how do you get your life together?

My personal blog for keeping interesting language posts safe

[jeregretterien]

random french phrases i learned in class

c’est pas enorme: it’s not much

s’est mal passée: did not go well

il se trouve que: it just so happened

nous allons en rester là: agree to disagree

pire que tout: worst of all

encore moins: let alone

dans l’heure: within the hour

accro du boulot: attached to work (workaholic)

en vouloir: to hold a grudge

faire bonne figure: put up a front

à froid: in cold blood

[did-you-know]

The Tetris Effect occurs when you incessantly play a video game or even do non-gaming activities like debugging code or working with equations or shapes. The shapes and codes start to show up in your dreams and in your peripheral vision, and those ‘mental reps’ actually make you better the next time you play or code. Source

[firewalker]

@simotiva pare che sia una cosa comune

[kon-igi]

Per ciò che mi riguarda è sempre stata una costante fin dal 1979, quando cominciai a sparare agli alieni di Space Invaders sulla lavagna vuota mentre la maestra spiegava. Tetris (che però non amavo particolarmente) divenne poi l’apoteosi dello sclero neurovisivo.

Mia mamma @chiaradiluce usa questa tecnica al posto delle pecore per addormentarsi.

[keepitmovinshawty]

I’m truly surprised no one has posted this classic

[fuckyeah-sweden]

IKEA HISTORY

THE BEGINING

Ingvar Feodor Kamprad was born on 30 March 1926, on a small farm called Elmtaryd near the village of Agunnaryd, in the Swedish province of Småland. Kamprad began his career at the age of six, selling matches. When just ten, he criss-crossed the neighbourhood on his bicycle, selling Christmas decorations, fish and pencils.

At the age of 17, in 1943, his father rewarded him with a small sum of money for doing well in school, despite being dyslexic. With it, Ingvar founded a business named IKEA, an abbreviation for Ingvar Kamprad from Elmtaryd, Agunnaryd, his boyhood home.

Two years after starting IKEA, he began using milk trucks to deliver his goods. In 1947, he started selling furniture made by local manufacturers. By 1955, manufacturers began boycotting IKEA, protesting against Kamprad’s low prices. This forced him to design items in-house. 

He is also behind the simple, yet revolutionary innovation that is the flat pack. He began selling IKEA products in flat-pack form, from his own warehouses. Thus the basic IKEA concept – simple, affordable flat-pack furniture, designed, distributed and sold in-house – was complete.The driving idea behind IKEA was, and is, that anyone should be able to afford stylish, modernist furniture. He felt he was not just cutting costs and making money, but serving the people as well.

THE FIRST STORES

The first store was opened in Älmhult, Småland, in 1958, while the first stores outside Sweden were opened in Norway (1963) and Denmark (1969). The stores spread to other parts of Europe in the 1970s, with the first store outside Scandinavia opening in Switzerland (1973), followed by West Germany (1974).

Older IKEA stores are usually blue buildings with yellow accents (also Sweden’s national colours) and few windows. They are often designed in a one-way layout, leading customers counter clockwise along what IKEA calls “the long natural way” designed to encourage the customer to see the store in its entirety (as opposed to a traditional retail store, which allows a customer to go directly to the section where the desired goods and services are displayed). There are often shortcuts to other parts of the showroom. Newer IKEA stores, like the one  make more use of glass, both for aesthetics and functionality. Skylights are also now common in the self-serve warehouses; natural lighting reduces energy costs, improves worker morale and gives a better impression of the products.

THE RESTAURANT

Every store includes a restaurant serving traditional Swedish food, including potatoes with Swedish meatballs, cream sauce and lingonberry jam, although there are variations. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the usual boiled potatoes have been replaced with French fries. Besides these Swedish foods, hot dogs and drinks are also sold, along with a few varieties of the local cuisine, and beverages such as lingonberry juice. Also items such as prinsesstårta (princess cake) are sold as desserts. Stores in Israel sell kosher food with a high degree of rabbinical supervision. The kosher restaurants are separated into dairy and meat areas; falafel and non-dairy ice cream are available at the exit. IKEA stores in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates serve chicken shawarma at the exit café as well as beef hot dogs, while in United Kingdom, a Quorn hot dog is available in the exit café.

PLAY AREA

Every store has a play area, named Småland (Swedish for small lands; it is also the Swedish province where Kamprad was born). Parents drop off their children at a gate to the playground, and pick them up after they arrive at another entrance. In some stores, parents are given free pagers by the on-site staff, which the staff can use to summon parents whose children need them earlier than expected; in others, staff summon parents through announcements over the in-store public address system.

FURNITURE

Rather than being sold pre-assembled, much of IKEA’s furniture is designed to be self-assembled. The company claims that this helps reduce costs and use of packaging by not shipping air; the volume of a bookcase, for example, is considerably less if it is shipped unassembled rather than assembled. This is also practical for many of the chain’s European customers, where public transport is commonly used, because the flat-pack methods allow for easier transport via public transportation.

IKEA contends that it has been a pioneering force in sustainable approaches to mass consumer culture. Kamprad calls this “democratic design,” meaning that the company applies an integrated approach to manufacturing and design. In response to the explosion of human population and material expectations in the 20th and 21st centuries, the company implements economies of scale, capturing material streams and creating manufacturing processes that hold costs and resource use down, such as the extensive use of Medium-Density Fiberboard (“MDF”). It is an engineered wood fibre glued under heat and pressure to create a building material of superior strength which is resistant to warp. IKEA uses cabinet-grade and furniture-grade MDF in all of its MDF products, such as PAX wardrobes and kitchen cupboards. IKEA also uses wood, plastic, and other materials for furniture and other products. The intended result is flexible, adaptable home furnishings, scalable both to smaller homes and dwellings as well as large houses.

INTERESTING FACTS

IKEA products are identified by one-word (rarely two-word) names. Most of the names are Scandinavian in origin. Although there are some exceptions, most product names are based on a special naming system developed by IKEA. Kamprad, found that naming the furniture with proper names and words, rather than a product code, made the names easier to remember.

Upholstered furniture, coffee tables, rattan furniture, bookshelves, media storage, doorknobs: Swedish placenames (for example: Klippan)

Beds, wardrobes, hall furniture: Norwegian place names

Dining tables and chairs: Finnish place names

Bookcase ranges: Occupations

Bathroom articles: Scandinavian lakes, rivers and bays

Kitchens: grammatical terms, sometimes also other names

Chairs, desks: men’s names

Fabrics, curtains: women’s names

Garden furniture: Swedish islands

Carpets: Danish place names

Lighting: terms from music, chemistry, meteorology, measures, weights, seasons, months, days, boats, nautical terms

Bedlinen, bed covers, pillows/cushions: flowers, plants, precious stones

Children’s items: mammals, birds, adjectives

Curtain accessories: mathematical and geometrical terms

Kitchen utensils: foreign words, spices, herbs, fish, mushrooms, fruits or berries, functional descriptions

Boxes, wall decoration, pictures and frames, clocks: colloquial expressions, also Swedish place names

They Were The First Company To Feature A Gay Relationship In a Commercial.While the commercial only ran once in 1994, it was still a big deal for such a major company to release an ad with a homosexual couple. Since then, the company had ran a number of ads targeting the gay community, including one of the first ads to feature a transgender person

Their Catalog Is almost More Popular Than The Bible. Every year, there are almost three times more copies of the catalog printed than the bible. They started printing the catalog in 1951 and it has since taken on a life of its own, consuming a full 70% of the companies marketing budget every year and developing a devoted fan base of people who analyze the images looking for obscure books in the bookshelves, Mickey Mouse references and cats hiding in the fake households. There are now 55 editions printed in 27 languages every year.

IKEA Also Sell Houses. If you live in Scandinavia or the UK, don’t head to a real estate agent, head to IKEA and grab a flat-pack house for a fraction of the cost. The BoKlok houses were originally released in Sweden in 1996, and have since expanded to IKEA stores across Northern Europe.

FUTURE

Kamprad has been married twice. In his first marriage, to Kerstin Wadling, he adopted a daughter, Annika Kihlbom. In the other, to Margaretha Stennert, he has three sons: Peter, Jonas and Mathias. The three sons are gradually succeeding their father, who now serves as senior advisor at IKEA.

[fyp-psychology]

21 Signs You Might Actually Be An Ambivert

Keep reading

[halfagony-halfhope]

what are your favorites pride and prejudice retelling? and fanfictions?

these are some of the fics i’ve been reading lately:

Good Samaritan:  Liz meets a stranger while riding in a London park. This stranger seems to be out of place and time and, of course, his name is Mr. Darcy. The two help each other find their way home. (WIP) (this fic is the closest thing to a p&p + kate & leopold au that i’ve ever seen so i love it. i’ve talked about this before but i’ve always wanted to read a p&p fic inspired by that movie)

Stealing Darcy:  Armed with gypsy magic, Caroline Bingley plots to take Fitzwilliam Darcy away from Elizabeth Bennet. On one freakish Friday, Caroline takes Elizabeth’s place - literally - and Darcy has to determine which woman is his true love. (i’m always a slut for body swap shenanigans.!! last year i read one great fic where darcy and mr. collins swap bodies but the author deleted it (i think they intended to publish it). sadly, i don’t remember the title bc i’d love to read it again.)

The Strange Disappearance of Lizzy Bennet: After the Netherfield ball, Elizabeth Bennet disappeared without a trace, before her parents could marry her to her wretched cousin, Mr. Collins. Has she been saved by a Good Samaritan or did she fall prey to a scoundrel? Will the Bennets ever see their daughter again? (the author will delete the story soon!)

Upon Closer Acquaintance:  Darcy overhears a conversation between Lizzy and Charlotte at Lucas Lodge that gives him deeper insight into Jane’s feeling for Bingley and Lizzy’s feeling for himself. Will this change his behavior towards Lizzy and his interference in Charles and Jane’s relationship? Will Charlotte be able to help Lizzy move past her injured pride to see the changes in Darcy’s manners?  (WIP)

Mr Darcy’s Child Bride:  Fifteen-year-old Lizzy Bennet is newly out in society when an unfortunate accident lands her in a marriage with a man who is even older than her father. This story is about how she adapts to her life as mistress of a large estate and explores how people who seem to have nothing in common can learn to adapt and appreciate one another

It is What It Is:  Elizabeth Benetez and Fitzwilliam Darcy each have their futures planned out and they certainly look bright. Decisions made by each of their father’s years ago now stand in the way.

To Be a Man:  Elizabeth and Darcy greet a turning point in the life of their son with very different feelings. Regency. One shot.

From Admiration to Love:  Elizabeth Bennet finds an ally in Lady Anne Darcy on a walk one morning on Pemberley’s grounds and draws the attention of Mr. Darcy. Before admiration can become love, they are parted and Elizabeth is taken from Netherfield by her cousin and held at Rosings. Mr. Darcy must find her for himself as much as for Lady Anne.

To Capture Mr Darcy:  Nature’s a fickle thing. When four days of rain occur earlier in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice to trap Elizabeth and Jane at Netherfield Park, new romances, misunderstandings, and alignments are made. Volatile tempers never did well cooped up together.

Sufficient Encouragement:  After overhearing that Mr. Darcy admires her, Elizabeth Bennet realizes she has the opportunity to secure her sister courtship with Darcy’s friend. Elizabeth doubts Darcy would ever seriously be attached to her. Darcy must determine if he wants Elizabeth as a wife while Wickham schemes to finally triumph over Darcy. There is one scene of non-explicit sexual violence.

Temporary Mistress:  One night, to decide his entire life’s happiness: Chastened by Charles Bingley following Mr. Bennet’s untimely death, Fitzwilliam Darcy determines he will offer marriage to Elizabeth Bennet, but she marries another. Years later, Elizabeth, now widowed, has vowed she will never marry again, and Darcy will have to win more than her heart to convince her to try marriage again. (WIP)

Grifters:  Lizzy Walker is a short con player loosely affilaited with the Bennet clan, a small group of criminal friends who scrape a living for each other and themselves. Keen to step up her game and make London her playground, she meets Charles Bingley, a new player on the scene, and Will Darcy, a mysterious and somewhat legendary long con artist who infuriates her more than any man alive. (WIP)

The Theatre in May:  Bingley and Darcy run into Jane and Elizabeth at the theater shortly after Elizabeth left Kent. While Bingley and Jane are soon on their way to reconciliation, Darcy and Elizabeth are unsure of themselves and each other.

For The Sake Of A Child: There’s no blurb but trust me it’s a really good fic.

Marry in Haste, Repent at Leisure:  Elizabeth Bennet marries an Earl two years before P&P begins. Now widowed, wealthy and a peer of the realm, she has been abused by her love, a shadow of her former self. With Ramsgate in his mind, Darcy seeks to restore her to liveliness, & her love.

Fear of Falling: Second Impressions Book One: Five years after his disastrous confession of love, Will Darcy finally has his chance with the smart-mouthed Lizzy Bennet. After a night of passion, the reclusive billionaire leaves Lizzy with a second impression she will not likely soon forget. Now he must convince her there is more than lust between them. Journey with them as they confront her fears and face the darkness in his past in this modern Pride and Prejudice adaptation. (i know it’s only available on amazon but i’m obsessed with this story so it’s impossible for me not to mention it. i can’t wait for the second book!)

[rewordfully]

Can you talk a bit about what a historical linguist does?

A historical linguist usually sits and analyses dead languages in their basement because no one wants to give them a job.

No but seriously: historical linguistics is all about languages in the past. You can analyse them from the diachronic linguistics’ point of view which is concerned with comparing a language in its past and present states (or any state in two or more different points in time), or synchronically, that is, at one point in time.You can also try to figure out where certain elements of the language come from, how it was pronounced, what is the etymology of this and that and why, and so on. Really cool field to be studying, not so great to try and make a career of, unfortunately.

[pocketmoose]

That sounds fascinating, thank you!

[elidoingnothing-blog]

Oh god this would be my dream job

[galentines]

sometimes i want to pull my hair out because i want to see just ONE female character i can relate to in terms of their romantic/sex life

i want to see a girl in her mid twenties who has never been kissed

i want to see a girl who is confused because she has literally no experience

a girl that has panic attacks when she thinks of sex and cant stop thinking about what kissing is like while also being terrified of it

a girl who cant figure out her sexuality because she’s never gotten to try

a girl who self destructs because shes terrified of how bigger her baggage gets with age

i’m sick of seeing woman in tv and movies who date and have sex and still have relationship hangups, not because that doesnt exist but because i cant relate to those women

i want to turn on the tv and see a 25 year old woman who has never been with anyone, was genuinely not looked at for a long time and has become terrified of attention, who’s anxiety cheats them out of dating, who greets every birthday with this feeling of dread in the pit of their stomach because they’re getting older and older and it feels weirder and more wrong with every passing year

i know i’m not the only woman like this, but with the way the media is, it’s maybe the most alienating baggage i carry. everywhere i look, it’s weird that this is my experience. i feel ashamed and i feel scared that i one day have to tell a person to their face that i’m am adult who has never had a first kiss. its terrifying and consuming and confusing and awful. you start to believe it isnt meant for you - not just sex, or intimacy, but fucking love itself. because you dont turn on the tv and see people like you. “unlucky in love” means slightly clumsy and loud on dates and fear of commitment. its a quirky girl who probably has had sex with multiple people and just ~cant figure it out~!!!!!

i want a girl who feels so alone because she literally always has been

that’s what i wanna see

[polandballcomics]

Nordic Midsummer

via reddit

[savannahkills]

This is possibly the best Parks and Recreation blooper

[nightkrowe]

I love how there’s absolutely zero background music. People are just dancing to nothing. I love extras.

[marinashutup]

“Dude!”

[theliteraryjournals]

BOOK OF THE DAY:

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Gut-wrenching and urgent, Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why explicitly reminds us why everything we do matters. Two weeks ago, Hanna Baker committed suicide. When Clay Jensen returns home from school, he finds a peculiar package on his porch. Hannah, his former crush has made him thirteen cassette tapes recorded by her, explaining why she chose to end her life.

Told inside Clay’s head, Thirteen Reasons Why is vulnerable, intimate and compelling.  Remember, “everything affects everything,” as Hannah declared. Hannah’s story teaches us about compassion and how the minor details about life can mean a world to another person.

Get the book here!

Read excerpts from the book here!

Get the FREE Amazon Kindle app to read on most devices.

FREE BOOKS: 100 LEGAL SITES TO DOWNLOAD LITERATURE!

[Book Cover Designed by Monique Yuzwak]

[studyquill]

Word Counter - Not only does it count the number of words you’ve written, it tells you which words are used most often and how many times they appear.

Tip Of My Tongue - Have you ever had a word on the tip of your tongue, but you just can’t figure out what it is? This site searches words by letters, length, definition, and more to alleviate that.

Readability Score - This calculates a multitude of text statistics, including character, syllable, word, and sentence count, characters and syllables per word, words per sentence, and average grade level.

Writer’s Block (Desktop Application) - This free application for your computer will block out everything on your computer until you meet a certain word count or spend a certain amount of time writing.

Cliche Finder - It does what the name says.

Write Rhymes - It’ll find rhymes for words as you write.

Verbix - This site conjugates verbs, because English is a weird language.

Graviax - This grammar checker is much more comprehensive than Microsoft Word, again, because English is a weird language.

Sorry for how short this is! I wanted to only include things I genuinely find useful.

[mrsweasley]

I don’t understand how so many people associate “gun control” with “more crime”. Like, that makes zero sense to me. 

America had 372 mass shootings in 2015. Three hundred and seventy two. That’s more than one a day, and you honestly think restricting access to guns is going to make matters worse? Things already are fucking worse! 

I know you think it’s completely irrelevant to compare the US to other countries, but why are you so insistent on ignoring the fact that gun control WORKS? 

Sure, people still die. Humans are still violent assholes, gun control doesn’t change that. But gun control does keep them from opening fire in crowded places with rapid-fire weapons just because they were angry or upset. 

There is fuck little that frustrates me more than this, and it is mainly because I just don’t get it. I don’t get the obsession with guns. I don’t get the fucking paranoia. Is it because I’m not American? Am I missing something? Aaarrgh. 

[elidoingnothing-blog]

I hate it when girls are portrayed as naturally beautiful in movies. They are like "she had swollen hair and porcelain skin, her eyes glimmered and showed no signs of tiredness", like she probably went through a lot of shit to look like that, at least one hour in front of the mirror every morning Like pffft This just sets unrealistic beauty standards for girls

[catsbeaversandducks]

[pizza-dad420-deactivated2017112]

@shrimpmyride us

[scottish-polyglot-deactivated20]

dinnae teach yer Granny tae suck eggs! ‘do not teach your grandmother how to suck on eggs’ = do not lecture someone on something that they already know how to do

haud yer wheesht! ‘hold your ‘hush’’ = be quiet! heid doon arse up! ‘head down, bum up!’  = keep working hard / get on with it! 

I’ll gie ye a skelpit lug! ‘I will give you a slap on the ear’  = You’re annoying me, I’m going to give you a slap on the ear

Is the cat deid? ‘is the cat dead?’  = your trousers are too short

lang may yer lum reek ‘long many your chimey smoke’  = I wish you well for the future / I hope you have a prosperous future

mony a mickle maks a muckle ‘many a little thing makes a big thing’ = look after the small things in life and the big things will look after themselves

we’re a’ Jock Tamson’s bairns / we’re a’ Jock Tamsin’s waens ‘we are all Jock Tamson’s children’ (East Coast / West Coast versions) = we are all equal in the eyes of God. 

whit’s fur ye’ll no go past ye ‘what is for you will not go by you’ = whatever will be will be / leave it up to fate

yer aw bum and parsley / yer arse in parsley ‘you are all bottom and parsley’ / ‘your bottom in parsley’ = you talk a lot about things that are untrue

yer bum’s oot the windae 'your bottom is out of the window’ = you are talking rubbish

yer a lang time deid ‘you are a long time dead’  = start to enjoy your life before it’s too late

[language-enthusiast-deactivated]

hello! as someone who plans to learn japanese in the future, i'm wondering how you're doing it? like, are you studying entirely online or with the aid of textbooks? sorry if this seems a little invasive or you've answered this before but i'm trying to narrow down the best way i can start learning ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ thank youuuu

Hi!! Well I don’t personally use books because I think they’re boring (but if you like studying with books I heard Minna no Nihongo and Genki are great). To learn hiragana and katakana, I HIGHLY recommend the “Dr. Moku’s mnemonics” apps. Unfortunately they’re not free but honestly they’re SO worth it. I never buy apps so please trust me when I say they’re amazing! I use a website called Memrise to learn and review vocabulary and kanji. Tae Kim’s guide is great to learn the basics (how to form sentences, grammar, etc.). Then you can use Lang-8 to get corrections from native speakers. I have a diary where I write random stuff like what I did during the day or just my thoughts on things. Then I post it on Lang-8 and after receiving a few corrections, I write it in my diary below my version and I try to understand my mistakes. Of course, listen to music (here’s my playlist if you want, I update it pretty frequently), watch dramas (the amount of vocab that I learned only by watching dramas is insane), try to read manga in Japanese, translate songs or children’s stories. You can also find Japanese pen pals on language exchange websites. It sounds pretty intimidating but I started talking to this girl after only a few months of learning and it wasn’t that hard to understand what she was saying. And I mean, if you don’t it’s totally okay, just ask them. All the people I’ve talked to were so nice and really happy that I was interested in their language. Sorry, that’s all I can think of right now, I don’t know if it really helps. If you have other questions, don’t hesitate to ask me!! Good luck!!