#randomly musing

[exeunt-pursued-by-a-bear]

What professions still use occupation-specific honorifics? Professor is one, obviously, and in law we occasionally use "Attorney [Name]"

I've heard people use "Chef [Name]" on cooking shows I think

[enigmaincrimson]

“How about... you and I... make a deal?”

Of course, dealings with this sort were always fraught with many impossible and hidden catches depending on whether they are willing to follow her rules and conditions or not.

Whether they are so desperate to take such an offer though was anyone’s guess.

[flootzavut]

It's wild to me how often I see "X character must be Catholic because [thing that is commonplace in multiple Christian denominations]." Like actually Lent is not exclusively Catholic. Altar boys? No. Vestments? Nuh-uh. Incense? Nope.

People have this notion that the Catholic Church is the only one who does the high drama stuff and it's just not true. The church I grew up attending had altar boys and girls, candles, vestments. During Holy Week, they draped all the crosses with black lace! High church is not synonymous with Catholicism.

I will admit it's the Lent one that's weirdest to me though. Some people observe lent who don't even go to any church. It's decidedly not a Catholic exclusive thing.

[ocegion]

Objectively speaking, I understand and respect the fact that Alistair is a straight man. His attachment to the (male) Warden and the fact that he can get jealous of Morrigan don't show that he has a crush as much as him feeling uncertain, lost, unable to make his own decisions, and sort of childish (and rightfully so, as he's actually like 20? Ma'am that's a child). Fair or not, Alistair direly wants and needs the Warden as an older sibling-like figure he can attach to and drop all his decisions into, and a romance with Morrigan, who is his polar opposite in the moral compass, would feel like a threat by having his point of support drifting away from him.

That said, Alistair's whole character in DAO revolves around him figuring out and accepting who he is, who he wants to be, and how he wants to be that (which, by the way, makes it incredibly ironic that it's all ultimately in the player's hand). He can be hardened and be more resolute about his own agency in his own life; he can refuse to have the circumstances change him into a rougher version of himself; he can choose to be king; he can say 'I know I'm not a leader even it the world keeps telling me I have to be'. Having him struggling with and accepting same-sex attraction would add a layer to his relationship with his identity.

Plus, I don't think it's coincidental that Alistair and Morrigan, the two most plot-heavy romances in DAO, are the ones who are straight-locked. If either of them were companions in DAII or DAI, when the series is more comfortable with giving space to queer characters, it's much more likely one or both of them would be bi.

[soycrates]

Now, correct me if this portmanteau already exists, but what about "voguearity?" It could be something that is very much in style (thus in 'vogue') but horribly vulgar or despicable, or rather just despicably in style.

I guess it really depends how you take the phrase. Despicably in style doesn't necessarily mean that the item of admiration itself is vulgar, for instance, you could simply find it completely unappealing how popular the Harry Potter series is without hating the Wizarding World yourself.

But if you take it to mean something that has gained popularity but is obscenely horrible, such as teenage girls attaching real fox tails to their purses and belts, than it would suggest that it is not the popularity that irks you but the act or item itself.

Hm.

Vogue-arity.