#this goes for every language not just standard (which to us is english in this case)

[laurelaicoop]

Mahl Fun Facts

Due to their language being nigh-impossible for non-Mahl to speak, it's very common for individuals who regularly work with other species to name themselves after their favorite word of that species' native language.

So sometimes you'll run into Mahl named 'Niblet' or 'Crack' or 'Double' simply because the Mahl thought the word sounded neat.

[felassan]

What's all this about Solas speaking in iambic pentameter? English isn't my first language so I never noticed anything odd about the way he talks, but your blog is the first time I've seen it mentioned by anyone

hello! ◕‿◕ Solas sometimes speaks in a specific pattern or rhythm. It sometimes gets described as or compared by people to iambic pentameter. (which is a type of rhythm common in traditional English poetry. Shakespeare used it in his sonnets and plays.) Though, I'm not sure that it's actually literally that or always that. The main point is that at those times, he's speaking particularly poetically, with a specific poetic rhythm in his speech. (Like where the stress on syllables is and the 'beats' in his speech.) Occasionally, the Inquisitor's dialogue line[s] in response to him are the same.

When Trick Weekes wrote Solas in DA:I, they wrote some of his key scenes to KD Lang's cover of the song Hallelujah on a loop. They talked about some of their process and the reasons for the use of this technique in terms of Solas' characterization in this DA:I-era blog post:

Trick Weekes: "When Solas talks about things that he saw in the Fade, things that speak to a distant past, I needed him to sound ever so slightly otherworldly and wistful – someone remembering a dream with a sense of both sadness and inevitability. If you follow [that link] and look at some of Solas’s lines, you may notice a familiar rhythm come out. It would have been forcing it to give lines the same rhyme scheme, but giving the words the meter captured some of that wistfulness and made Solas sound ever so slightly otherworldly. (In the rare cases the player got into the same rhythm, there was always an approval bump from Solas. For that brief period, it was like the player was thinking like he did.) I used this a few times over the game, and I love what it did to his voice. Also, Cori (who edited Solas) is exceedingly kind for putting up with my request that changes to those lines keep this surreptitious rhythm."

[source]

An example of when it happens in DA:I is:

"I've journeyed deep into the Fade // in ancient ruins and battlefields // to see the dreams of lost civilizations. I've watched as hosts of spirits clash // to reenact the bloody past // in ancient wars both famous and forgotten. Every great war // has its heroes. // I'm just curious // what kind you'll be."

Compare this with the song's lyrics:

"I heard there was a secret chord // That David played, and it pleased the Lord // You don't really care for music, do ya? Well it goes like this: The fourth, the fifth // The minor fall, the major lift // The baffled king composing Hallelujah Hallelujah // Hallelujah // Hallelujah // Hallelujah"

An example from Trespasser is:

"I lay in dark and dreaming sleep [I heard there was a secret chord] while countless wars and ages passed [That David played, and it pleased the Lord] I woke still weak a year before I joined you. [You don't really care for music, do ya?]" etc.

Recent mentions of this are:

Q. Will Solas still occasionally or dramatically speak in iambic pentameter? A. “Massive kudos to Patrick, who always writes Solas so well. Again, Solas is a returning character. It’s the same Solas you know and love (or hate depending on who you are). The same writer. So I think the answer is yeah, it’s Solas.” – John Epler

[source: BioWare dev Discord Q&A on June 14th]

User: "you really went off with solas. but the iambic pentameter makes writing fanfic dialogue for him so treacherous..." Trick Weekes: "It doesn't always have to be in the cadence! Just when he's deeply feeling The Old Days! He's written in standard prose 99% of the time!"

[source]

I think he does it a bit in the gameplay reveal video [Veil ripping scene with Varric] too. hope this helps :>

[msg refs this post]

[For the developer Q&A from June 14th on Discord: Notes are here, re-watch link is here]

[thelightfluxtastic]

The Crawler's Language

So I'm not a linguist by academic specialty but I am bilingual and fascinated by languages and every time I reread the Underland Chronicles I think about language and especially the Crawler's style of repetitive speech.

All of the species in the Underland have different speech patterns. The bats speak rarely, quietly, and in short sentences because it is physically difficult for them. The spinners speak through vibrations. The rats as a species are associated with humor, they're most likely to use sarcasm and constantly make jokes. But when all of these species do speak, they use the grammar and syntax common to human Underland English.

The exception is the crawlers, who have a distinct verbal quirk, saying things like: "Smells what, so good, smells what?" In this essay I am making basically two arguments:

The crawlers word order is completely normal for Underland English.

Often, when discussing the crawlers, the book narration will make a point of Gregor or others having to mentally re-order sentences to understand the bugs. But if you take out the repetition, Crawler sentences become things like:

"Smells what so good?" "Be she the princess?" "Hates us, the Overlander?" "Unless this be not the Cradle"

And this order that goes Verb-Object or Verb-Pronoun is not unusual for standard Underland English. Human and other characters throughout the books say things like: "Stop you. Stay you. Slow your hearts." (Ripred, Book 1) "Meet you Mareth and Perdita" (Dulcet, Book 1) "Gather us here for we must discuss" (Vikus, Book 1)

It's even baked in to the standard Underlander farewell, "Fly you high".

So the crawlers are speaking correct sentences in Underland English, just repeating the first phrase at the end. Which brings me to my second argument.

The repetition serves a grammatical function

In paying attention to the crawler's speech, I found a pattern. The repetition is not present in every sentence. Crawlers often make simple declarative statements without repetition:

"You look much like but smell not like" "Temp will share her food with me" "Rats give many fish"

The repetition specifically happens with questions:

"Ride you, ride you? Run you, run you?" "Give you five baskets, give you?" "You so say, you?"

Even Vikus takes on this particular grammatical feature. When speaking to the Crawlers, he says "We will give four baskets, and one for thanks" but later asks "Take us to your king, take us?" when asking a question.

There are exceptions to this, but to me they seem to be in cases of emphasis or explicit confirmation:

"Only the Princess, Temp serves, only the Princess" "Hate warmbloods, cutters do, hate warmbloods"

I have no idea if this was Suzanne Collins intention, but for me personally, it reminds me of how questions are structured in American Sign Language. In ASL, a question is indicated by raising or lowering the eyebrows. Signs for question words like who/what/where/why exist, but aren't always necessary. One of the structures common with ASL is to put or repeat the question word at the end, so you can sign a longer phrase or sentence normally, and only have to worry about the question facial expression for the last word. Bill Vicars at Lifeprint/ASL University has a more in-depth explanation, comparing it to English questions structured as "You go to [X university], don't you?" or "You like engineering, do you?" But basically, in ASL, a perfectly grammatically correct way to ask if someone is Deaf is to sign: YOU DEAF YOU?

It is also worth exploring why, in my opinion, the crawlers are the only species who have this visible difference to the audience, even though all species are speaking English as a second language. And at a meta-level, it contributes to the basic assumption that the crawlers are dumber than the other species. Gregor has the most to adjust to, but even long after he's accepted that the Underlanders aren't primitive, and bats/rats are intelligent, he still has a kind but condescending outlook on the crawlers. And even other insect species (like the fireflies) look down on them. Having the crawlers speak differently from anyone else emphasizes their alienation from all other species in the Underland. And it reminds me of how some accents or dialects, like AAVE, are associated with stupidity or assumed to be "incorrect" English when they have perfectly valid and functional structures and meaning.

[kata4a]

@jadagul @necarion @arsinyk @quantumofawesome

Over Thanksgiving @jadagul was explaining Maiden handtalk (from the Wheel of Time novels) to me, which as I understand it is a signed language used by the female warrior class of the setting, letting them communicate in secret (and in particular without being understood by men).

Obviously this immediately made me think of Irish Sign Language.

ISL is a language unique for having highly distinct gendered variants (due to the segregation of schools for deaf children). Naturally the children, after graduating, would eventually want to interact with each other, and naturally, it was the women who were expected to learn the men's language.

This of course, meant that female ISL speakers knew a private language which they could use to communicate in secret from men.

That's at least what I remembered, but I wanted to confirm that I had my facts straight, so I did a little bit of research when I got back to Boston. Pretty much every source I could find agrees that Irish Sign Language has two distinct gendered variants (e.g.: https://www.irishdeafsociety.ie/irish-sign-language/). But it was somewhat more difficult to find more information characterizing those differences.

At least it was until I found the faculty page for Barbara LeMaster, whose research specialty is apparently exactly this. A lot of the most useful information was from her 2006 paper, Language Contraction, Revitalization, and Irish Women

Apparently, the gendered differences in ISL are not just from segregated schooling in general, but in fact can be traced to two specific schools during a specific period of time: St. Mary's School for Girls from 1846 to 1946 and St. Joseph's School for Boys from 1855 to 1957.

(Why do the gendered differences seem to disappear in the middle of the twentieth century? Because the schools, and especially the girl's school, stopped teaching sign language and started emphasizing oralism; and as the language was used less and less the variations within it started to collapse. Apparently ISL as it is taught now is largely a standardization of the language that was spoken at St. Joseph's, although the details are of course a bit more complex than that.)

And LeMaster does confirm that the "women learned male signs for public sign use, reserving female signs for private use among women." (p. 214) She goes on to say:

Men of this generation typically use the male form with everyone. And as might be expected, the men often claim that the differences between their and the women’s signs are not great and did not impair communication between them (Foran 1996[1979]; Foran, cited in Leeson and Grehan 2004). However, the women, having done the accommodation work, recognize the differences between their signs and the men’s signs, noting that in the beginning they had to use their common finger-spelling system to communicate with the men through spelling words in English (Coogan, 2003; Ceci Walsh, interview by the author, 2004; LeMaster 1990). Most women use the male signs more often but have retained their female forms for use with other women in certain contexts.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, rather than being a cool secret gossip language, the social position of the women's sign language is a lot more "girls feel bad for being girly":

For example, in a videotaped interview, one woman talks about being ridiculed by men for her female signs. She says that she has forgotten a lot of female signs and actually “prefers” male signs over female signs. She says of male signs (translated from ISL), “They’re nicer.” Curiously, however, this same woman, who claims to have abandoned her female signs, interacts with other women who are monodialectal in female ISL. And during the sign interview on videotape, at the very time she says that she no longer uses female signs, she employs the female sign for use. In a section of the videotaped interview immediately following this segment, she uses the male sign for use, so it is clear that she knows both forms, and her use of the female sign in this instance was an unconscious code switch.

[active-mind-15]

Oh yeah, after I read that one Akashi-centric fic called A Lesson In Human Interaction (and all the bullshit that comes with it), I am finally breaking my silence on my Nebuya headcanon that he's half Nigerian because in the fic he has a Nigerian father and now I feel validated. However, a difference between my headcanon and the author's headcanon is that instead of him being from the Yoruba tribe, I want to say that his family is Igbo. Purely because I am also Igbo and I want to project. Anyway, walk with me.

Nebuya being half-Nigerian and not living in Nigeria means that whichever parent of his is Nigerian (I'd assume the mother simply because he has a Japanese family name) would make sure he stays connected to his culture somehow. One of those ways is for sure through his name. Interracial couples especially tend to each give their kid a name that comes from their respective country. In this case, even though Nebuya has a Japanese name, his mother would give him a Nigerian one as well that she calls him by. Haven't decided what it would be, though, so I'll get back to you on that.

Another way would be through language. This would mean that Nebuya (in my opinion) would be trilingual because he would speak Japanese, Igbo, and--by extension--English, since English is the national language of Nigeria anyway and so most people speak it to some degree (effects of being colonized by the British ✊🏿😔).

The English part would be interesting to explore because Nebuya speaking English would have Akashi (who is canonically fluent in English) thinking he would understand Nebuya when he speaks it. But when Nebuya speaks with Nigerian relatives, especially cousins, he slips into Pidgin instead (a Nigerian dialect of English), leaving Akashi confused. He can speak standard English as well, but he goes back and forth between that and Pidgin English. Also, I think he would speak Pidgin more commonly with cousins but then use Igbo with older relatives like aunts, uncles, and grandparents. So Akashi, wanting to decipher what he's saying, would ask Nebuya about it and maybe Nebuya would teach him a few words/phrases in Pidgin. It would be cute to see Nebuya teach his teammates Igbo phrases as well. Imagine if the next time Nebuya called any of his Nigerian relatives he'd tell them he was teaching his teammates their language and make them try and talk to his relatives in Igbo.

Don't remember if it was ever confirmed in canon so I'll keep this as a regular headcanon, but I believe Nebuya can cook very well (like if you're gonna eat all that food every day you better know how to sustain yourself), so I would think sometimes he likes to make traditional Nigerian food. His favorite dishes are of course the ones heavy on meat, and he likes to pair them with either fried rice or jollof rice. Typically making traditional Nigerian food is done in bulk, which means he'd have a lot to store as leftovers to eat throughout the week, but he also does like to share and would save some food for his teammates to try.

I also am thinking of what Nebuya would look like in traditional Nigerian clothes like a kaftan or agbada. I've seen him in kimonos, so it would be fun to see him rock some Nigerian clothes, too. Maybe his aunt or his grandmother makes clothes for him that they send over to Japan for him to wear.

I would hope that every so often, Nebuya would take a trip to Nigeria to see family. And when he comes back, he brings gifts for his teammates. Imagine them sitting Nebuya down and asking him to tell stories from his trip, and they all get to sit there and learn more about Nebuya's culture and his family.

Anyway, I'll cut it off here, but I am obsessed with this headcanon and I just had to get it off my chest.

[haru-dipthong]

罠英語・Trap words pt 2

Part 1 had some satisfying explanations for the etymology of trap words. This time it’s the opposite - we’ll be looking at some trap words that have unclear origins.

コーンフレーク → cornflakes ✅… but also → any breakfast cereal ✅

Though the word コーンフレーク is used to refer to cornflakes specifically, it is also used more generally to refer to any breakfast cereal at all. Researching to find evidence of this usage was difficult, despite its widespread usage. Every Japanese dictionary defines コーンフレーク as cereal made of flakes of corn, without so much as a mention of the common “misconception”. You get a hint of the reality of the common usage when you google 「コーンフレーク 意味」— three of the results on the first page are variations of 「シリアルとコーフレークの違いは何？」.

The best I can do for evidence is this video from Kevin’s English Room where they refer to various cereals like Froot Loops and Reese’s Puffs as コーンフレーク.¹

非常に代表的なアメリカのコーンフレークでございます "This is an extremely typical American breakfast cereal."

Part of the silence here is due to Japanese speakers being generally a bit more linguistically prescriptivist than English speakers, especially when it comes to loan words. There seems to be this notion that the original English definition is the “correct” one - but this isn’t the case! The “correct” use of a word is simply one that conveys the intended meaning. That’s just how language evolves. It’s why “nonplussed” has come to mean “unconcerned” instead of its original opposite meaning. Not to mention, when a word is borrowed into another language, it is now a part of that language. It goes through phonetic changes to match the language's phoneme inventory and syllabic structure, gains its own meaning, and can play by the unconscious sound and grammar rules of the new language.² The Japanese word コーンフレーク and the English word cornflake are not the same word! And it’s ok for them to mean different things! I don’t think this sentiment is widely accepted by Japanese culture, which explains why it’s so hard to find a Japanese dictionary definition that defines コーンフレーク as “breakfast cereal”. (Jisho does though!³)

As far as its origins are concerned, I believe this is a simple case of genericisation (though I can't find any evidence to support that), similar to how we call all hook-and-loop fasteners "velcro".

ハンドル → handle ❌ → steering wheel ✅

This word is was also hard to find any etymology on. Even the best articles I could find are unsure about its origins. There are a couple of theories but nothing solid.

The word ハンドルバ��� for the handlebars of a bike may have been misinterpreted to mean “steering mechanism” rather than “horizontal pole to grab” and applied to cars as well.⁴ Then in standard Japanese fashion, the word was trimmed down to four morae, becoming ハンドル. Another article suggested that it originally came from the “handling” of a car. The wheel controls the handling, so 「ハンドルを操るホイール」 may have just been shortened to ハンドル.

テンション → tension ❌ → excitement ✅

テンション is often used in phrases like 「ハイテンション」　「テンションを上げる」　「テンションを下げる」, to mean the energy or vibes of a situation. This graph might help:

I did a lot of digging on this, and I couldn’t find any reliable sources or actual records of how テンション came to have this meaning. The best explanation I could find came from an unsourced yahoo answers question (lol), but there does seem to be a consensus: It seems to come from musical tension, specifically tension chords on guitar.⁵⁶⁷ The first use of テンション in this way may have come from bands playing at live concerts. “Tension” in a chord is an extra note that’s not a basic part of the chord.⁸ Apparently adding this extra sound causes a feeling of anticipation - it feels like the music is building up to a resolution, which gets people excited at a concert. Musicians would use the phrase 「テンションコードを上げる」, meaning “build excitement with tension chords”, which became simply 「テンションを上げる」, and this phrase was then adopted by the general population and taken out of its musical context, becoming a trap word!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tROynQjSSVc [2] https://www.tumblr.com/javerend/702780060197879809/these-are-all-good-thoughts-im-going-to-borrow?source=share [3] https://jisho.org/search/コーンフレーク [4] https://nihon5-bunka.net/jinglish-handle/ [5] https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q13195893143 [6] https://kimini.online/blog/archives/22851 [7] https://dhits.docomo.ne.jp/feed/10004705 [8] https://hubguitar.com/music-theory/chord-tensions

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s4 ep4: Nemesis

This was one of the best stories Chakotay ever got. It wasn't even about him per se, but as an essentially non-violent person who took up arms against the Cardassians when it became necessary, it makes a particularly effective storyline for him to be the one dropped in the middle of an alien war, and drawn into fighting alongside his rescuers. (The leader of the alien soldiers is played by the actor who played Gus Pike on Avonlea, which was another show I loved when I was a kid, and I remember what a thrill it was to have two of my very opposite favorite shows collide.)

Most of the episode is pretty textbook war movie kind of stuff, down to every last trope, except for the odd stilted language of the people on the planet. I get that they were probably trying to make them seem less like regular humans, since they didn't have any kind of alien makeup, and it does give it a sort of old-timey, ancient epic saga quality. It also serves to show how Chakotay is becoming more integrated into the Vori culture, and their war, as he adopts more of their parlance himself as the episode goes on, and I like it on those levels. But I feel like the universal translator would just translate the words they were using as the standard words we would use in English, rather than the odd words they used. So I like it from a storytelling perspective, but from an in-universe perspective, I don't think it makes sense.

But that's a pretty minor point, since overall, I felt it did a good job with the story it was trying to tell. Chakotay gets put through the ringer in this one, but that's what makes the ending so effective. Since the reveal at the end is the point of the whole story, and what makes it work, I won't spoil it in case anybody hasn't seen it, but it's a brilliant twist, and drives home both an anti war message, and a reminder to always dig deeper and use critical thinking skills before accepting whatever you're told at face value. It's sadly a more and more relevant lesson in this day and age of both AI and far right conspiracy theorists presenting verifiably false things as true to people who don't bother to dig deeper. Chakotay's final line always hits so hard, no matter how much time passes.

Tl;dr: An episode with a still all too relevant message, it does a great job of illustrating how easy it is to get caught up in cycles of violence and hate, even for people who think they know better.

[skamenglishsubs]

Young Royals and pronunciation, part 3

I thought this would be the last, but since I decided to also do the nicknames, I still have minor characters left after this. Anyway, on to the first one in this post, Erik:

This name is very similar to the English version, Eric. The main differences is that the first vowel is longer and slightly different, it's a bit more closed, and the 'r' is trilling.

The trilling is most pronounced when August says his name which you can hear in the video above, but all of the characters have a range from /ɹ/ to /r/.

A dear child has many names, and Wilhelm is often called Wille in the show. This nickname follows the standard Swedish rule for male nicknames, i.e. it's two syllables, both vowels are short, and the last vowel is always 'e', so it's /ˈvil:e/.

The start is pronounced just like Wilhelm, because the way most of these nicknames are constructed is that you chop off everything but the first syllable, and then tack on the 'e'. If you have sharp ears, you might also pick up the tone change of that final 'e', the pitch goes up. This is because Swedish is a pitch-accent language, which is what gives it the "sing-song" quality that speakers of non-tonal languages hear.

No diphthongs in this one either, so it's not "vill-ay", and absolutely not "willie" or "willy". In fact, I will kill you if you say his name like that. I will reach out through the screen and strangle you. It's worse than saying "see-moan" for Simon. I will haunt you in your nightmares, I will open one of my six mouths, and I will sing the song that ends the Earth if you say his nickname like that. Please don't.

Anyway, note that Wilhelm often introduces himself as Wille, and he does that in order to appear less formal, more familiar, and to put distance between himself and the image of Prins Wilhelm that people might have. Even the Queen calls him Wille sometimes.

Finally, let's do Simon's nickname. It's constructed just like Wille, chop off everything by the first syllable, and tack on an 'e', so it's Simme, /ˈsim:e/, tone rise and everything.

However, this video is extremely short, because unlike Wilhelm, Simon never introduces himself as Simme, and the only people who call him that is Ayub and his dad, Micke. Which btw also is a nickname, his real name is probably Mikael.

I don't know why it's like this, but personally I've never heard anyone use Simme as a nickname for Simon, it's pretty unusual. I wouldn't read anything into it, but just note that almost every character calls him Simon.

[best-romanov-monarch]

Description & Rules

Have you ever wondered why Russia is the way it is? You can thank these beautiful, beautiful people for at least the significant chunk of it! For better or for worse. And we are here to determine which one of them is... Most significant? Interesting? Best (least bad) person? Well, what does "best" mean here is an excercise best left to the audience. In any case, we are here to celebrate their lives and achievements, because Romanovs were historically a lot of things, but never, ever, EVER boring. Which is why they are the best royal house. No I am not sorry @best-habsburg-monarch and @best-hohenzollern-ruler

Okay, I am a little sorry, because they were the ones who gave me the idea. Love you, guys!

Rules:

One poll every Thursday, with regular bonus polls every Friday.

Since historically there have been 18 rulers from the house of Romanov and all of them are unique little snowflakes, none of whom I'd forgive myself for throwing out, I decided for a bit less traditional approach to this poll. Namely, there is going to be a big initial Elimination Round, during which 9 pairs of contestants will compete against each other. Of the 9 winners, the one who has won with by the most narrow margin is also eliminated. Regular Round will thus have 8 contestants and will be followed by Semifinals and Finals.

The contestants are more or less who you'd expect, with some caveats. Namely, I took the liberty to replace Ivan V. with Anna Leopoldovna and Peter II. with Sofia Alexeievna. Because unlike a certain dynasty, we do not involve children in our drama.

I am using English language transliterations of the Russian names. With patronymics.

Propaganda and antipropaganda are encouraged, within reason. You can refer to current events, but please don't make it into a political soapbox! This is ultimately meant to be a tongue-in-cheek historical game, same as the Habsburg and Hohenzollern polls. Also don't be dicks in general, like no racism, sexism, attrocity denial or any other nastiness. That hopefully goes without saying. Also: propaganda does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the admin! I will post any and all propaganda and antipropaganda that fits the basic standards of this poll. If you have any objections to the opinions expressed, argue with the original poster - unless, again, poster is just factually wrong or has said something horrible that I didn't notice.

UPDATE: The roleplay nonsense was transferred onto @best-romanov-monarch-official If you liked that aspect of this blog (which I doubt, or else I wouldn't have scrubbed this blog clean of it), check that account.

TAGS: #main bracket - polls and recaps of the main bracket #main bracket recap - recaps of the rounds of the main bracket #bonus polls - well, bonus polls #memes - well, memes #about us - what others say about this bracket (with our response or otherwise) #housekeeping - other posts, mainly about how this poll works, updates etc.

(PICTURE SOURCES

Thumbnail: https://www.rbth.com/history/326376-russian-blood-romanov-dynasty

Profile pic: https://heraldicjewelry.com/pages/romanov-family-crest)

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Elephant's Memory: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.2k

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there is any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

Derek stays at Owen's house as instructed, you and the two men go to the high school, and the rest of the team check out Owen's truck. You're glad that Hotch requested you to be with him and Spencer because you know something is going on with him. He's more irritated than usual, and you don't know why.

When Rossi's side of the team got to Owen's truck left near a gas station store, they found it to be completely cleaned out. Owen clearly didn't want to leave any clues behind as to where he is headed next. He's a smart kid, you'll give him that. Every move he's made has been clever and well-planned.

The victim, however, had a single gunshot wound to the face. His name is Kyle Border, nineteen. Kyle was the cashier in the gas station, and Kyle's car is nowhere to be found. Owen killed him and took his car after ditching his own. There is no evidence that Kyle ever resisted.

Owen didn't need to kill him, but he did. Owen didn't need to shoot him in the face, but he did.

Turns out that Kyle is a couple of years older than Owen, and they went to the same high school together. Owen despised Kyle, but why?

Inside the gas station, it looks like everything has been restocked when Owen visited last night. The only thing missing is a couple of gallon jugs of milk, frozen pizzas, and cold cuts. That's not something you take on a road trip because they can go back very easily if not kept frozen which can only mean one thing.

The roadblocks aren't going to work because Owen never left town. He's still here, but the question is, where? Is he alone? Sheriff Hall doesn't seem to think so because Jordan's body was never found. Owen might have made it seem like she died, but then took her and is now feeding her somewhere.

Is Jordan a hostage or an accomplice?

That's why you're at the high school. You want to know what kind of kids Owen and Jordan are. If she is his accomplice, then you need to know where she might have gone as well. The best person to talk to about this would be the guidance counselor, Ike Stratman, who is more than happy to talk to you.

"As Owen's counselor, what can you tell us about Jordan and Owen?"

"Not much. They started dating last year when Owen moved to Special Ed."

"Isn't that a bit late for junior year?" you ask.

"Yes, if he'd been put there for academic reasons. He was put there for bad behavior, bad attitude, and lack of effort. Owen applied himself in some classes. He did very well, but it didn't last."

"The problem wasn't lack of effort or bad attitude," Spencer says. "The A's in Math and Science says he's a gifted student. The D's in English and History tells us that he had difficulty reading. The "F" in geometry indicates a severe problem with spatial relations. That's further confirmed by his atrocious, illegible handwriting."

"It's all consistent with a brilliant but severely learning disabled student," Hotch adds.

"Yeah, but his standardized tests didn't support that kind of intelligence."

"A spatial relations handicap affects your hand-eye coordination. He couldn't fill in an answer bubble any easier than he could hit a baseball, which is why he stayed away from sports."

"Sports was a sore spot with his father," Ike sighs. "I mean, he joined the wrestling team freshman year just to appease his old man, but that didn't work out."

His phone rings, and he excuses himself to answer it.

"He was probably the smartest kid in class," Spencer says once Ike is distracted. "He just couldn't prove it. Being the smartest kid in class is like being the only kid in class. He missed all of it."

"Schools like this can't meet the specialized needs of every student."

"He gives it everything he's got, over and over and over again, and continues to fail. The whole time, they tell him it's his fault. I mean, it makes sense."

"Spencer, you're jumping to conclusions to fit your theory," you say gently.

"An undiagnosed learning disability does not add up to this level of violence, not without severe emotional abuse. You know that," Hotch backs you up.

Hotch's phone rings this time, and Derek calls about a video he found on Owen's computer. Apparently, it's important, so he sends it over to the high school so you three can watch it. Ike comes back just as soon as Hotch hits play.

It's a video of Owen inside a locker room with only a towel wrapped around his waist. It looks like the person filming didn't want Owen to know he was filming, and you can only imagine where this is going to go.

"Guys, I'm not so sure that I can do this," Owen sighs.

"It's just us. It's not like you don't masturbate at home, right?" the person filming asks.

Whoever Owen is talking to wants Owen to masturbate on film in order to be on the team, you're assuming.

"No, I do it, man. I can't do it while you're watching me."

"You want to be on the team, you gotta do it. We all did it."

"Okay, I'll try," Owen sighs shyly.

"He didn't know he was being filmed," Spencer sighs. "Did Owen tell you about this?"

"He didn't have to. It was posted on the school social networking site. We pulled it down immediately," Ike answers.

"Once it's on the internet, it's out there forever. Owen knew that."

"Did Owen tell his father about this?" you ask.

"Not at first, but whe Owen quit the wrestling team, his father confronted him. I mean, he blamed Owen for the whole thing."

"How were these boys punished?" Hotch wonders.

"Owen identified them, but on film, all we have is their voices. I mean, even if they'd admitted involvement, all they'd have to do is say Owen didn't have to do it."

"He didn't know he was being filmed," Spencer gets angry.

"Look, it's his word against theirs. Parents, the school board, and lawyers will get involved. I mean, cyber-bullying is a hot issue right now. The whole thing would wind up on the news. How's that gonna help Owen?"

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that dealing with bullies is part of growing up. Boys have a way of sorting these things out for themselves."

"Yeah, they sure do. Right now, Owen's out there sorting it out with an assault rifle," Spencer glares.

"Reid," Hotch glares at your boyfriend.

Spencer shakes his head and leaves, and you immediately leave Hotch's side to talk to him. Hotch begins apologizing to Ike, but you're fed up with his behavior.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" you ask knowing there is no one in the hall to witness this. "Something is wrong here, Spencer. I can feel it. You know you can come to me for anything."

"I'm fine, Y/N," he sighs.

"I don't believe you. You know, the last time you were acting like this, you were taking Dilaudid. I hate to ask this, Spencer, but are you taking it again?"

"No," he says truthfully, "but I want to."

"Is this about what happened with Jack and Lindsey? If it is, that wasn't your fault, Spencer. Jack already made up his mind the second he left the police station. Plus, I was there. You don't have to carry this burden alone. You're not alone, Spencer."

You feel like there is something more to Spencer's behavior than just Jack and Lindsey, but he isn't giving anything up. You don't want to pressure him and push the situation, but you need him to know you're not going anywhere, and it's you and him until the end.

In order to figure out who posted the video online, Penelope needs to dissect it. You're not going to get answers at the school, so once Hotch is done talking to Ike, you three head back to the police station.

"He deleted everything but the one mpeg," Penelope says once you get her on the phone. "I'm walking Morgan through retrieving what he put in the trash, but--"

"We've got three missing kids, Garcia. We need access to Owen's email," Hotch cuts her off.

Ike confirmed with Hotch that the guys who Owen was talking to on the video were three kids that are nowhere to be found. You have a feeling Owen has them, and it's not going to end well for them.

"The kid is tech savvy, sir, but fret not, I am tech savvier. Is that a word? That sounds like a word. If it is a word, I'm it."

"You need decaf, Pen. It's eleven in the morning where you are," you chuckle.

"Right."

"Two alienated kids with no maternal presence, and have dysfunctional relationships with dominating fathers who withheld love. They were made for each other," Rossi says about Owen and Jordan.

"As lovers, yes, but not as partners in crime. There's nothing in Jordan's profile that indicates she's capable of violence, and certainly not murder."

"She might not know what Owen is doing," you say.

"A new mpeg just posted to the school social networking site. He... You need to see this," Penelope says sadly.

She sends over another video, and it's of the three missing kids who bullied Owen. You knew this was coming, but didn't know it would come so soon. All three kids are in their underwear kneeling on the ground near a lake and a bridge.

"It was a joke, man! We didn't mean anything by it. It was three years ago. No one even remembers it," one of them begs.

"I do," Owen says with a hard voice.

Owen isn't in the frame, so you can't see what he's doing, but the fear in the kids' eyes is enough to say it all.

"No, Owen, don't! Please!"

Owen takes his assault rifle and kills all three kids, and you look away from it with sad eyes. The camera fell into the tall grass, so you can't see the physical murder, but you do hear the gun go off and the kids scream.

"Garcia, is there any way to trace the mpeg to the computer that sent it?" Hotch asks after a moment of silence.

"It was sent from Jordan's PDa, but Owen's hacked the sim card. He's anonymized it. It stops the phone from transmitting its current position. Hackers do it to stop roaming charges. It's good for one call, and then the carrier turns the service off."

"You're saying that it has to be on and using it in order to be tracked?"

"Bingo."

"Have the cell company leave the service on in case he sends anything else," Hotch orders.

"Yes, sir."

"Let's bring in Sheriff Hallum and see if he recognizes the background."

Once the Sheriff confirmed the location, half of the team went to investigate the area. Owen had just killed them, but he was nowhere to be found once your team got there. You stayed behind at the office because you'd rather not see three kids with bullets in their bodies.

By the time everyone gets back with a working profile, you immediately take Spencer to the side since the feeling you got from him earlier is back and is worse than before.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Can we not do this here?"

"I just want you to feel as comfortable as I do. I want you to tell me things even if it hurts you. I need you to understand that I'm not going anywhere," you beg with your eyes.

"The profile is about to start," he says and walks away.

You sigh sadly but follow him out to the main room to give the profile on the officers at the station. It looks like the officers don't agree with having a profile if they know who the killer is.

"We are wasting time. Owen is here, and we should be knocking on doors," an officer argues.

"That's not a good idea. Owen is watching. He's monitoring the news. Right now, he thinks you think he's gone. He feels safe. If we start knocking on doors, he's gonna know that he's not. He's gonna feel trapped."

"Why the hell should we care about this little bastard's feelings?"

"Alright, we're here to help you bring in Owen with minimum loss of life," JJ says with a stern voice. "The profile tells you the best way to do that."

"Owen fits the profile of a type of school shooter known as an injustice collector. He's trying to avenge perceived wrongs," Spencer explains.

"If he's a school shooter, why hasn't he hit the school yet?"

"Because of Jordan. Most of these guys are so angry and hopeless, they just want to kill as many people as possible and commit suicide. Jordan gives him a reason to live."

"Otherwise he's a textbook case. His life was one torment after another. His teachers gave up on him, his classmates bullied him, and his father blamed him while giving him access to guns. Given these conditions, you're actually quite fortunate," Spencer says.

"It sounds like you're saying these victims deserved this."

"We're not. Nobody deserves this," Hotch quickly says, looking at Spencer.

"But you could have prevented it."

"Reid, can I talk to you?"

Hotch doesn't give Spencer room to answer. He takes him into an empty conference room, and you look toward the ceiling to keep your tears from falling out. Spencer is in pain, you can feel it, and he's not letting you help him.

Something happened to him, and he's not letting you in.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[isamorgan]

— * CAMILA MENDES. ISADORA "ISA" MORGAN. CIS WOMAN. SHE/HER. TWENTY-EIGHT. POLITICIAN (IN TRAINING).

📍pinterest. 🎵 playlist.

FACTS

BASICS

full name: isadora carmen morgan

nickname: isa

age: twenty-eight

date of birth: october 24

zodiac: scorpio

place of birth: lincoln city, or

gender identity: cis woman

pronouns: she/her

sexuality: money ❤️

occupation: business bitch politician in training.

FAMILY

father: sebastian morgan (formerly moreno), mayor

mother: sofia morgan nee valle, businesswoman

no siblings

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

relationship status: single

education: bachelor’s degree in business and political science

languages: english, spanish, portuguese

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

height: 5’2”

hair: black, just past shoulder length, naturally straight but with waves for important events

eye color: brown

OTHER

traits: ambitious, argumentative, competitive, privileged, stylish, vain, spoiled, insecure, dramatic, manipulative

aesthetics: the click of high heels, the lingering smell of expensive perfume, an unexpectedly strong handshake, the critically acclaimed television show glee, a ghostlight shining bright on an empty stage

HEADCANONS

the story goes that the morgan family came from nothing. before lincoln city, at least. formerly the moreno family, they changed their name and settled in small town oregon for a fresh start. they were seeking the american dream. little did they know then just how quickly they’d get it.

the morgans were a part of the founding of the town and originally became the mayoral family by default. only in the past few generations have children been born and bred for the role. isa has known from birth what her destiny is, so there’s never been any use in her finding other passions.

the valles have been in real estate development for generations, so business/politics is truly in isa's blood.

isa has always gotten everything she’s wanted in terms of material things, but she tends to struggle with making positive connections. she can frequently be described as “too much” - too dramatic, too argumentative, too selfish. though she was somewhat popular in high school, how much of that was because she was wealthy and well connected? college wasn’t much better for her in terms of genuine friendships. upon graduation she permanently moved back to town to learn the ropes.

isa was also not the best at actual school back in the day (math is hard!), but she was very involved in extracurriculars - in particular, drama, dance, and debate (co-captain).

if she could've picked her profession, she would've moved out to la to become an actress. instead, she spends her days pretending to be in a new spinoff of succession that's also a spinoff of the west wing… and veep.

she is legitimately good at business. people don’t expect it of her, but she’s very good at working within the political landscape of business relationships to get what she wants.

girlboss feminism has had an indisputable impact on isa. every time she questions whether she’ll be any good at being mayor, she just has to take a sip from her mug that says “the boss” and whisper her mantra - gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss.

isa has a knack for planning events. her family has held a private gala or two (or one every year) and isa in more recent years has taken over the planning for it. she even spent one summer doing some basic event help with the rest of the local government to really solidify her own connections. it was also there that she discovered she has a few issues with control. apparently there IS a wrong way to fold napkins.

she dates, but not often. her standards are high and if you're not in her tax bracket, it's likely you're more of a networking opportunity than a potential suitor.

her little dad-approved community betterment programs are 1) renovating the local community theatre, which was shut down a few years ago after someone got electrocuted, and 2) banning plastic bags and plastic straws, to save the environment.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

the serena to her blair. equally as popular, kind of messy, and part of the close friend trio with tae.

makeover montage. isa has always wanted to play fairy godmother to someone - maybe this was back in high school, maybe it's more recent.

current crush. they don't have to be rich, but nice? nice would be good. she's a strong, independent woman, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

the one that got away. isa's had a fair amount of bad relationships, but sometimes things do end for other reasons. maybe their lives were going in different directions. maybe they really were a match made in heaven but she's the one who messed it up.

rivals. from back in high school or in present day. if from st. mary's, this likely would've been for roles in the drama club.

TAKEN CONNECTIONS

cat blanco. childhood friends.

cherry amin. math tutor/friendly.

chris wilder. they weren't close, but isa was there that night. and her parents made sure to stay extra close to the wilders throughout the immediate aftermath.

elise wilson. the serena to her blair.

nicholas lehoy. ex. they dated early on in high school. he's the reason she no longer dates outside of her tax bracket.

river calloway. former friend. though they were set up for friendship by their parents, they did eventually bond over the pressures that they both felt to succeed in roles they hadn't chosen. which made it all the worse when the news about river's dad broke and isa's parents insisted she cut ties. she didn't do it immediately, but by the time they graduated they were essentially strangers.

tae seong & tbd. trio. close friends!

vincent atwood. ex. they dated senior year of high school, up until he cheated on her with helena. as a result, she tried to get him banished from lincoln city.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Zack K. De Piero

Published: Jun 29, 2023

A so-called antiracist work environment was, actually, a hostile work environment

I’m a white writing professor, and apparently, that’s a problem. That was the unmistakable message sent to me at Penn State University – and that’s why I’m suing them.

In November 2020 – nearly half a year after George Floyd’s murder – I was subjected to a “White Teachers Are a Problem” video for a monthly professional development meeting for writing faculty. Its featured speaker, Asao Inoue, is a self-described antiracist practitioner. Not an obscure one, either: About a year prior, Inoue gave the Chair’s Address at a prestigious writing studies research conference – the same field in which I earned my Ph.D. – where he declared, “White people can perpetuate White supremacy by being present [...] Your body perpetuates racism.”

At the heart of Inoue’s appalling comments is the baseless attribution of negative characteristics to a particular race. Inside radical academic bubbles, that might be applauded; in the real world, that’s called discrimination. And it’s illegal. When discrimination enters the workplace, depending on its frequency and intensity, citizens can file a hostile work environment lawsuit against their employer.

At my Abington campus, my direct supervisor pushed an aggressive “antiracism” campaign through private emails and monthly meetings. She laid the groundwork by echoing a colleague’s stance that “reverse racism isn’t racism,” thereby abandoning cherished human rights principles. “[R]acist structures are quite real in assessment and elsewhere regardless of [anybody’s] good intentions,” she claimed. “Racism is in the results if the results draw a color line.” Later, citing a “Black Linguistic Justice!” resolution from an increasingly politicized research organization, my supervisor issued two directives: “assure that black students can find success in our classrooms” and “assure that all students see that white supremacy manifests itself in language and in writing pedagogy.” 

Translation: the English language is racist, teaching writing is racist, and grading black students by consistent standards is racist.

Tough spot if you’re a white writing instructor and one of your black students doesn’t submit a big paper. Even tougher if you work at a “majority minority” campus: out of 20 undergraduate campuses across the Penn State system, to its credit, Abington is the only with a majority of minority students. But the toughest position goes to every black student in this environment – an educator seems to believe they’re incapable of achieving academic success on their own merit.

Misguided as my supervisor was, she wasn’t just one rogue professor in the bunch. Antiracism fever ran rampant through the school’s institutional culture. To commemorate Juneteenth 2020, Abington’s DEI director told us to “Stop being afraid of your own internalized white supremacy” and to “Hold other white people accountable.” That same week, amidst faculty panic over a masked-up return to campus, one colleague invoked “history and white male privilege” to forecast, without discernible evidence, “One can already see a mile away that there will be some who resist wearing masks, etc. Such resistance is also more likely to be led by white males and in classrooms taught by women and people of color.”

In September 2021, I complied with my state-mandated duty to report bias of these (and other) incidents.  The Penn State Affirmative Action Office summoned me into a Zoom meeting where its associate director informed me, “There is a problem with the White race” then directed me to continue attending antiracist workshops “until you get it.”

The next antiracist workshop was titled, "The Myth of the Colorblind Writing Classroom: White Instructors Confront White Privilege in Their Classrooms." During this meeting, my supervisor provided a quote: "Without attending to issues of inequity and particularly the role race [plays] in constructing social inequities, we remain unaware of and thereby unwittingly reproduce racist discourses and practices in our classrooms.” As the target audience for this message, I sensed that I’d soon get accused of racism for holding my students to reasonable (and necessary) standards – I could feel my $53,000/year, non-tenured and non-unionized job hanging in the balance. So, I asked for examples of how I could bring equity into my classroom and what this actually looked like in practice.

Rather than help me to “get it,” the Affirmative Action Office deemed my questions to be evidence of bullying and harassment. Yet, my supervisor’s years-long actions were “in line with the Campus Strategic Plan.” Human Resources asked me to sign a performance reprimand, then Penn State inserted those charges into my annual performance review.

Now I’m fighting back. With a Right-to-Sue letter from the Department of Justice, it’s time for Penn State to account for real racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. I’ve got the support of Allen Harris Law and a nonpartisan civil rights group, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism.

“Antiracism” isn’t quite the right term to describe the performative activism that’s happening across academia and corporate America. Let’s call this hustle what it is: plain and simple, racism. And just like racism, the so-called antiracist movement threatens everything in its path: freedom of speech, due process, healthy workplace relationships, professional excellence, academic rigor, and the psychological welfare of teachers and students alike.

Zack De Piero was employed by Penn State University - Abington College as an assistant teaching professor of English and composition from 2018-2022. He has a Ph.D. in education from the University of California Santa Barbara, where he studied the teaching and learning of postsecondary writing. His personal views in this piece do not reflect those of his current employer, Northampton Community College.

Zack De Piero, PhD began working at Pennsylvania State University in August of 2018 as an English writing professor at the Abington campus. 

Almost immediately upon the outset of his employment, Professor De Piero noticed a race-essentialism focus, which he feared would be harmful to his students, a majority of which were from minority backgrounds and ethnicities. 

Professor De Piero was required to attend professional development meetings to view videos such as “White Teachers Are a Problem”, and was directed to “assure that all students see that white supremacy manifests itself in language and in writing pedagogy.”  Incidents like these made it clear that Penn State harbored a bias against him based on his skin color. So he took the prescribed course of action and filed a bias report.  The Penn State Affirmative Action Office quickly called Professor De Piero into a Zoom meeting where its Associate Director informed him that, “There is a problem with the White race” then directed him to continue attending antiracist workshops “until you get it.” 

It became impossible for Professor De Piero to effectively perform his job duties. In August 2021, he was forced to leave a job he had prized and students he cared for deeply. 

Professor De Piero has now filed suit against Penn State in federal court, alleging violations of his civil rights under federal and Pennsylvania law. 

Professor De Piero is represented by FAIR Network Attorneys Michael Allen and Samantha Harris of Allen Harris Law.

==

It's a cult.

The only thing that will turn around this insanity is suing the crap out of them.

[patricia-von-arundel]

History and linguistics time! Would it be "'tis thou" or "'tis thee"? The first is a predicate nominative form that says the nominative should be used in the object's place if "to be" is the noun, but the second is using "thee," the objective form. Both are technically correct.

BUT - this is meant to be medieval. Which begs the question of when. See, English spent most of the medieval period being beaten up by just about every other language in Europe and probably then some. (Not really, but it's funnier that way.) Just to keep it simple, let's pretend it was just Old English (think Beowulf) or Middle English (think Chaucer). Without needlessly complicating things even further, we can stick with saying Old English had more declensions than the English you know now. Declensions denote both number and form through inflections - if you've studied Latin, think nominative, dative, accusative, etc. 21st century English pretty much only distinguishes (potentially) nominative, objective, and possessive forms. Or, in the case of "you," only a single nominative/objective form (you) and a possessive form (your). Again, keeping it really simple.

Old English had nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative forms of personal pronouns, and it had not just singular/plural, but also a dual option - essentially "you," "you two," and "all of you." If you're referring to your sibling, you would use the singular informal versions, which were þū, þe, and þīn. To remove the thorn from the side of understanding (LINGUISTIC PUN HAHAHAHAHAHA, Þ IS CALLED THORN 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣), call them "thou" (þū), "thee" (þe), and "thine" (þīn). Anachronistic, but hey, I'm not grading you on it.

Middle English, on the other hand, is basically modern English kuh-nock-ed on the head (a more painful joke), because Old Norse had moved in and refused to leave without a court order. (Old English was mostly Anglo-Saxon.)

"Medieval" is a broad term for a broad period. 🤷‍♀️ By the 1300s, thee and thou were being gradually phased out of usage, particularly in the Southeast of England. Ye/you had been the plural and more formal version, like "usted" in Spanish or "vous" in French, but gradually those took over as the standard form in most instances in English (there are still exceptions). By the 1600s, people would get highly irritated at hearing "thou," which is just typical.

Soooooo... if you want to say "it's you" in Old English?

Þæt is þū!

Literally, "thæt is thū" - "that's you."

If we're talking Middle English (post-Norman Conquest, the language of Chaucer)?

Okay, first of all, go have a glance at Chaucer before correcting my spellings, because Middle English and Modern English until the 18th century were "anything goes" (aneethyng goess, etc.) as far as spelling went, so just... don't.

It ys ye!

"It is you."

Here's where the predicate nominative issue comes in. (Did you forget that?) We can actually see the difference considering "þū" (closer to "thou") and ye (closer to "thee"). And also the fact that Old English "you" had all those declensions. Nevermind that, again, keeping it simple -

It is correct to use either the nominative or the objective with "to be." So "'tis thou!" is fine. "'Tis thee!" is also fine. See, when it comes to the correct form of the object of a verb in English...

Well, to be, or not to be - that is the question.

Do y’all think siblings in medieval times would look at the little beasts in illuminated manuscripts and point at each other like ‘ha! ‘Tis thou!’

[onenakedfarmer]

F. KEITH WAHLE "Sonnet"

You realize, even as you start this that it won’t end up as a sonnet— and by “sonnet” I don’t mean just a poem in fourteen lines—or all right, fourteen lines, if you insist, and iambic pentameter, with a couplet at the end, but that’s not all it takes to make a sonnet; a real sonnet has a certain movement of ideas, a special way the argument reveals itself, with a shift in the point of view at the middle of the poem, or just past the middle, at the end of the eighth line. This goes for either the Italian or Elizabethan form. And at the library you can get those anthologies from the twenties and thirties of local poets, meaning amateurs, and they all seem to be writing sonnets, or what they thought were sonnets; sonnets on every imaginable subject: Abraham Lincoln, Dante, Italy, the months, the holidays, Lake Erie, death and the death of children, larks, cardinals, seashells, insomnia, Elizabeth Tudor, and Mary Stuart, everything. They even wrote sonnets about writing sonnets. I found one about why Shakespearean sonnets are better than Italian sonnets. But none of these sonnets are any good. The rhymes are all in the right place, but the people who wrote them had no idea what a sonnet can do or even what poetry can do. So the hell with those assholes. They’re all dead now anyway, or soon will be, thank goodness. In more recent times the term sonnet has been used very freely, and the form has become extremely loose. But some of the modern sonnets are very good, such as Robert Lowell’s sonnet on Harpo Marx or his sonnet on Ezra Pound. But one keeps getting back to the question of writing, how it is done, and whether it is fun. Certainly there are other things that are more fun—going to bed with attractive men or women, or eating Chinese food. One thinks of the T’ang Dynasty, the golden age of Chinese poetry— in three hundred years, some of the best poets ever in any language. Li Po is the best known in this country, though Tu Fu was probably a better poet, and Po Chu I was more versatile. But even after these three were dead, there were many great and beautiful poets; like Han Shan, the Cold Mountain hermit, and Li Ho, the demon poet; and we must not forget the great landscape poet, Wang Wei, who was contemporary with Li Po. Ezra Pound’s translations of Li Po are the most exciting in English, though perhaps not the most exacting from the sinologist’s point of view. Li Po was an habitual drunkard, and wrote in a style that was rather free, at least by the standards of ancient China. Tu Fu, on the other hand, wrote in a style called “regulated verse” (lü-shih), which is an eight-line form with even stricter rules than our sonnet, and died, according to the legend, from eating Chinese food, or rather, too much Chinese food. He was trapped in the mountains by a flash flood, and after starving for several days he overate at a banquet and died when the rice swelled up and ruptured his intestine. This story may not be true. Li Po and Tu Fu were great friends in their lifetimes, just as Pound and Yeats were great friends, and went to Chinese restaurants together, all of which leads one to ask oneself, “Will I ever be a truly great poet, or even the friend of a great poet?” Not likely. But to be a good poet may be quite within the reach of many people. It seems to require initially an ability to listen with trust to the little voices you have inside, the voices that tell you what to do, and how to write, like the one right now that’s saying, “This is no sonnet, you damn fool; it doesn’t even look like a sonnet.”

[uboat53]

So this is an interesting conversation that probably deserves a bit of discussion. Is it racist to refer to an object from another culture by a name in your own language that refers to something meeting that description?

A glaive, taking the definition from Wikipedia, is "a type of pole weapon, with a single edged blade on the end." By this definition, the yanyuedao is a glaive. It has a few Chinese flairs to its design (I'm not familiar with a ring on the back end of any European polearms), but if you were to give this young lady a European glaive of similar length and balance, I'm fairly confident she could wield it in exactly the same manner.

That said, it's clearly distinct from other glaives like the Russian sovnya

or the Japanese naginata

or even the standard western European glaive

in its appearance and the martial art used with it is significantly different than that you'd see in other cultures, so there's also a case to be made that referring to it as a "glaive" may be inaccurate.

My personal take is that it comes down to context. If you're talking to an English speaker and you're just trying to get across what it looks like, "it's a type of glaive" (or even "polearm", since most people who don't study medieval weapons probably have only a faint idea or none at all of what a "glaive" is) will get that point across much more easily than trying to describe it's features in detail and is a reasonably accurate description.

If, on the other hand, you're trying to actually having a detailed conversation about weaponry, "glaive" is probably no longer enough. As you can see from the images above, "glaive" covers a wide range of designs from the Russian sovnya, which is primarily a cavalry weapon, to the English glaive, from which the category gets its English name and which is intended to be used in formation and/or as a reach weapon rather than at close quarters, none of which match the specific design and use of a yanyuedao and you should be specific so as not to be inaccurate.

That said, this goes both ways. If you're discussing English objects with a Chinese speaker, you absolutely should refer to European melee weapons by the appropriate names in Chinese. Referring to a late-Roman spatha as a form of jian is an entirely accurate description and will quickly get across the point of what it looks like.

I think what it really comes down to is that, while there are a good many objects that are genuinely unique across different cultures, most of the things we see both today and in history either come from a shared lineage like clubs, for example, which were probably invented before humans left Africa and are common across every culture on Earth, or are just the most obvious way to meet a pressing need like putting a string under tension and plucking it to make a sound.

Using your own language's name for the category of thing you are seeing is the first step to understanding it. If you dig any deeper, however, you should absolutely do your best to understand not only the specific cultural name of the thing you are looking at and how it differs from what you're familiar with in both how it's used and the details of its constructions, you should also try to learn the way that culture categorizes things because this is key to understanding all of the above.

"Reclining moon blade", as yanyuedao translates into English, is a category that covers a wide variety of blades, some of which look very much like European weapons we'd simply call glaives (as this Song Dynasty weapon does)

and others of which... really don't like these Shang Dynasty examples.

Categorization is one of the first steps in learning about something and it makes sense that people will categorize first in their own language. My expectation, for those who don't approach these kinds of studies with a colonial or racist point of view, is that they would then attempt to understand the thing they're studying from the perspective of the language and culture from which it originates in so they can truly understand it.

A woman demonstrating use of a guandao, also formally known as a yanyuedao (偃月刀; reclining moon blade).

[semper-legens]

87. Kemosha of the Caribbean, by Alex Wheatle

Owned: Yes Page count: 306 My summary: Kemosha Tate was born into slavery. After her mother died, she was left the only guardian of her younger brother, trying to save him from the harsh plantation life they both must lead. But when she’s sold away, a rare opportunity to escape arises. When she gains her freedom, she knows what she must do. But there are so few opportunities for a black woman in the Caribbean - so she must rely on her skills and wits to survive. My rating: 3.5/5 My commentary:

If you know me at all, it's really obvious why I picked up this book. A story about Caribbean piracy? Hell yeah! I had high hopes going in, hopes which were in retrospect possibly somewhat misplaced. Or at least, my expectations were too high and not really based on anything other than my own desire for the book to be great. It's not bad or anything, I ultimately enjoyed it, but there were a lot of problems in the writing that led to it being a somewhat disappointing experience, which is annoying because it genuinely had a lot of promise.

My biggest problem with this book is that the prose often seemed kind of bland and matter-of-fact. Plot beats happened because it was the right time for them to happen; actions didn't always feel earned. I think the book might have been written for younger readers than I was expecting? This reads a lot more middle-grade than young adult. Everything is very black and white - sure, I wasn't really expecting sympathetic enslavers or anything, but it does fall into that trap of good people liking Kemosha, and bad people disliking her, with no in-between. One particular bugbear of mine was when songs and chants were mentioned - none of them bore any resemblance to any sea-songs or shanties that I knew, they didn't have any real rhythm and most didn't even rhyme, which was a weird choice. The prose was just far too simplistic and bland for me to really engage.

Which is a shame, because there was some really neat stuff in this book! The author explains in an afterword that he was in part inspired to write a young, black, female protagonist after seeing how black people in stories of Caribbean piracy get shafted or ignored. Seriously, I saw a book claim once that there were no black Caribbean pirates, as the white Caribbean pirates just saw them as property to be bought and sold. Which is true for some pirates, but the reality is that pirate crews weren't exactly working to some rulebook. There were as many pirate crews who set enslaved people on the ships they raided free as crews who treated them as property. Kemosha herself is a compelling protagonist, single-minded and determined to gain not just her freedom, but the freedoms of all of her loved ones. Some of the supporting characters were great as well, like Ravenhide, Kemosha's mentor, and Isabella, her lady love.

One last thing I thought was a nice touch is the use of dialect. While the book's first-person narration is in Standard English, Kemosha's direct speech and thoughts (as well as the speech of other characters) is written in Jamaican Patois, a creole language that evolved among enslaved people on Jamaica. It's not strict Patois (as far as my limited understanding goes) but a more anglicised version using English spelling so that it is more intelligible to an English speaking audience. Nevertheless, it still retains the grammar and sound of Patois, in particular Kemosha using 'me' as a first-person pronoun. It's really cool! I love the linguistic diversity on show here, and the characterisation that is borne from the dialects spoken by each character. Ravenhide, himself a black man, speaks Standard English - others from Kemosha's plantation speak a mix of Spanish and Patois. It did annoy me that the Spanish was rendered in Spanish and then translated by Kemosha's narration every time; either do something like '"Example!" she said in Spanish' or leave bits untranslated, we can pick up the context. But anyway, this was overall a fairly decent book, I just wish it could have been so much better.

Next, some tales from a crematorium.