The Musings of a Linguist

She/They, 22 Japanese and Spanish double major and linguistics enthusiast. This one will kinda be like my other blog but for my academic shit.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

We should popularize more hispanized phonetic spellings of classic character names like we did with esnupi

[imsobadatnicknames2]

Citripio y Arturito

[pissvortex]

[xalatath]

You misused thou/thee in a joke post and provoked my ire.

[cannibalcaprine]

an incredible linguistic blessing that UwU and OwO are emoticons you can pronounce out loud

[cunning-linguistix]

Pro tip: when you see a brand new slang term, your first question should be how that term has been used in AAVE for the past 20-30 years.

[real-language-facts]

my phonetic inventory is full, how do i get more slots

[teaboot]

How people get nicknames:

Recipient of a third-degree burn in front of witnesses. IE, "I won't take that shit from a man dressed like a ghostbuster"= "Gostbuster" or "Buster"

A distinctive personal feature or quirk. IE, "Have you noticed how that new guy is always eating bell peppers?" = "Peppers", or "That chick has a massive forehead" = "Forehead".

An embarrassing thing you said or did. IE, "Did you seriously call Dale "Dad"?" = "Junior", "Baby boy", "Sport"

A game of name-mutation telephone. IE, "Donny Clyde" = "Bonnie 'n' Clyde" = "Bonnie" = "Bon-bon".

Irony. IE, calling a tall person "short stack" or a particularly dour person "sunshine".

A 'wrong place wrong time' one-off incident. IE, "He spilled oil on his pants and had to borrow a pair that were way too big and Jim saw him with the waistband pulled up to his nipples and called him 'Parachute'"

A batman-style origin story but not in a cool way: "One time she hit a deer with the company car and when she called the boss to tell her she was crying so hard we thought she was dying" = "Bambi"

The incredibly rare 'admiration' nickname, bourne only once a millennia under the light of the blood moon: "We saw him lift a truck once so now we call him 'iron man'"

+ How Nicknames Stick:

Your fate is determined by The Counsel

You hate it

It's accurate

[cidham]

amir khusrow (1253–1325 CE)

[cherepashkadrabbles]

This is back on my dash! And listen, I love to see Amir Khusrau getting appreciation, but this translation ignores a lot. The original rhymes! And scans! And does playful things with register! And conveys a tone of affectionate banter between the two speakers, not least because it has them both addressing each other as sakhi (translated above as “girl”) in the last two lines. I think taking some liberties with line order is worth it to preserve more of the rest—and I think there’s a better translation of sakhi. And so:

He only visits once a year, I splurge big on him when he’s here, His kisses make my tastebuds tango. Who, bitch, your man? Nah, bitch, a mango.

[solradguy]

Going to the library tomorrow to find out if I'm allowed to print hypothetical boobs for the GG copybook I wanna do

[solradguy]

Libraries don't fuck around when it comes to copyright law

[official-boob-posts]

reminder to use your library’s resources so that they continue to be funded

[dreamingnemleria]

[deactivationgocrazy-deactivated]

"the education system traumatizes students it deems stupid" and "the education system traumatizes students it deems gifted" are two concepts that can and should coexist.

[doubleca5t]

I think I've got a compromise

[can-i-make-image-descriptions]

[Image ID: Tumblr post from che-nya reading: "the education system traumatized students /End ID]

[ellewantsrevenge]

aadam jacobs's archive

[tunabuna]

what if bouba and kiki were miis and wlw

EDIT: their profiles here (feel free to remake them!)

[mysweetoddbird]

sorry but once you notice how often ppl use a southern accent as shorthand for being unintelligent you can never unsee it. classism is baked so deeply and why are you acting like anyone who talks the way my grandfather talks is stupid.

[in-the-drowning-deep]

ditto cockney accents being used to denote stupid and evil. why are you acting like someone who talks like a member of the working class is irredeemable and an idiot.

[queen-mihai]

Ditto black accents for being classless and somewhat of a criminal. Oh that black character talks with a posh accent? Must be a professor.

The professor breaks out some street slang? Better break out hard rap music and CGI a tattoo on their face

[jewfrogs]

the change from AD to CE feels really emblematic of how surface-level and meaningless the supposed secularization of the western world is

[jewfrogs]

Common Era is definitely preferable over Anno Domini, if only because christ is no lord of mine, but it’s only less christianocentric in that it doesn’t overtly make reference to christ in its title. the benchmark is still the same. you’re still measuring when the common era began using the (supposed) birth of christ, separating history into “the period before jesus” and “the period after jesus”. this conception of history is no less defined by christianity than it was before, except that now it’s easier to ignore because you’ve draped it in a “secular”, “modern” veneer and done nothing to actually unpack the ways in which western society intrinsically centers christianity.

[lazarus-lazuli]

i have no comment this is just the funniest fucking thing i’ve seen all day

[batmanego]

i do desperately need everyone on this website especially people who arent american but want to rag on america to familiarize themselves with the basic romanized spelling conventions of native american languages because every day i come on here and i see people making fun of massachusetts or connecticut or mississippi or passamaquoddy or mashpee or nipissing and its like PLEASE. PLEASE THEY ARENT ENGLISH WORDS. PLEAAAAASEEEEEUUUHHH. USE YOUR MINDS TO IDENTIFY WHEN A WORD LOOKS LIKE IT MAY NOT BE ENGLISH. I DONT CARE IF YOU MAKE FUN OF AMERICA JUST PLEASE STOP BEING RACIST WHILE YOU DO IT

[adhdasfuck]

Map I found showing which states got their names from where. Over half of the states come from Indigenous languages.

[can-i-make-image-descriptions]

Plain text: Please. Please they aren't English words. Pleaseuh. Use your minds to identify when a work looks like it may not be English. I don't care if you make fun of America just please stop being racist while you do it.

[Image ID: Where do most US state names come from?

Graphic from gzero titled: Origins of the names of the 50 US states.

Key showing: Dark purple: Native American/Indigenous. Orange: English royalty, aristocracy, or place. Beige: French. Green: Disputed/unclear. Magenta: Spanish. Gray: Other.

There is a stripe of orange (English royalty, aristocracy, or place) along the East Coast, and a large swath of purple (Native American/Indigenous) through the center.

Sources of states' names, listed alphabetically:

Alabama: Native American/Indigenous. From the Choctaw word for "thicket-clearers"

Alaska: Native American/Indigenous. Aleut for "the mainland" or the "great land"

Arizona: Native American/Indigenous.

Arkansas: Native American/Indigenous.

California: Spanish.

Colorado: Spanish.

Connecticut: Native American/Indigenous.

Delaware: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

Florida: Spanish.

Georgia: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

Hawaii: Native American/Indigenous.

Idaho: Disputed/unclear

Illinois: Native American/Indigenous.

Indiana: Other. Made-up word meaning "land of Indians"

Iowa: Native American/Indigenous.

Kansas: Native American/Indigenous.

Kentucky: Native American/Indigenous.

Louisiana: French.

Maine: Disputed/unclear.

Maryland: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

Massachusetts: Native American/Indigenous.

Michigan: Native American/Indigenous.

Minnesota: Native American/Indigenous.

Mississippi: Native American/Indigenous.

Missouri: Native American/Indigenous.

Montana: Spanish.

Nebraska: Native American/Indigenous.

Nevada: Spanish. Spanish for "snow covered"

New Hampshire: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

New Jersey: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

New Mexico: Native American/Indigenous.

New York: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

North Carolina: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

North Dakota: Native American/Indigenous.

Ohio: Native American/Indigenous.

Oklahoma: Native American/Indigenous.

Oregon: Disputed/unclear

Pennsylvania: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

Rhode Island: Other.

South Carolina: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

South Dakota: Native American/Indigenous.

Tennessee: Native American/Indigenous.

Texas: Native American/Indigenous.

Utah: Native American/Indigenous.

Vermont: French. "Green Mountain" in French

Virginia: English royalty, aristocracy, or place. After the "virgin queen" Elizabeth I

Washington: Other

West Virginia: English royalty, aristocracy, or place.

Wisconsin: Native American/Indigenous.

Wyoming: Native American/Indigenous.

Text at bottom of graphic: Subscribe to our global politics newsletter Signal at gzeromedia.com. Sources: Monster Fact, Alaska.gov /End ID]