• burntcopper
  • thecsjones: “cuzosu-blog: “ artekka: “ whetstonefires: “ the-real-seebs: “ arjan-de-lumens: “ titaniumelemental: “ bookavid: “ arkthepieking: “ exomoon: “ isashi-nigami: “ ice-light-red: “ windycityteacher: “ burntcopper: “ things english speakers...

    things english speakers know, but don’t know we know.

  • ice-light-red

  • That is profound. I noticed this by accident when asked about adjectives by a Japanese student. She translated something from Japanese like “Brown big cat” and I corrected her. When she asked me why, I bluescreened.

  • isashi-nigami

  • What the fuck, English isn’t even my first language and yet I picked up on that. How the fuck. What the fuck.

  • exomoon

  • Reasoning: It Just Sounds Right

  • arkthepieking

  • Oooh, don’t like that. Nope, I do not even like that a little bit.  That’s parting the veil and looking at some forbidden fucking knowledge there.

  • bookavid

  • How did I even learn this language wtf

  • titaniumelemental

  • I had to read “brown big cat” like three times before my brain stopped interpreting it as “big brown cat”

  • arjan-de-lumens

  • I’m kinda reading “brown big cat” as “brown (big cat)”, that is, a “big cat” - like a tiger or lion or other felid of similar size - that happens to be brown. “Big brown cat”, on the other hand, sounds more like a brown cat that’s just a bit bigger than a regular housecat - like a bobcat or a maine coon cat or something like that.

  • the-real-seebs

  • yeah, a brown big cat is almost certainly a puma. a big brown cat is probably a maine coon.

  • whetstonefires

  • yeah, if you put the adjectives out of order you wind up implying a compound noun, which is presumably why we have this rule; we stripped out so much inflection over the centuries word order now dictates a huge amount of our grammar

  • artekka-deactivated

  • Just looked up why we do this and one of the first lines in this article is, “Adjectives are where the elves of language both cheat and illumine reality.” so I know it’s a good article.

    Things this article has taught me:

    • This same order of adjectives more or less applies to languages around the world.  “It’s possible that these elements of universal grammar clarify our thought in some way,” says Barbara Partee, a professor emeritus of linguistics and philosophy at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Yet when the human race tacitly decided that shape words go before color words go before origin words, it left no record of its rationale.
    • One theory is that the more specific term always falls closer to the noun. But that doesn’t explain everything in adjective order.
    • Another theory is that as you get closer to the noun, you encounter adjectives that denote more innate properties. In general, nouns pick out the type of thing we’re talking about, and adjectives describe it,” Partee told me. She observes that the modifiers most likely to sit right next to nouns are the ones most inclined to serve as nouns in different contexts: Rubber duck. Stone wall.
    • Rules are made to be broken. Switching up the order of adjectives allows you to redistribute emphasis. (If you wish to buy the black small purse, not the gray one, for instance, you can communicate your priorities by placing color before size).  Scrambling the order of adjectives also helps authors achieve a sense of spontaneity, of improvising as they go. Wolfe discovers such a rhythm, a feeling-his-way quality, when he discusses his childhood recollection of “brown tired autumn earth” and a “flat moist plug of apple tobacco.”
    • Brain scans have discovered that your brain has to work harder to read adjectives in the “wrong” order.

    TL;DR: No one knows why we do this adjective thing but it’s pretty hardwired in.

  • thecsjones

  • Since it’s never credited, this is from Mark Forsyth’s The Elements of Eloquence, and just one reason why I think it’s required reading for anyone interested in prosecraft. Every page is this useful.

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  • evach4n

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    Hey guys u might have seen me in tiktok, but I suddenly remembered about my tumblr and why not show up here....

    These are pretty old drawings that were made back in May and my art style has already changed a lot but I'll post new ones later!!!

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  • felikatze

  • follow up to this post i am wearing holes into the carpet.

    this current arc on the TL FASCINATES ME because it just taps so much into what The Process is for Kim Soleum and what he loves about horror. Because yknow in that previous post I talked at length about how he loves to Figure Out And Understand The Monster.

    so like. yeah. yeah of course he loves Braun's Late-Night Talk Show.

    Keep reading

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  • writterings

  • it's really funny teaching rhetoric to college freshmen because i explained ad hominem to them via example by arguing with a student over something silly (i kept insisting 25 minutes was a quarter of an hour, not 15) and then "insulted" her instead of addressing her argument (i said she doesn't have a college degree whereas i have two, so of course she'd be wrong - which the whole point is that it's a stupid insult but not something that's actually mean) but she got soooooo mad so even when i stopped the exercise and explained that she was indeed correct (15 minutes is a quarter of an hour). like she was still fuming. so i validated her feelings on that, complimented her, and even reminded the class that a college degree doesn't mean that a person is smart/right. and then i went on to explain that, yeah, dirty arguing techniques like that are meant to make you so unreasonably angry that you can't respond or that you lose your cool, so your opponent looks like they win by default. the student i was arguing with then just said that it seemed like professional ragebaiting and i was like. well yeah that's correct.

    and then this kid, this one kid who is always very eager to answer questions and is always kind to his classmates, raised his hand looking a little bothered. now for context, i emphasize thinking for yourself in my classroom, even if that means disagreeing with something i say and he has echoed some stuff that his parents clearly have told him before. he's not a bad kid or an asshole, he's just an 18 year old with conservative parents who otherwise knows nothing about politics. but he just looks so bothered after i explain this about dirty arguing techniques. big frown on his face. looking unsure. when i nod at him to speak, he says, in a very quiet voice, "didn't -- didn't charlie kirk used to do that?"

    and i was like. well yes. yes he was famous for stuff like this.

    and then the kid looked down and was just like, "oh. i thought he was just really good at debating. i never watched his videos though, only clips. why would he do that?"

    and that coincidentally lined up perfectly with the rest of the lesson, which was on propaganda

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  • duckprintspress

  • no nuance...

    yes, I use generative AI as part of my creative process

    no, I don't use generative AI as part of my creative process

    See Results

    I should probably define what falls under the umbrella of generative AI here but I kinda don't feel like it, but like. using an image generator to make references. brainstorming by talking with chatgpt. generating images of characters as inspiration. all that kinda jazz counts. as of course does full-on using genAI to make your stuff.

    remember that your vote is anonymous, so you don't have to out yourself on one side or the other when you share. I'm just curious what the spread is actually like when there's some anonymity. if you're wondering my own opinion it's in my original tags, but I'm attempting not to be judgemental in this accompanying text.

  • duckprintspress

  • just remember that if y'all want to see how bad the genAI users get ratioed, you need to reblog it...

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  • hymnsofheresy

  • when christian artists change the line in hallelujah from “maybe there’s a God above” to “I know that there’s a God above” >:c

  • hachama

  • I don’t think I’ve heard any cover artist sing my favorite verses

    You say I took the name in vain
    I don’t even know the name
    But if I did, well really, what’s it to you?
    There’s a blaze of light
    In every word
    It doesn’t matter which you heard
    The holy or the broken Hallelujah

    I did my best, it wasn’t much
    I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
    I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
    And even though
    It all went wrong
    I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
    With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

  • cutecreative

  • I will always hit the reblog button so hard for Hallelujah but ESPECIALLY mentions of the elusive final verses which are just about my favorite lyrics ever. Why do people always omit the best part of the song??

  • stoneandbloodandwater

  • Yeah, I wonder why the verses that reference specific Jewish mystical and chassidic concepts that aren’t readily understood by American “I love Jews, you know, Jesus was Jewish!” Christians never get any airtime. Funny that.

    You say I took the name in vain
    I don’t even know the name
    But if I did, well really, what’s it to you?
    There’s a blaze of light
    In every word
    It doesn’t matter which you heard
    The holy or the broken Hallelujah

    These are specifically about Chassidic Jewish theories of the holy language, how each letter and combination of letters in Hebrew contains the essence of the divine spark and if used correctly, can unlock or uncover the divine spark in the mundane material word. And of course, there are secret names of God which, when spoken by any ordinary human would kill them, but if you are worthy and holy and righteous can be used to perform miracles or even to behold the glory of God face-to-face. The words themselves have power. Orthodox Jews often won’t even pronounce the word “hallelujah” in it’s entirety in conversation, because the “yah” sound at the end is a True Name of God (there are hundreds, supposedly) and thus too holy to say outside of prayer.

    None of this is to mention how David’s sin in sleeping with Batshevah (the subject of much of the song, with a brief deviation to Shimshon and Delilah) is considered the turning point in the Tanach that ultimately dooms the Davidic line at the cosmological level and thus dooms Jewish sovereignty and independence altogether. From a Christian perspective this led to Jesus, the King of Kings, and that’s all very well and good for them, but for the Jews, the Davidic line never returned and is the central tragedy of the total arc of the Torah. Like, our Bible doesn’t have a happy ending? And that’s what this song is about? There’s no Grace - you just have to sit with the sin and its consequence.

    Of course, Cohen is referencing all of this ironically, and personalizing these very high-level religious concepts. Like the point of this song is that Cohen, the songwriter, is identifying with David, the psalmist, and identifying his own sins with David’s. The ache that you hear in this song is that the two thousand year exile that resulted from one wrong night of passion and Cohen feels that the pain he has caused to his lover is of equally monumental infamy. Basically, in a certain light, the whole of Psalms is a vain effort for David to atone for his sin and I think Cohen was writing this song in wonderment that David could eternally praise the God who would not forgive him and would force him and his people into exile. But he ultimately gets how you have to surrender to the inexorable force of God in the face of your own inadequacies and how to surrender is to worship and to worship is to praise - hence, Hallelujah. You can either do the right thing and worship God from the start, or you can fuck up, be punished, and thus be forced to beg for His forgiveness. It’s the terrible inevitability of praise that’s driving him mad.

    Like honestly, I identify with this song so strongly as an off-the-derech Jew, I sometimes wonder what Christians can possibly hear in this song, as it speaks so specifically to the sadomasochistic relationship that a lapsed Jew has with their God. It’s such a different song from a Christian theological perspective it’s almost unrecognizable, man. This song continues to be a wonder of postmodern Jewish theology and sexuality from start to finish. Don’t let anyone give you any “Judeo-Christian” narishkeit. This is a Jewish song.

    (Sorry about the wild tangent it’s just 2AM and I love this song so dang much, you guys.)

  • dispatchrabbi

  • That last bit from @stoneandbloodandwater, that’s a great articulation of the well of feeling, memory, storytelling, and culture packed into one of the most Jewish songs ever to get real famous. The song is both surrender and defiance, and that those are actually a single path together, not two opposite choices.

  • wetwareproblem

  • A small addition: This song is such a deeply resonant Jewish touchstone that every synagogue I have ever attended uses its melody in services from time to time.

    It is so important, so powerful, so spiritually resonant that we use it in prayer.

  • prismatic-bell

  • If memory serves me, the cover we most often hear came about specifically because Jeff Buckley was like “man, this song is badass but I don’t know that I can do its concepts justice” and Leonard Cohen was like “you need different verses? Here, I wrote over eighty of the fuckers, pick what you want to use” and so Buckley put together verses that spoke to him as a non-Jew about sexuality and this idea of a failed relationship.

    Which wouldn’t be an issue if Christians didn’t then take his adaptation (done, I emphasize again, with Cohen’s blessing) and rewrite it in ways THAT DO NOT COME FROM THE ORIGINAL VERSES.

  • mizjesbelle

  • @prismatic-bell  Your memory is excellent, but it was John Cale who received the 80 verses and put together the most famous version of the song.  Jeff Buckley then covered Cale’s version.

  • prismatic-bell

  • @mizjesbelle whoops, my mistake! Thanks for the correction <3

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  • milkbreadtoast

  • @ gsgw fans on tumblr who want to know what tags/names to search to find korean fanart on twitter.!!! Im just gonna compile as many as I can into 1 post for convenience 🫶

    괴담출근 - gsgw/gdcg (general abbrv); also 괴출

    김솔음 - kim soleum (노루, 노루씨 = roe deer(noru), mr. roe deer; 포도, 포도요원 - grapes(podo), agent grapes)

    브라운 - braun ; 블솔 = brsol

    이자헌 - lee jaheon ; 잫솔 = jahsol

    은하제 - eun haje

    박민성 - park minseong

    D조 - D squad

    백사헌 - baek saheon ; 샇솔 = sahsol (솔샇 solsah)

    고영은 - go yeongeun

    J3, 제삼, 제이(jay) - J3

    최요원 - agent choi ; 최솔 choisol

    류재관 - ryu jaekwan ; 재솔 jaesol ; 청동요원 agent bronze (청동 = bronze)

    현무팀1 - black tortoise(hyeonmu) team 1

    진나솔 - jin nasol

    이성해 - lee seonghae

    곽제강 - kwak jekang(jegang)

    호유원, 호 이사 (호이사)- ho yuwon, director ho

    청달래, 청 이사 (청이사)- cheong dallae, dir. cheong

    강이학 - kang yihak, 장허운 - jang heo-un

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  • wizardarchetypes

  • funniest convo ever with a guy who said 2 me "nobody uses journalism degrees" and i said "my mom has a bachelors in journalism" and he smiled like knowingly and said "yeah, but what does she do?" and i said "she runs a newspaper and publishes romance novels on the side." and he literally said "oh" and nothing else. like he ended the whole conversation there.

  • wizardarchetypes

  • i've just been informed he has a trombone degree. like the study of playing trombone. which is all well and good, i genuinely think we should all have the opportunity to chase our academic bliss but i do think the trombone studies guy should hesitate to judge the economic value of other people's degrees no

  • wizardarchetypes

  • i love the tags on this post because there’s other music/instrument majors implying niche field-specific drama like “of course it was a trombone player 😒” and then there’s trombone majors like “this was NOT me for the record”

  • swimshadee

  • Yeah there is, there REALLY is niche drama.

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  • collidedscope

  • the “bad guys” in hallmark movies end up always being the most respectful men ever.

    because they will find out their girlfriend of 3 years (that they were about to propose to) went off to a random farm in minnesota, hours away from were the two of them built a life together, and she decided to just… stay there without even consulting him.

    and then he decides to take a trip to make sure she’s okay, because this is generally alarming behavior, and then sees that she literally fell in love with her ex within one (1) week- and he wasn’t there, but you can TELL that they’ve made out a couple times.

    and then she just strings him along for a few days, until fucking christmas eve, when she just breaks up with him and is like “i know we used to have the same values, but i’ve never loved you. mark makes me happier than you ever did. and you ONLY care about work, whereas i like christmas and fun, like a Good Person.”

    and then, after finding out his entire relationship was a lie and he had his life turned upside down in a week and he got dumped on christmas, this guy’s just like “ok yeah that makes sense. i only wish you the best of happiness with mark. i hope you guys build a great life together in christmastreefarmville. thank you for everything.”

  • teashoesandhair

  • An AU where two Hallmark Christmas Bad Guys are both getting flights back to New York after being dumped by their respective Smalltown Blonde Girlfriends, and they bond over their shared experiences and fall in love in the departures lounge

  • ghostcasket

  • @teashoesandhair your wish is my command :)

    Probably, Levi should be more upset.

    Probably he is still in shock. Right? He looks out of his taxi window (it's not technically a taxi, just some guy named Corey who offered him a ride to the airport, because Uber doesn't operate in fucking Tinyville, Bumfuck Middle-Of-Nowhere, Utah) and tracks water droplets racing each other down the glass, because of course it's raining, and his bad knee is killing him. 

    Levi sniffs and rubs at his eyes and then pulls out his phone and books a ticket back to New York, wincing as four hundred and twenty-six dollars are deducted from his bank account. 

    And, like, he should definitely be more upset.

    He just got broken up with. He was engaged, for God's sake. A four-year relationship… over. Just like that. 

    Corey says, "Ten minutes to the station." 

    Keep reading

  • eshesmites

  • Parkour. Xavier huffed out a quiet laugh, staring at himself in the mirror while he brushed his teeth. The black eye has almost completely faded now, thank fuck. He was tired of looking like a raccoon. All that remained was a fading yellow-green bruise along the bottom of his eye socket, and he’d take that any day over trash panda chic. He rinsed out his mouth and tucked the toothbrush into the cabinet. 

    Christmas Day. A week ago, he’d sat, freshly punched and bloody, in an airport lounge swapping identically fucked breakup stories with a guy named Levi, and now in precisely 1 hour and 43 minutes he was going to be meeting up with him for brunch. He studiously ignored the mess of clothes piled on the bed as he strode through the apartment, slipping into his overcoat and patting his pockets. Keys. Phone. Wallet. Before he left, he gave Captain a couple scritches between the ears. 

    It was a ten minute walk to the train, and cold as balls out. Xavier hunched his shoulders against the wind and buried his hands in his pockets, belatedly wondering if he should run back in for his gloves and scarf. Technically, he probably had time. It only took 30 minutes by train - supposedly - to get to the restaurant Levi had texted him. He wavered uncertainly for a few steps, then shook his head and hurried on. If he went back, it was almost guaranteed he’d end up on a train that would get stuck in a tunnel behind a bad signal switch or something, and be horrifyingly late. 

    He tried not to examine why he so desperately didn’t want to be late. 

    At the train station, he looked around for a second for a cop, and when none appeared, hopped over the turnstile and made his way to the platform, deep in his own thoughts. It’s not like he’d never had a thing for a guy before. There were a couple drunk one night stands in college, and he'd dated Mark for two and a half years before Mark moved to London and he’d met Chloe. Unbidden, a memory from early in their relationship came to his mind as he boarded the F train and plopped into a seat. 

    They’d been out to dinner, and in that stage of learning about each other where past relationships came up. Chloe had just exhaustively listed all the things wrong with her ex, Noah, and asked him about his last relationship, and when he’d said Mark’s name, she’d frowned, wrinkling her nose, and changed the subject immediately. He sucked in a breath thinking about it now. How had he forgotten? Had the rose-coloured glasses been that strong?

    Like a worst-of montage, he recalled time after time when Chloe had seemed embarrassed or annoyed by reminders that he was bi. Interrupting him or shushing him with their friends (her friends), looking cross if he ever mentioned Mark, mocking and disparaging the oh-so-occasional bisexual character in a movie they watched. 

    I guess I can at least thank Christmas-Tree-Farm-What’s-His-Fuck for saving me from marrying her, he thought wryly, and only just managed to jump off the train at the right stop. He checked his phone. He still had 45 minutes, and the restaurant was only a couple blocks from the train station. 

    It’s fine, he argued silently as he huddled against the wind again and hurried his pace. Levi will probably just show up on time, and he’ll never know how early you were. Levi seemed like the ‘showing up exactly on time’ type of guy. 

    He spotted the restaurant half a block away and picked up his pace a little more, tired of the wind. The heat of the restaurant washed over him as he entered, and he paused just inside the door to let his eyes adjust to the dimmer light, unbuttoning his overcoat. The door opened again behind him, and he shifted over out of the way automatically. 

    “Xavier?”

    Xavier turned astonished eyes to the newcomer, now revealed to be Levi, staring at him with a flush creeping up from the apples of his cheeks to his temples. Fuck, that’s cute, he thought involuntarily, and he prayed Levi would blame the cold for the sudden color he could feel in his ears. “Hi Levi.” 

    Genius repartee, dumbass. 

    At least it seemed like Levi was having a similar struggle. “You’re early…” he said faintly. “I mean, we’re both early…” 

    “Table for two?” Xavier silently blessed the girl sitting at the host stand and turned toward her, sliding his coat off and failing to convince himself that his rapid pulse was simply because of the quick walk from the train station. 

    Levi’s voice strengthened marginally. “I uh… have a reservation, actually.” He slid out of his own coat. “Under Lawrence.”

    The familiar bustle of getting seated and ordering drinks seemed to settle both of them a bit. Xavier decided pretty quickly what he wanted to eat, and took the opportunity to watch as Levi pored over the menu, his lip caught absently between his teeth. 

    Xavier drew a slow breath, feeling a gentle desire creep into his mind. He wanted to reach across the table and cradle Levi’s chin in his hand. He wanted to draw his fingers through Levi’s sandy brown hair, brush it back from his brow. 

    Levi set aside the menu just as their server returned to the table, and Xavier wrestled his traitorous thoughts under control while Levi gave her his order. He’d only just met the man. They were both very recently, very traumatically single. He had no idea if Levi was even interested in men. 

    But he had to admit, he conceded inwardly, that he was very interested in Levi. 

    Just like on the plane, once they broke through the first few minutes of awkwardness, conversation flowed like water. Xavier felt again the warm glow of being with a person who was listening, who wasn’t distracted or disapproving. When he wasn’t frozen with nerves, Levi was intelligent and enthusiastic, and funny. Goddamn, he was funny. By the time they reluctantly gathered up their coats and left the table, Xavier’s cheeks ached from grinning. 

    They loitered on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. Xavier didn’t want to leave. He was caught in Levi’s green eyes, sparkling with humor; in the bashful, lopsided smile he wore. He wanted to keep listening to the clear tenor of his voice. He wanted to gather Levi close into his arms and trace his features with the gentleness he somehow knew that Anika would never have shown him. 

    “Do you want to come back to my place?” The words escaped his lips before he could haul them back. He saw Levi’s eyes widen, and hurried on. “I think I’ve got some beers in the fridge, and you could meet Captain. I dunno, it just- being alone sucks hard during the holidays, and I thought-” 

    “Yes.” Levi seemed almost as surprised at his answer as Xavier was. Xavier watched him take a deep breath, eyes locked with Xavier’s for a long moment. “I think I’d like that.”  

    -

    “Careful on the last couple stairs here,” he said as they approached his landing. He reached into his pocket for his keys and stuck the apartment key in the lock. “We keep asking the landlord to fix them, but-”

    A sharp gasp and creak on the stairs made him spin around in time to see Levi start to fall backward from taking a rickety step with his bad knee. Before he had time to think, Xavier darted forward and snaked an arm around Levi’s waist, pulling him back up the stairs and into his chest. 

    Both men froze. Xavier’s heart was pounding in his ears, his arm still tightly wrapped around Levi’s waist. He should let go. He should really let go. But Levi’s hands gripped his biceps, and Levi’s chest was pressed against his, and Levi’s lips were parted ever so slightly, and for a long moment Xavier couldn’t move. 

    Captain whined impatiently behind the door, and Xavier pulled in a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Right,” he murmured, loosening his arm and carefully stepping back. “Come on in.”

  • swimshadee

  • more interested in these two fumbling to get together than any Hallmark movei could make me

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