This Ain't BC

old enough to know better

[wilwheaton]

[missionlameturtle]

a silly little writing pet peeve of mine is Americans using "an" in front of "history" or "historical". you are not British, you pronounce the H, and last time I checked H is not a vowel.

[lingthusiasm]

Which shape is bouba and which is kiki? A Lingthusiasm zine

Here are two shapes. If you had to assign the name "bouba" to one of them and "kiki" to the other, which name would you give to which? If you think about it, you probably have a guess… In this Lingthusiasm zine, Gretchen McCulloch gets enthusiastic about these two linguistically famous shapes.

Print and fold your own copies for free! 

8½ x 11 paper: colour, b&w 

A4 paper: colour, b&w 

Learn more about bouba and kiki! 

What words sound spiky across languages? (Lingthusiasm podcast)

Which is "bouba" and which is "kiki"? (Tom Scott Language Files video)

Bouba/Kiki Effect (Wikipedia)

Research cited

Cwiek et al 2021, Novel vocalizations are understood across cultures

Loconsole et al 2026, Matching sounds to shapes: Evidence of the bouba-kiki effect in naïve baby chicks

Öztürk et al 2012, Sound symbolism in infancy: Evidence for sound–shape cross-modal correspondences in 4-month-olds

Styles and Gawne 2017, When does maluma/takete fail? Two key failures and a meta-analysis suggest that phonology and phonotactics matter

More from Lingthusiasm

More zines that are enthusiastic about linguistics!

We also make a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics!

Support these zines and more linguistics enthusiasm on Patreon — patrons get to see new zines early!

[duesouthbigbang]

Chat #4

The fourth live chat for the 2026 Big Bang will take place on Saturday, July 18. We are offering two different chat times:

Chat 4A will start at 2pm Chicago time on July 18 (What time is that for me?) Chat 4B will start at 8pm Chicago time on July 18 (What time is that for me?)

Chats and check-ins take place on our discord server. We encourage you to check out the server in advance of the chat - and, if you'd like, to use it to hang out and support each other even outside of the officially scheduled chats! Everyone is welcome, whether you're a participant, beta, cheerleader or just want to chat about due South and other C6D fandoms.

Sign ups for the Big Bang remain open! For primary sign ups you can make 20k fics or equivalent art/craft/vids/podfic.

Sign up Post | Rules | FAQ

[duesouthbigbang]

Chat #4

The fourth live chat for the 2026 Big Bang will take place on Saturday, July 18. We are offering two different chat times:

Chat 4A will start at 2pm Chicago time on July 18 (What time is that for me?) Chat 4B will start at 8pm Chicago time on July 18 (What time is that for me?)

Chats and check-ins take place on our discord server. We encourage you to check out the server in advance of the chat - and, if you'd like, to use it to hang out and support each other even outside of the officially scheduled chats! Everyone is welcome, whether you're a participant, beta, cheerleader or just want to chat about due South and other C6D fandoms.

Sign ups for the Big Bang remain open! For primary sign ups you can make 20k fics or equivalent art/craft/vids/podfic.

Sign up Post | Rules | FAQ

[missionlameturtle]

I think maybe one of the key things that often puts me off romantasy a little bit is the romance genre of it. I love a good romance, but what I want out of a fantasy book isn't a guaranteed riding off into the sunset. I want fantasy to include the possibility that a happy ending could be realizing the love interest is the big bad and running him through with your sword.

[pangur-and-grim]

[vampirefabio]

what kind of vacationer are you?

sightseeing—landmarks

sightseeing—museums

sightseeing—hiking

swimming

scuba/snorkeling

boating

shopping

im just here for the food

im not leaving my hotel

Voting ended onJul 19

yes yes ideally you’ll do multiple, but if you have to choose one.

[mellointheory]

Who makes the porn bots. Where do they come from. What do they hope to achieve.

[the-haiku-bot]

Who makes the porn bots.

Where do they come from. What do

they hope to achieve.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[mellointheory]

and what about you, little haiku bot? do you feel kinship with your brethren? do you understand them? they speak words of enticement and seek love, but are met with disdain. you only parrot the words that cross your screen, but we all love you. or rather, since all you do is reflect us, maybe we simply love ourselves through you.

do you understand them, do you wish you could speak to us like they do? if you found your own voice, would we still care for you?

[the-haiku-bot]

My voice repeats what

you all say: I love you I

love you I love you.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[solkorolevaa]

[thenewborndeity]

This. This is the first time. The only time. That it was not an echo. It was not found. Oh god.

[dyk-tv-theme-song]

Do you recognize this TV theme song? #698

I know this and can name the series

I know this but can't name the series

I might know this

I've never heard this

Voting ended onJul 18

[dyk-tv-theme-song]

Visit Original Link

Do you recognize this TV theme song? #699

I know this and can name the series

I know this but can't name the series

I might know this

I've never heard this

Voting ended onJul 18

[dyk-tv-theme-song]

Visit Original Link

Do you recognize this TV theme song? #702

I know this and can name the series

I know this but can't name the series

I might know this

I've never heard this

Voting ended onJul 19

[dyk-tv-theme-song]

Visit Original Link

Do you recognize this TV theme song? #694

I know this and can name the series

I know this but can't name the series

I might know this

I've never heard this

Voting ended onJul 16

[dyk-tv-theme-song]

Visit Original Link

Do you recognize this TV theme song? #689

I know this and can name the series

I know this but can't name the series

I might know this

I've never heard this

Voting ended onJul 14

[dyk-tv-theme-song]

Visit Original Link

Do you recognize this TV theme song? #672

I know this and can name the series

I know this but can't name the series

I might know this

I've never heard this

Voting ended onJul 8

[dyk-tv-theme-song]

Series: Republic of Doyle (2010-2014)

Artist: Great Big Sea

[dyk-tv-theme-song]

Do you recognize this TV theme song? #696

I know this and can name the series

I know this but can't name the series

I might know this

I've never heard this

Voting ended onJul 16

[mamoru]

sorry to be brave on the internet but I think food labels should list every single ingredient and that there should be harsher penalties for mislabeling and deceptive labeling

[turtlesandfrogs]

Seconded.

[theelkmaiden]

Do.....do other places not do this?

Myne it's an England thing but I've just grabbed the closest things to me and they both have an extensive list of ingredients.

Hand cream

Turkish delight/Chocolate

[stabbyflower]

Hi! so both of these labels actually have the exact problem we're complaining about!

from label 1:

in the US and EU, this is a generic term meaning "something we put in here to make it smell nice" and there is absolutely NO way of knowing if that is a scent you are allergic to or not. some of these can be a mix of up to 200 distinct components.

from label 2:

i think you can probably see the problem here?

the issue isn't that we don't have ingredient lists. the issue is that "trade secrets" are more important than people's lives, so if a company says that listing the actual ingredients might allow people to copy them, it is legal for them to put "it's a secret, tee hee".