The Prose Fool

Hello! I'm Sie ('sigh'), an Alaskan pansexual feminist fangirl writer and psych major with an unhealthy obsession with Mass Effect (mShenko in particular), Harry Potter and Buffy, among other things. Frequently NSFW. Sometimes the blog is, too. My Mass Effect posts Ficlist Ao3 Bestie

[perrfectly]

now accepting applications to be my bae

[theprosefool]

http://www.wordsense.eu/bæ/ Laughs forever

[doctorwho]

btw we threw “Doctor Who Tumblr” through an anagram maker and got the following results:

Blowtorch Mud Rot Combo World Truth Throw To Club Dorm Comb Lord Thru Two Crumb Doh Owl Trot Brr Dutch Wool Tom Lob Cow Thud Mr Ort

[aliensfuckmeup]

European accents (and in general white people accents) are commonly perceived as attractive and endearing, while accents from basically any other part of the world are considered to be signs of laziness and disrespect and get routinely made fun of.

[wholetjackdrive]

My whole family is Korean. My sister and I have grown up in the US so we can pretty much speak English. However, our parents speak very broken English. It makes me mad though because my mother has taken ESL classes at our local university and my father graduated from the University of Washington with a PhD in mechanical engineering, yet I constantly see them being made fun of by their coworkers or other people in general because “they’re too lazy to try to understand English.” My mom has spent countless nights crying whilst taking her classes because of the stress wishing she could speak half as fluently as I can. If you don’t know what it’s like trying to learn English as a second language, then you have no room to talk.

[skaletal-deactivated20190721]

 rainbow-ginger-butterfly:

NEVER MAKE FUN OF SOMEONE WHO SPEAKS BROKEN ENGLISH. IT MEANS THEY SPEAK ONE MORE LANGUAGE THAN YOU DO. 

As someone who’s been trained to teach English to non-English speakers, allow me to inform you that English is an eldritch Frankenstein-esque abomination of borrowed words and mismatched grammatical rules.

Structurally, English is as convoluted and obtuse as any aspect of governmental bureaucracy, and it’s similarly societally entrenched in a way that makes people believe, and even insist, that’s just “the way of things.”

Here’s the facts: English is fucking hard. English doesn’t make logical sense. English is weird and horrible and inconsistent and makes common use of unusual phonemes that most adult speakers of other languages have to be mechanically taught to differentiate from similar sounds that are distinct in the English language. Without mechanical introduction and proper instruction, a lot of people cannot actually hear the difference in sounds you are mocking them for.

In some languages, [p] and [b] are indistinguishable. This is why you heard that gentleman say he would like a “can of Coke or Bebsi” with his order. It has nothing to do with laziness.

In some languages, [l] and [r] are indistinguishable. This is why you’re an asshole for going “me rikey” like the substitution is somehow comical. You’re a dick, and also most likely racist.

In the vast majority of languages, [θ] and [ð], known to English speakers as the voiceless (thing) and voiced (there) versions of the th sound, respectively, straight up does not even exist. This is why she says “teef” or “toofbrush,” why he keeps saying “ze” or “de” in place of “the,” and why they said “sank you very much” when you held open the door for them. 

There are sounds in English that a hell of a lot of speakers of other languages cannot teach themselves to recognize and recreate without assistance.

And, y’know, even if you get the screwy grammar and troublesome pronounciation down, English is a language in which very slight changes in intonation and word stress can completely change the meaning of a sentence. 

Like so:

But how are you doing? (Flamboyant pleasure to see someone, eagerness to catch up.)

But how are you doing? (Deflection from inquiries about self, moving conversation in a new direction.)

But how are you doing? (Concern, request for further or more accurate information.)

These are all totally different statements.

It’s incredibly easy to come across in a way you did not want or intend to when you’re not familiar with the particular ways in which saying something can change what it means to other people. 

Don’t you ever give people shit for not achieving or approaching fluency in English.

Repeat after me: English is a terrible fucking language and speaking it does not make me tangibly superior to anyone else in literally any way.

[jourdenpreston]

Reblogging this twice in a row because as a future interpreter, aspiring linguist and all around polyglot, I support the above statement about English and commend all foreign language speakers trying to learn. Any American’s who make fun of foreign speakers, remember this: 1. You only speak one language, most likely, out of arrogance and ignorance. 2. Chances are you are not even a master of your own language and grammar.

[frigidchick-deactivated20191119]

I heard from people who speak multiple languages that English is a bitch to learn. Probably because it’s a mangled mess of different languages. I respect anyone with the patience to be bothered learning outside their own native language.  

[theprosefool]

neekerbreeker said: Yup. Also, you can sell fanart, but selling fanfic is tacky and wrong and why are you trying to ruin fandom for all of us. Not that I want to sell fic, but the double standard bothers me.

So true.  It’s why I was excited for Kindle Worlds, but their fandom selection is complete shit.

[theprosefool]

Does anyone else find it infuriating that singers can make fortunes putting a slightly different spin on a song that's already been done dozens of times, but writers who create beautiful, intricate stories within another writer's universe are written off as dorks and nerds?

[pastelpuddle-deactivated2018042]

signs as angel haze tracks

aries: echelon (its my way)

taurus: werkin girls

gemini: gossip folks

cancer: battle cry

leo: a tribe called red

virgo: doo wop (that thing)

libra: hell could freeze

scorpio: gxmes

sagittarius: candlxs

capricorn: shit i dont like

aquarius: deep sea diver

pisces: dirty gold

[angelxhaze]

battle cry for me<3

[flowri]

THE ONLY VINE THAT ILL EVER CARE ABOUT

[xbox420-deactivated20141118]

Keeping The Same Tabs Open For 9 Days Straight Because They Contain Information Relevant To Tasks You’re Too Lazy To Complete - A novel by me

[aceandinyourface-deactivated202]

[part 1] [part 2]

[itsjaneshepard]

make me choose  → alistairetheirin asked: Shepard or Hawke

[prismably]

what i think of whenever i hear the phrase ‘the gay agenda’

[tranquillavellan]

imo the most heartbreaking moment in the mass effect series is at the end of mass effect 3 when shepard and anderson are in the citadel staring at earth and hackett contacts shepard telling her nothing happened and straight away shes like ‘what do you need me to do’ 

like shes covered in blood shes literally given up her life for this and even on the cusp of death shes so eager to serve. it just breaks my heart i cry every time 

[cssndralicia]

GIVE IT UP! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 I’m so happy for him I bet his parents are so proud!! Immigrant/Brown kids are just as smart and worthy of an education as everyone else!! Drop out rate for Chicanos back in 50s/60s was so high because they were encouraged to do so. They were told they’d only be maids/farm workers. We are more than labor. We are intelligent, resilient, hard-working, and humble. Everything that holds this country together.

[mixedlatinxs]

His name is Fernando Rojas! Let’s not erase his accomplishments by making him just a face without a name. I’m so happy for him tho!

[guttur]

[yoursunandstars]

Hearing Aid Ear Plugs Concept by designaffairs

Rising self-confidence is taking prostheses to another level. People don’t try to hide their handicap anymore.Show what you‘ve got, don’t make a fuzz about your problem. Wear your hearing aid like a piece of jewelry, a stylish accessory. Be individual, be cool, be yourself.

Hearing aid is made for customers with a medium level of hearing disability. In case of a severe hearing damage one could order the PLUG which contents a more powerful system.

[queerangryfeminist]

Duuuuuuuuuuude!!!! Hearing aids for the punkishly inclined!!!

[autistech-witch]

this is sooooo cool!!!

[notsafeforweeabs]

this is so awesome

[thedapperproject]

I’ve survived a lot of things, and I’ll probably survive this.

I repost this every time it comes up on my dash. Because I need this reminder several times a day. (via amandaq62)

[seagreeneyes]

Ok you guys, we all know that Tumblr runs primarily in English

BUT WE ALSO KNOW THAT A SIGNIFICANT PART OF TUMBLR USERS ARE NOT NATIVE SPEAKERS

Here’s the deal: my first language is Italian. I know plenty of people on this website whose first language is Italian. Nevertheless, when we’re interacting with each other on Tumblr, we speak English.

I am not objecting to this system, it’s actually good practice for some people, to be able to speak a second language extensively.

BUT I HAVE A PROPOSITION FOR YOU.

Why not have a “Speak Your Own Language Day” where all of us exclusively speak in our native language?

(No but apart from the small rebellion from the US-centric and generally Anglophone-centric environment we got here, think about trying to speak to people from other countries via excessive use of Google Translate it’ll be a blast)

[seagreeneyes]

Ok, since this post has finally reached 100 notes I think it’s a good time to give a date, and since no one else has advanced suggestions I’m gonna do it

I’m proposing Wednesday 7th May, so the post has a chance to do a couple more laps and more people get a chance to participate (French Friday sounded hilarious, but I don’t wanna wait until next friday and this friday seems a bit too soon).

How it’ll work:

If you’re native language is something other than English, speak that!

If you have multiple languages you can pick from the choice is yous friend, speak all, speak one, whatever’s best for you

You’ll blog in your language all day: text posts, replies, tags (except triggers and organizational tags), the whole nine yards. Regardless of what language people choose to speak to you, you answer in your own.

Midnight to midnight according to your own time zone

English native speakers, if you wanna participate maybe you could practice a second language you’re learning

If anyone makes fun of anyone else for their language (and I’m including English native speakers that might choose to speak a second language on the day) I’m gonna come for you (◕‿◕✿)

The tag is gonna be #Speak Your Language Day if you wanna tag your posts with that!

[benjiscloset]

don’t shame children for their headcanons that they use to cope with a lack of representation in their media don’t shame adults for their headcanons that they use to cope with a lack of representation in their media, either it doesn’t harm you or anyone else, don’t be a limp noodle