Every Story is a Love Story

Here for Love and Dr. Dove

[amoreeel-blog]

Militat Omnis Amans 

You are a gladiator who has worked their way up to the greatest battle of all: The Queen's Arena. 

But what are you fighting for?

Or who?

Why don't you remember? 

An interactive story.

_______________________________

Here’s the link to my final project! Should take about 20-30 minutes to complete, based on your reading speed. 

[Content warning for violence and sappy romance.]

[deadpinkss]

Visit Original Link

[photosbygy-deactivated20200605]

kinda wanna relationship, kinda wanna stay single my whole life, kinda wanna go on adventures, kinda wanna stay in my bed my whole life 

[obtrta]

It’s the Baggins side of your bloodline fighting the Took in you

[amoreeel-blog]

Literary snack: the vending machine that spits out short stories

Stories are shared many ways. They are recounted in books and magazines. They are read aloud around the campfire at night. And now this.

[jawnkeets]

[juno-infernal]

i ONLY know how to express love in either dramatic, multi-page, 19th-century-style love letters OR single memes presented without commentary so jot that down

[wouldvebeenking]

Indigenous Love Words Project

[staff]

I Met the Lesbian Love of My Life on Tumblr

"Out of the millions of people on the internet, the fact that we found each other has led me to believe that fate does indeed exist."

Happy Lesbian Visibility Day, Tumblr!

Here’s a beautiful little piece to warm your hearts. 

[roseteawriting]

I love you. 我愛你。The character for love, 愛, is a phono-semantic compound; from top to bottom, it’s made of a part that denotes sound, a part that denotes meaning, and a third, meaningless component added some point later in time. The semantic component is 心, or heart, but in Chinese, the meaning is never that simple. 心 means heart, yes, but it also means mind, thoughts, intention, and core. So when you say 我愛你, you are saying I love you with all my heart, with my every thought and every intention, with every decision my mind makes, with the very center and core of my being.

[amoreeel-blog]

[bob-belcher]

[systlin]

I honestly always find the term ‘spinster’ as referring to an elderly, never-married woman as funny because you know what?

Wool was a huge industry in Europe in the middle ages. It was hugely in demand, particularly broadcloth, and was a valuable trade good. A great deal of wool was owned by monasteries and landed gentry who owned the land. 

And, well, the only way to spin wool into yarn to make broadcloth was by hand. 

This was viewed as a feminine occupation, and below the dignity of the monks and male gentry that largely ran the trade. 

So what did they do?

They hired women to spin it. And, turns out, this was a stable job that paid very well. Well enough that it was one of the few viable economic options considered ‘respectable’ outside of marriage for a woman. A spinster could earn quite a tidy salary for her art, and maintain full control over her own money, no husband required. 

So, naturally, women who had little interest in marriage or men? Grabbed this opportunity with both hands and ran with it. Of course, most people didn’t get this, because All Women Want Is Husbands, Right?

So when people say ‘spinster’ as in ‘spinster aunt’, they are TRYING to conjure up an image of a little old lady who is lonely and bitter. 

But what I HEAR are the smiles and laughter of a million women as they earned their own money in their own homes and controlled their own fortunes and lived life on their own terms, and damn what society expected of them. 

[turndownforsatan]

Spinster sounds like it could be a codeword for lesbians.

Like old aunt Beatrice never seemed interested in men and just hangs out with other women all day… is she… you know…. *straight whipser* a spinster?

[systlin]

There is almost nothing written about what we would now term lesbianism in the middle ages; a great deal was written on sodomy, but it’s likely that many women probably engaged in same sex relationships quietly and nearly completely unnoticed. 

Look how historical sources are viewed even now; a woman could write about her passion for another woman and people will read it as ‘close friendship’. 

So, I think it’s reasonable to assume that a woman who had no interest in men and preferred the company of other women would find herself in the spinning trade, and would not be very surprised if some (even many) ‘spinsters’ did in fact prefer women to men.  

[systlin]

Specifically, skilled spinsters and weavers could earn 5-8 pounds a year, depending on skill, which put them squarely in the ‘wealthy peasantry’ class and was comparable to what a skilled mason was paid. 

[gabrieldreyfuss]

[earthdad]

this guy is a cinematic genius

[legere-librum]

I can never understand how Snape apologetics can stand up for him when he CANONICALLY does this shit.

I can maybe, maybe, understand those who haven’t read the books standing up for him, because honestly the movies don’t cover all the horrible stuff he does. But those who have read the books and still stick up for him baffle me.

I mean, you don’t see anyone sticking up for the Dursley’s or Umbridge, when they do the same stuff to Harry as Snape. How is Snape any different?

[dr-archeville]

“He’s a Byronic Anti-Hero!” (a former roommate, who had read all the books)

He may be, but that doesn’t make him any less of a (at best) horrific jerk.

[farmer-10]

Isn’t that just Intellectual Speak for “Massive Prick”?

[goodluckdetective]

As someone who studied Byronic Anti-Heroes and Heroes, yes it absolutely is intellectual speak for “massive prick”

[amoreeel-blog]

Someone once tried to tell me that Snape was the best character in Harry Potter, morality-wise, because everything he did was “for the woman he loved.” I said “you what?”

[officialrung-deactivated2020010]

you should never date someone for the sake of dating someone. you should be good friends, if not best friends with your partner. if you cant go to your partner for personal advice, if youre afraid to call your partner out on something, if you cant laugh and have fun with your partner, or if your conversations are only ever performative affection, you don’t have a good relationship

[lightspeedsound]

Ok if your introvert friend tells you “you don’t count as people” you know they will ride or die with you for life. Not counting as people is the introvert Platonic friend equivalent of getting married.

[k-phoenix]

My SO once told me that “time with you is basically me-time” and it is the most beautiful thing and the most sincere form of ‘I love you’ I’ve ever heard.

[amoreeel-blog]

The Lomas Lexicography: An index of 'untranslatable' words relating to wellbeing

I am a huge linguistics nerd, so I thought I’d share a cool lexicography I recently happened upon. 

Welcome to the positive lexicography, an evolving index of 'untranslatable' words related to wellbeing from across the world's languages.

This is a huge collection of words from different languages that name feelings, relationships, sensations, and character traits compiled by Dr. Tim Lomas (University of East London). I find it fascinating to see how other languages and cultures interpret and name different feelings and dynamics. It’s like that saying, “Eskimos have fifty words for snow.” But in real-world context. 

Makes you wonder what we would call some of these things in English, if we had to narrow it down to a single word.

I recommend poking around the interactive lexicography. The format is easy to navigate and has lots of pretty colors. You can browse by theme, too, e.g. love, friendship, revelry, and morality.

Famn: (n) [Swedish] The area or space within two arms, e.g., 'in my arms'. As a verb, att famna – ‘to embrace’.