Confessions of a Word Addict

A Lover of Literature, a Learner of Languages. History Hacker, Word Wizard, Music Maniac, Jester Extraordinaire.

[saintcolumbiformes]

Worst thing ever in the whole world is when a thunderstorm is forecasted and then it doesn’t storm. literally so rude I was excited for this all day.

[alpine-langblr]

- take an ebook in your target language that you wanna read - convert epub to txt - copy txt into unique wordlist maker (http://caerphoto.com/uwc/) - remove words in the list you already know - maybe focus on keeping the high frequency new words - make this list into flashcard deck badda bing badda boom

I did this with my Turkish copy of Animal Farm and pulled 212 new words for my Quizlet deck

[parkchanwoohoo]

“In 1404, King Taejong fell from his horse during a hunting expedition. Embarrassed, looking to his left and right, he commanded, “Do not let the historian find out about this.” To his disappointment, the historian accompanying the hunting party included these words in the annals, in addition to a description of the king’s fall.“

LMFAOOOOOO rip to that guy

[shitacademicswrite]

i thought maybe this was fake, but there’s even a citation!

Taejong Sillok Book 7. 5th year of King Taejong’s Reign (1404), February 8.

[delphinidin4]

Happy 618th anniversary of the day King Taejong fell from his horse!

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

Apparently the recorders were really intense about this. We have a record of King Taejong complaining about a recorder who followed him on a hunt in disguise and another who eavesdropped on him behind a screen. No one was allowed to see the records, even the king (one king did and killed five men based on what was written there, after which they took greater care to ensure it would never happen again), and changing the content or disclosing it was a capital punishment. Even when there were rival political factions trying to influence the writers, they wrote down what was a revision and what wasn’t and kept an original version with no revisions in it.

They also made sure to back up their data. They made four copies of it, then when three copies were lost in the Imrim Wars they decided to make five more copies just in case. One copy was destroyed in a rebellion, another was partially damaged in an invasion, and Japan stole one copy during their occupation and moved it to Tokyo University, where it was mostly destroyed in the Kanto Earthquake (47 books remained and were returned to South Korea in 2006). Now the whole thing is digitized, free on the internet, and translated into modern Korean for all to see.

It took centuries of meticulous recorders, justifiably paranoid copiers, absolutely determined historians, and painstaking infrastructure for this joke to be possible. Happy 618th anniversary to the day King Taejong fell from his horse.

[aspiring-weird-old-man]

Hey, USAmericans? Wanna save your country? Run For Something!

[thepioden]

Chai tea bag + lil but of brown sugar + apple cider packet + 16 oz. mug of hot but not quite boiling water

it will not Fix You but like. maybe. maybe.

[thepioden]

tags by @eridan-ampora

[thepioden]

Update: this is the best post I've ever made because everyone is sharing their Warm Beverage recipes in the notes. Go check the notes for more Warm Beverages That Will Fix You.

[niceferatu]

just had a pumpkin spice latte for the first time. this fucks. everyone apologise to women right now

[penny-anna]

The problem w writing fiction is that you'll be like tee-hee I'm going to write a story about a fucked up little scenario that's got nothing to do with anything in real life, just some pure messed up nonsense, and then you finish it and take a step back and go aw rats I made a metaphor again

[sapphofinch]

[zegalba]

Confiscated pens containing cheat notes intricately carved by a student at the University of Malaga, Spain. (2022)

[caesarsaladinn]

socks used to cheat on civil service exams, Qing Dynasty China

[aquilacalvitium]

Look at this point I think you just gotta let the student keep the thing for the test because that's more dedication than just sitting and reading the same thing ten times over

[thoodleoo]

glad to see that not only was "live, laugh, love" was a concept in ancient rome but they were also displaying the sentiment in forums for all to see

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

[ID: Excerpt reading: "On a stone of the Forum are graven the following words: - VENARI LAVARI LUDERE RIDERE OCCEST VIVERE - "Hunting, bathing, play and laughter, - such is life." ]

[locutus-sum]

The best thing about this is the words are all six letters long because they make up a game board. The board had three rows of twelve spaces, divided into two lots of six on each row. It's called Ludus duodecim scriptorum, a sort of Roman backgammon. So they used this little phrase not just as the base for their own life philosophy but as an actual base for the physical enactment of that enjoyment - a board game. I just love the simple poetry of that fact.

Here's an image I found online of what the layout was like:

Image source: this site

[piranesian]

another fun fact about this game!! it was a gambling game often played by roman soldiers, and they used six-letter words instead of place markers because gambling was illegal, so if they were caught playing there would be no proof it was gambling!

(it’s also a very fun game to play!!)

[latinare]

@piranesiandtheother do you have a link or any info on how to play?

[piranesian]

yes!! the getty has a document here, with a printable game board :)

[latinare]

Brilliant! @cnoocy provided another link in the notes as well. Thank you both, I have to try this!

[ironduuude]

Pavo Lacrimae

[yuumei-art]

Star Maker and Cloud Breaker✨ Both available as prints in my shop :)

[trainerdelaney]

Merlin fans rise up

[the-cimmerians]

when i started my last director job at a university, they told me one of my duties would be to write all the chancellor’s letters. me: “cool. but why though?” them: “English isn’t the chancellor’s first language.” me: “I’m aware of that.” them: “the chancellor likes the suggestions that autocorrect gives him if he misspells something.” me: “Ah.” them: hands me a copy of a letter the chancellor sent to a donor who had just given a million-dollar gift to the university, which includes the following: ‘The profundity of your gift fills us with the greatest horror. In recognition we have prepared a special plague to compromise you and your family’. 

Which is why to this day when I’m struggling to communicate in a different language, i remember the chancellor, who was Doing His Best, and i try to give myself a break.

[riibrego]

gloriosa 🌟

uncropped wallpaper sizes // prints, posters, etc

[deancrowleycas]

frög

[catchymemes]

[emwheezie]

Gamer cats