya is smart enough to know that they are lying.

McKay seems to realize that he has no experience in dealing with the kind of sociopath Kolya is but he tries his best. He's being careful not to antagonize them unnecessarily and is also lying about the most important things.

Kolya has figured out that McKay is too important to be there. There must be a reason why he stayed behind. The Genii clearly recognize his importance on a lot of fronts, the least of them not being that he's the one that knows how to use the C4 to build an A-bomb which is something that the Genii don't know how to do. He would go as far as to injure McKay but it's doubtful he ever had intention of killing him.

But even under physical torture, he didn't give up Sheppard. The Genii only learn that Sheppard is in fact in the city through the radio he left in the armory himself. The only reason he gives out the plan to save the city is that he has such faith in Sheppard. This is why he looks guilty when Kolya and Sheppard have this exchange:

Kolya: Your offer is very generous, Major. Sheppard: Yes, it is. Kolya: However, Doctor McKay recently shared with me there's a plan in action to save the city. Sheppard: He did?! Kolya: He did.

Like, McKay overhears this and thinks that he's disappointed Sheppard; as though Sheppard is expressing surprise that he would do such a thing. The last thing McKay wants is to let the Major down. What their exchange is actually about is Kolya letting Sheppard know that he has hurt McKay enough to get information out of him, and Sheppard gets this.

And Sheppard's plan is to rescue them. He hides the thing that he knows the Genii care most about, the thing they can't do without, it being the C4. He's holding the most important thing to the Genii ransom because he hopes that this will be enough for him to get back the most important thing to him. Everyone is attempting to find the leverage and use it.

Knowing that Sheppard has walked into an ambush, even though he is afraid McKay tries to help him the only way he can which is by pointing out that something is invaluable (reminding them that they might break the only thing that can save the city if they start shooting at him). Likewise, Sheppard only went to the grounding station with the hope that doing what the Genii asked would keep Weir and McKay safe. And boy is McKay relieved to hear the Sheppard managed to dodge the ambush:

Note that it's McKay's reaction we get to this, and his alone.

Now, Sheppard makes the mistake of mentioning McKay because he just can't keep him out of his mouth. When you're thinking about something or someone, it's going to come out of your mouth. He tells Kolya that he's going to get "an earful from McKay for" his soldiers breaking the controls to the grounding station, and then this very thing actually happens. What he actually did was to demonstrate to a really intelligent sociopath that he knows McKay pretty damn well. Too well. And that he cares about him because damn, if that didn't signal familiarity between them.

Starting to play hardball, Kolya tells Sheppard "Say good-bye to Doctor Weir". But note that he actually looks at McKay just before he says this, thinking about something. Kolya and Sheppard are playing a game with extremely high stakes.

Now, it seems like Kolya threatening Weir is too much for Sheppard. It's the mention of Weir that throws him off the edge, right? Makes him threaten to destroy to whole city if he hurts her. Weir, and not McKay. Easy, heteronormative reading. That's what they say, after all.

The thing is, we've seen before that Sheppard is both a strategic thinker and (especially in Underground, S01E08) that especially when it comes to the Genii, he thinks that the less information they have about them, the better. He lied about the number of puddle jumpers they have. He was willing to let them know that they have a ship, but not that they have many ships. He stopped McKay from spilling the beans on how much weaponry they have. Each and every one of the characters have been lying through their teeth all through the ordeal to keep each other safe.

Kolya is likewise a strategic thinker. He's trying to figure Sheppard out. He has two hostages and he's trying to find out how he can use them for leverage. He knows all of them are lying.

Some people watch the episode and come to the conclusion that Sheppard cares about Weir the most because Kolya threatens her and he loses it. And like, he doesn't mention McKay so he must not care about him as much as he does about Weir. But it is precisely because McKay is the one he cannot and will not lose that he plays it out as though Weir is the one he cares the most about here. Giving the enemy that kind of leverage like revealing the thing you actually can't live without would be stupid. And Kolya figures it out anyway.

Sheppard tells him that if he hurts Weir, he would rather blow up Atlantis with all of them in it, indicating to him that Weir is the one he cannot afford to lose. Anything you do, just please don't kill her. And yet we end the episode with Kolya telling Sheppard that he is about to kill one of the two, and he's not telling him which. Having just glanced at McKay before he decided to test Sheppard out by threatening Weir by name.

Why would he do that? If Kolya believed that Weir was the one Sheppard cared most about like he indicated to Kolya, why would he not simply use the leverage Sheppard had just (on purpose) given him? Why suddenly be vague about which it's going to be?

Because Kolya can play 4D-chess too. And it's when Kolya tells Sheppard that he is going to kill one of them and he does not know which that is going to be that Sheppard actually capitulates, not when he threatened to kill Weir a moment ago. Notice that Sheppard was still relatively cool and level-headed when Kolya was just threatening her life; when her life was on the line, he was still negotiating with Kolya. But suddenly he loses it.

Note that while he's shouting throughout this dialogue because he's outside in the storm trying to get his voice heard, his tone of voice changes throughout:

Kolya: You killed two of my men. Sheppard: I guess we're even! [flippant] Kolya: I don't like even. Sheppard: I'm not finished yet! [bravado] Kolya: Neither am I. Say goodbye to Doctor Weir. Sheppard: The city has a self-destruct button. You hurt her, I'll activate it. Nobody'll get Atlantis. [still calmly negotiating, able to formulate a plan of action] Kolya: Even if it exists, Major, you need at least two senior personnel to activate it -- and I'm about to take one of them out of the equation. Sheppard: Kolya?! Kolya?! I'll give you a ship! I'll fly it out of here for you myself! KOLYA!! [suddenly desperate]

Sheppard is willing to do anything and say anything to keep McKay safe. The man he's fallen in love with. His home. The person he cares so much for that a stranger he's known for all of five minutes was able to figure it out and use it against him. Threatening Weir wasn't the thing that pushed him over the edge, it was not knowing which one the gun was pointed at and the fear that Kolya had figured him out, had his ticket.

This is when Kolya made himself into Sheppard's mortal enemy. And it's notable that in every one of their subsequent encounters, Kolya knows to use McKay to get to Sheppard.

Continued in Pt. 5