Barely Legible

Calligraphy. Watercolor. Game of Thrones. ASOIAF. Good Omens. www.barelylegible.com

[manicpixiedckgirl]

[theaudientvoid]

There are multiple chapters that are set in hospitals where the characters are attempting to recover from injuries that never fully heal. I must once again stress that my experience in WWI was perfectly normal.

[into-the-weeds]

Researchers "Translate" Bat Talk. Turns Out, They Argue—A Lot

A machine learning algorithm helped decode the squeaks Egyptian fruit bats make in their roost, revealing that they

They found that the bat noises are not just random, as previously thought, reports Skibba. They were able to classify 60 percent of the calls into four categories. One of the call types indicates the bats are arguing about food. Another indicates a dispute about their positions within the sleeping cluster. A third call is reserved for males making unwanted mating advances and the fourth happens when a bat argues with another bat sitting too close. In fact, the bats make slightly different versions of the calls when speaking to different individuals within the group, similar to a human using a different tone of voice when talking to different people. Skibba points out that besides humans, only dolphins and a handful of other species are known to address individuals rather than making broad communication sounds. The research appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

[aroundmeblackbats]

forty arguing bats

[hevcrap]

[wiggerbeefer]

Bats be like

[nobodysflower]

here is your gentle reminder that there are dandelions growing through cracks in the sidewalk. there is a fence lizard on the porch who is growing a new tail. there are trees growing through an abandoned house, branches tearing through the ceiling, ferns carpeting the floor. there is life pushing forward, pushing through. 

[beautifulscreaminglady]

from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

[almondcroissantsandink]

going absolutely insane because this is one of my favorite quotes from the book

[headspace-hotel]

Anyway the thought about Christianity was a tangent, I was actually thinking about ranking Fall Out Boy songs by how far back in time you could go before the lyrics were completely unintelligible due to untranslatable cultural differences.

[headspace-hotel]

"Uma Thurman" is partially unintelligible even to me (I have next to no idea who Uma Thurman is) but I feel like it would be a good example to help explain what cultural Christianity is, because the amount of song lyrics that would make zero sense if you didn't know what Christianity was is always way higher than you think it is

[headspace-hotel]

This is also a good exercise in estimating just how much we, as modern readers, are missing in ancient texts

Imagine explaining this to an ancient Sumerian. They don't have July, let alone the Fourth of it, and the significance of that date and the connection to fireworks requires you to explain everything from gunpowder to the concept of a nation.

[headspace-hotel]

I like "This is a black, black ski mask song" from Novocaine because even a historian that knew what skiing was might not necessarily know what the significance of a ski mask is here.

[headspace-hotel]

"I Don't Care" is almost timeless though. I'm pretty sure an ancient Roman would "get" most of it.

Same with "Alone Together." "My heart is like a stallion, they love it more when it's broke in?" Perfectly understandable for someone a couple thousand years ago.

"The Mighty Fall" is an interesting case because you could envision trying to explain "Your crooked love is just a pyramid scheme" to an ancient Egyptian

[headspace-hotel]

Trying to do this with Owl City makes you appreciate just how MUCH clever wordplay is in Owl City lyrics, because you're like "SO MUCH would definitely get completely lost in any attempt to translate, but I can't even break it all down"

owl city lyrics have a habit of punning on idioms, which probably is the worst for historical longevity. In "Plant Life" there's the lyric "new leaf turns over, unwilling to fall" which is referring to the speaker's reluctance to let go of the past and move on. this is both playing with the idiom "turn over a new leaf" meaning to start something new, and creating the image of a literal leaf reluctant to fall from the tree (as leaves do in fall, as part of the natural progression of seasons).

Also from the song Plant Life

so, there's "spirit" and "ghost," but neither actually mean in context the same thing that they mean when they do mean they same thing, and "pull off your sheet," which is a reference to sheets being used as a ghost costume. then there is the concept of a "teddy [bear]" and "grin and bear it" which is punning on "teddy" referencing a bear. this is kind of brilliant but incomprehensible

Would the wordplay in "Get me out of this cavern or I'll cave in" in "Cave In" necessarily be intelligible when translated for a future historian or person from the distant past

By the way, Cave In is at the top of my minecraft themed playlist because it mentions the largest number of things that are in Minecraft that I have found in a song

[headspace-hotel]

You'll have the most fun if you assume that what technology is and does can be explained to your listener, and focus purely on cultural and linguistic barriers

In the song "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga, knowing what a garage is and is for does not help you understand what it means to be "garage glamorous" at all.

Sometimes the barrier isn't not knowing what something is, it's knowing what something is like.

Speaking of Lady Gaga, Poker Face is great for this

[headspace-hotel]

Listen, *I* barely know how poker is played. But I still know that the first line references a variant (?) of poker called Texas hold 'em. There are so many double meanings here. "After he's been hooked" probably references gambling, and "I'll play the one that's on his heart" references the fact that "hearts" are one of the four suits in traditional playing cards.

Imagine not knowing any of this. Now imagine knowing all of this—does that actually let you understand what a "poker face" is?

I go back in time, I try to show an ancient Sumerian some bangers from the future, I end up stuck explaining the complex legal and cultural status of gambling in the United States, fuck time travel honestly

[headspace-hotel]

Songs that make roughly the same amount of sense to nearly everyone regardless of their position in history

almost everything by Cosmo Sheldrake

the devil went down to georgia (look, this story conceptually has nothing to do with the Christian Devil specifically and everything to do with a type of folklore character who is just Like That)

Hurt by Johnny Cash (i know it's a cover, I don't care)

American Pie by Don McLean (come on, does ANYONE actually understand this song?)

Bohemian Rhapsody

About Damn Time by Lizzo

Boom Clap by Charli XCX

[headspace-hotel]

It helps that most songs throughout history are about roughly the same things:

the level of partying and getting lit that will happen tonight will be greater than it ever has been before

a hot girl was dancing and it blew all of our minds

There was a guy that did so much crazy stuff and boy was he a guy

I met a fucked up guy who was dead or a demon or something

I went to a fucked up place that was haunted or something

my lover's butt is just the best

we're drinking SO much alcohol

I miss my lover, who is not with me right now, so much and I'm sitting here thinking of holding them but I can't and it's making me SO sad

You broke my heart and I hate you now 

I can't wait to get back to the land that is my home

There was a hot girl one time and trust me, she was really something

this job sucks

What if [completely nonsensical scenario]

[headspace-hotel]

See this is fascinating because we're already leaving the time in history where people understand things like "meaner than a junkyard dog" but the Archetype still works

"You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC has some specific cultural references, but people throughout history would Get It okay

[headspace-hotel]

what's being highlighted here I think is "technical meaning is understandable, but emotional/thematic meaning is completely obscure" untranslatable things vs. "technical meaning is obscure but the song still Hits" untranslatable

I think "fast car" by tracy chapman could make sense to someone who doesn't actually know what a car is. Like, it's clear from context regardless that the car is a symbol for the opportunity to escape the circumstances you were born into and feel trapped in

[headspace-hotel]

Oh yeah i could write an essay about how Adam Young has a specifically autistic way of writing lyrics

[icaruspendragon]

baby i can avoid eye contact in ways you’d never fuckin believe

[weirdchristmas]

[finxhes]

This Barbie is the vengeful soul of the Earth made Flesh! Act now and she can be yours for the low, low price of an entire planet!

-

my part of an art trade with my dear friend @janecrockeyre! i am SO pleased with how she came out you have no idea

[gangst3rswife]

Finally watched the Addams Family Values recently! and honestly. my main takeaway is

Debbie slays. And Joan Cusack is a QUEEN

[vbartilucci]

Joan Cusack has never appeared in a film that she did not steal.

And as for Debbie, I will always repost my stance on her end.

I’ve said it a million times - if Debbie had listened to what the Addamses were saying in response to her tales of woe, she’s have realized that they understood completely. She had found her people, and was too wrapped up in herself to realize it.

If they could have, they’d have burst from their bonds, hugged the stuffing out of her, bought her a Bentley (and a vintage Ballerina Barbie) and declare her an Addams.

She could spend the rest of her life trying to kill Fester, and he’d love her all the more every time she tried. And the rest would keep offering helpful suggestions. “No point in trying poison, Debbie my dear - he’s been putting strychnine on his cornflakes since was seven”.

[payasita]

they would have been such good friends

[butyoutoldmeiwasfunny]

[bomberqueen17]

[image description: a somewhat overexposed/deepfried image of an american opossum with the caption "MY BRAIN HAS MANY THINGS TO HOLD AND NO POCKETS"]

[classycookiexo]

[capricorn-born]

Oddly specific. Got a deposit for 6,837 today

[weaselle]

fuck it, i never ever do those “reblog for X, this one really works!” posts, but this one doesn’t have any of that BS, this is just straight up wishing us good things; and then the comment doesn’t even say any of that either. Zero claims on this post, all positive vibes

May you end this week feeling ever more certain of a future you’ll love

[vmohlere]

May you end this week feeling ever more certain of a future you’ll love

[beggars-opera]

If nothing else, as a historian every time I get scared at the state of the world I have to remind myself that "uninteresting times" is a myth.

The world has always been in the throes of chaos and violence and fear, just in different ways and to different degrees. The anxieties of the past are no less real than our own, and we can learn from them. Normality and peace are fleeting, but we can always strive to increase those moments. We have to keep hoping and working for a better future. It's all we have. We may not succeed, but if we don't try, what are we living for?

[beggars-opera]

@lastoftheptolemies yes

[catchymemes]

[barelylegible]

[thestuffedalligator]

Cooking horror game where you play as a cook working in the galley of a ship in the 1800s. There’s some kind of supernatural nautical horror story going on in the background but you barely notice this because you spend all day cooking in the galley.

[muffinlance]

As the game goes on you have to cook for fewer and fewer people but their orders--and the ingredients they bring you--become increasingly unhinged

[sadclowncentral]

seething about the fact that i will never experience photosynthesis in my own useless cells. i bet it feels so good when the light of the sun both warms you and fuels you at the same time. a bone-deep satisfaction mixed with a heated sugar-rush and endless brightness. not that i would fucking know

[mclennonyaoi]

god she is always serving cunt.

[mclennonyaoi]

she would karate chop the shit out of you for saying that.

[ghost-cassette]

Imagine thinking you bring more to the table than Kermit the Frog