Simi-magical Misfit

my life in their words. An adult and TAKEN

[unhinged567]

I’m so sorry. I love all of you

[coldswarkids]

when I’m checking out at the register and the cashier is clearly having a horrible day, I feel like I am under so much pressure to speak soooo gently and pleasantly. like I am handling a skittish and traumatized horse. here I am offering my credit card so efficiently. here is an apple from my palm

[redstonedust]

one of my least favorite tropes is when a character has a crush that is explicitely unrequited and hopeless, yet in the timeskip epilogue they inexplicably get married. like bro if you fruitlessly pine after someone and they show no interest for the whole 3 year run of the story and then suddenly change their mind. i think theyre settling for you. quite frankly both of you need to learn some self respect. get divorced immediately.

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

(End)

[coldau]

What's your favorite color (by general shades)

Blue

Red

Yellow

Pink

Purple

Orange

Green

Brown

White

Black

Voting ended onMay 26

just curious tbh, please reblog to get lots of votes

[dear-ao3]

on a road trip with my dad. he’s blasting 5sos’s Entire Discography at insane levels and and singing every song word for word. Every Song. the rocks. kiss me kiss me. don’t stop. wildflower. voodoo doll. talk fast. not ok. she’s kinda hot. he knows them all. there are no skips. he’s drumming on the steering wheel.

[dear-ao3]

he’s paused his singing long enough to read a sign that said “new traffic pattern.”

“what kind of traffic pattern do you think it’ll be?” he asked me. “plaid? argyle?”

[femboy-c-cups]

think the biggest sign of tumblrs aging population is how we went from posting about how unethical and ineffective assigning homework in schools is to deciding that humanity is fucked because kids these days aren't writing essays with is much enthusiasm as you have for your fanfic about two white guys from the Pitt

[femboy-c-cups]

if you are currently in school and you somehow see this post, heed my warning. any adult on here telling you essays/homework/school is easy or something you must be grateful for is fucking compromised. they do not relate to you, care about you, or respect your autonomy.

do what you need to survive, it is an injustice that anything more is expected of you

[theroguefeminist]

As a teacher, I do not assign homework, but I do teach my students how to write essays. It's more important than ever for people to have critical thinking skills and the ability to discern reliable sources from unreliable sources. My colleagues and I deeply, deeply care about our students and their wellbeing. We are working overtime for low pay to educate young people. The fact so many people are lacking literacy and critical thinking skills is a major factor in the rise in fascism in this country.

Look, if you were right that education was some grand conspiracy to browbeat young people into submission, the right would be pouring money into schools. They'd be spinning their propaganda machines about how important schools and teachers are. Instead, they have done everything they can to knee cap public education and vilify teachers. They frame colleges as liberal brainwashing factories. They do not want you to be educated. They don't want people to think for themselves. There's a reason fascists kill intellectuals and burn books.

The students who need education the most are the most marginalized. The people who will struggle most to survive WITHOUT an education are the ones who come from oppressed backgrounds, who feel disempowered and already have odds stacked against them. A couple of centuries ago, slavers didn't want enslaved people to read. Right now, rich white oligarchs don't want young people of color to know how to read either.

Anti-intellectualism is a cornerstone of fascism. Leftists who adopt it are doing nothing to further the cause of ending oppression whatsoever.

[ot3]

criticizing the school system isn't inherently anti-intellectualism in the same way that critiquing the prison system doesn't mean that you're against the concept of there being consequences for crime.

it's great that you and your colleagues are dedicated teacher who care about your students' wellbeing. it's genuinely important work and i'm grateful to anyone who can manage to do it. there are also people in the same field who are not dedicated and caring. a good teacher can be lifechanging, and a bad teacher can be life ruining; you may not assign homework, plenty others do. which sort of teacher a child ends up with is completely outside of their control and they are completely at the mercy of that random chance. the fact that being a good teacher means working overtime for low pay pretty clearly illustrates that being a good teacher is structurally disincentivized in a lot of cases. that's a real problem.

there does not need to be a grand conspiracy in place to browbeat children into submission for that to be what ultimately ends up happening as a result of other factors compounding for the worse. the fact that the right has done such a good job at kneecapping public education is a big part of why school does end up browbeating children into submission. racism and ableism are structurally baked in to our school system from the ground up, and as such those marginalized students who are the most in need of a good education are also the most likely to be subject to unbelievable amounts of cruelty, bigotry, and setbacks during their attempts to get one. asking them to be grateful to be in those sorts of environments is not fair. would you ask an adult to give their best effort to a workplace that was openly hostile to them just because the work they were doing was important? probably not. i don't think children should be held to a higher standard.

education is good, objectively, and a subpar education is better than none. i would love a world where every child was as educated as is humanly possible. but a prerequisite to being able to learn is having your basic needs met, and there are significant areas where the us school system as it currently exists means that children are prevented from maintaining the basic physiological and psychological security they need in order to receive a proper education. i believe the point this original post is trying to make is that we do not have the right to demand a bottom up approach where these children work themselves to the bone to compensate for the ways in which they are being systemically failed. they have enough on their plates just trying to get through it however they can, and it's up to adults to figure out how to actually turn the school system into something that protects and enriches children.

[femboy-c-cups]

Posting your tags because you understand bigly. It really surprised me how the queer nerd crowd was so belittling and genuinely cruel about the "survive" part. I got accused of being anti-intellectualism (or conspiratorial and "acting nefariously" according to therougefeminist, what the fuck?) for prioritising mental health before education. Is that so controversial?

I'll reiterate that when I say do what you need to survive, I mean it with all seriousness. Sleep through class, cheat on the test, fucking get up and leave cos it's boring you for all I care.

I had a friend who never made it out of high school, I have ones who are riddled with anxiety and have panic attacks to this day because of what they had to go through. School is not as important as your health and literacy is not worth more than your life. Reading, studying, and learning are not restricted to high school. Your life is only just starting by the time you get out.

[unhinged567]

“Forgive me for the nasty things / That I say when I'm wounded / Now that I can think rationally, I feel so stupid”

- Ashnikko, Good While It Lasted

[bodhrancomedy]

Look, it’s a weird hill to die on, especially when I don’t really explain, but children deserve to experience fear, disgust, and discomfort in safe scenarios where they can process those sensations.

Media for children used to be scary and that’s important.

[the-davest-of-uncles]

“Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” ― C.S. Lewis

[doitforpink]

[sapphling]

the more time you spend in active recovery from any given self destructive behavior or addiction the more you understand the common conception of the "relapse" as defined by a broken "streak" to be, like, so bad for one's own well-being that it would be funny if it weren't resulting in just a lot of misery and death

[the-peoples-puppy]

I told my girlfriend to think of quitting vaping as training her endurance by seeing how long she can run before she gets tired, then doing it again and hoping to go further next time. She said it really helped her.

[scarletsaphire]

This is the stages of change model, with each circle being a part of the process of growth. You'll notice how relapse is not a failing of the model, or a set back, but an active step in continuing to grow and change. Everytime you relapse, you learn something; maybe a certain time of year is difficult for you. Maybe certain people push you back into the habit. Maybe your other coping skills/replacement habits didn't work how you wanted and you need to strengthen them, or develop new ones. Maybe it's not quite as clear cut and you need to spend the time figuring out what exactly went wrong so you can catch it next time. It doesn't matter the exact lesson, but it's part of the process.

[z0ruastudyblr]

Common Words & Phrases from AAVE

Gullah & Early AAVE

Gumbo – From Bantu kingombo (okra), brought by enslaved Africans and became the name of the Creole stew thickened with okra.

Goober – From Kikongo nguba, the Bantu word for peanut that entered American English via enslaved Africans.

Yam – From West African languages (e.g., Wolof nyami, "to eat"), brought over during the slave trade and adopted into Southern cuisine.

Banjo – From a Bantu root (mbanza), the instrument was crafted by enslaved Africans based on West African string instruments.

Bogus – Likely from Hausa boko-boko (deceitful, fraudulent), entering American English through African American speech in the 19th century.

Juke (box/joint) – From Gullah juke (rowdy, disorderly), derived from Wolof dzug (to live wickedly), later attached to roadside bars.

Tote (to carry) – From West African languages (e.g., Kikongo tota, "to pick up"), recorded in Gullah before spreading to mainstream English.

Dig (to understand) – From Wolof degg (to understand), popularized by jazz musicians in the 1930s after entering English through AAVE.

Jazz – Possibly from West African or Creole slang for energy/sex, first documented in AAVE in Chicago around 1912.

Okay (OK) – Though its origin is debated, strong evidence traces it to West African languages (e.g., Wolof waw kay) via enslaved Gullah speakers.

Hip/Hep – From Wolof hipi (to open one's eyes, to be aware), entering jazz slang in the early 1900s before going mainstream.

Hepcat – A compound of "hep" + "cat" (jazz slang for a person), literally meaning "one who has his eyes open" in West African-influenced jazz culture.

Jazz, Blues & 1940s–60s Era

Cool (as in fashionable/calm) – Originated in jazz circles, likely from saxophonist Lester Young, and entered mainstream via West African aesthetic concepts of composure.

Cat – A jazz-era term for a skilled musician or cool person, derived from West African-influenced jive talk.

Crib – Jazz slang for a house or apartment, popularized in the 1940s before becoming mainstream in the 1990s.

Hokum – AAVE slang for nonsense or BS, used in blues and jazz before being adopted more widely.

Diss – Short for "disrespect," coined in AAVE and popularized through hip-hop in the 1980s and 1990s.

Bad (meaning good) – From AAVE, where inversion of meaning creates emphasis (something so "bad" it's actually good), used since early jazz era.

Jive – AAVE slang for deceptive talk or a style of jazz dancing, used by Cab Calloway in his 1930s Hepster Dictionary.

1970s–90s (Hip-Hop & Pre-Internet Era)

Homeboy/Homegirl – AAVE for a close friend from one's neighborhood, popularized in hip-hop and later shortened to "homes" in casual speech.

Dope (meaning great) – Shifted from "stupid" in standard English to "excellent" in AAVE during the 1980s hip-hop era.

Props – Short for "proper respects" in AAVE, used in hip-hop to acknowledge skill or achievement before entering mainstream slang.

Word (as in "I agree") – AAVE interjection ("Word!" or "Word is bond") meaning "I'm telling the truth," derived from Nation of Islam teachings.

Phat (meaning cool/great) – AAVE acronym believed to stand for "Pretty Hot And Tempting," though likely an invented backronym; popularized in 90s hip-hop.

The Bomb – AAVE phrase for something excellent or top-quality, widely used in hip-hop lyrics before mainstream adoption.

Def – AAVE slang for "excellent," popularized by Run-DMC's "King of Rock" and 80s hip-hop culture.

Fresh – AAVE for stylish or excellent, used in early hip-hop and 80s pop culture before spreading globally.

Wack – AAVE for "bad, inferior, uncool," popularized in hip-hop and later mainstream youth speech as the opposite of "cool."

Hella – AAVE intensifier meaning "very" or "a lot of," originating in Oakland/Bay Area AAVE in the 1970s-80s.

Cap / No Cap – AAVE meaning "lie" and "no lie," popularized by Bay Area rap in the 2010s, derived from "capping" (exaggerating).

1990s–2000s (Internet Adoption & Ballroom Culture)

Slay – From AAVE and Black ballroom culture (Paris is Burning, 1990), meaning to do something extremely well, now mainstream via social media.

Spill the Tea – From AAVE (originally "spill the T," with "T" meaning truth), popularized by drag culture and Black queer communities.

Shade (as in insult) – From Black ballroom culture (documented in Paris is Burning), meaning a subtle insult, now used broadly in pop culture.

Reading (as in insulting) – From ballroom culture ("reading" someone), meaning to publicly insult with wit, immortalized in Paris is Burning.

Kiki – AAVE from ballroom culture meaning a casual gathering for gossip or chatting, later mainstreamed through pop music (e.g., Kesha).

Fierce – AAVE and ballroom term meaning exceptionally good or intense, applied to fashion, performance, or attitude.

Woke – From AAVE meaning socially and politically aware, first used in 1940s Black activism before resurging with Black Lives Matter.

Shook – AAVE meaning startled or upset, used in 1990s New York hip-hop (e.g., Mobb Deep) before mainstream adoption in the 2010s.

On Fleek – AAVE phrase meaning perfectly executed, coined in a 2014 Vine by Peaches Monroee, one of the last pre-AI viral AAVE innovations.

Finna – From AAVE contraction of "fixing to" (preparing to), documented in Southern AAVE for decades before wider use and dictionary recognition.

Chile – A phonetic spelling of "child" in Southern AAVE, used as a term of endearment or exclamation since at least the 1970s (The Wiz, 1978).

2010s–Present (Social Media & Gen Z Slang Pipeline)

Lit – AAVE meaning exciting or excellent (originally "intoxicated" or "on fire"), popularized in hip-hop before becoming a Gen Z staple.

Bae – AAVE term of endearment meaning "before anyone else" or just a shortened form of "babe/baby," mainstreamed in the 2010s.

Ratchet – AAVE originally meaning a rowdy, aggressive woman (from "wretched"), later used to describe anything wild or out of control.

Turnt – AAVE meaning excited or intoxicated, from "turned up" in hip-hop lyrics, mainstreamed in early 2010s party slang.

Clap Back – AAVE for a sharp, witty comeback or retaliation, popularized in hip-hop (e.g., Ja Rule's 2003 song "Clap Back") before internet slang.

Bussin' – AAVE meaning delicious or excellent, applied to food or anything great, popularized on TikTok in the 2020s.

Sus – AAVE shortening of "suspicious" or "shady," used for decades before Among Us made it a global meme in 2020.

Snatched – AAVE originally describing flawless hair/makeup or a tight waist, now used to praise anything perfectly executed.

Periodt – AAVE emphatic form of "period" (meaning "end of discussion"), with a hard "t" for emphasis, popularized on Black Twitter before global use.

Bonus: My personal favorite AAVE term that I see used online religiously is receipts! AAVE meaning the proof shown to back up an accustation

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

They need to invent a type of exercise that doesn't absolutely fucking suck to do.

[teaboot]

As someone who hates exercise and has terrible proprioception these are the only physical activities I've been able to make myself stick to, so here are my recommendations

Swimming. Throw yourself in some water and don't die in it

Martial arts. Throw yourself into combat and don't die in it

Take exactly enough change for one bus trip and get on the bus. Get out a few miles away. Either you get home eventually or you don't

[taraxippos]

Had been thinking about this post (which is a fake excerpt from an imaginary narrative written to mock 'tumblr prose'), and how most "no actually this is good" comments are highlighting how the construction of individual sentences is interesting, how some of the language is evocative, how it Goes Hard. Because that post is written badly in a very thoughtful manner that focuses on core structural issues rather than going for low hanging fruit of poor technical proficiency with the written word, it is not bad in the most "obvious" of ways. So I think this is a legit learning opportunity, but also I don't want to dunk on anyone so instead I will just preach to the choir of My Followers.

But yeah like to be more constructive than just going "lol tumblr prose bad", really the issue in Large part that characterizes "tumblr prose" (which to be clear I don't think is a discrete thing and at most is a combination of several writing tendencies influenced by the medium of Online) comes down to the lack of real contrast in Any aspect of narrative construction, and an obsession with being quotable and constantly being at 100% of Going Hard (which go hand in hand).

In that post, the character voice is indistinct from that of the narration, and the characters quote one-liners that look Meaningful as excerpts and are borderline nonsensical as dialogue. There is no more than the faintest, most generic hints of characterization; these people exist as vague concepts to say deep words for the reader. The sentence length has little variation from its staccato beat, and so it is awkward to read and fails to complement the action or accomplish anything with the pacing (save for the slight slowdown when the torturer feels all that damp animal electricity). The timing is awkward and exaggeratedly dramatic. The description is a flowery kind of tryhard visceral and seems avoidant of describing anything too directly ("something dark and arterial" where there's nothing being accomplished by conveying uncertainty about what is currently gushing out of the injured character and the simple use of "blood splashed across the stones" would actually be 10x more effective), in a way that does disservice to what is supposed to be a torture scene, and leaves it weightless and ungrounded. In fairness to the people saying "this is good", that is MUCH easier to say when reading this fake excerpt as the standalone piece it actually is, but this kind of writing Cannot function in an actual narrative and is not what an excerpt from well constructed narrative fiction is going to look like basically ever.

It reflects a lot of very typical amateur writing issues that just about everyone has to grow out of (the minimal diversity in sentence length, simulated non-attention to scene pacing and timing), and issues common to fanfiction-influenced writing on social media (allergy to paragraph lengths of more than two sentences, little to no description of the characters or setting because, in fanfiction, the reader already knows their physical characteristics and mannerisms and it doesn't need to be lingered upon, Unlike In Original Fiction). But this particularly hits on an issue I think is semi-unique to narrative writing in the social media milieu, which is a focus on being quotable. This may not even be a conscious impulse at all But It's There. This kinda apparent terror of any moment not being as beautiful and hard hitting as possible (or for comedy, any moment not being A Joke). Everything "Goes Hard", so nothing actually does. A lot of "tumblr prose" type writing is less a narrative, more a string of quotes loosely assembled into narrative that vaguely gestures at things like Plot and Character. It substitutes depth for Suggestions of depth by utilizing stock symbolism without building it into the narrative, and by gesturing at weighty contexts without actually engaging with them. There can be little contrast or effective use of tone, pace, description when your story is a series of Hard Hitting Quotes.

I'm reading Watership Down right now and I think it's a great novel overall and can work as an example of how important it is to utilize contrast in your writing.

This segment is the lengthy first description of the titular down, which the rabbits are now encountering for the first time:

Adams is slowing the pace here to introduce us to the setting of the next segment of the book. The average sentence length is very long and keeps us lingering in the sensory detail, while still varied and thus smoothly readable. This new place is introduced by simultaneously conveying its physical description in vivid detail and conveying its feeling and character, and getting the most out of every described feature to do so. The thorn trees are "wind stunted". The air is "scented". The language takes on a very flowery character and heavily utilizes simile and metaphor. Woodland is "tumultuous with evening", sunlight filters through grass "like a wind" to the small creatures below, in contrast to laying "like a gold rind" on the hill when seen from a distance. This grandiose description is heavily functional and conveys both exhaustive physical detail and a feeling that this place is beautiful, awe inspiring to something like a rabbit, and full of life, though not without quiet hints of danger. It hits because Not Everything In The Book Is Described This Way. It means something that we're lingering like this and stopping to get a sense of this place on every possible level, and moving away from more direct, simple prose to convey the feeling of the place in depth.

This segment describes the rabbit Bigwig being found caught in a snare:

The prose here here has the opposite approach of the first excerpt. The language is concise, direct, and brutal. It only veers slightly away from the literal to describe Bigwig's voice as 'bubbling out' from his mouth, both conveying that the saliva and blood in his mouth is literally bubbling as he speaks, and implying the unsettling way his voice sounds as he's being strangled. The sentences are much shorter on the whole, as fit for the pacing of a tense and rapidly changing scene, and the timing closely complements the action - "There was a pause" not only conveys That There Was A Pause but interrupts the rhythm of this segment; the moment of uneasy stillness is echoed in the act of reading itself.

The scene this is excerpted from is extremely effective and does in fact Go Hard, it's well constructed in of itself but its effectiveness mostly lies in its place in the narrative. It's the culmination of a long, tense buildup as the reader becomes more aware that something is deeply Wrong about the place the rabbits are in, and the payoff is effective in being blunt and visceral, which hits because Not Everything In The Book Is Described This Way. Nothing about these excerpts are particularly quotable because that is actually not what good narrative writing is about.

[goth-queen]

[lezarus]

one of the worst parts of entering an established fandom is reading through the tags and realising with a dawning horror that fans have collectively decided to give one of the characters a horrible, non-canonical, cutesy nickname

[lezarus]

a lot of crazy tags on this post but this was has me feeling like i’ve just crashed landed on another planet.

do you mean ODYSSEUS??????? there are ppl out there calling ODYSSEUS from homers epic poem the odyssey a cutesy nickname???? they’re calling the guy from whom we get the concept of the hero’s journey the same thing as the dog from garfield????????

[carpe-aurore]

Gonna bite. Gnaw through the bone, even.